EFFECTS OF TECHNOLOGY IN PRESERVING OF THE CULTURES

A Discursive Paper Presented

to Professor NARCISA C. LAGGUI
Cagayan State University
Carig Campus

In Partial Fulfillment
of the Requirement for the Course
Rizal (GEC 105)

By

JIBRIL C. BURAGA

NOVEMBER 20, 2019

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INTRODUCTION

Everything is fast pace changing together with different aspects and things in our world.
One of its aspects is technology. Perception about the definition of technology in the effects of
culture are heterogeneous. There are said that technology is not helping some problems but
creating more rather. Like according to Arthur (2009) “Technology is steadily creating the
dominant issues and upheavals of our time” and some said that technology is a symbol of
culture like; Technology as a Totem for Culture, and a Defense of Oral Tradition (Carey, 2009).
Time by time, our technologies are still improving which may affect the preservation of culture.
Culture also plays a role in managerial processes that may directly, or indirectly, influence
information technology (Leidner & Kayworth, 2006). It may help the preserving culture or vice
versa.

BODY

Changes in communication technology affect the culture by altering the structure of

interests (the things thought about) by changing the character of symbol (the things thought
with), and by changing the nature of the community (the area in which thought developed)
(Carey,2009). Because of that, culture has gradual change overtime which we may not notice.
One of the example is the practices of sending letters to communicate, but because of
advancing technology, that practices are slowly faded. Another one is the beliefs of other group
in the behavior of nature but because of science that it can explain the natural phenomenon,
that beliefs are gradually faded too.

Alongside with continuous flow of change is also the transformation of preserving the
culture. Not all of our cultures are gradually faded, others are helping in preserving the cultures.
One way of preserving cultures is by sharing oral. The elderly passed their knowledge in their

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beliefs, traditions and etc. by sharing to the next generation. Challenges facing oral cultures are
the disappearance of traditional knowledge and skills due to memory loss or death of elders
and the deliberate or inadvertent destruction of indigenous knowledge (Maretzki, Mehta, &
Owiny, 2014). Instead of that way of preserving, our developing technologies such as social
media, mobile technologies (cell phones) and etc. are better in creation, dissemination and
preserving cultures like indigenous knowledge, beliefs and traditions. The use of technology in
preserving cultures becomes more important in present times. There are many others examples
of such efforts to use computers to preserve cultural traditions against the eroding pressure of
modernization (Bowers,2011).

Technology paved a way on upgrading things around us especially on the field of cultures.
It has forged the deeper concepts of preserving by pouring out a much easier way. The cultural
heritage preservation community now functions largely within the environment of digital
technologies. Preservation in the Age of Large‐Scale Digitization explores the implications for
preservation practice of the digitization of books and, by implication, our cultural heritage in
general (Conway, 2010). It left a large impact on cultures that it started remolding the
preservation of cultures. It introduced a better way of preserving the cultures with the help of
technologies.

CONCLUSION

The effects of technologies in preserving the cultures had both positive and negative effects but
most of its effects are falls in positive way of preserving the cultures. The widely held perception that
computer technology is either neutral or brings more benefits than losses ignores fundamental aspect of
the cultural baggage that accompanies their use (Bowers, 2011). All things are made for the sake of
people, it’s just depends on how use it.

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REFERENCES

Arthur (2009). The Nature of Technology: What It Is and How It Evolves. Retrieved from:
https://books.google.com.ph/books?hl=en&lr=&id=3qHsXYXN0EC&oi=fnd&pg=PA1&dq=what+is+te
chnology&ots=5YTcuQaWza&sig=Nzcolt8tIGtsRH93Mh2iEGhD0JU&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q=wha
t%20is%20technology&f=false.

Bowers (2011). How Computers Affect Education, Cultural Diversity, and the Prospects of Ecological
Sustainability. Retrieved from: https://books.google.com.ph/books?hl=en&lr=&id=rT3sAQAAQBAJ
&oi=fnd&pg=PP1&dq=how+technologies+helping+to+preserve+culture&ots=DFlLXdlISZ&sig=GxpLE
x6LCo4stYOO7Lb1wPLV0x8&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q=technology%20preserve&f=false.

Carey (2009). Communication as Culture. Retrieved from: https://books.google.com.ph/books?hl=en&lr=

&id=N2aRAgAAQBAJ&oi=fnd&pg=info:VzpkMQ1U27&sig=ewspNdpt8r2gwEXaq-qmN-Z4jQU&redi
r_esc=y#v=onepage&q&f=false.

Conway (2010). Preservation in the Age of Google: Digitization, Dig ital Preservation, and Dilemmas.
Retrieved from: https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/abs/10.1086/648463.

Maretzki, Mehta, & Owiny (2014). The Use of Social Media Technologies to Create, Preserve, and

Disseminate Indigenous Knowledge and Skills to Communities in East Africa . Retrieved

from: https://ijoc.org/index.php/ijoc/article/view/1667.

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