This is an important new channel through which communication, ideas and knowledge can flow. The Smithsonian in the United States, the British Library along with a wider consortium of universities and libraries are joining together to put online the Magna Carta , the Lindisfrane gospels and the entire contents of the Smithsonian. Their purpose is to take the massive volumes of knowledge available in off line libraries and to make them available online for the whole world to benefit. But as with all things in life there are positive benefits and negative impacts. And there are many negatives surfacing, as technological advances far outstrip society's ability to determine the direction we will go as a result of the developments.
Technology is the modern spider that has increasingly built a web around our lives.
It can be persuasively argued that throughout history all new technologies have changed the way the world lives and operates as a society. Now tourism is the world's second largest industry with millions of people on the move all around the world, experiencing and sharing in other cultures. Of course, these millions are mostly from the rich nations. It appears we see nothing wrong in going to exotic and culturally challenging parts of the world, in the quest for something new and exciting and the next best thing to experience, and then pay scant attention to the many more millions of poor. Many will argue that tourism brings needed dollars and helps these economies.