A Game of Marbles

Diana Kimball named the devil today:

There is another problem, however, and this one is more trenchant. The word “sphere” goes beyond connoting a network; it subtly suggests a global quality that “the blogosphere” simply does not possess. Yes, people blog all over the world. But the network created by these blogs appears not as one sphere, but as many.

Kimball’s remark comes in the context of a discussion of this white paper from the Berkman Center for Internet and Society - “Mapping Iran’s Online Public: Politics and Culture in the Persian Blogosphere.” She points out that identifying a national blogosphere is already a forward step in thinking about the growth of the Internet worldwide. Language barriers, nativism, and cultural differences make the various blogospheres more like a game of marbles than a community of thought. Occasionally the spheres touch, interact, bounce off each other. For the most part, by searching and reading in English, I’m limiting the content I access. If I’m multilingual, I have a broader reach, but no one person’s entrance into the blogosphere should be considered a view of the world.

Kimball directs some optimism toward the notion of a “digital culture,” which can connect the youth of dramatically different cultures, and potentially erode barriers. But the first step to understanding is being able to parse what’s being said, and Kimball’s post highlights the challenge of a multilingual web space.

There are lessons to be learned by global companies, but they seem so mundane and money-grubbing in the face of such erudition (the paper is fascinating reading - highly recommended) that I will leave you to draw your own conclusions.

For now, consider: whither pen pals? Who do we listen to, and who could we be listening to instead?