Assignment 1

Justin Olsen

IST 1100

Module 1

I did not know what to expect when I started this class. This first module however, seems to accurately portray how we will be talking about globalization and the internet's part in it. The first 77 pages of this book gives an interesting insight for the future. Globalization is vital for the utopia that several people envision for the future. Thomas Friedman writes about Globalization in his book The World is Flat. Friedman believes that there have been three eras of history that have drastically impacted world trade. He calls these eras Globalization 1.0, Globalization 2.0, and Globalization 3.0. Each era made the world into a smaller and more manageable place. Before Globalization 1.0 the world was large. We had no idea what size the world actually was until 1492 when Columbus attempted to forge a trade route from Europe to India by going west. He failed but his expedition can serve as an example of early globalization. The countries with ingenuity in Europe realized that international trade can bring a great deal of power. During this time governments used imperialism and religion to bring the world together. Globalization 2.0 made the world comparatively small. In the 1800's multinational companies replaced governments in driving globalization to new heights. At this time any decently sized company knew that they needed to go global to compete with the other companies. Technology is at least part of what drove this era with the invention of the telephone and steamships. The end Globalization 2.0 brought about Globalization 3.0 with the invention of the internet and the World Wide Web. Globalization 3.0 made the world downright tiny. Globalization 3.0 differs from 2.0 and 1.0 in that instead of governments or companies, everyone has the power. The ability for everyone to connect brings a great deal of opportunity and innovation to the world.

The fall of the Berlin Wall is incredibly important. It brought about an informational revolution. After the wall fell people were given access to information. Friedman sees the wall as a mental block as well as a physical one. As long as the Berlin Wall was up the world could not be seen as one market. He believes that  the fall of the Berlin wall brought about a changing of world view that ripples into the future. The fall of the wall made it possible to standardize ways of doing things that makes business far easier flattening the world.  In Europe alone this made the European Union and the Euro possible 

The story of Netscape is important because of how Netscape made the internet accessible. Before Netscape people had to have a decent amount of knowledge to do anything online. Anyone could connect to the internet but before Netscape no one could use it. Netscape could be the most world flattening thing so far. As the first web browser Netscape pioneered easy to access information without any rules or restrictions. Windows 95 was released soon afterward further increasing the number of people that could connect with each other.