The Effects of the Internet

Paper Summary:

This paper reveals that far from the utopian vision of a massive sharing of intellectual insights, the Internet has become balkanized and fragmented, which has led to a marked reduction in collaboration on research and discoveries. The paper also explains that the rise in the corporate use of the Internet has driven up the need to validate someone within any online community, leading to the decrease of trust. The paper discusses the novel "1984" by George Orwell that defines a totalitarian state, dominated by excessive monitoring and control of its citizens. The paper applies this to today's pervasive use of monitoring technologies.

Outline:
Introduction
The Internet's Balkanization and the Quantification of Trust
Quantification of trust
Orwellian Monitoring Strategies in the 21st Century
Conclusion

From the Paper:

"As the most ubiquitous, debated and increasingly relied on communication medium ever, the Internet has significantly influenced and impacted the lives of literally millions of people globally. The value judgment of whether the Internet has unified versus fragmented or balkanized communities is a subject of far-ranging debate. The one truth beginning to emerge however that is the Internet has increasingly become a medium that invites the creation of one's own unique voice and perspective being instantly available to millions of others. The meteoric rise of blogs, and with them, the influence of all forms of Consumer Generated Media (CGM) is evidence of how individuals are seeking out their own unique identity online. It is debatable however if these many forms of free speech are leading to more fluid movement of intellectual discoveries, insights and documents."

Sample of Sources Used:

• M. Van Alstyne and E. Brynjolfsson - Proceedings of the International Conference on Information Systems, Cleveland, OH (1996). Accessed on May 3, 2007 from location: http://web.mit.edu/marshall/www/InfoAccess.html And link: http://www.casos.cs.cmu.edu/education/phd/classpapers/VanAlstyne_Could_1996.pdf
• Bandura, A. 2001. Social cognitive theory: An agentic perspective. Annual Review of Psychology 53:1-26.
• ESRI (2006) - Environmental Systems Research Institute. Retrieved from the Internet on May 3, 2007: (www.esri.com)
• Gates Technology Foundation (2005) - Interviews and on-site visits with GIS planners and network technicians while donating servers, laptops, and desktop computers for a major PC manufacturer. Onsite interviews in Seattle, Washington. April, 2007.
• Giddens, Anthony. 1984. The Constitution of Society: Outline of the Theory of Structuration. University of California Press. Berkeley, CA.

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