When we think of cross-culturalism, we mainly think of trans-global communication. We think of persons from this or that ethnic/social group interacting with members of one very different, perhaps completely different, usually or historically distanced by some barrier, whether it be geography, language, customs and traditions, or some other inability to experience the other culture.
By and large, these gaps have been closed, mainly through the media-–education of the masses through easily obtained sources such as periodicals, magazines, television, movies, and more recently, the Internet. The social distinctions that both identify and separate the many diverse peoples of the globe have been diminished as those removed from "foreign" cultures (whether right next door or around the globe) have been able to familiarize themselves from afar, through careful attention to the media, by research, or by interaction with members of other groups through the World Wide Web. This has resulted, as some have called it, in the coining of the term "The Global Village," as the Internet has afforded chance meetings of people from all corners of the globe, from all walks of life, and allowed interchanges that would not have otherwise been afforded in person.
With the advent of the Internet, and the affordability of home computers and Internet communications, there has been explosive growth in the number of people surfing the web daily. With the citizens came the businesses, online shopping malls, online tax preparation, online pharmacies, online outfitters of whatever the heart may desire. Anything and everything you might otherwise seek out at a mall, shopping center, business office, or government office is now made available to the general public right on the computer screen. You can buy a car online; you can go to school online; you can go to work online; you can set up a business and make money online. Here in the United States, at least, there is little need for students to go to the library until the post-secondary level-–you can find it all on the Web.
In a growing number of countries (should you choose to relocate) the need for a "scouting trip" -- one to discover employment possibilities, to find a place to live, to register kids for school, to question the Chamber of Commerce for particulars–- has been made obsolete. It's all on the Web. Anybody can find it; anybody can buy it; anybody can do it.
As chat-rooms and web-zines and online journals inundate the Web, they bring a new form of real-time social interaction, a new way of listening and speaking to one another, a new way of looking at one another and the world, as well. The Internet brings the advent of this new age, The Information Age, and with it a new form of social interaction, a new kind of culture. This is X-Culture, and with any cultural distinction, you are either in it, or out.
While the rise of X-Culture has been watched and reported and often discussed in news, online journals, web-zines and blogs, there remains a counterpoint; the rise of X-Culture has also produced a new kind of cultural distinction, one that cuts across all social categories, regardless of ethnic, racial, geographical or other characteristic divisions. While the Internet is accessible to many, no matter their age, race, gender, country of origin or even criminal background, there remain many who do not have that access. For some, it may be due simply to location–-many countries have limited, if any, Internet connections available to the public–-while for others it may due their socio-economic status.
Even in 'first-world countries,' where computers are easy to come by and Internet service is widespread, a large number remains with little or no Internet experience. Computers and Internet service may be cheap, but they still cost money. So as a result we have a distinction building between the "haves" and the "have-nots." Not knowing the Web, they do not share the luxury of having virtually anything, whether it be products or education or information, at their fingertips. Having no experience with the Internet, they cannot understand how truly trans-global a web-surfer's knowledge may be. Without the Net, they cannot know much more than what they see and hear in person day to day. The Internet junkie, however, can learn many things, by accident or by concerted effort–-outside their own experience, through an infusion of the vast amounts of information available to them.
That, perhaps, is the fundamental difference-- that through the World Wide Web, one can come to a fuller understanding of the world around them–-and with only moderate hyperbole, there are no limits to what one can do on the Web; anything seems possible. Those who do not share the Web, whether by choice or by no fault of their own, are limited in comparison in their knowledge, and somewhat handicapped.
