Globalization is the process that has completely changed the ways of how the world may operate in different spheres of life. On the one hand, globalization destroys several barriers that have recently deprived people of numerous opportunities like distant communication, fast exchange of information, and software improvements by the users’ needs. On the other hand, it creates several problems like technological, social, or economic inequality as not all countries can meet new standards and correspond to all global expectations.
Are there some problems with globalization? Can it happen that globalization forces may influence the future Information Technologies, Computer Software development, etc.? Current paper aims at answering such questions and defining the connection between globalization and computer information system based on Friedman’s works and personal observations.
In spite of the fact that globalization may be defined as a serious problem in different spheres of life, it is wrong to believe that the future of IT may undergo negative effects; it seems to be more reasonable to use globalization as a powerful source of inspiration, an engine, or a motivation to improve, create, and promote better living conditions.
For a long period, people used to think that globalization is something urgent that cannot be neglected. It was necessary to strive for some global improvements, promote innovations, and gain a new portion of knowledge in the possible fastest way. Nowadays, innovations in information technology become affordable for many people, change their sizes, and open a whole new world of opportunities for people at home, work, or school.
Still, there are many groups of people who are not satisfied with the effects globalization brings to society. People cannot understand the essence of the globalization process as they cannot understand what globalization can make. Globalization becomes a problem because people do not want to spend more time and define its pure nature, its purposes, and abilities.
This is why the experts, for example, the IT representatives and all whose, who get their Computer Information System degrees, should make use of their knowledge and practices and provide society with clear and credible explanations of how useful the effects of globalization can be.
In fact, globalization is the process that speeds up the interactions between people from different parts of the world, stretches out the relations of different levels and makes it possible that the decisions of one country have certain consequences in another country, and provides each as well as some huge corporations with a kind of cyber freedom.
There are many reasons to believe that the forces of globalization affect the future of the world in a variety of ways. People want to believe that globalization is something that can change their lives for better. At the same time, people cannot trust this process as they are not always able to gain control over it. Thomas Friedman introduces a powerful statement that “globalization has gone to a whole new level” (The World Is Flat 9).
He also underlines the fact that the relations between globalization and the information technologies have gone “from connected to hyper-connected” (“A Theory of Everything (Sort Of)” para. 3). In other words, the investigations of this writer show that globalization gains different qualities and new characteristics. And Friedman’s main point is that all these changes were taking place “while I was sleeping, and I had missed it.
I wasn’t really sleeping, but I was otherwise engaged” (The World Is Flat 8). It is possible to give many explanations of why people are not able to follow all the changes brought by globalization: weak opportunities, laziness, unpreparedness, etc. However, it is also necessary to remember that globalization presents a number of new possibilities that seek to close technology gaps (Kemeny 2).
This is why the analysis of the issue concerning the relation between globalization and, for example, information technologies is one of those open-ended questions that cannot be provided with one particular answer.
Key points and evidence offered by different researchers as well as personal investigations and the evaluation of the current situation and the prospects of the future career help to understand that the search for alternatives and the analysis of globalization from different perspectives is one of the most appropriate ways that can be chosen.
There are many interesting opportunities to prove that globalization may have a positive effect on the future of any career, and the career of an IT expert as well. The only thing that is required is a personal desire and faith that globalization can lead helpful and affordable ideas.
Friedman says that there are all chances to make globalization “workable, sustainable, and fair for more people” (551). His experience and real-life stories explain that globalization may become a problem in case it is wrongly understood or taken in a bad time. However, it does not take much time and efforts to change the situation, evaluate new possibilities, and make use of globalization to succeed in a future task or action.
Globalization is rather beneficial due to the possibilities available to different people. Thanks to Skype, children can support real-life communication with their parents from different parts of the world. Thanks to Twitter, absolutely unknown people may share information. And thanks to Google, it becomes possible to find any kind of information about anything. Nowadays, it is hard to imagine our life without such devices like iPads, iPhones, cheap Internet, notebooks, etc.
All this is possible due to the process of globalization, and people should not forget about it. All they need is to pay attention to the offered alternative and spend more time analyzing this process and its offers. The future careers of the students, who are going to get their Computer Information System degrees, are able to open a charming world of globalization to many people. Such experts should be ready to find a link between an ordinary person, his/her needs, and a technology that may be used to improve life.
In general, globalization should be regarded as a problem. It should be used as an amazing opportunity to change this life and use the facilities that can help. Of course, much work has to be done to comprehend the essence of globalization and its effects on different spheres of life.
Friedman’s work aims at explaining that globalization is a very insidious thing that has to be treated properly. Personal knowledge and experience show that globalization may be properly understood and explained by good specialists. There is no need to make definite conclusions about globalization and treat it as pure good or bad thing. It has many sides, and people are free to choose their attitude to get a possibility and enjoy the propositions and improvements brought by globalization to the modern world.
Works Cited
Friedman, Thomas, L. The World Is Flat: A Brief History of the Twenty-First Century, New York, NY: Picador, 2007. Print.
Friedman, Thomas, L. “A Theory of Everything (Sort Of).” The New York Times. 2011. Web.
Kemeny, Thomas. “Are International Technology Gaps Growing or Shrinking in the Age of Globalization?” Journal of Economic Geography. 11.1 (2011): 1-35. Web.