INTERCULTURAL COMMUNICATION AND NEW MEDIA

Abstract

The 20^th century portrayed power pack mass media platforms and now 21^st century is making us witness revolutionary changes in communication and transportation instilled by new media (ICT) at precipitated speed and thus changing the process of globalization in society.  This inevitably leads to predominantly cultural homogenization and fostering of intercultural dialogue. Up till now communication scientists have ignored intercultural communication as a distinct and discrete field of study or research has raised even more pressing issues for intercultural communication scholars and practitioners. It is imperative for intercultural communication researchers to further formulate strategically critical reflections on established theories and proven methods and to contemplate on past achievements and future directions. This paper explicates the significance of the condensed relationship between new media and intercultural communication, a vibrant discipline.

The multicultural world is enhanced by the experiences of sojourners, immigrants, and others who successfully make the transition from one culture to another†(Kim, 2001) .Last fifty years have witnessed a steep rise in migration and this paper focuses on the ground breaking impact of new media on intercultural communication which has a powerful capacity to promote cross-culture understanding, language, religion, social identity and gender differences. People from different cultures now communicate for social, professional and recreational requirements regardless of distance. Fortunately, it transports us into a 21st Century way of thinking about culture, communication, and new media." (Kent A. Ono, Professor, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign) This paper attempts to investigate the impact of using new media which have brought human interaction and society to a highly complex and interconnected level. My larger goal is to build meta-knowledge about the critical role that intercultural competences and effective technologies solutions that can play in global communication and international relations to enable individuals to control messages in interpersonal media.

New media are ubiquitous, changing the landscape of intercultural communication (Shuter, 2011). This paper discusses area of education and cross-cultural rhetoric on the use of persuasive digital technologies to enable intercultural competencies among students and teachers across the world. To lead a successful life in the 21^st century, we have to have the ability to communicate in intercultural context. Intercultural communication has now become a necessity and no longer an option for a successful integration to enable individuals to control messages in interpersonal media.