Seminar Question: How central are electronics based technologies to postmodernity? Discuss in

The Internet changed the world far more extensively than it could have been imagined twenty-five years ago . Everything from commerce to self-identity became more fluid and amorphous . In The Internet and Social Change (2001 , Surratt notes that Anderson 's concept of the constructed self applies quite strongly in the post-modern world . Log onto MySpace , Facebook , or any of the numerous social sites online and one can literally become anyone from manufacturing academic credentials to appropriating photographs from attractive friends . It is undeniable that online socialisation benefits individuals by allowing them to make

br friends with people around the world . Finding similarities between oneself and someone of another culture allows ISP patrons to empathize with others , rather than viewing them as alien . With the advent of globalisation , national and cultural identities are beginning to erode as different cultures blend together for profit . In the modern world the concept of the self was rather static . An individual had a fixed identity that remained the same , wherever he went . While it might have served society well at the time , many anthropologists , psychologists sociologists and literary figures have pushed forth the idea that the self is constructed , deconstructed , and re-constructed when the people and cultural values surrounding the self change . The information /communication revolution creates a vast and mysterious electronic landscape of new relationships , roles , identities , networks and communities , while it undermines that cherished luxury of the modern self - privacy . The globalization of economics and politics sends people scurrying about the planet pulling up roots trampling boundaries letting go of old certainties of place , nationality , social role and class (p . 209

The most notable change with the rise of the Internet is the way corporations do business . For most of the twentieth century , businesses had to advertise in newss , on television , or on the radio Consumers had to patronise a brick and mortar establishment or by mail or over the phone . Today , it is easy to purchase just about anything with a few points and clicks . In the early days of the Internet , companies with websites had a distinct advantage over the competition . Today , it is considered bad business to not have a website . Some commentators are looking at this shift as a revolution as significant as industrialisation two centuries ago . Warschauer makes note of this phenomenon in Electronic Literacies (1998 . Whereas the first industrial revolution was based on the harnessing of steam power the newest industrial revolution is based on the harnessing of information , knowledge , and networks . This information-based revolution , which began in the post-war period and is accelerating today , is viewed by many as bringing about a new post-modern world based on radically different production methods and accompanying changes in lifestyle (p . 9

In 2004 , Edwards acknowledged that the development of the Internet was structured so that all the knowledge and power was not centralized in one location . As increasing numbers of people connected , there was more access to information than ever before . The Internet explosion of the late 1980s would not...