Video Transcript: Technology and Globalization

The next section that we're going to look at is technology and its impact on  globalization. What you should do is make this a new heading in your book, and  be writing summary notes as you go. Increases in technology over the years  have played a major role in increasing globalization. The main changes that  have occurred that have influenced globalization are changes in transport  technology and changes in ICT, which is commonly the words used for  information communication technology. First technology change we're going to  have a look at is in the field of transport. Ventures in transport have encouraged  rapid growth in world travel and trade. So the main changes which have affected globalization in terms of transport are faster air transport. Now, once upon a  time, people didn't really travel very much, and I bet that most of you have been  on a plane by now and have traveled overseas, whereas when I was growing  up, air travel wasn't very common at all, due to the cost and also due to there  being not as many airlines as what there are now. So faster air transport has  actually increased tourism. When people get on a plane, they go somewhere,  actually spending money in another country. And that has increased tourism as  well. Workforces have been able to become global. So what's happened is that  people can work here in Newcastle and then jump on a plane and be over at  another office relating to their work, in no time. Workforces also becoming  global. Relates back to transnational corporations, which we talked about last  lesson, products can also be sent over the world quickly. Most of you have  probably bought things online and had them carried to you very quickly, and  that's usually via air transport or via ship. Before air travel, people would travel  by trains and ships, and it took much longer. This diagram shows us what we  refer to as the shrinking globe. So it doesn't mean that the world is getting  smaller, but it means that improvements in transport and technology have  actually made it easier for us to either get to the other side of the world or to  communicate with the other side of the world, as you can see in the 1500s horse drawn court coaches and sailing trips, ships traveled 14 kilometers an hour,  whereas now we can send internet messages which transfer around the world  within a second. So just pause for a second and have a look at how these  improvements in technology have actually contributed to the shrinking globe.  The second change in technology relating to transport is ocean shipping. Now I  know you mostly think of technology as being electronical things, but actually  ocean shipping, there have been major changes which have now increased,  how quickly products can get can travel across the world. So shipping is now  more efficient and economical in the past, and the reason for this is the  introduction of super tankers. But you've got a picture of a super tanker there,  and we all know about super tankers through the transport of coal out of the  Newcastle harbor. These tankers also take away bulk cargo such as oil and  wheat. The other technological advancement in terms of transport is  containerization. So that's goods actually be packed on these containers. And 

we've all seen containers before, but have a look at how many containers they  can actually fit on these ships. I think it's actually quite amazing. So this the  containers are actually packed at factories, and then they are transported by  either rail or road to the ports, and then they are packed onto the ship by cranes. So this really began in 1956 and container size were actually standardized in  1961 so second huge change that's occurred in technology is obviously  information communication technology in the past, distance people live from  each other affected how quickly they could pass information to one another.  Now, due to satellites and cables, we actually connected and we are able to  communicate, you know, within seconds, with other people on the other side of  the world. Improvements in telecommunications and computerizations have led  to this technology relating to telecommunications of fiber optic cables and  satellites. So the cables were developed in 1970s and they actually carry phone  calls and digital information for the internet and cable TV. These cables are  under the sea and they're on land in big cities. Then you've got satellites which  transmit messages via space very quickly and cheaply. Satellites are also  involved in GPS, which is global positioning system. And we know we have  GPSs in our car, but we're also able to have them on our phones. Now here's a  diagram of one company's cables that are actually going under the sea. So now  it's a bit hard to see, but you can tell by the positioning of land that these cables  are actually traveling quite a long way. Had a YouTube clip for you, which I can't  show you on this video, but the link is at the bottom there if you want to have a  look at it, and it actually shows you how these undersea cables are positioned in place. It's quite amazing. So have two graphs here for you. Let's focus on the  one on the left first, and it's relating to global ICT developments between the  year 2000-2010 so this is a line graph, and you can see by the different colored  lines what each section means. What you're looking at across the bottom is the  change in time. So between 2000 and 2010 and your other axis is showing you  per 100 people who who are in the world. So you can see what's risen quite  dramatically, is the top line, which is blue and that is mobile. So you can see that between 2000 and 2010 the amount of people per 100 in the world who had  mobiles has risen from just over 10 up to 76 so it's saying every Sep out of  every 100 people in the world, 76 of them have a mobile. The next line is  internet. So every 100 people in the world, 30 people have access to internet.  And that's just increasing as time goes on. If you have a look at the other bar  graph down on the right hand side, this is mobile phones per 100 people, but it's just in the Lesser Developed countries. So this is just to show you that the  number of mobile phones has actually increased from 2000 to where probably  only one person in every 100 in less developed countries had a phone, whereas in 2010 it's more, you know, around 33 every every 100 people 33 had phones.  So phones are actually quite popular. Now it would be interesting to see what  the 2014 statistics are. so computerization is the other technology which has 

occurred in terms of ICT, which has changed the way that we are  communicating around the world. So computerization enables the storage,  retrieval and movement of information. If you have a look, there's a link there,  and even if you type into Google, PC, mag, history of the computer, and just  have a scroll through and see how the computer has changed in the many years that it's been around. Obviously, now the internet allows information to be  accessed and shared quickly, and businesses are able to become more global  because they can now communicate, trade and advertise via the computer.  Here's a little timeline of what's been happening on the with regards to the  internet over the years. So just pause and have a look at how things have  changed since 1969 and when the internet actually came out during the late  1980s there's a term called the digital divide, and it's important that you write  some notes on this and that you also enter this into your glossary. Term. The  digital divide relates to the gap between people who've got access to technology and the people who don't have access to technology. So we know that  computers and internet give people improved education, and then improved  education leads to higher wages, so the people living in countries with limited  access to computers and the internet are therefore disadvantaged, and this is  the digital divide. So the divide can occur within countries, and might refer to just inequalities between individuals, households, businesses or areas, but the  divide between countries or regions of the world is called the global digital  divide. So you might not think about this, but there are also people in Australia  who are disadvantaged in terms of their technology and access to the internet  and mobile communication. So this mostly occurs in rural areas, but also in  people who are from poorer communities. This table shows you the difference  between internet users in the developed world and in the developing world. So if you look at the blue line graph first, and you look at the 2014 estimate, it's  actually showing you that 77 out of 100 people are users of the internet in the  developed or richer countries, whereas in the developing world, you only have  31% of people who are using the internet. But that's changed quite remarkably  from 1997 so just pause for a minute, have a look at the graph and and see the  huge differences between the developed and developing countries. These  tables give you a little bit more information about worldwide internet users. So  you have a look at the first table on the left. It's showing you the difference  between people using the internet in 2005, 2010 and 2013, so if you go down to  the bottom two lines, it's showing you users in the developing world, so it's  poorer countries, has risen from 8% up to 31% so that's quite a big jump, and  users in the developed world has increased from 51% in 2005, up until 77% in  2013 the table down on the right hand side is looking at different regions. So if  we're looking at a developing country like Africa, in 2005 only 2% of the  population had access to the internet, and that climbed to 20 in 2013 to 16%  whereas if you have a look at America, 36% were using the internet, and 20 in 

2005 and that increased up to 61% in 2013 just as you finish up today, I want  you to have a think about how your life would be different without computers and the internet. When to make a list in your book of all the activities you couldn't do  if we didn't have access to all of this technology today. The other thing I want  you to do is talk to your parents about how their lives have changed with  improvements in technology and transport, because changes have actually  been really quite dramatic over the past 20 to 30 years. So ask them, Did they  travel when they were a child and how changes in technology have affected  their jobs?