Contemporary International Law Issues: Emergence of the World Wide Web – A Glimpse into the Social Reality of the Peoples Republic of China

2010 ◽  
Author(s):  
David M. Cantor
2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael Dick

Since it was first formally proposed in 1990 (and since the first website was launched in 1991), the World Wide Web has evolved from a collection of linked hypertext documents residing on the Internet, to a "meta-medium" featuring platforms that older media have leveraged to reach their publics through alternative means. However, this pathway towards the modernization of the Web has not been entirely linear, nor will it proceed as such. Accordingly, this paper problematizes the notion of "progress" as it relates to the online realm by illuminating two distinct perspectives on the realized and proposed evolution of the Web, both of which can be grounded in the broader debate concerning technological determinism versus the social construction of technology: on the one hand, the centralized and ontology-driven shift from a human-centred "Web of Documents" to a machine-understandable "Web of Data" or "Semantic Web", which is supported by the Web's inventor, Tim Berners-Lee, and the organization he heads, the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C); on the other, the decentralized and folksonomy-driven mechanisms through which individuals and collectives exert control over the online environment (e.g. through the social networking applications that have come to characterize the contemporary period of "Web 2.0"). Methodologically, the above is accomplished through a sustained exploration of theory derived from communication and cultural studies, which discursively weaves these two viewpoints together with a technical history of recent W3C projects. As a case study, it is asserted that the forward slashes contained in a Uniform Resource Identifier (URI) were a social construct that was eventually rendered extraneous by the end-user community. By focusing On the context of the technology itself, it is anticipated that this paper will contribute to the broader debate concerning the future of the Web and its need to move beyond a determinant "modernization paradigm" or over-arching ontology, as well as advance the potential connections that can be cultivated with cognate disciplines.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael Dick

Since it was first formally proposed in 1990 (and since the first website was launched in 1991), the World Wide Web has evolved from a collection of linked hypertext documents residing on the Internet, to a "meta-medium" featuring platforms that older media have leveraged to reach their publics through alternative means. However, this pathway towards the modernization of the Web has not been entirely linear, nor will it proceed as such. Accordingly, this paper problematizes the notion of "progress" as it relates to the online realm by illuminating two distinct perspectives on the realized and proposed evolution of the Web, both of which can be grounded in the broader debate concerning technological determinism versus the social construction of technology: on the one hand, the centralized and ontology-driven shift from a human-centred "Web of Documents" to a machine-understandable "Web of Data" or "Semantic Web", which is supported by the Web's inventor, Tim Berners-Lee, and the organization he heads, the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C); on the other, the decentralized and folksonomy-driven mechanisms through which individuals and collectives exert control over the online environment (e.g. through the social networking applications that have come to characterize the contemporary period of "Web 2.0"). Methodologically, the above is accomplished through a sustained exploration of theory derived from communication and cultural studies, which discursively weaves these two viewpoints together with a technical history of recent W3C projects. As a case study, it is asserted that the forward slashes contained in a Uniform Resource Identifier (URI) were a social construct that was eventually rendered extraneous by the end-user community. By focusing On the context of the technology itself, it is anticipated that this paper will contribute to the broader debate concerning the future of the Web and its need to move beyond a determinant "modernization paradigm" or over-arching ontology, as well as advance the potential connections that can be cultivated with cognate disciplines.


2021 ◽  
Vol 8 (9) ◽  
pp. 34-38
Author(s):  
Jingyin Xu ◽  

As one of the most eminent business groups in Chinese history, Chaoshan merchants have left footprints in a great many of places throughout the world and built up world-wide Chaozhou guild halls, sites with multiple functions range from supporting their countrymen, worshiping the gods in Chaoshan culture, dealing with commercial issues to holding many other activities that strengthen the cultural identity of the Chaoshan people. The historical sites can still be seen in Beijing, Shanghai, Suzhou, Guangzhou, Shantou, Hongkong and other cities in China as well as quantities of overseas districts. This essay will take some of the Chaozhou guild halls as research subject to examine how the buildings serve as social bond and how the social functions of the architectures are related to the cohesiveness. This essay argues that the construction of the Chaozhou guild halls root in Chaoshan people’s idea of solidarity, but the power of intensifying Chanshan people’s cultural identity lies heavily on the constructions’ social functions, in that the daily life, decision, and action of Chaoshan merchants are made to associate with the place closely. Numerous historical events took place in the guild halls engage into historical progression, and the guilds halls evolved into the chamber of commerce after establishment of the People’s Republic of China, which indicates the significance of looking at the historical architectures from the perspective of cultural studies.


2004 ◽  
Vol 32 (2) ◽  
pp. 474-487
Author(s):  
Lyonette Louis-Jacques

When the organizers of the IALL Course on International Law Librarianship asked me to speak on resources on the World Wide Web related to the theme of the Course, “New Rights – New Laws: Legal Information in a Changing World,” I spent some time thinking about the theme. What do we mean by “new rights – new laws?” Do we really mean “changing rights, changing laws?” And what do we mean by a “changing world?” Are we talking about societies in the process of transition or that have undergone transition? Are we really talking about post-Communist Eastern Europe? Post-apartheid South Africa? The U.S. after September 11 – post-attack America? Post-conflict Iraq? The mega-changes in these societies can present threats to human dignity and rights. Times of upheaval, conflict, and political instability endanger basic human rights such as the rights to freedom of opinion, freedom of religion, freedom of movement, and freedom from arbitrary detention.


2009 ◽  
Author(s):  
Blair Williams Cronin ◽  
Ty Tedmon-Jones ◽  
Lora Wilson Mau

2019 ◽  
pp. 3-6
Author(s):  
D. A. Bogdanova

The article provides an overview of the activities of the European Union Forum on kids' safety in Internet — Safer Internet Forum (SIF) 2019, which was held in Brussels, Belgium, in November 2019. The current Internet risks addressed by the World Wide Web users, especially children, are described.


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