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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 of Glocalizing on the Web
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.
Some Student
Examples of Glocalization Projects
Some Alternative
Approaches to This Assignment
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
a rich 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,
- using the first (index)
page of the site to establish the purpose, audience,
and organization,
- producing an effective, mutlipage
Web site with navigation,
- creating and using an effective
page-design scheme for the site which makes effective use of screen
real estate, and that gives the site a consistent,
unifying look and feel,
- creating something original
and new that adds value to the Web,
- inventing a subtle means of documenting all sources of
information, including links to online sources, without making the
system of citation too intrusive on the online experience,
- designing pages of that
consider Nielsen's recommendations for content-, page- and
site-usability,
- combining words
and images well,
- taking maximum advantage
of your local access to develop original materials for
your site, including your own text, photographs, and research, which
add value to the Web,
- giving your content a sense
of texture and voice which speaks to your audience
Documenting Sources
Since you will probably use information from other sources to make your
site, you'll want to provide a means for visitors to find these original
sources. Your site should provide a subtle apparatus to identify these
sources and make them available. Citations for print sources should include
author, title, publisher information, and month/year. For online sources,
include the name and a link to the page where you found the information
or other content. If you use pictures, you should ask permission from
the owner or manager of the site, emphasizing that this is a not-for-profit
school project.
Turning in
the Project
You'll turn in the project by
- Posting the Web site to
the folder "www/5230/glocal"
- 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 "printout
and commentary" of the entire Glocalization site.
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