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Adding to the population are a host of new English-language Web sites that did not exist in 2003. New are developing country head of state Web sites in Cameroon, Chile, Guyana, Macedonia, Montenegro, Slovakia, Slovenia, and Turkey. These Web sites indicate that developing country heads of state around the world are continuing to take a place in cyberspace that alternately can function as a podium, microphone, press office, and briefing room. This trend will undoubtedly continue, offering great promise to researchers in a wide range of academic disciplines far outside the original areas of persuasion, propaganda, and public relations that formed the theoretical foundation for this study. The continuity of some heads of state and their Web sites could prove beneficent for longitudinal studies, which are sorely needed in most areas of academic inquiry, including public relations.
Longitudinal studies might traverse a technological and cultural landscape markedly different from that of today——or not. Heads of state of all countries, developing or not, face the ongoing challenge of determining what to communicate and how to communicate in a world with vast technological inequalities and pervasive globalization. On their Web sites, heads of state will need to determine how and whether to archive the often massive amounts of information displayed on their sites on a daily basis. New heads of state will face decisions on whether to build on the Web site of their predecessors or forge a new identity, and how that identity relates to a desired perception of national image. That national image contributes to the cultural economy and an ongoing dialogue among nations and people around the world from bloggers to the media to nongovernmental organizations to politicians.
That dialogue, however, is limited in scope to those who have access to a computer, understand English, and can participate in the dialogic functionality of the World Wide Web. As of this writing, much of the world still fail these criteria, making Web sites instruments of privilege reaching only a narrowly defined audience. In this sense, the dialogue surrounding head of state Web sites is limited but the potential for reaching new, broader audiences remains unlimited. For that potential to become realized, the tidal wave of technology must reach those who are disadvantaged, impoverished and speak only indigenous languages.