First, the characteristics of communication in the digital age
Digitalization means messages in different formats (audio, video, text, etc. ) encoded with two symbols, namely, the numbers 0 and 1, and then transmitted to the receiving end by means of transmission tools. Digitalization realizes the transformation from analog information to digital information, which is closely related to society, politics, economy, culture and military affairs, and digital communication is increasingly becoming the role of savior.
The application of information digitalization not only causes fundamental changes in the field of communication, but also has a far-reaching impact on the overall development of human society. Digital communication greatly integrates the two technical fields of communication and information, which were relatively separated in the past, so that data content or services that have been isolated for a long time based on nationality, single technology and monopoly can flow freely around the world with the support of various digital tools (wired networks, cables, satellites, etc.). ) has had a profound impact on people's thinking, production and lifestyle. The influence of digital communication is so great that Nicholas? Nicholas Curie and Pierre Alain? Pierre-Alain Muet regarded the digital revolution as the "third industrial revolution" after railways and electric power in his report La société de l'information submitted to the French Economic Analysis Commission (CAE) in 2004. They believe that "the consequences of the digital revolution actually go far beyond the economic scope. Because it has changed one of the most fundamental characteristics of human beings, that is, communication. Digital revolution appears in all fields of human activities: economy, education, cultural practice, social relations, health and so on. /kloc-in the middle of the 0/5th century, the invention of printing sounded the death knell of the medieval system and opened the modern era. Five centuries later, information and communication technology (ICT) has played an unparalleled role: allowing the public to conduct mass communication anytime and anywhere. "
Digital communication has the characteristics of real-time, boundlessness, interactivity, accumulation, convergence (or integration), and the most important one is its integration. The so-called "convergence" is to combine computer technology, communication technology and media information fields. This is reflected in three levels: first, functional integration, that is, processing information through computer-based information technology systems, and then transmitting it to users through broadband communication systems; Secondly, industrial integration, through buyouts, mergers, strategic alliances and other ways to strengthen the computer, IT industry, communications companies and media links; Finally, the integration of products and services. Integrated products and services make media information content in the form of broadband network infrastructure, and they use digital transmission capabilities and interactive personalized services. As a result of these integrations, a large number of information databases are concentrated in the hands of groups that manipulate and spread technology platforms and promote energy, and the technologically disadvantaged groups have evolved into information consumers. In addition, there should be the integration of information and culture, because in the context of digital communication, cultural products are digital. Digitalization is a modern way of information transmission, and culture is increasingly defined according to its digitalization. Culture has become information and lost its historicity, thus making some groups in the new world communication order lose the root of cultural innovation and regeneration. Therefore, "the Internet makes people feel deprived of themselves, and digital technology and the resulting Internet and communication technologies are integrated into western cultural imperialism".
Information technology and network were born in American military laboratories and developed with the help of public investment. As a new technology, digital network, like the important new inventions in the past, has been endowed with the power to save the world and seems to have the ability to produce social, cultural and political norms on its own. Digital network is the achievement of human scientific and technological progress, which should be enjoyed by human beings, so as to effectively govern human society. However, these technologies regard sociality, knowledge, culture, security and the resulting identity and power as bets in the game between interest groups and countries. The global unequal economic and communication order has pushed digital technology to the dock in collusion with cultural imperialism.
Second, the global communication order.
1, global communication order
Globalization can be observed from two angles: modernity and post-modernity. The former is mainly manifested in armand? What does Matra's "Communication World" reflect on Michelle? Hart and Antonio? Empire, co-authored by Negri. In the empire, the nation-state is no longer regarded as having supreme authority, and its ability to regulate the economy is getting weaker and weaker. Its authority has been replaced by a new global authority, which is the "empire". With the development of globalization, racial boundaries are gradually disappearing, and the world market is liberated from the internal and external distinctions imposed by nation-States. "This new free space has many differences. Of course, these differences do not freely play a role in international space, but are integrated into a highly differentiated and dynamic global power structure network. " In the empire, no country "can form the center of imperialism. Imperialism is over. " "National identity is replaced by the mobility, flexibility and permanent division of the masses". Although the author of this book adopts the method of political economy analysis, he has made a non-historical analysis of macro or micro subjects in the process of globalization. Developing countries and developed countries deprived of specific social, political and economic status are abstractly placed in the empire, ignoring the topographic map of the world order established around the market. Therefore, Empire analyzes the so-called new political, economic and cultural communication mode from the post-modern perspective under the background of globalization and neo-liberalism, and the end of history and ideology. French communication scientist armand? Matra opposes the non-historical analysis of this kind of communication, emphasizes the misappropriation of communication flow by the subject in a specific historical environment, and puts the logical framework and conceptual tools of world communication into Braudel and wallerstein's "economic world" thought.
In Braudel's view, the order of the economic world is caused by geographical reasons. Wallerstein's order is based on the international division of labor. Matra bases his theoretical tools on the "communicative world" derived from Braudel's "economic world", and his theoretical methods are inspired by Braudel's concept of "economic world" and wallerstein's world system theory. Braudel thinks:
An economic world can be defined as the fact that it consists of three parts: 1) it has a given geographical space; Therefore, there are a series of changes to explain it; 2) The economic world often has one pole (P? Le) or center ... In addition, it can have two centers in an economic world ... 3) The whole economic world is distributed in continuous areas. The core refers to the area around the center ... followed by the middle transition area, around the heart area. Finally, there are a large number of marginal areas, which are in a dependent and subordinate position in the division of labor as the characteristics of the economic world, not just participants. In these marginal areas, people's lives are like purgatory. The full reason is their geographical location.
Under the influence of Braudel, Marx and dependency theory, wallerstein constructed its own "économie-monde", in which the marginal areas had to obey the needs of the central area. Under the influence of Braudel, Enlightenment and thoughts, Matra constructed her own "communication-world" system, and Matra advocated that all people involved in communication should enjoy the right of communication (jus communicationis) in order to realize the democratization of communication.
Matra's analysis of the world communication order was adopted in the analysis of cultural imperialism in 1970s to express the unequal exchange between developed countries and third world countries. In the digital age, this communication order is still out of date, but under the background of globalization, the unbalanced flow of information is further strengthened with the help of advanced communication technology. For example, Pascal, Director General of WTO? Pascal lamy said in Kuala Lumpur on August 17, 2007, "Indeed, in some cases, globalization has made the strong stronger and the weak weaker." The key to Matera's communication order is to find out the hierarchical logic of communication from the perspective of politics and economy, that is, center-transition-edge. Dominic. Dominic Martin and others think that Alfred? The concept of "the third world" put forward by alfred sauvy in 1952 is still not out of date. "Although these countries have different characteristics, they still have a common fact, that is, dependence on developed countries, which (re) leads to underdevelopment." Therefore, examining the global communication from the post-modern perspective will have the negative effect of colluding with the neo-liberal ideology in practice.
2. Digital Divide, Communication Order and Power
The digital divide is the gap between the "rich" and "poor" in digital information and communication technology. With the development of Internet, this problem has attracted more and more attention. In some people's eyes, digital network seems to have become the privileged field of the upper reaches of the communication order. The analysis of the digital divide is basically carried out from two angles: first, the information dissemination technology, mainly the realistic digital connection, quantitatively analyzes the factors that separate the "rich and the poor"; Secondly, apart from technical connection, it is analyzed from the aspects of culture and ability related to information and communication technology. These are basically empirical analyses at the social and technical levels. It will be more constructive if we put this analysis into the framework of world communication and analyze it from the perspective of political economy, and combine the digital divide with the unbalanced communication order. This is because, on the one hand, the imbalance between the world economic order and the information dissemination order prevents mankind from enjoying the fruits of scientific and technological progress, and on the other hand, the digital divide strengthens the unequal exchange relationship under globalization. The unequal flow of information mocks the dream of human democratic utopia, and the digital global communication order actually reduces the possibility of rebuilding world power relations in time.
In Foucault's view, "power is not a system, a structure or the power given to some people;" It is the general name of complex strategic relations in a specific society. "The unbalanced flow of information under the background of globalization can be said to reflect the transition from the traditional view of power to Foucault's view of power to a certain extent. In the past, the practice of one group exerting influence on another group through a grand and oppressive negative system (such as the imperialist form of military occupation) has gradually changed into the practice of continuing to exert such influence on others through intangible exchange relations (such as cultural imperialism). The emergence of the digital divide further strengthens the possibility of this influence, because on the one hand, the digital divide leads to the imbalance of information flow, on the other hand, "the exercise of power is not only controlled by possible conditions, but also carried out through these conditions. "
In the communication order of Matra's "communication world", there is a hierarchical exchange relationship of communication. Here, communication tools are not only elements of productive forces, but also components of social relations of production. Communication is the integration of social relations. In Foucault's view, "in fact, power means relationship, a more or less organized, hierarchical and coordinated group of relationships." In this hierarchical relationship, developed countries are at the upstream of information dissemination and hold a huge information database. When we say that 60% or 70% of the information comes from the United States, it at least reflects the seriousness of a certain state of affairs. However, under the ideology of "modernization", developing countries are trying to find the possibility of their own development, rather than living in isolation as Schiller said. When analyzing the relationship between business owners and workers, Foucault thinks that the discipline of workers is not imposed by the boss. "This is because of the urgent demand for free labor." Similarly, although developing countries are facing the dilemma of development and alienation, they still participate in the process of globalization, which is to some extent the product of the traditional ruling order of world history. For example, in the 1960 s and 1970 s, Gonder? When discussing dependency theory from the perspective of economic analysis, Gunde Frank pointed out that the underdevelopment of Latin America is the product of capitalism and its contradictory development since16th century. He regards dependence as the result of rational logic, in which the hegemonic center plays an important role and other satellite regions are stimulated by the center. Thomas? Vasconi, on the other hand, discussed the Europeanization and regional alienation of Latin America from the ideological point of view, and pointed out that the dependence of Latin America was the product of ideology.
In the 1960s and 1970s, UNESCO became a platform for debate between developed and developing countries. However, countries such as the United States and Britain withdrew from UNESCO on the pretext that the new information dissemination order discussed by UNESCO was too "politicized", and then the Soviet Union and other reasons led to the decline of the new holographic information dissemination order movement. This reflects the use of international power by developed countries. Because "power is a series of behaviors that have an impact on possible behaviors ... power can stimulate, induce, turn, expand or limit, increase or decrease possibilities, and change the degree of difficulty. In short, it can be completely forced or stopped. " Developing countries have always been at a disadvantage in the economic or communication order dominated by developed countries. Since the end of World War II, the United States has put forward the theory of free flow of information against the former Soviet Union and legalized its own theory of free flow of information within the United Nations organization. Now this theory is gradually absorbed into the idea of free exchange.
Under the guidance of neo-liberal business logic, the nation-state seems to be free to participate in the globalization process of market economy and information dissemination. But this is a trap for developed countries to exert influence on developing countries. Because, according to Foucault's analysis of power, when the exercise of power is defined as an act that exerts influence on the behavior of others, there is an important factor: freedom. Power can only be imposed on' (Sujet Freemen'), and it can only be imposed because they are free. Where there is decisive saturation, there is no power relationship. However, under the condition of global market economy, the willingness of micro and macro subjects to participate in globalization seems to be free. They are "citizens" and have the right to express themselves freely in the free flow of global commerce and information. Developed countries influence developing countries through their own strategies and constantly consolidate their dominant position. This is often the purpose of developed countries. Although Matra does not think that unequal communication does not belong to any conspiracy theory, neither does Schiller. The dissemination of information is also a strategy for developed countries to gain a dominant position. Foucault believes that "a class should become the ruling class, ensure its dominant position, and produce this kind of rule, which is of course a set of premeditated tactics to play a role and ensure the important strategy of rule." However, there is a mutual productive relationship between the strategy of stipulating, reproducing, increasing and consolidating the existing power relations and the ruling class. "
Therefore, the imbalance of world communication order and the emergence of digital divide will often reproduce and consolidate the imbalance of information flow. Faced with this situation, the national identity, national imagination and development source of developing countries have become issues that need to be seriously considered, because the power relationship in world exchange makes the dominant position and disadvantage become the bets of development.