Digital Diaspora in the Digital Age

Photo by tribesh kayastha on Unsplash

Humans have been wandering around the planet for quite a while for various reasons. Sometimes due to climate change, like ice ages where it got a bit chilly to stay around, or conflict where one preferred staying alive. And we’re still moving around, for similar reasons.

Staying in touch with friends and family back home however, was a bit hard in the early ages of human migrations. Within a generation or two, ones origins would become cloudy and eventually, forgotten and a new culture and society would emerge. This is no longer the case.

With advances in information and communication technologies (ICT), such as the internet, mobile devices and the ability to move money and travel faster and easier, we have seen the rise of what are referred to as digital diaspora.

First I’ll explore what digital diaspora means, the role they play in preserving cultural heritage and their importance in a hyperconnected world.

The Evolution of Digital Diaspora

The term diaspora is a neologism created by Greeks in the 3rd century B.C. in the translation of the Hebraic Bible. With “dia” meaning “through” or “across” and “speirein” meaning to “scatter”. The term has evolved over time to generally meaning a group of people from one culture moving to another country in the world.