An introduction to the global village

Globalisation is often described as the integration of people all around the world arising from the exchange of world views, products, ideas and other aspects of culture. Globalisation has turned the world into a “global village”.

Global village is an idea suggested by Marshall McLuhan and further developed by him in his books “The Gutenberg Galaxy: The Making of Typographic Man” (1962) and “Understanding Media: The Extensions of Man” (1964). He described it as the connection of members of every nation through communication technology.

Facebook is a prime example of a global village. As of 2012, Facebook has surpassed 1 billion users. Facebook allows users to communicate through sharing photos and leaving comments, making statuses and sharing them with the world, thus allowing users to be connected to the entire world by just a few clicks.

The internet is a primary source of how the world has been turned into a global village. Allowing communities and individuals from all around the world to engage with one another, to find out things they could never have even dreamed of simply through a click of a button. Users can explore places they have never been to, experience cultures they are not even remotely a part of, all thanks to globalisation through the internet.

Though the idea of global village seems accurate when describing the 21st century, Jovilė Barevičiūtė (2010) argues that what McLuhan describes as “global” cannot really be global as it lacks the essentials of villagicity.

Even though arguments can be raised about how the interconnectedness through communication technology does not resemble a “village” physically, on a virtual scale, it is a village. Globalisation through sources such as the internet has brought the world closer together and everything, and everyone is accessible at any moment. Globalisation truly has turned the world into a global village.

References:

http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/10/04/facebook-passes-1-billion-active-users/?_r=o

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HeDnPP6ntic

Barevičiūtė, J 2010, ‘THE LOCALITY OF THE “GLOBAL VILLAGE” IN THE ASPECT OF COMMUNICATION: PRO ET CONTRA M. McLUHAN’, Limes, 3, 2, pp. 184–194

McLuhan, M. 1962. The Gutenberg Galaxy: The Making of Typographic Man

McLuhan, M. 1964, Understanding Media: The Extensions of Man