The Role of Diapsoras increases in a Hyper-connected World

According to the European Commission in 2025 there will be nearly 250 million migrants, with 65% of these communities living in the developed world. There is evidence to suggest that these diaspora communities are harnessing advances in information and communication technologies to develop online communities and networks which are becoming of increasing strategic importance in the development arena (USAID Report 2008, page 2). Digital diaspora networks also have the capacity to offset the negative effects of flight of human capital from their countries of origin by facilitating knowledge transfer and technology transfer between the diaspora and their homelands (Diaspora Knowledge Flows in the Global Economy, 2010, page 1). A 2010 study by the University of Bergen identified that digital diasporas offer a forum for on-going online historical debates or “web wars” between Poland, Russia and Ukraine (see page 2). A 2012 paper from the University of New Jersey on the Korean diaspora community in the US demonstrated that virtual environments helped users reconnect with their home country and led to a less essential ethnic identity perception based on transnational ties and hybrid cultural practices (see page iii).