Going with the Flow of Alternative Networks

As we continue on the subject of globalization, more and more "alternative networks" seem to be coming out of the woodwork. These networks of information, trade, and cultural production "run counter to and under the radar of dominant global networks" (Jade Miller, "Global Nollywood: The Nigerian Movie Industry and Alternative Global Networks in Production and Distribution", Global Media and Communication, 8.2: 118). In essence, these aren't the typical channels of communication. Even Karim H. Karim, in his chapter on diaspora communities and their place in the global network, mentions that these communities a creative in their use of communication technologies in order to create new identities within a new national context ("Reviewing the 'National' in 'International Communication' Through the Lens of Diaspora", IC Reader, 403). Essentially, through their use of technology, they are creating alternative connections to information and culture, since their new nation may or may not include the home nation in their network.

Though Miller is speaking of the flows of cultural products, and Karim speaks of the flow of information, both authors deal with the fact that the current dominant networks that structure the globalizing world are either not available, not accessible, or not the right connections needed to accomplish a goal. The question is then: why are so many more of these alternative communication networks popping up?

Is it simply a power struggle against the West-dominated networks? Is it simply a bi-product of globalization? Are these alternative networks the direction the power structure is moving? Or, are these networks a new form of identity that is culturally situated (both authors talk about the networks being formed through cultural proximity or through direct diasporic ties)?

Tying into MJ's blog last week on cosmopolitanism, I wonder if these alternative networks are what are truly creating the "Third Space" of identity. What if we have been looking at the wrong cog in the wheel? Is it really the technology, social media, trade, policy, etc. that have created global networks and new forms of identity? I have a tendency to say no; instead, perhaps it is the people who are creating the third space that Tagore and Yeats wished for so badly. It is human need, desire, and ambition that is the driving force. These networks connect the world but connect to nationalistic identities as well, and so those who create it and participate in the alternative flow have more of a chance of vacillating between the global citizen and the nationalistic one. 

Whether I am grasping at straws or not, alternative networks are obviously being built and maintained, and I believe that these networks will be incredibly important to understanding "undeveloped" parts of the world in the future. However, these networks appear to be anything other than that; they are complex, built on both human contact and technology (another "hybrid" culture that should be researched in its own right). But how do you look into a phenomenon that only creates more questions every time you answer one? Perhaps we will just have to "go with the flow" and attentively watch how these alternative networks grow, change, adapt, and redefine our global communication structures.