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The local culture of the global internet

By Jacob Aron

18 May 2011

THE internet allows nearly everyone on the planet to publish and access information from almost anywhere, forging its users into one giant, global culture. Or so we are led to believe. As Cyrus Farivar tells it in The Internet of Elsewhere, a number of nations have been transformed by getting online – but for some the results couldn’t be more different.

South Korea became a modern-day cyber-future, with televised video-game tournaments and plans for a city where even the doors and garbage bins are networked. Contrast that with Senegal, which relies on public cybercafes rather than home connections, despite being one…

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