ICTs as a Tool for Cultural Dominance: Prospects for a Two-Way Street

Abstract

While the case for information and communication technologies (ICTs) for development is largely accepted, it should be remembered that ICTs carry embedded in them sets of cultural assumptions. Efforts to close the digital divide are insufficient if those efforts remain oblivious to the cultural dominance of English language content available on the Internet. This paper discusses how the proliferation of the Internet has resulted in a cultural homogenisation via the lingua franca of the Internet, English. It then discusses the case of Latin American Internet portals to illustrate how local content provision on the Internet can be successful in attracting a local audience.