This document provides background information on a unit about social media and globalization. It introduces key concepts of globalization and cultural censorship. It explains how communication technologies have made the world increasingly interconnected but countries still regulate content differently based on their cultural standards and laws. Students are prompted to demonstrate their understanding of these concepts and discuss issues that may arise in distributing a film featuring drug use, nudity, and sexuality in different countries like Saudi Arabia, China, and the United States in the 1950s.

1. BIG PICTURE
Task 1 – Background to the Unit
KEYWORDS
Globalisation – Censorship –
Global Village - Agora
LEARNING OBJECTIVES
To learn come key concepts and
to understand some common
misconceptions about the unit
content
SUCCESS CRITERIA
Detailed answers to short
questions
Take your seat. Bag under your desk.
Have your equipment and planner out.
Topic – Unit 6 – Social Media and Globalisation
http://www.hpocrunit6.wordpress.com
Before the internet, what would working co-operatively
with somebody in another location involve?

2. TELL ME
STUFF!
TAKE ME
THROUGH
IT…
LET ME
HAVE A
GO…
DO I GET
IT?
1 2 3 4 5 6
SETTING THE
SCENE
JOINING UP
LEARNING
LINKS TO LAST
TIME
PASSING ON
KNOWLEDGE
GUIDED PRACTICE
& MODELLING
INDEPENDENT
PRACTICE –
APPLYING THE
SKILLS TO NEW
SITUATIONS
ASSESSMENT &
FEEDBACK
PULL IT TOGETHER
JOINING UP
LEARNING
LINKS TO NEXT
TIME

3. You need to start off making sure you understand two key ideas:-
• Globalisation
• Cultural Censorship
Globalisation
More and more advanced forms of communication
have made the world 'smaller' - from ocean-going
ships that cut the time of long overseas journeys to
months rather than years, to transcontinental train
lines and then, for almost instant communication,
telegraph lines in the 19th Century.
In other words – this idea is not a new one – but
there is a big step up in just how instant, and just
how detailed, communication has become in the
digital age
Cultural Censorship
Just because the world has been shrinking, it
doesn’t mean that different places have been
losing their distinctive identity and becoming all
the same.
Different countries can have very different
standards, conventions, rules and laws
This crosses all sorts of different issues, from
representations of women, gender, race or
sexuality, to political criticism of governments, to
detailed rules and laws about content (such as
advertising).

4. You need to demonstrate your understanding of these key concepts
On Globalisation
• What is the 'electronic agora'
• What is the 'global village'
• What do you think is particularly different about
the 'world shrinking' technologies of the
telegraph, the railway and the aeroplane
compared to the world shrinking technologies of
today?
On Cultural Censorship
• Explain the situation with cultural censorship in
China
• Choose one other country to investigate –
perhaps Saudi Arabia or North Korea
• Can you compare how different countries want
to do things differently to us today, with the
different ways that we have wanted to do
things in the past?

5. Answer the question...
You are the producer of a new film, given a 15
certificate by the BBFC for 'scenes of drug use,
nudity and sexual content'.
• Discuss the issues that would arise if you wanted
to market and advertise your film so it could be
distributed in Saudi Arabia (5 marks)
• What issues in a film might cause difficulties if
you wanted it to be distributed to China? (5
marks)
And the bonus marks question
• Your film stars Idris Elba and Kate Winslett in
the leading roles as a couple.
• Including this as well as the other issues (drug
use, nudity, sexual content) what what issue
would have arisen if you were trying to market
and advertise your film so it could be
distributed in the United States in the 1950s?
(5 marks)

6. 1. The world is getting smaller.
2. It's still made up of very different societies who choose to do things in
very different ways.
3. If you want to work on a global scale you have to remember this and
include these issues in your plans
• Be specific. Think of specific examples of films or
games which would cause particular problems if
they were released in a specific country. Explain
what the problems are and why they are there.
• Pay close attention to the questions. If there
are only three marks and they want three
examples, all they want are the examples, not
reasons or justifications.
• If the question says 'and explain' or 'and compare'
or 'and justify' then most of the marks will come
from the explanation (and so on) rather than from
giving a good example.
Standard issues that cause problems because of
cultural censorship in other countries are almost
always issues of representation.
• Gender and gender roles
• Sexuality
• Drugs and alcohol
• Age (some cultures and religions reserve
special respect for older people and ancestors
– Japan for example)
• Specific issues of national identity and national
history
• Political criticism

7. BIG PICTURE MY LEARNING
How did this
lesson fit into
your other
lessons?
What is my top
take- away from
the lesson?
Have you contributed to the lesson? Will you be able to improve
next lesson? Do you know what you need to go away and do?
o The big idea is a simple one –
the world is getting smaller and
easier to reach but that doesn't
mean that everybody else is
just like you, whoever and
wherever you are
o The detail is still fairly
straightforward – there are
certain headline countries
(China, North Korea, Saudi
Arabia) which are quite easy to
write about as having very
different cultural standards