Acculturation in an information technology discourse community

Abstract

Rapid advances in information technology and telecommunications (IT and T) are impacting on a changing world in which boundaries, whether they are at local, national and international levels are now less clearly marked. The so-called information superhighway is reaching and linking many regional, rural and remote communities so that the world itself has become a small global village. This leads to the assumption that the power of information technology and telecommunications is inescapable and unresistable. A logical response to a changing and challenging world is to prepare global villagers for acculturation into a new IT and T discourse community. However, potential IT and T users are human not virtual beings and fear, anxiety, confusion, resistance and inspiration are part of the acculturation process towards an IT and T discourse community. In this paper the concepts of acculturation and discourse community are discussed and applied to IT and T discourse generally and educational multimedia in particular. A paradigm shift is occurring in education with the introduction of IT and T, and strategies have to be developed to facilitate acculturation of new users to this paradigm to prevent hostility and rejection of the advantages they bring to regional, rural and remote communities. Three aspects of acculturation in education are presented and discussed. The implementation of acculturation in the context of IT and T is explored through a description of the provision of rural health education and training opportunities in the small Island State of Tasmania.