Cloud Computing and Society
In earlier chapters, we have discussed about automobile and IT industries along with different examples on how cloud technologies have influenced not only business and organizations to bring in cardinal changes in their operations and strategies, but also people in their personal lives. These discussions have been intentional from two perspectives. These represent the fact that it is not just IT, but other technologies have also influenced the way we behave and build our social characters. On the other side, we emphasize that IT is ubiquitous in our personal and social lives too; and thus we need to understand the phenomenon better.
Cloud computing has brought IT to common people due to its propositions of cost and universal access, and has attracted popular attention as it enables us to manage and use big data seamlessly. This has almost translated our discussion on general IT into that on cloud computing.
A Digital Way of Life
Widespread usage of social networking in our daily lives has become quite common in present times. People use websites like Facebook, Twitter and Google, etc. to spread their opinions. The tools, available online such as ‘like’, ‘follow’, or ‘+1’ on these websites respectively, help people to expand their network that has multiplying effects. For example, political campaigns during ‘Arab Spring’ could not have gathered such popular support without these social networking websites. In fact, celebrities and political leaders use these websites to give their opinion and to garner support from public. Non-profits and charity organizations use these for raising fund, and to create awareness about social causes they vouch for. Researchers, teachers and students use these platforms to network with others having similar interests, and to share ideas and knowledge. In fact, the possibility of sharing an independent unit of information with barely a hundred plus characters has been realized through social networks and SMS – a realization that is powered by cloud computing.
The major change in our behavior can be understood in the way we express ourselves and about our surroundings. We no longer maintain physical albums, nor do we select the ‘best’ photos due to scarcity of space in the album. We have gone cloud with our albums residing online and securely; and we decide which ones to share within our family and friends, which ones with our co-workers, which ones in public, and which ones to view privately ourselves. We do not get tired of capturing most of life in stills or in videos, and archive those for later.
We no longer keep a nice looking diary in our briefcase; in fact, the items we used to carry for personal information management have either become obsolete or have found their replacements. In the process of change, we do not even carry the same device containing our data as we move. Rather we change our gadgets as per our lifestyle, that too even during a single day, if its suits; but manage our contacts, daily journals, financial details, etc. from cloud. We even manage all our spending online using banking Apps and virtual wallets.
Our ways of spending leisure have changed. We may spend our time by playing some interesting games on cloud solo or by accepting an available partner. Even, we can utilize time in a productive way by working through an e-learning lesson or by discussing with other learners on a difficult topic.
We have changed the way we travel, dine and stay. We depend on location-based Apps to evaluate and decide on available transportation services, restaurants and hotels. We also react immediately from the same location with our opinions about the services, and our surroundings; and publish photos and videos to make the stuff more engaging and real. Yes, our life has changed; we lead a digital way of life.
Our new way of life is giving way to a new social order, and a changed social life. Let us discuss these further in the following sections.
It’s a Collective Phenomenon
I would like to draw your attention to the way termites build their mounds. It may look a bit off-the-place; but I am sure that you will realize the importance of bringing it into our discussion.
Termites are small, yet great creatures when we evaluate their individual capabilities against their collective achievement of building large-scale, complex and high-quality living spaces. In fact, they have been so inspiring to us that we have started making effort to replicate their way in creating our own buildings, a branch called Biomimetics, mimicking biological systems for the design and engineering of materials and machines.
Well, so much story for now. Why are we talking about this here? It is about the democratic way a group of millions of these creatures work in unison to build their edifices. With downward trends in the cost of digital gadgets, network bandwidth and IT (cloud) services, more and more people are joining the ongoing digital revolution in a big way. Rapid proliferation of self-publishing, sharing of content, and 360-degree participation in online sphere from personal affairs to politics and entertainment to academics, have truly adhered to democratic principles. The acceptance of an opinion, a product, or a personality takes a route that is an illustration of a true collective phenomenon.
No doubt, you would find some negative elements in this ecosystem as elsewhere. But it will not be prudent to moderate the process from one single authority; rather the moderation must come from leaders in respective groups, or perhaps, by drawing consensus among the participating members. Of course, the process of moderation will evolve through sustained negotiations between societies and governments across the globe, and by improving the technologies to monitor and regulate the process without affecting the freedom of individuals and the collective aspirations.
Pressing for Faster Governance
As we have seen the trend in Chapter 3, the spending by governments on cloud computing is on rise. It is not only the developed nations, all governments across the globe have shown their keen interest to implement e-governance, e-health, e-education, knowledge management, and supply-chain management networks, etc. The success of these at the desired scales and costs can only be possible through cloud computing.
A comprehensive discussion about e-governance and related activities will require a whole new book, and we shall certainly avoid discussing here. We would rather focus on the added privileges that are facilitated due to the use of cloud computing in such large common-people-facing processes.
Ideally, adoption of cloud computing provides a level-playing field to developing countries with reference to the developed ones due to cost-advantages. Moreover, cloud computing eliminates the major disadvantages of low-accessibility and higher cost involved in the decentralization of IT infrastructures in under-developed areas, deployment of new software applications, or their seamless upgrades.
Another major application of cloud computing is the storage and usage of data about citizens of respective countries across the globe. Due to increasing security concerns and intention of availing civil benefits to their populace, governments of different countries have implemented or are in the process of implementing biometric identification of their people. These efforts are meant for storing biometric data about the concerned individuals, which include fingerprints, photo of face and iris, etc., apart from demographic information. These are, of course, sensitive data; and security and accuracy of such data are critical for successful implementation of such schemes.
With government getting closer to its citizens with services becoming quicker and transparent, corruptions and bureaucratic delays are expected to be reduced to a great extent. In fact, government will get opinions and support from citizens directly, and will be able to decide on better governance. In fact, the stakeholders in a democracy can move to the next level of collaboration – knowledge sharing and management instead of struggling through bureaucratic hassles and approvals. This would empower individual citizens with adequate information and capabilities to participate in nation-building in a greater way, and would pave the way for strengthening the democratic systems.
Nationalism versus Globalization
Cloud computing has enabled Internet-scale websites facilitating broader collaborations that transcend the national barriers. In fact, a normal person using emails and social networking websites may end up spending more time knowing about news on events across the globe, and interacting with people who may stay elsewhere in the world rather than local events and local people. If we look the trending topics online and people participating for a cause, we can see a supranational pattern gaining ground. People from one part of the globe may get interested in a cause of people living in another part; and this has become an usual phenomenon.
Speaking on nationalism and globalization is not simple. Political, socio-economic considerations are paramount while discussing on such topics. However, we must admit that greater sharing of information and collaborations will enable the whole world to migrate from a strict national framework into a federated ecosystem of interdependent nations.
Agree to Disagree
In present times, the increasing load of information continually challenges our collective imagination. In fact, this phenomenon has the capability to inflict radical changes to our economy and society. Even a small event can have viral effects due to the fast-paced processes of information dissemination, and may result in unexpected situations. Good or bad – it can only be ascertained after its realization.
Though it would be premature to predict the consequence of this rapidly changing worldview, it would be rather wise to have a requisite amount of tolerance to diverse opinions and beliefs. Taking cue from our earlier discussion, we must be aware that our participation in this larger collective phenomenon also brings certain amount of responsibility and accountability.