- Cyberbalkanization
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Cyberbalkanization refers to the division of the world wide web into sub-groups with specific interests, to the extent that a sub-group's members almost always use the web to communicate or read material that is only of interest to the rest of the sub-group. It is sometimes hyphenated as cyber-balkanization.
Many claim that the term was first used in an MIT paper by Marshall Van Alstyne and Erik Brynjolfsson that was published in a conference in late 1996.[1] The concept was also discussed in a related article in the journal Science that same year.[2]
Contents
Origin
The term is a hybrid of:
- cyber - relating to the internet, and
- Balkanization, a phenomenon that takes its name from the Balkans, a part of Europe that was historically subdivided by languages, religions and cultures.
Usage
Cyberbalkanization occurs when members of specific interest groups tend to use the internet to exclude views that contradict their cherished beliefs and theories. In his 2001 book Republic.com, Cass Sunstein argued that cyberbalkanization could damage democracy, because the internet allowed different groups to avoid exposure to one another as they gathered in increasingly segregated communities, making recognition of other points of view or common ground decreasingly likely.
Commentators like Aleks Krotoski consider that Jihadist groups often use the internet in this way.[3]
See also
- Splinternet
- Epistemic closure
- Interaction frequency
Notes
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