When people from different cultures collaborate, there are often communication problems, which can be exacerbated when using online platforms. A working knowledge of how different societies use context to convey meaning can help avoid misinterpretations and confusion.

Anthropologist Edward Hall refers to high context and low context communication to indicate how much speakers rely on things other than words to convey meaning. High context societies place more value than low context societies on how something is said rather than what words are used. Many online platforms rely on low context communication; it’s important to keep this in mind when using these tools to share information with a global audience.

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I’ve spent the past five months straddling two worlds.

One is the cutting-edge world of the MCDM program. The other is the non-academic world of my friends and family — all living full productive lives without much digital media in them.

I frequently have trouble explaining one world to the other.

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Several of the readings in the Emerging Markets for Digital Media course this term question the value of mobile phone use among the poor in developing countries.  Richard Heeks blogged last year about research suggesting mobiles are doing more harm than good.  Kurt DeMaagd did a  study (link unavailable) sought to demonstrate the rapid adoption of mobile devices has not resulted in a corresponding increase in productivity around the globe.  And Kathleen Diga’s study “reveals” some Ugandans are choosing to pay for airtime instead of food items.

Why must the use of mobile phones among many of the most poor and isolated demonstrate some sort of measurable advancement in order to be justified?  I doubt people here in the U.S. would question why a welfare mom owns a cell phone.  And I’ve never hear anyone wonder why a senior citizen on a fixed income would choose to pay for phone service.  So why the attitude towards those in developing countries?

I believe there are two reasons for this misguided criticism. Read more…

In the West, the Internet started with users in business, academia and government, mostly fulfilling utilitarian needs. In contrast, Internet usage in China stemmed from a consumer phenomenon, focused on entertainment and communications. Most Western media coverage of Internet usage in China focuses on the narrative of censorship and control, missing the vibrant social nature of the largest internet market in the world.

Like many other countries, one of the hottest areas of Internet growth in China is in social media. While American companies like Facebook, YouTube and Twitter dominate Western markets, many of China’s 300 million Internet users are gravitating toward home-grown sites such as Youku for video sharing, QQ for social networking, Xiaonei, Kaixin001 and others. China is currently dominated by these large domestic social networking sites (SNS), while foreign players have been entering the market with less success.

Apart from the issue of government censorship, the failure of most foreign SNS in China is probably due in large part to a lack of proper localization for the Chinese market. Chinese users approach online social networking differently than Western users. In order to stand a chance against Chinese competitors, foreign social networking companies should take the time to understand these differences and adapt their sites appropriately.

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Last week, we cancelled our cable TV service.  In one fell swoop, we went from 60 to 0.  No more DVR, HBO in HD, nor movies-on-demand.  Also gone: the extraneous 700 other channels that I never looked at.  For the first time since I was a college student, I wasn’t tethered to a coaxial connection.

I told Comcast, no hard feelings.  We kept their broadband and voice services.  I said, we needed more “breathing room” so I could work on my book (presently entitled Trust Me: How to Tell Stories in a Credibility-Starved World).

I was being truthful.  That said, that I’m also saving $1000 a year.  I’m ingesting content specific to my interests (streaming Hulu and Netflix through my Playstation 3).  And I’m putting the savings to media that matters most to me: public radio (KUOW, KEXP), the Seattle Times Sunday paper, and a dead-tree subscription to the Wall Street Journal.

Image from zeropaid.com

Thanks to three recent articles in that same Wall Street Journal, I now also believe there’s a higher purpose to this decentralization of my media choices.  Because once again, large institutions with a vested interest in maintaining their power aren’t too pleased that people like me are making such choices.

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In an op-ed at his flagship Wall Street Journal today, News Corp chief Rupert Murdoch rehashed some of his recent barbs (such as claims of fair use abuses) while wrapping News Corp. with the American flag. Those prior public statements now seem part of a regulatory “reform” strategy as he adds a call for relaxing media cross-ownership rules to the litany of remedies needed to maintain the News Corp. oligopoly.

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Here are my slides from our December 2 2009 info meeting.