Beyond Words: Languages on the Web

For this blog post, I would like to blog about a blog (so 2014 of me, I know). While browsing EchoDitto the other day, I came across a blog post about language on the web. In the post, author Conor Walsh challenges the idea that we have entered an information revolution of easily accessible content on the web. Written word is still one of the cheapest and most efficient avenues of communicating on the web. Though non-text media sharing has exploded in recent years, pictures, videos, and intuitive design cost quite a bit. And with the internet becoming more and more connected around the world, we risk marginalizing those languages in which the writing systems do not exist or are not available. If you can’t read or write your language, like some oral cultures we discussed in class, the internet becomes virtually useless. Despite this, however, Walsh contends that we are nothing if not resourceful in the technological age. Instead of technology being a hindrance to minority languages, it can be rethought for benefit—like Google’s attempt to expand natural language capability in its Translate feature and an increase of mobile applications assisting minority language communities.

After reading this blog post, I thought of the Thurlow article when he speaks of language as a technology for global capital (p. 232). He speaks of the shift from manufacture-based to service-based economics (represented in the majority of the internet), and how this facilitates a semioticized, or “textually mediated,” discourse. This reliance on textually mediated discourse is exactly what Walsh is speaking of in his post. Given that this text-based discourse is not likely to change soon, how will we level the playing field for minority languages on the web? What effect does the dominance of English create?