Technological Language as a Common Language for the Euro-Mediterranean Population
augusto sebastio University ofBari, Italy
the internet and social networks provide new forms of public spaces, virtual continents populated by people of different races, languages, and religions that communicate with a single language, in one unique mode and with one unique tool. In the era of extreme social participation, it is impossible not to consider the role of future policies of education. We cannot ignore the basic language in which the Euro-Mediterranean people recognize themselves, allowing them to interact on all sides of the Mediterranean basin. Technology provides a dialogue bridge, as well as mutual recognition and accreditation for the people who share the Mediterranean Sea and the world. The Internet is the true centre of the Union membership and provides a common good, which generates shared recognition and willingness to communicate; furthermore, it results in the renunciation of personal data protection, as well as the management of its powers to private entities. The aim of this paper is to envisage the effects of the electronic society on the Mediterranean Policies.
Key Words: e-democracy; technological language; information
introduction
Research Vision
A profound analysis of the processes of political, economic, and social globalization must take into account some of the reflections regarding the dialogue between people, tradition, and culture in the wider Euro-Mediterranean perspective of globalization, enlargement of the eu to some states bordering the Mediterranean sea, and the presence of the people and citizens within the territory of the Union, who are origi-
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nally immigrants, as well as the questions of identity that these changes caused on the two shores of the Mediterranean. Some important processes of integration and homogeneity have been undertaken for some time, but it is now certain that other autonomous processes of in-[160] tegration are developed individually and independently of investment research due to the simple use of a common language and something as universal as information technology. The Internet and social networks provide new forms of public spaces, new virtual continents populated by people of different races, languages and religions that communicate with a single language, in one unique mode and with one unique tool. On both shores of the Mediterranean, the globalization brings with it profound changes in the intersection of ideas, initiatives, and flows; therefore, it is impossible to ignore the aid of technology in the fostering of the development and growth on equal terms. The speed of change in respect of the traditions is high; however, the recognition of diversity prior to the common technology identity is an important point of analysis to be exploited with the consideration of the common growth of the new generation of digital natives. The web is certainly a virtual public space, which is based on the intentions and democratic principles of access and participation, but it is not an overall democratic environment. It represents a social window where everyone plays a specific role, whether these are national institutions, governments, providers, people, or individual movements of thought and protest. The effect of this new digital State made in technology, which is full of tools such as blogs, chat and social networks is not simply sharing, it is a new philosophy of public life, a social platform of intense human interaction, a controlled accreditation scheme, a nonprivate sharing space, a system of immediate publication of any idea, right or wrong, to the detriment of human rights and confidentiality of communications. It is, at the same time, a system of accreditation and reciprocity, a way to be inside the new social life and media participation. The web is not yet considered as a new space of conquest, an offshoot of the analogical world that brings with it both the positivity and the negativity of the civil society, it is a mere transposition in the digital world. The Internet is a digital social space, without analogical squares, full of digital intersection points for sharing ideas, projects,
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information; there is an important form of connection made by the digital social-squares, new digital spaces that make up the new reality of the civil society. All the information across the world is faster than before and people are participating in the information construction process with their role passing from a passive to an active one. The [161] web generates a new feeling of public belonging that comes from the technological knowledge and not from nationality. A recognition and mutual accreditation that crosses national boundaries and does not need additional symbols, such as the flag or national music, a form of atypical membership contextualized in a virtual reality citizenship. The virtual environment is open to the cooperative natural spirit and artificial collaboration through the manifestations of mutual solidarity and common interests expressed through self-complaint desires. The virtual world evolves in powerful social platforms of human interaction characterized by massive and intense participation giving rise to the birth of complex social relationships and the formation of virtual communities (Nuno Gomes de Andrade 2009).
Research Methods
The aim of this paper is to envisage the effects of the electronic society in social evolution, language, private life, and changes for citizens in their social approach and public life. The target of the research is carried out through the analysis of the state-of-the art technological and doctrinal level with the use of ordinary tools of research, and with special attention on the behavioral profiles in network and accreditation systems used in the approach to new technologies, with an emphasis on the utilization rates and the feedback network. The research takes account of the new theories of reference in the study of the behavior and effects of digital connectivity to every corner of the planet. This research was conducted through the analysis of the worldwide network latitudes, the common points of different populations, and how and when to use the network as a part of the next-generation and digital native generation (Palfrey and Gasser 2008). Particular attention and emphasis was given to the findings about the common approach of both the individual and the group to new technologies. The research focuses, in particular, on the possibility of aggregation provided by
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the web and the computer technology, an instrument equipped with a single language and multiple possibilities. A new kind of language, which can also be understood in a metaphysical sense, a new English language for the people as a contact point, provided via the instru-[162] mentation that does not care about diversity of religion, policy, or the real identity. This language is provided in an electronic system where the electronic citizen renounces his personal sovereignty, not in favor of a state but in favor of the private companies that provide guarantees and rights inferior to humanity giving a commercial value to every good and unfortunately also every personal data. The analysis makes use of the comparative studies about the reduction of the degrees of separation conducted by two universities.
RESULTS OF THE STUDY
The Net in the Transition from Neutral Non-Accredited System
to a Public Area of International Interaction The human electronic nature is an agglomerate based on the common electronic language and the anonymity of the web. The social network determines a new online public life where people are self-accredited citizens, members of the Technological State, where Government and norms are intangible assets. The new digital citizenship-membership involves non-ethnic, non-linguistic, and non-religious difference, a digital cross-recognition that allows no distinctions and diversity, a natural acceptance tied to an environment friendly opposed to the analogical company founded and grown on diversity, on the borders and barriers closing to everything that does not belong to us, while on the network, everything is shared. It is a silent system of sharing and acceptance much more powerful than any policy oriented in this direction. Digital citizenship is a self-acknowledged system with spontaneous participation without the recognition of the diversity of extreme latitudes, a state without a state that requires adjustment and control, but not also the unacceptable rigid rules. This change is not only generational, but also an epochal change that deserves a thorough and careful analysis of the evolution of this phenomenon whose effects are unstoppable. The web is a huge opportunity and an incredible resource that can be used as a tool of cultural uniformity enabling intercultural
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dialogue and acceptance that starts with recognition of the uniqueness of languages. One of the forms that best represent the network as a virtual existence in rarefied comfortable and hyper-sustainable environment is precisely the social network, which can be described as a virtual homeland where citizenship is recognized despite the fact [163] that the state is far and the citizen, not bound by the state-individual agreement, must find his own sociality. An environment where the new generations are comfortable giving up the analogical reality and where the previous generations and adults are looking for their youth, escaping from reality with the use of technology (Morozov 2011; Kaewchur, Anussornnitisarn, and Pastuszak 2013). With the use of this new social dimension they find a way of creating a new identity. This new category is called a 'Digital Migrant,' who can build bridges to the digital native, who dives into the new environment, where information, communication and entertainment flow and are created in different ways (Garcia Fernandez 2010), in the admixture of use, pleasure, and education that makes up a melting pot of language and technology, which is difficult to replace in any different way. The new era of common generational points has already started. In this context, the rarefied and multifunctional social network system plays an important role, which is characterized by aggregation and simplicity of the expressed relationships through sharing, a condition that multiplies this effect by exporting personal data and importing uncertainties and personal difficulties. Due to this social approach, the individuals reveal themselves in a social life where human relations and human rights do not evolve with the pace of the development of technology (Vaidhyanathan 2012) Social networking is a new policy, a new instrument, and a new part of public society based on the intercultural citizens who do not feel citizenship and national identity; however, they consider themselves a part of the social electronic society that dematerializes relations and virtues of the material world. It provides an escape from reality into the infinite spaces of supposed legality. On the web, every citizen exercises a renunciation of personal sovereignty, a renunciation of personal data, as well as the management of its power to private entities, who are not necessarily able to protect such data as personal property, but are well aware of their commercial value and the possible use of such
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stolen data without the awareness of the users. The political and social system, which was built over the centuries, may be flexible to small and modest gradual changes; however, it collapsed with the evolution of technology. The analogical world has lost its certainties and concrete-[164] ness in favor of the digital world, which has reduced the importance of time and ways of providing information, but not also the accuracy and safety of such information. The mechanisms of the new virtual civil society are more inclusive, and more capable of bridging the gap of the digital divide, through the curiosity of participating individuals and through the capacity of the new generations. There are no age limits on the web, only credited participation schemes that do not consider the age of the participant. The virtual environment is a well structured environment capable of generating a new language, which can exist only in a space where personal data is no longer important. Consequently, we are loaded and transferred indiscriminately without thinking about the present and future social consequences. The Internet must be an open-source technology where every individual can find information, a service offered by the society free-of-charge and without service rights, so that what is present in the network can be developed freely and can create new forms of technology available; a direct emanation of thought and consequent free movement of ideas that are strengthened by an open source system by freeing the market constraint shackles, thus collapsing the technology and making it open to all and not merely a privileged club. In this case, the technology would become a real social capital. These new types of meeting points are online social networks, technological networks capable of connecting people who are sharing information and keeping in touch twenty four hours a day with an incomparable word of mouth effect (Shih 2011; Vukasovic 2013).
The social networking is not simply a way to share information and communication. The social network has a word of mouth effect. It is a real form of socialization, a new aspect of public life, which is technologically mediated; it is a new philosophy of public life in which millions of people recognize themselves as part of a community — social-friends with a common identity, a part of the social e-belonging with common interests, cooperation, mutuality, and reciprocity of purpose
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and passion, a globalization identity. It is a new frontier of studying and it therefore deserves serious consideration. For the new generations, it is easier to chat and hide their real identity behind a technological wall, rather than show themselves in real life. This generation prefers to live in a software world where they can be everything they [165] want. A new virtual identity is thus created and a mutual reciprocal accreditation raises the virtual State with technological virtual membership without national symbols, which presupposes freedom and is implemented through a 'click' or a 'like,' through new forms of payment with the use of implicit assignment unaware of personal data, through the new frontier of marketing and of the accumulation of data.
This population of members with 700 million participants around the world and almost 20 million of those from Italy (Falanga 2011), theoretically determines the third most populated country in the world, while taking into account the phenomenon of multiple registrations and multiple identities. The virtual environment definitely constitutes a huge metropolis with Italian membership, a kind of dual citizenship with no sign of belonging to a specific nationality. The statistical curiosity lead to a careful examination of the most populated social network cities with surprising results, since the values are inversely proportional to the real population. The real value of social networks for business strategy is not only determined by the number of registered users, but, more often than not, by the multiplicity of functions, and trade relations of such integrated platforms.
Social Network Effects and the Issue of Distance in a Relationship The technological world crosses national borders and does not need additional symbols, such as the flag or national music, is a new form of atypical membership, which is contextualized in a virtual reality citizenship. The virtual environment is open to a cooperative natural spirit and artificial collaboration through the manifestation of mutual solidarity. Facebook is the third largest country of the world when it comes to the size of the population and the world's most famous accredited membership pass. In this country, every citizen exercises a renunciation of personal sovereignty in this context with the delegation of
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power to the hands of both known and unknown companies without a personal citizen-state relation, as it was in the centuries where a State was the expression of citizen vote and the power of the State was the result of the peoples' expression of will. In this case a personal power [166] is transferred to the third parties. In this scenario, the individuals do not represent the State and are not necessarily able to protect themselves. Such third parties, through cheap and often free offers manage or 'deal' with the acquired data, since they are aware of the commercial value of this abdication, as well as the marketability of stolen data without the knowledge of the users. The outsourcing of private data is a daily practice in the virtual world where the citizen-individual exhibits and thus provides the information for the outsourcing of their individuality and personality via the social network; a kind of spontaneous self-de-legitimization practiced with a great confidence and spontaneous legitimacy of the manager, without the awareness of the commercial intentions of others, which open the world of networking, searching for information, and research data at a price that citizens prefer to pay underhand in exchange for the services received. In this sense, the society on an analogical basis no longer exists having no cause for its existence. The search for a new social pact, reintroducing the individual as the central objective of the newly acquired law and rights, puts the society in a position of pending by new social developments referred to both the Mediterranean, as well as the whole world, where the digital society is immediately following the developments of the real society. This need is even more apparent in the countries of the Mediterranean basin, where the recent riots shook the slight certainties that have stood in place for centuries (Touraine 2008). Some sociological studies have developed the effects of social networks on personal relationships and, in particular, on the degrees of separation. Facebook, Twitter, and other social networks cancel all distances between unknown people; thus facilitating idioms, expressions, the commonality of interests, and the consequential detachment of the typical long-distance relationships. The studies of mathematics and statistics facilitate the understanding of the network mechanisms and virtual dialogue by making it a clear focusing action in the digital environment. The shared world is becoming smaller and consequently shortens the
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six degrees of separation theory of the American sociologist Stanley Milgram in 1967 to just 3.2 as calculated by Y. Daraghmi and Shyan Ming Yuan in 2013, in a study of the National Chiao Tung University in Taiwan. The prodigy, associating the citizens dispersed in wide geographic areas of the world is generated by the social network, the [167] so-called 'third state,' the digital one, increasingly interconnected demographic and ready to climb positions. The data has been prepared on the basis of 950 million interactions on Facebook (Berberi 2013).
In the era of technologically mediated communication, where the center is the network, the chain of intermediaries is dramatically shortened. A Brazilian, Vietnamese, Alaskan, and Mali citizens are networked through a chain of acquaintances, but with only two digital intermediaries. A thorough study of the University of Milan performed in 2011, which was conducted by prof. Vigna, reduced the degrees of separation to less than four. The analysis was performed on the interactions of 720 million of users, moving away from the theorized 'small world' (Milgram 1967). The results of this research did not improve the level of actual knowledge; however, it is important to consider the ease and speed of digital interaction that, in any case, does not reduce the analogical distance, amplified by the increasingly complex real-life, which is far from the virtual oasis and its multiple identities. These results should be accompanied by some reflections regarding the issue of ethics and the respect of others, a condition that does not always develop with the speed of technology. Ethics, such as law, is always unsuccessful in relation to the it. The advantages of the use of the network are countless. Furthermore, the use of the web and technology that is common to the whole Mediterranean basin can only be positive for all the people and civilizations bordering the basin. As it has been shown by the academic studies on the distance reduction, the web and social networks can play an important role in the mutual recognition and overcoming of the concept of diversity, whether it is religious, linguistic or racial, an idem sentire able to create a common feeling, a belonging to the network, which constitutes the world connecting both sides of the Mediterranean regardless of the oceans and latitudes. A non-constructive attitude regarding the closure to a single network could give rise to more networks, which will result in
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a more individual and nationally oriented internet, separated from the rest of the web. The companies and the states that have the power and the control in the network must ensure that internal control policies generate distrust in the web. The advantages of the Internet would [168] disappear in the face of closure policies of individual nation states.
CONCLUSION
We are currently waiting for a new governance of the network that would deal with the new wording of the contract between the individual and the state and would focus the attention on both, the digitized citizen and the state, which is more and more forced to delegate its power to the multinational companies that exercise control and surveillance and are able to progressively invest, but also sell the acquired data through the provision of essential services related to the access of the network. The full potential of the virtual environment needs to be exploited A unique language that comes from the direct experience of the people on the Internet is created, and schools, universities and also families are, more than ever, confronted with this unique digital language; therefore, their role must be to aid in the development and control with well-defined social roles, while waiting for a network global governance that will take advantage of the ability of the web to generate union, comparison, and mutual belonging, as well as protect the apparent delegation of power and sovereignty to the network practiced by the connected citizen. The general principle of gratuity of access encourages socialization and all forms of e-Democracy. The access to endless information and content with marginal costs that equal to zero promotes sharing and attracts more participation and online socializing through discussion and debate activities by individuals in the farthest corners of the globe. This idea of one world language technology promotes the participation and criticism by raising the standards of quality, as well as generating influence on the world events. To the children of the poorest countries, this connectivity promises future access to new educational tools, while the lack of tools and physicality will result in the opportunity to study and educate in remote places where there is no analogical instrumentation. Digital technologies will replace the deficiencies and shortcomings of the government in the
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field of education. Virtual ecosystem will rely more and more on open source systems and the global competitiveness will benefit due to the equal conditions provided by the technology that is available to all citizens of the planet regardless of geographical differences (Schmidt and Cohen 2013).	[169]
Even the people below the poverty line will benefit from the technological acceleration by directly accessing new technologies and thus bridging the gap that has kept them away from the rest of the world for years, consequently providing them a chair at the table of culture and participation with equal dignity and equal effectiveness. The web is a vector of human dignity, and may, by virtue of its characteristics, be viewed as a category of human rights. The analogical world will continue to be different, due to its difficulties and its imbalances, while the digital world may be destined for a basic fairness dreamed by generations and enlightened thinkers. The technology can be a true carrier of cultural and economic balance; however, in order to generate this virtuous cycle, we must recognize the vital role that it plays by making it one of the primary sources of social development Furthermore, all the resources saved by the web may be used for other development.
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Garcia Fernandez, F. 2010. Internet in the Life of Our Children: How to Turn Risks Into Opportunities. Madrid: Foro generaciones interactivas.
Kaewchur, O., P. Anussornnitisarn, and Z. Pastuszak. 2013. 'The Mediating Role of Knowledge Sharing on Information Technology and Innovation.' International Journal of Management, Knowledge and Learning 2 (2): 227—42.
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erty and Personality: The Case of the Avatars.' Journal of Virtual world Research i (3): 4—53.
Palfrey, J., in U. Gasser. 2008. Born Digital: Understanding the First Generation of Digital Natives. New York: Basic Books.
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Vaidhyanathan, S. 2012. The Googlization of Everything. Berkeley: University of California Press.
Touraine, A. 2008. La Globalizzazione e lefine del sociale. Milano: Il Saggia-tore.
Vukasovic, T. 2013. 'Brand Developing Relationships through Social Media.' In MakeLearn 2013: Active Citizenship by Knowledge Management & Innovation, edited by V Dermol, N. Trunk Sirca, and G. Dakovic, 97—105. Bangkok, Celje, and Lublin: ToKnowPress.
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