Global Village

The concept of the entire world being one community linked by telecommunication technologies. The term also is used metaphorically to describe both the Internet and the World Wide Web.

Coinage of the term has been attributed to the Canadian media scholar Marshall McLuhan, who first used it in 1962. Preceding McLuhan in the concept of a world connected by technology, however, was the Belgian Paul Otlet. Before his death in 1944, Otlet predicted that the technologies of cinema, telephone, radio, and television would bring the world together, that seated in an armchair, everyone would be able not only to see and hear but also to participate by applauding, giving an ovation, adding a voice to the cries of appreciation, or singing with the chorus.

The global village is historical in scope and has political ramifications. Some economists and media specialists applaud the global village as a means of promoting commerce, democracy, and the exchange of ideas; others criticize it as cultural or media imperialism.