FEATURE1 January 2016

Global Phillipines

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Asia Pacific Features Impact Technology

Based on his experience of research in the Philippines, Jim Mott of BAMM discusses the idea that the internet is part of the day-to-day of local cultures, rather than an abstract, globalised experience

Phillipines

Cyberspace – though a somewhat dated term – has come to define our understanding of the internet as a kind of placeless place that stands outside the rest of social life. 

The idea is that when we access the internet, we are stepping into a globalised field of interactions that compresses both time and space in such a way as to make our actual geographical location irrelevant. Online interactions are therefore not considered real or, at least, are seen to be of a different order of reality. 

Alongside this comes the idea of the ‘Panopticon in your pocket’– digital media as a window through which they can observe and understand our behaviour. Everything can then be fed into big data algorithms, by which future dispositions, preferences and choices can be revealed. 

This notion is as compelling for brands as it is sinister for users. But we don’t see it as entirely consistent with our own experiences ...