Developing Nations and the World Wide Web - Term Paper Example

Section/# Developing Nations and the World Wide Web It is without question that the World Wide Web has proven to be one of the most dynamic forces for change that the world has ever experienced. Sociologists would point to the fact that the World Wide Web has engaged individuals and discussion and contact that might not otherwise have a chance are opportunity of ever meeting within the con strains of the physical world. Likewise, historians point to the way in which the World Wide Web is able to accurately and more effectively exhibit history so that individuals will learn from past experience and seeking to promote the interests of humanity in a more effective way in the future. Individuals within the hard sciences would point to the fact that the World Wide Web has promoted education and prompted a level of dialogue and discussion that would otherwise be constrained to specific scholarly journals. In terms of political science and governance, the World Wide Web has created a dynamic in which democracy and freedom of expression has come to be something that is expected by many individuals throughout the world. Furthermore, in terms of equality, gender rights, and the prevalence of violence, the Internet has assisted in seeking to reduce stereotypes and promote a more thoughtful level of engagement with respect to the individual rather than the group that they are supposed to be a member of. In short, the Internet has been a transformative force on each and every level; so much so that societies that have engaged with a high level of Internet use are invariably those that are among the most educated and fastest developing. However, all of this leads to a fundamental question; namely what the impact of the web has for the developing world. Firstly, with respect to issues of education, the impact is extremely powerful. Inquiring minds, educational facilities, and institutions within developing countries can provide invaluable resources to those that seek further education within their own sphere. Taking an example of rural schools within India or South Africa as a case in point, the reader can quickly appreciate the fact that these students have a wealth of resources, if they are connected to the web, that they might not otherwise have as a function of their own government education program or the texts/materials that they are required to read and understand as a function of their studies (Simons, 1998). Another relevant impact that the web has for developing countries is contingent upon the way in which it creates a further level of health understanding; both within professionals and the average citizen alike. For instance, in many parts of the developing world, it is oftentimes the case that relatively common ailments or illnesses are deemed to be the result of a particular type of personality and/4 the particular type of behaviour that an individual engages in. However, medical science, as exhibited in the World Wide Web, allows inquiring minds within these nations to develop a more thorough understanding of the way in which health is exhibited throughout the communities and the means by which they can seek to promote their own health interests over the long-term (Wresch, 1998). As communities within the developing world seek to promote health-related concerns, the World Wide Web serves as an invaluable resource that they can leverage as a function of ensuring that this back place. Additionally, whereas medical professionals within developing nations might not have the rigorous training and background medical professionals within the developed world are able to exhibit, the World Wide Web also serves as a valuable resource through which they can engage other healthcare professionals and seek to gain a level of further inference with respect to what might fact be occurring within the lives of their patients (Weiss, 2013). Ultimately, this once again harkens back to the increased level of interaction that the World Wide Web is able to create and potential benefits for individuals, regardless of class, race, or societal standing that they exhibit. Dispelling myth and promoting hard science in the face of unproven techniques is one of the most valuable purposes that the internet is responsible for promoting within the realm of developing nations and health care (Schenke, 2003). Another contingent factor of the World Wide Web and its impact upon the developing world has to do with the potential for the web to reduce rates of violence. Although this has not definitively been noted as yet, it is the expectation of many researchers that the proliferation of the World Wide Web, and the intermingling of peoples that it allows for, will inherently reduce ethnic tensions and create a dynamic by which a further level of peaceful coexistence is exhibited (McKenna et al., 2009). Likewise, as individuals have a platform to vent their frustrations and open a dialogue with others, the potential for emotions to boil over into violence and acts of barbarism is inherently reduced. Example of this can of course be seen with respect to the way in which Cambodia has recently developed and provided many of its citizens with access to the World Wide Web; a luxury that was not previously available to almost all members of society. In tandem with this liberalization and democratization of society, stakeholders within Cambodia is the more familiar with the way in which the brutal Khmer Rouge regime has slaughtered millions of Cambodians in a botched attempt at creating a utopian communist society within the late 1970s (Duy et al., 2007). However, with the widespread distribution of the World Wide Web, Cambodia citizens have been able to delve deeper into Cambodian history and understand the nuances of what took place within the not too distant past; elements that were not readily exhibited within the history textbooks or educational structure that Cambodian public schools exhibited. As a function of this, demands for justice came to be echoed throughout the nation; culminating with the trial and imprisonment of many Khmer Rouge commanders over the past several years (Ruth, 2011). Whereas this is not a perfect example of the way in which the World Wide Web has been able to reduce violence, it is a perfect example of the way in which the World Wide Web helps to elicit justice and serve the interests of the common good; at least to a greater extent than any other force that has been known within the 21st or 20th centuries. Thus far, the analysis has focused upon the impacts of the World Wide Web with respect to the individual. However, it is also necessary to note that the impacts of the World Wide Web are also contingent upon the group. In terms of this group dynamic, it should be understood that the World Wide Web is essential in seeking to promote a level of democracy and freedom of thought (Zhu, 2009). By its very nature, the World Wide Web seeks to elicit a level of freedom of thinking and individual consideration that no other outlet has yet been able to provide. By very nature of this dynamic, the World Wide Web encourages democracy to take root in places that are otherwise demonstrably undemocratic (Georgiou & Stefaneas, 2002). Taking a historical case in point, one can quickly see the way in which the World Wide Web, specifically Twitter and Facebook, were utilized within the Arab Spring revolutions that effectively destroyed many established dictatorships throughout the Middle East (Robison & Crenshaw, 2010). By recognizing the fact that the system is corrupt and being able to discuss relevant actions that should be taken by the group as a function of providing a more fair and equitable distribution of power, the World Wide Web is able to illustrate the power that few other entities or technologies as yet been able to create. From the information that has thus far been illustrated, it is clear and apparent that the World Wide Web provides a powerful impact for the developing world and ultimately allows the stakeholders to attempts to “catch up” with the rest of the world in terms of issues pertaining to health, education, reductions in violence, and democratization. For decades, the developing world has found itself stunted by its inability to rapidly industrialize and capitalize on globalization top yet, with the proliferation of the World Wide Web, many of these developing nations are able to skip step and delve directly into the 21st century in terms of engaging with online communities and becoming involved in a more global society. Whereas it is not the expectation of this particular author that the World Wide Web will solve all potential difficulties that developing nations face within the coming years, it is nonetheless an outboard helps to redefine the way in which these nations engage with one another and seek to become more effective members of a global community. Yet, with the benefits that the world wide web is able to elicit, it is the understanding of the author that this process is on the whole a positive one; and one that will likely promote the peaceful coexistence and development of the world to a degree and extent that might not otherwise have been possible – if the internet had never been developed. Bibliography Duy, L, Vaughn, R, & Dandass, Y 2007, Challenges of Internet Development in Vietnam: A General Perspective, Crosstalk: The Journal Of Defense Software Engineering, 20, 1, pp. 16-19, Academic Search Complete, EBSCOhost, viewed 14 August 2014. 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