Zones - Welcome to the Global community.

The Global community - you need a new perspective.

By dint of fact that you are reading this - welcome to the 'Global
community'. Yes you may very well be sitting in your home in England
and it's 6pm. But then I am in sitting in my home on the East coast of
America and it's 1pm. Meanwhile, I just replied to an email from an
editor friend of mine in California and it's 10.00am.

Time differences are just the start of one needing a new perspective
when they step into 'cyber-world'. Yes ABC.com is a British based
website, but open to the whole wide world. One of the biggest mistakes
many make when they first step into this 'global community' is
'assuming things' based on one's own point of view (POV) which is
determined by so many factors. The first assumption being that everyone
is from the same culture, 'class' (in terms of economic and education)
climate, time-zone, etc.

'Cyber-world' is a world of paradoxes and false assumptions.

The only one, single thing that one can know with any certainty - the
one thing we absolutely have in common - is that we have (or have had)
access to the internet by a computer. And even then, while you may be
the proud owner of the most expensive and technologically advanced
set-up money can buy, located in your study, the person you just
corresponded with by email, may live in a state of poverty you could
not begin to imagine, but they somehow gained access to the internet,
perhaps at a school or private organisation whereby they had to walk 10
miles to reach it!

Then there is language and colloquialisms. 'British English' has some
5,500 differences in spelling and meaning from American English,
Australian English, Canadian English&;#8230;

Those more familiar with website and email addresses can hazard a more
informed guess as to where the other individual or organisation is
located by the suffixes such as .co.uk, or au or nl, etc. But generally
speaking, never assume anything!

"Does it really matter?" you may well ask. Certainly, if you plan to
'network' or correspond on a 'professional basis', it matters very
much. All of a sudden the "Go out and get a copy of x,y,z,
magazine&;#8230;" advice, becomes a pretty stupid statement to make.
Or "Can you mail me x,y,z, by post tomorrow?&;#8230;" becomes
over-demanding when, for instance, in my case the nearest Post office
is close to a 50 mile round trip. Yes, I really do live in the middle
of a forest in Central Florida, while you live in a city suburb with a
mail box outside your front door.

Other assumptions fall flat when I am asked "Why don't you submit to my
publication?" and I point out that the guidelines state "Must be a
resident of country x,y,z&;#8230;" You live in x and I live in
y!

While 'cyber-world' is the gateway to the 'Global community', and gives
the illusion of "Oh isn't it a small world!", the truth is, No - it is
still made up of many countries thousands of miles apart with different
cultures, currencies (No I can't mail you a cheque acceptable in
Belgium), languages, etc.

Welcome to the Global community - but now it's time to adopt a new
perspective - a new POV. Think Global.

Copyright David Taub (UKpoet@aol.com), June 2001

If you enjoyed reading this piece and/or have any comments, you are
welcome to email me at UKpoet@aol.com

David Taub is a member of
The British organisation 'National Union of Journalists' (NUJ);
Overseas Columnist (resident in Florida, USA) for the UK magazine
'Poetry Now';
Freelance writer for various UK and USA magazines;
Co-author of Language of Souls (listed on amazon.com)
Website: www.ukpoet.cjb.net