Globalisation: taking it further..

1) Why was Google Glass controversial?

Google Glass is controversial because it may lead to its users being less engaged in conversations which may cause a fall in social confidence. It also causes uncertainty in the way people who use it may not pay attention to you talking to them, leading to a loss of concentration around those who are around you- causing a sense of alienation between those who are not using the technology. It is also controversial because of the privacy issues that are concerned with Google Glass, the device has the ability to film what the user is looking at, and this is causing concern in the way it could mean that Google Glass users can go around filming people without their permission. Sound recording and face recognition capabilities could also mean that conversations can easily be recorded and people could be picked out from a crowd easily, enforcing a loss of security.


2) What are the positive elements to Globalisation that the article highlights?

The article talks about how Google Glass will allow for users to do everyday tasks such as sending texts, answering calls record footage and surf the Internet in a more seamless and instant way instead of using your smartphone to carry out these frequent tasks. This may positively impact globalisation in the way it allows users to be connected with similar communication technologies. Google Glass will allow for its users to be connected on a worldwide scale and will allow them to share their own user-generated content to a worldwide audience which ultimately varies and expands another users media consumption. This will therefore mean that Google Glass, as well as the Internet, will help users come into contact with media products and services and allow them to explore, experience and consume on a larger scale than ever before.


3) What are potential negatives to Globalisation?

The potential negatives which the article covers it that it may be hard for new and emerging world-socities to adapt to the rapid advancements in technology. When Google Glass will be available to consumers worldwide, it may not be something that everyone will be used to and may cause difficulties between users. This therefore may impact how influential and popular Google's addition may be. Another disadvantage to globalisation is that it may result in a loss of culture and traditional values if a large companies comes and has a large influence over the way a country consumes and communicates using media. It would change the ways a country may do things which may be a disadvantage as it would force a sense of a global village. It would also mean that these large companies would be having access to even more personal data about its users all over the world, causing an increase in privacy and security issues and concerns.


4) What is a techno-panic? How does it link to moral panics?
A techno-panic is a moral panic which primarily focuses on fears regarding new and emerging technologies. It links to moral panic in the way it creates fear amongst audiences and users when a change occurs in society. So as there has been a technological advancement from Google, it has created fear amongst many individuals regarding the social and ethical issues that the new technology has bought as a result, leading to a techno-panic.


5) What is your opinion on the privacy debate and major corporations being able to access large quantities of personal data?
In my opinion, I think that large companies should, to some extent, have access to our personal data as it enables them to make our lives easier. By companies having our personal data, they know the purchasing habits of their consumers and could recommend and save products which are frequently bought, making shopping easier for consumers, for example. However, by allowing these large companies to have access to our personal data, it creates the issue of whether how secure and safe the data that is held about us is, and how it is being used, it could be used in ways the consumer does not know and it also might've been sold to marketing companies in order to attract the attention of users to adverts related to their search and purchase history. These issues pose the issue of our personal data being wrongly used and whether or not we should allow these companies to exploit millions of users. If consumers know what data is being held of them and how it is being used, I don't see a problem to why they can't have access to it, however there still must still be a level of privacy that is enforced and companies should not be able to have access and store everything about a particular individual.