Multilingualism and Technology: A Review of Developments in Digital Communication from Monolingualism to Idiolingualism

2019 ◽  
Vol 39 ◽  
pp. 24-39
Author(s):  
Helen Kelly-Holmes

AbstractThe focus in this article is on the evolution of language and technology in relation to multilingualism, in particular on how multilingual provision has developed in tandem with the development of the internet and the World Wide Web (WWW). In trying to understand how multilingualism has evolved, it is also necessary to understand how the technical aspects of digital technology as well as the politico-economic dimensions to that technology have changed. Four distinct periods emerge in the development: monolingualism, multilingualism, hyperlingualism, and idiolingualism. Monolingualism covers the origins of the internet and later the WWW as monolingual spaces. This was followed by a long period that charts the slow but gradual development of increased language provision and what I am terming “partial multilingualism.” Multilingualism expanded substantially, potentially limitlessly, with the development of Web 2.0. This has involved the diversification of online spaces to the point of “hyperlingualism.” I argue that we are still in this hyperlingual phase, but alongside it, a new phase is developing, that of “idiolingualism” as a result of mass linguistic customization. In this article, I discuss these phases, paying attention to both their technical and economic contexts, as well as their implications for linguistic diversity online and in wider society.

2021 ◽  
Vol 64 (1) ◽  
pp. 86-104
Author(s):  
Sasha Newell

AbstractIn this article Newell uses two case studies to explore one of the central threads of Mbembe’s Abiola lecture, the idea that there is a relationship between the plasticity of digital technology and African cosmologies of the deuxième monde. One case concerns the viral YouTube video #sciencemustfall, in which students at the University of Cape Town criticize “Western” science and demand that African forms of knowledge such as witchcraft be incorporated into the meaning of science. The second case considers fieldwork among the brouteurs of Côte d’Ivoire, internet scammers who build intimate relationships on false premises using social media. They acquire shocking amounts of wealth in this way which they display on their own social media accounts. However, they are said to use occult means to seduce and persuade their virtual lovers, trapping their prey in the sticky allure of the world wide web. Newell uses both examples to highlight the overlaps between the transformational efficacies embedded in both occult ontologies and digital worldings, calling for the possibility of using African cosmologies of the second world to produce a ‘theory from the south’ of virtual sociality.


1999 ◽  
Vol 40 (1) ◽  
pp. 97-104
Author(s):  
Susan Brady

Over the past decade academic and research libraries throughout the world have taken advantage of the enormous developments in communication technology to improve services to their users. Through the Internet and the World Wide Web researchers now have convenient electronic access to library catalogs, indexes, subject bibliographies, descriptions of manuscript and archival collections, and other resources. This brief overview illustrates how libraries are facilitating performing arts research in new ways.


2009 ◽  
Vol 28 (2) ◽  
pp. 81 ◽  
Author(s):  
John Carlo Bertot

<span>Public libraries were early adopters of Internet-based technologies and have provided public access to the Internet and computers since the early 1990s. The landscape of public-access Internet and computing was substantially different in the 1990s as the World Wide Web was only in its initial development. At that time, public libraries essentially experimented with publicaccess Internet and computer services, largely absorbing this service into existing service and resource provision without substantial consideration of the management, facilities, staffing, and other implications of public-access technology (PAT) services and resources. This article explores the implications for public libraries of the provision of PAT and seeks to look further to review issues and practices associated with PAT provision resources. While much research focuses on the amount of public access that </span><span>public libraries provide, little offers a view of the effect of public access on libraries. This article provides insights into some of the costs, issues, and challenges associated with public access and concludes with recommendations that require continued exploration.</span>


2002 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
pp. 9-25 ◽  
Author(s):  
Moses Boudourides ◽  
Gerasimos Antypas

In this paper we are presenting a simple simulation of the Internet World-Wide Web, where one observes the appearance of web pages belonging to different web sites, covering a number of different thematic topics and possessing links to other web pages. The goal of our simulation is to reproduce the form of the observed World-Wide Web and of its growth, using a small number of simple assumptions. In our simulation, existing web pages may generate new ones as follows: First, each web page is equipped with a topic concerning its contents. Second, links between web pages are established according to common topics. Next, new web pages may be randomly generated and subsequently they might be equipped with a topic and be assigned to web sites. By repeated iterations of these rules, our simulation appears to exhibit the observed structure of the World-Wide Web and, in particular, a power law type of growth. In order to visualise the network of web pages, we have followed N. Gilbert's (1997) methodology of scientometric simulation, assuming that web pages can be represented by points in the plane. Furthermore, the simulated graph is found to possess the property of small worlds, as it is the case with a large number of other complex networks.


1998 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
pp. 12-20 ◽  
Author(s):  
R. S. Slack

This paper argues that the World Wide Web provides a unique opportunity for sociological explication. It contends that sociological uses of the Internet for publication purposes have not as yet taken full advantage of the technology available, producing web facsimiles of printed pages. It highlights the potential for undertaking inquiries which employ the multimedia aspects of WWW technology and extends some of the insights from ethnomethodology and conversation analysis regarding retrievable data.


2021 ◽  
Vol 58 (1) ◽  
pp. 1853-1858
Author(s):  
Lesko Natalia Vladimirovna Et al.

The features of the Internet as a leading institution of information law in the XXI century have been studied in the article. It has been determined that a characteristic feature of the Internet is that geographical boundaries do not play any role here. The Internet space is an electronic information space of communications for which there are no borders. That is why it is difficult to ensure effective legal regulation of the Internet, as there is no systematic legislation regulating the relevant types of relations on the World Wide Web, besides, there are objective features of the Internet functioning. It has been stated that an important point of solving the problems of using the Internet is the adoption of the Laws: "On the protection of freedom on the Internet", "On e-democracy", "On distance learning on the Internet". It has been noted that in modern society, the Internet has made it possible to influence greatly the life of every person. As a result of globalization processes, the World Wide Web performs the function of forming a person's world-view. Unfortunately, standards that do not conform to the ideas of humanism are often promoted on the Internet. New forms of communication on the Internet have led to the separation of the culture function of this means of mass communication, as a result of which a specific information culture is being formed. Thus, an important factor in building a global information society is the formation of the individual new information culture on the Internet network.


BMJ ◽  
1995 ◽  
Vol 311 (7019) ◽  
pp. 1552-1556 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. Pallen

2020 ◽  
Vol 2 ◽  
pp. 80-85
Author(s):  
Natavan Kamilova ◽  

In this article we made an attempt to resolve a problem, which impends over our society. Getting involved in the Internet, using social network language, humanity, distorting their language, forget about great traditions of each nation, about originality, harmony, euphony of a language. In this case, we are talking about rich and expressive Russian language.


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