How do I become part of electronic culture ?

                   We are living in a world which is dominated by electronic medias. Previously we had only one culture, that was agriculture. That is why Sardar Patel said that “I know only one culture that is agriculture.” The spirit of India lies in its pluralism. The one thing that is common to all these cultures was  Agriculture. Now the contribution of Agriculture to our national economy has decreased a lot. The same is true with its contribution to Indian culture. Now it seems that we have only one culture. That is e-culture. Electronic medias unite us more than Agriculture does. First we had telecommunication technology in the first half of the 20^th century. Then we had interactive communication technology in the latter half of the 20^th century. Both these had their impact on our culture more than one can figure out.

                              During  the time of Kalidasa, human imagination sent messages through cloud messengers. With the arrival of postal service and telegraph, human imagination was materialized. But when the electronic media came, our imagination was dematerialized  again (in the sense that messages in e-world don’t have material existence.) We no longer have cloud messengers now. Even post men are becoming an extincted species.  But we have the thing called the internet with which words reach the destination in the speed of thoughts. This is the essence of the change from cloud messages to short messages.

                            Everybody considers English as the Global Language. But the real Global Language is the Binary Language. Which has only two letters(digits) namely the ‘0’ and ‘1’. Samkhyas of ancient times believed that the world is created by the “Prakriti’ and the ‘Purusha’. Now the digital world is created by the ‘0’s and ‘1’s. Everything in this dualistic world is reduced into 0’s and 1’s.

                      Today it doesn’t matter what my name is. I will be an alpha numeric code or an even longer binary digit in my Election Identity Card or Pan Card. Men with meat and blood are reduced to lifeless digits for the convenience of machine! I am part of this digital world because I live in this world. I become part of electronic culture in the way I live in this world.

                 It will be nice to analyse the changes that happened in the atomic level also. Previously I used to watch festivals and programs on the spot. Now I can watch it in my local TV(even though I don’t prefer it). The essence of the electronic culture that I think is the dematerialization. Previously I used to browse the Library, take books and read. Now I sit at home, browse the web, find the soft copy and read. Previously, as a student, I used to submit assignments in A4 paper. Now I use ‘e’ for paper. But there is one major difference. Previously I wrote in my own handwriting, now I write  in the way any Tom, Dick,  and Harry writes! (There are fonts like ukij sulus Tom font, citizen Dick font, , Harry P font,etc!).

                                   

                                 Just like the digital world is divided by 0’s and 1’s, the citizens of the digital world are divided as 0’s – those who have no access to the internet, and the 1’s – those who have access to the internet. May be at a different level, between those who have high band width access and those who have slow connections as Dr.Rich pointed out in his essay. These are like the Haves and Have nots in the real world. This is what is called as ‘Digital Divide’ ! Now I get one hour’s internet access per day. I don’t know what my position is in this Digital World.  However I hope that things will be much better if the Language Lab is established. It will be best if we get Wi-Fi access in our hostels too. I hope for the best.