1. Understanding Intercultural
Communication Second Edition
Chapter 11
What are the Communication Issues
Facing a Global Identity?
Stella Ting-Toomey & Leeva C. Chung
OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS
PowerPoint Slides Designed by Alex Flecky and Noorie Baig

2. TODAY’S MENU
I. Wired and On: The Roar of the
Internet
II. The Transformation of Local and
Global Identities
III. Who and What Are
E.netizens?
IV. The Dialectical Pulls of an
E.netizen
V. The Tipping Point:
Communication Pattern Changes

3. I. Wired and On: The Roar of the
Internet
A. The Internet as Our Central Station
B. Wired Communication
• Take a moment and think about how
technology influences your
communication with your friends,
loved ones, and acquaintances.
• How much of your interaction time is face to
face? How much of your interaction time is via a
gadget?
• Could you go a week without technology?
• How has your use of the Internet shaped you,
your communication styles, and your identity?

4. II. The Transformation of Local and
Global Identities
Local identity: made up of ethnic
values, practices, traditions of the
local identity communal group.
Global identity: adopt and embrace
international practices and values over
local. Keep up with latest trends,
technological advances, etc.

5. II. The Transformation of Local and
Global Identities
A. The Lens of Television: Identity
Imitation
• Television is an identity supplier, provides escape
from traditional-based cultural values, and forges
sense of communal belonging.
• Children across the globe watch international
programs based on the United States and values of
pop culture and consumerism.
B. Global Television Impact
• Shapes the way we see our world, influences how
we form our stereotypes of people in different
cultures/ethnic groups.

6. II. The Transformation of Local and
Global Identities
C. Be Hip, Be Hot, and Pop Culture Impact
• Pop culture supporters see the world as
constantly changing, interdependent.
• Opponents view pop culture as negative
because it can damage culture boundaries and
Westernizes intact, indigenous cultural groups.
D. Outsourced Beats: You Are What You
Can Dance To
• Through music, common identity
expression and connection with others.
• Creates our rhythmic identity and sparks
a communal sense of space and time.

7. II. The Transformation of Local and
Global Identities
D. Outsourced Beats:
Do you see any new music trends in the
United States that demonstrate the
globalization of the music industry?
Recall J. Lo’s On The Floor that topped 18
national single charts in 2011. Doesn’t the
tune sound familiar? Can you guess where
the tune first originated? Click here to see
these tunes that date back to the 1980s!

8. II. The Transformation of Local and
Global Identities
E. You Are What You Wear: Pop
Culture as Fashion
Take a look at Blog Pic 11.2 Japan
Ganguro Photo (p. 238)
• What are your impressions of this “ganguro girl”
look?
• An attempt to rebel against the traditional
European American standards of “normal” or
“beauty?”
• Can you generate any other
interpretations?

9. III. Who and What Are
e.netizens?
e.netizen: new generation of individuals,
wired to the Internet via intersecting space,
having a “hybrid” identity—both local and
global.
A. Defining the Background of e.netizens
• E.netizens—the “first-wave” users, having
the latest technology.
• “Globally ethnic” involves multiple
ethnicities.

10. III. Who and What Are
e.netizens?
B. Characteristics of an e.netizen
Identity
E-characteristics:
• Exclusive
• Evolved
• Explorers
• Emoticon ;-) (^_^) m(_ _)m
• Entertained
• Energized
• Engaged

11. III. Who and What Are
e.netizens?
C. Inverted Pyramid of e.netizen Identity

12. IV. The Dialectical Pulls of an
e.netizen
A. Spatial Zone Dialectics
1. Internet provides privacy and anonymity
and shared communal space.
2. Individuals experience solitude and tribal
pole.
3. Individuals access the Internet in private
space within solitude pole.
4. Web community allows individuals to
interact without face-to-face contact.
5. Too much in the tribal pole and one may

13. IV. The Dialectical Pulls of an
e.netizen
B. Temporal Zone Dialectics
1. Internet is allowing individuals to move between
monochronic and polychronic time.
2. Monotrack focus: working on one project at a
time.
3. Multitrack focus: tending to multiple e.net tasks
or activities.
4. Monotrack e.netizens: concentrate on one
project at a time via one medium.
5. Multitrack e.netizens: can surf, text, and blog at
the same time.
6. Being-in-doing e.net philosophy—individuals
fuse “being” with “doing mode” value
dimensions: being with friends on Facebook

14. V. The Tipping Point:
Communication
Pattern Changes
A. Gadget Communication Patterns:
Fast and Furious
• Gadgets have transformed the way
we communicate with each other.
• Mobile phone was game changer, main
distracter from face-to-face conversation;
average users spend 209 minutes/day on
phone.
• Mobile phones change conversation in
public areas: we stay on our phones.

15. V. The Tipping Point:
Communication
Pattern Changes
B. Sharing Intimate Partners with a Gadget
• Our relationships may be affected.
• Japanese males find it difficult to have
face-to-face communication.
C. Language Styles: Text, Tweet, Talk
• We use truncated language and
emoticons to replace long sentences.
• For example, on a chat site: SITCOM
(Single Income, Two Children, Oppressive
Mortgage)

16. V. The Tipping Point:
Communication
Pattern Changes
D. Communicating to Be Social
Change Agents
• Social networking allows for active
engagement and involvement.
• Disaster relief, anti-regime protests, and
peace activism supported via social
networking.
• Social networking expands our
intercultural relationships.
Have you used social media to be a change
agent? Try something creative!

17. V. The Tipping Point:
Communication
Pattern Changes
E. Present but Virtual
• One of fastest growing trends in business
is virtual teams and meetings.
• There still may be intercultural
misunderstandings, mistrust, language
barriers.

18. VI. Personal Identities in Flux: The
Global Face
A. Developing a sense of identity takes time,
but in an age where time is compressed
and in flux, our self-view can transform
in an instant.
B. Opponents argue Internet appeals to our
worst instincts, makes us more like-
minded. Do you agree with this opinion?
C. E.netizens have ability to morph and fuse
identity, and Internet shapes image and
standard of beauty. Do you agree with
this statement?

19. Parting Thoughts…
Make technology
work for you,
not the other
way around.
~ Leeva Chung