Friday, September 4, 2009

Lecture on Communication and Globalization

Communication and Globalization
The word communication may have different meanings for different people in different contexts. Sometimes communication refers a process and sometimes it’s a human act too. Communication is a kind of discipline. All of them are valued, what we should distinguish is the different points of reference from which we are trying to understand the term. Thus, the dictionary meaning of communication is- the exchange of thoughts, messages or information as by speech, signals, writings or behavior. The different levels of communication are as follows-
1. Intrapersonal communication
2. Interpersonal communication
3. Group communication
4. Organizational communication
5. Mass communication
We live in 21st century and we are accustomed to the fact that our daily activities are exceedingly influenced by the communication technologies such as television, computers, e-mail, etc. As a result, the intensification of the relationship among the people living in the different parts of the world is at an alarming rate. In this relation, the whole world is being looked at as a single community that is connected by electronic communication systems. In the other word, the world where we reside in the present context is termed as global community or global village and the term was first coined by McLuhan.
Society point of view--------------------------global community
Communication point of view---------------mass communication of global scale
Globalization has been defined as the fact that different cultures and economic systems around the world are becoming connected and similar to each other because of the influence of the large multinational companies and of improved communication. In this regard, media has a significant and inevitable role in the process of globalization. Globalization is a phenomenon which has made the establishment of global community possible. Moreover, there is a reciprocal relation between globalization and media for media has affected in the process of globalization and globalization has affected media. Media has brought the people living in different part of the world together owing to which people are seen sharing common culture such as fooding habit, clothing habit, language, etc. it is through globalization that the people have broaden their knowledge and thinking capacity. At the same time, people are said to be living in a mediated world, where they have knowledge of both local and global issues. Therefore, the phrase ‘be local and think globally’ is widely in practice.
Likewise, media has successfully developed its horizon. With the introduction of new technologies in the field of mass media it has been able to allure the large audiences. As a result, media is connected to the people informational and emotionally. As a whole, media is technologically developing itself from different timeframe such as expanding its coverage, going global, etc. at the same time media is shifted informing the persons and playing an important role in the process of assimilation. In ancient period, communication was limited to intrapersonal and interpersonal. However with the invention of information technology and with the newly founded inquisitiveness among the people the communication is being projected from the view point of mass communication of global scale. In conclusion, globalization is the process that fitfully brings various elements of world’s society together. Due to this phenomenon, we live in global village where different people from different parts of the world have acquaintance with one another’s culture and in this process; media has played inevitably an important role.