Excelsior COMM347 Module 8 Discussion (dq1+dq2) Latest 2021 July

COMM347 INNOVATIVE COMMUNICATION AND CULTURE

Module 8 Discussion

DQ1 Thinking About Globalization and Culture

Abstract image of Earth. Retrieved from Pixabay: https://pixabay.com/en/earth-continents-all-space-cosmos-1391673/We have discussed how boundaries between nations and peoples are collapsing and we are becoming, in some ways (particularly seen from a communication perspective), one world. Intercultural communication and cultural exchange are much more open in this day and age due to innovative communication. Globalization, you will recall, is essentially the free movement of communication and information. But I’m interested to get your take on things … what do you really think regarding the impact of globalization on culture?  This activity aligns with module outcomes 1 and 2.

Please choose one of the following thesis statements to explore, using evidence from our readings to support your own critical thinking:

As innovative communication topples boundaries and drives globalization, this can only strengthen American culture.

While there are many appealing possibilities to globalization driven by innovations in communication, globalization as a whole is often overly idealized and presents some downsides for American culture.

Globalization is an inevitable and unavoidable outcome of progress and innovation in communication.

DQ2 Convergence and Fragmentation Are Upon Us

Abstract image representing global thought. Retrieved from Encyclopædia Britannica ImageQuest: http://quest.eb.com.vlib.excelsior.edu/search/person-thinking/1/132_1285633/Global-thought-conceptual-artworkNow that we’ve considered globalization, let’s look more deeply into our other key concepts, fragmentation, and convergence. Please be sure that you have read the module notes and articles prior to embarking on this discussion.   This activity aligns with module outcomes 1 and 2.

Please choose one of the following to answer as thoroughly as possibly, using evidence from our readings to support your own critical thinking:

In what ways can you explain the concept of “convergence” through your own communication experiences? For you may consider professional/workplace scenarios, personal scenarios, or media or entertainment experiences.

Do you think nichification/fragmentation is a cause for alarm in some ways? Does it undermine the cohesiveness and strength of a culture in some ways? Or is this just the way of the world nowadays … and this is just fine?

In “How the Internet Gets Inside Us,” Adam Gopnik suggests:

“The Never-Betters believe that we’re on the brink of a new utopia, where information will be free and democratic, news will be made from the bottom up, love will reign, and cookies will bake themselves. The Better-Nevers think that we would have been better off if the whole thing had never happened, that the world that is coming to an end is superior to the one that is taking its place, and that, at a minimum, books and magazines create private space for minds in ways that twenty-second bursts of information don’t. The Ever-Wasers insist that at any moment in modernity something like this is going on, and that a new way of organizing data and connecting users is always thrilling to some and chilling to others—that something like this is going on is exactly what makes it a modern moment.”

After our readings and discussions of globalization, convergence, and fragmentation, do you consider yourself a Never-Better, a Better-Never, or an Ever-Waser? Explain.