Per una storia della comunicazione globale: dal Centro Mondiale di Andersen al Web.

Abstract

The concept of global communication was defined through the comparison between the World Centre of Communication and the World Wide Web. This notion refers to the idea, spread in the nineteenth century, to create a system which ensure connection over long distances. Electrification, the construction of infrastructures and the use of media allowed to connect geographically distant places. This process, which began in the 19th century, ended its long and difficult path between the 80s and 90s of the 20th century with the advent of the World Wide Web. Well before Tim Berners Lee’s innovation, Norwegian sculptor Hendrik Christian Andersen developed an ideal project with similar objectives: The World Centre of Communication. Poorly studied by historiography in the field of technology and communication, this plan represented the hypothesis to create a universal communication system to connect different territories and spread information and knowledge throughout the globe. Unfortunately, this idea remained a utopia; while the Web has developed between the 80s and 90s of the twentieth century, becoming a real universal library of information open and accessible. Over time Lee’s innovation has gone into crisis. The digital giants have taken control of the network: through the algorithms - complex, opaque and invisible -, they have undermined the pedagogical and educational functions of the Web, supporting a commercial orientation