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Project 2: The Glocalization Site
- Site due to be posted by Monday, 3/10 at 6 p.m.
- Annotated Printout due in class Wednesday, 3/12
Choosing a Topic
With The Glocalization Site, you'll create a Web site that allows
a global audience to experience some aspect of Duluth, Lake Superior,
the Northshore or some similar locale.
Because this global audience is possible only through the Internet, assume
that they will never physically visit your locale. The only relationship
your audience will ever have with your place is the online experience
that you create, and the things you find to show and tell them. Luckily,
you can "narrowcast" to a very particular audience with specific
tastes and interests.
What is Glocalizing?
To "glocalize" a locale means to present it to a global, networked
audience for reasons that make sense in the world of the network,
rather than the physical world. The value that the audience gets from
your site, therefore, should come not in some potential physical experience
(typically, visiting your local place) but in the virtual experience
of seeing something that they haven't seen, or learning something that
connects to their interests. You are essentially translating some local
experience for a "monad" audience, which Michael Heim says "knows
through the interface" rather than from physical sensation (Trend
79). This glocal, networked audience is defined not by their origin or
location in a geographic state or nation, but through their connection
to the globalized "tribes," subcultures or scapes
that exist via the mass media, international marketing or the Internet.
Looking at Examples
The following are examples of local topics presented to a global audience,
not necessarily models of good Web design. Some of them
are crudely done.
Still, ask yourself who would find the experience of the site fulfilling
or memorable. How do each of these sites potentially speak to some sense
of identity or interest that exists beyond physical or geographical existence?
- Members of groups are bound by their histories or origin-stories,
and the places where these histories unfolded often take on a sacred
status, even for those visiting them only virtually. You probably need
to know about Mormon Church history to follow or care about this Tour
of the Carthage (IL) Jail, but for the "Saints" it's a
compelling experience to see where it actually happened.
- Seinfeld's
Real New York makes local spots in New York City visitable to the
many fans of the sitcom. Mary
Tyler Moore Show tour of Minneapolis does something similar for
the Twin Cities and fans of the 70s-era show, still seen on TV Land
and Nick at Nite. See any similarities with the appeal of the Mormon
site? What does that suggest about the role of network television shows
in contemporary [networked] life?
- The New York City nightclub CBGB
promotes its (arguable) reputation as the birthplace of punk. Certain
kinds of music are good examples of how technology and networks can
make the local global without requiring physical travel.
- Tabasco
uses the exotic locale and history of its original home on Avery Island
to market its hot sauce. Think about how this marketing establishes
a close relationship of some tiny locale to the global market, undermining
the mediation of the nation-state.
- The LBJ and Lincoln
home sites offer history or Americana buffs a chance to experience the
landscapes and cultures that shaped these presidents.
- Numerous sites offer virtual tours meant to provide educational value,
such as the Cedar
River Watershed Virtual Tour in Seattle, WA, or the Plimoth
Plantation Tour in Plymouth, MA.
What's makes The Glocatization Site Project
Interesting
Never before in history could regular individuals like you and me address
a global audience, or even a very narrowly defined audience dispursed
across the globe. Now, anyone with an Internet connection and some basic
technology can do just that. The challenge now become not reaching an
audience, but defining them and understanding how to address them. We'll
take on these challenges by attempting the following:
- creating a site that creates an online experience of a local place,
group, event, phenomenon, "scene," product, etc.
- defining and addressing a global "tribe," subculture or
scape who will value that online experience
for itself, not as a mere advertisement of a physical experience to
come
- producing an effective, mutlipage Web site with navigation
- designing pages of that consider Nielsen's recommendations for content-,
page- and site-usability.
- combining words and images well
- taking maximum advantage of your access to develop original materials
for your site, including your own text, photographs, and research
- giving your content a sense of texture and voice that speak to your
audience
Some Student Examples
Turning in the Project
You'll turn in the project by
- Posting the Web site to the folder "www/5230/glocal" Monday,
3/10 at 6 p.m. and
- Post a message to the Webx discussion "Glocalization
URLs" with your name and the complete URL (including "http://...")
of your site: for example: Craig Stroupe, http://www.d.umn.edu/~cstroupe/5230/glocal
- Place a link on your Personal Course Home Page to the Glocalization
Project
- Turning in an "annotated" printout of the entire Glocalization
site in class on Wednesday, 3/12. By "annotate"
I mean that you should write some brief comments on the printout, pointing
to and commenting on particular features that you want me to pay attention
to or understand. Include items that you are especially pleased with,
that you had trouble with, or that raise unanswered questions for you.
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