Open Minds and Open Learning in the 'Cosmopolitan' Internet

Abstract

The promise of technology, in particular of the internet, was that access to information would become demography blind. But for all of the successes the global web of information has demonstrated to us, has it really achieved its potential as a vehicle for overcoming the divide between the `undereducated? and the `overqualified,? that is between the generations, or indeed between any of the socially divisions so visible in the analogue world? If we are to ask the straightforward question ?Is the internet a cosmopolitan space,? that is one promoting tolerance and engagement across boundaries, the answer we are likely to come to is ambiguous, at best. This paper presents both a longitudinal perspective on the internet?s potential as a space for intergenerational learning to occur, and some wider potential barriers to this development.