Google's' globalization of time (Google's calendar)

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There are so many definitions of "globalization" that one may feel justified in believing that the phenomenon itself is too shifty to be captured with any precision and clarity. In a forthcoming paper (Global Information Ethics: The Importance of Being Environmentally Earnest), I have tried to identify six key trends that characterize contemporary globalization: contraction, expansion, porosity, hybridization, synchronization and correlation.

The arrival of Google's calendar belongs to the "synchronization" trend. Human space in the twenty-first century has not merely shrunk thanks to cheap, pervasive and ubiquitous transports. ICTs have created a new digital environment, which is constantly expanding and becoming progressively more diverse. The origins of this global, transnational, common space are old. They are to be found in the invention of recording and communication technologies that range from the alphabet to printing, from photography to television. But it is only in the last few decades that we have witnessed a vast and steady migration of human life to the other side of the screen. It is now normal and common to be answered "“on line" when asking "where were you?". Globalization also means the emergence of this sort of single virtual space, sharable in principle by anyone, anytime, anywhere. It's the infosphere. And now Google has provided its calendar. Anyone can now share his or her calendar information with anyone, anywhere, anytime. Globalization is also synchronization.

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