The growth of digital world history

In his article on creating an agenda for digital world history, Patrick Manning attempts to push forward the idea of global history becoming a major element within history generally, explaining that the rise of modern technology has enabled what was once a small, niche part of historical study to become a more common approach.
Manning observes that global perspectives of world history as a study grew shortly after the dawn of digital technology. He further notes a link between the expansion of computers, and the dawn of the Internet, with a huge expansion of historical knowledge, notably in local history and in the coordination of national and international history.
On the local level, the Internet, as a free resource, enables the dissemination and spread of information which might not otherwise be possible, as book publishers are often reluctant to print books about issues with limited geographical or cultural appeal. With modern technology, historians can reach a greater audience at a minimal cost. In my own experience, the Internet has proven a useful tool, allowing me to send chapters of my thesis to friends far away who agreed to proofread it, without having to post copies, as well as acting as a storage location where anyone can access the final product, without having to travel to the library in UCC.
Globally, the use of an international service, which the Internet is, has allowed for a greater, and easier, collaborative effort between historians from different nations, allowing for common knowledge or experience to be interpreted from perspectives previously unknown in individual states. People have always been able to access information, but geographical barriers made it difficult to find sources that were not close to hand, while linguistic barriers and national borders made it difficult to access analysis or opinions from a different perspective. Personally, the Internet has made it easier to access information, even within Ireland. Books and articles useful for my thesis last year, but unavailable in UCC, were found in other universities with thanks to the search engines provided by other institutions. Internet shopping allowed me to find, and buy, a copy of the Pilkington Report on Broadcasting, long out of print, unavailable in UCC or any other Irish university, and not published on the Internet.
A major benefit of modern technology is the ability to create a database of information, featuring contributions from collaborators from around the world, which can be accessed by anyone, anywhere. Manning acknowledges this by pointing out the limitations encountered when he created the World History Center at Northeastern University. By placing information online, historians become capable of creating an expanded database, easily accessible and capable of allowing for greater interactivity than the limits which occur when a centre of excellence is restricted geographically within one university.
Though Manning believes world history is the up-and-coming area of history research this century, I wonder how much this is so because of interpretation of this area versus other aspects of history, and how much this belief rests on his desire for it to be so, given his speciality in the subject. No-one wishes to consider their area of expertise to be niche, or of limited interest to the general populace. I would agree with his argument that world history has expanded in tandem with the rise and expansion of the computer and the Internet, but I doubt that the correlation will rise exponentially.