What happens when a culture with no Internet access suddenly becomes the recipient of all-you-can-eat Internet capacity, for free?
That's a question that's being answered live, right now, waaaaaaay out in the middle of the South Pacific Ocean in the teeny tiny community of Tokelau (pop 1,449).
What's happened is that a Dutch Internet entrepreneur, one Joost Zuurbier, has struck a deal with the Tokelauan government to sell Internet addresses with Tokelau's .tk domain. Zuurbier's company, Dot TK, makes money from charging for domain registrations, and then gives the islanders a cut.
In addition – and this is the big anthropological game changer – the Tokelauans now get unlimited broadband Internet access for free.
And, just like that, with a click of the Giant Internet Mouse, an indigenous island culture dating back a thousand years is wiped off the map – poof! – to be replaced by… well, what exactly? Web 2.0 social networking? Rap downloads? YouTube videos?
The Guardian, our favorite left-leaning Brit organ, takes a cheerleading position in its article on Tokelau's very own Internet evolution, saying that selling its Web domain has put the "tiny nation on the map." The problem is Tokelau was already on the map (Look! There it is! It's right there!) and had been for at least a millennium. In terms of culture, it's more accurate to say that the Internet just wiped Tokelau off the map.
Just because Tokelau didn't have-high speed Internet access doesn't mean that it didn't exist, or that people living there weren't happy off-net Tokelauans – a point that Guardian reporter Sally Whittle (not to be confused with Willy Spottle) misses completely in her effusive reportage.
"Tokelau's young people used to swim and surf in their spare time, or played a Tokelauan version of cricket called Kilikiti," chirps Whittle. "Today, they're just as likely to be downloading music or updating MySpace or Bebo pages."
And this, my friends, is considered progress? Really? Because, personally, a bracing dip followed by a spot of Kilikiti sounds pretty darn good to me.
But wait, The Guardian has more: "In fact, so many of the island's 100 children are using Bebo.com that the island's minister has set up his own Bebo page to talk to his young parishioners."
Let's get this straight: Tokelau is frickin' tiny; a cluster of three atolls (though, oddly, without a single "atoll booth") covering an area of less than five square miles. BEFORE they had Internet access, the Reverend Mister used to talk to the young people living there. AFTER they got Internet access he now has to communicate with them by posting message on a social networking site hosted in (where else?) San Francisco.
All is not doom and gloom, however: "For... teenage Tokes, Bebo provides a platform for dating, flirting and showing off. Nineteen-year-old Luke's Bebo page cites his favourite music as 'anythan dat mk da girlz get lo'. Still, island culture hasn't completely disappeared - Luke's page also gives a 'shout out' to the church and his minister ('he da SHIZZ!')."
Well, alright then. Glad the traditional island culture continues to thrive.
Now, wait for it: Virtual Kilikiti from Nintendo!
OK, so giving the islanders of Tokelau free broadband Internet access may not rank up there in the list of "really bad things you can export to a foreign culture" – like the small pox virus, the Asian longhorn Beetle, organized religion, or Brangelina (though it's certainly much more of a party foul than Spain sending us the Macarena).
More importantly, it raises some Big. Important. Questions – like "Is the Internet really such a great thing?"
Consider that Tokelau is what the people who build communications networks call a "greenfield site" (except it's not green and there are no fields); a place with pretty much zero existing communications infrastructure, where the network can be built from scratch. In that sense, its early experience affords us a unique glimpse into both the good and the bad of the Internet.
On the plus side, Tokelauans now get to communicate easily and cheaply with those who have been voted off the island (though, arguably, a low-cost satellite phone service would let them do the same thing). They also get to make a spot of money from the registrations on the Dot TK site.
On the minus side of the ledger, with Internet connectivity and income have come problems for the Tokelauans. The island's elders have already had to ask Dot TK to eliminate porn and extremist propaganda from its servers (welcome to the Internet, guys). McAfee has listed the tk domain as host to some of the world's most dangerous Web addresses – saying more than 10 percent of all Websites registered out of Tokelau put users at risk of viruses and phishing attacks. (Dot TK claims it's since solved this issue by banning popups from its service.)
And this month Dot TK and the government of Tokelau announced that it has temporarily had to suspend paid registrations due to overwhelming demand. "After our visit to Western Europe last month we have seen an enormous increase in new registrations," Tino Vitale, General Manager of Tokelau's communications company, Teletok, is quoted as saying. "But with our small community of just over 1,000 people we don't want any problems with corporations wanting to protect their trademarks."
Ubiquity is supposed to be one of the Internet's greatest features. But hearing that the "tubes" now reach all the way to Tokelau just made me sad. I'm not going all misty eyed about a place I've never been to (and, now, never will), but it strikes me that there's something imperialistic and arrogant about assuming that every culture in the world would automatically be better for Internet access.
But what do you think? Please click on the poll below to let me know, or just post a message on the board at the bottom of this blog.
The article raises questions, simple ones, about whether the Internet is good or bad for culture (not just theirs, but ours). Your suggested approach to analyzing this isn't very helpful; it just goes off into an academic spiral of maybes (as you note, you haven't done your homework).
It's not automatically condescending or patronizing to write about a remote culture just because you haven't been there. In fact, if writers were limited to writing only about places they had personally visited, technologies they had personally used, medical procedures they had personally undergone (etc., to an infinity horizon) then they wouldn't really be able to write about much, would they?
It would certainly be possible to write about a remote culture in a condescending and patronizing way but my article doesn't do that, and neither do the other messages posted to this board.
I think you are *assuming* that people are being patronizing to the Toeklauans, which is a bad thing to do, because you risk effectively being patronizing and condescending yourself ("you people on this board can't possibly understand the Tokelauans because you haven't been there").
I do like your idea of inviting some Tokelauans to participate on the board. Why don't you do that? They are all hanging out on Bebo, apparently.
I think that some, or many, people here perceive the question of "Tokelauan community vs internet" as a problem of culture shock. But seeing this as culture shock is essentializing (culture as essence not process) and romanticizing (culture as something to reminisce, not to work on). In my opinion it is more productive to frame this problem as a problem of access, as I said earlier.
If we see it as a problem of access, then we start to ask who decides what and who gets how much. Then we can insert children and women into this equation (not to insert children into the narrative of "Bebo network", but whether they have a say on this or not). And then we can follow that with a question of skill access; whether they have the skill needed to manage hardware and software to maintain their access or they become dependent on some power beyond their control. This way, we can sidestep of being patronizing and condescending. Am I making myself clear?
But, again, we don't know the answer about these questions. Why don't we invite someone from Tokelau to discuss this with us?
"Is the problem of "cultural shock" best understood as a material problem (distribution of resources and political power to regulate) or is it a (formal/substantial information) skill problem? "
Don't understand what this means. What does it mean?
I don't think that this discussion has much substance to it. So little we know about Tokelau community to say whether the decision to sell their .tk address is a democratic decision or not. Or if democracy is already culturally biased concept, then we don't know if the decision is taken in a socially and politically justified way. The result is that we are not trying to describe what the problem is, but, imho, lavishly talking about who we are.
What if we frame our discussion using the term of access as defined by this guy (van dijk) to help us clarify what we mean? Access can be understood in sequential fashion, starting from motivational access, then material, skill, and then usage access. Is the problem of "cultural shock" best understood as a material problem (distribution of resources and political power to regulate) or is it a (formal/substantial information) skill problem?
I don't know the answer, I haven't done my homework, doing more research on this.
According to Wikipedia (and when was the last time that those guys were wrong?) Tokelau has had broadband Internet since 2003 so I don't fear culture shock for the islanders. They also have satellite TV.
It seems to me that the big story here is the abuse of the domain name system by a greedy Internet company and a small island nation. Tokelau is selling it's ".tk" country code top-level domain name to anyone who wants their own special Internet address. In fact, Tokelau has been very successful...... increasing their GDP by 10% by selling its domain name to the world.
Anyone can rename their web address for free. The example used on their web site is:Rename this web address (URL):
http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&geocode=&
time=&date=&ttype=&q=8+Berwick+Street,+London&s
ll=37.0625,-95.677068&sspn=43.294656,77.695313&
ie=UTF8&ll=51.516274,-0.134497&spn=0.008332,0.0
18969&z=15&om=1
While I admit that this is a very cool marketing trick (and a good way for Tokelau to make a buck), I don't think it was the intention when the Country code top-level domain names were started.
Well it isssss free.... OK..... call me a hypocrite!
In many ways, I do feel that is is a shame that the internet has taken over this little island.
While the people do have the right to access the internet and to progress, does progress have the right to eliminate cultures to a blurr of what they were just a few years ago?
Yes, we may have gained through progress, but we have lost a lot too. Maybe the world has become a bit too small now. It seems as though progress has something against people trying to keep their own culture. Everything seems to have to meld now. And why? Why does progress have to mean the loss of history or the loss of a simplicity in order to be considered a success?
I make my living off of the internet as well, and although I have seen the positives, I have also seen and still see, all the negatives.
I'm glad these people (and anyone else) have the internet if they want it, but I can't help but mourn for the traditions and culture that it will ultimatly cost them and has cost others in the long run.
' More importantly, it raises some Big. Important. Questions – like "Is the Internet really such a great thing?" '
It is....
(fade up movie speech climax music...)
The Internet is a great equalizer - more equal in some places than others, but hey, even the dictators running China will expire someday - along with their childishly protective filters, and foolish ideas that "thinking" can be controlled - and that they own Tiawan, Tibet, etc.. (Hey China, I recognize Taiwan, there it is, heh, not in your control, ooooh how that must enrage you...sorry, I digress).
When everyone has a voice, people can quit complaining about "the media" or "the government" or "isolation in the pacific Atolls".
So, this Dutchman made the equivalent of the Louisianna purchase from these Island folk - Good for him and good for them.
While we may find pockets of isolated cultures quaint and interesting, they are on the same path of discovery as any of us, just at different spots on that path. Why lament their discoveries?
"Historic" or "Cultural" preservation are individual pursuits - in memory or by active homage, not concepts / values that groups or individuals should be able to impose upon others against their will.
Heck, I yearn for every night to be drag racing, cruising diners, and making out in the back of a muscle car, like American Grafitti, but those days are gone, and there are others to be had.
...so, are there muscle cars in Second Life?
Maybe we can achieve near-perfect historic preservation by documenting and preserving our vast array of cultures and historic periods within sub-worlds in Second Life?
"...hmm, let's see, tonight I shall enjoy the quaint oppression, austere entertainment and architecture of North Korea, circa 1974!"
This argument could be made for any kind of significant progress hitting a remote "developing" tribe or community. In this case, it was the Internet, but it could have just as easily been a large construction project dumping sudden wealth into the community, some industrial or production business going in, or just plain social "infection" from surrounding communities.
This world continues to shrink rapidly. There is no location on the blue marble that is inaccessible. ALL of the world's developing tribes, communities, and nations are in the midst of rapid evolution at the moment or soon will be. We are all pretty smart little monkeys, so when we see a better idea, we tend to assimilate that idea rapidly into our lives. This ultimately means that change is inevitable, and spending energy and resources in an attempt to stop the change from happening (supression of people's desires) is pointless and only serves to make the changes happen more quickly.
The "trick" for communities in the midst of this change is to both embrace it and at the same time, keep the traditions of their people alive in meaningful ways. It does not have to be a choice of one vs the other.
It's interesting to note that no-one is saying
exactly how big the Tokelauan's cut of Dot TK's revenues is, though it's
been reported that the deal has allowed them to increase their GDP by 10
percent. That sounds pretty darn impressive until you learn that the GDP of
the island is about $2 million. In other words, Joost Zuurbier, nervey Dutch Internet chancer extraordinaire, seems to have built his domain registration business on the back of the Tokelau Internet domain by paying the locals a mere $200,000 a year -
raising the question of whether his first offer to the Tokelauan government
was that traditional gambit of colonists everywhere: beads and grain
alcohol.
Wouldn't Tokelau be one of those remote places that used to have a hard time keeping young people on the island as they grow up, since there is are no colleges, few jobs and limited choices for entertainment (say you're not into surfing or kilikiti, then what)? I imagine many people are leaving for New Zealand to get education, jobs, and don't return. Now at least there's a better chance that people will return back to their community if they're able to work their jobs remotely.
So yes, I think it's a good thing, but I haven't submitted a vote yet, since I'm not too sure about the Starbucks part...
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