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Glocalization ProjectUnderstanding the Key IdeaTo understand this project, you should also read the entry for "Glocalization" from the Ideas site and follow its links to see examples of the use of this concept on the Web. Choosing a TopicIn this project, you will create a Web site that focuses on some "glocalizable" aspect of Duluth, Lake Superior, The Northshore or some locale in Minnesota. Far from cluttering the World Wide Web with excessively "local" concerns, each of your projects will develop a set of Web pages covering some specific, local site, product, phenomenon, or historical topic for an audience who will never physically visit the area. Defining an Audience and their InterestsWhy would audiences beyond Minnesota, the Upper Midwest, or even the US borders find any value in a Web site focusing on a local area topic? In fact, localness has new relevance, even as the forces of globalization create what one critic has called "McWorld." For instance, chrysanthemum enthusiasts are no longer limited to participation in local or regional gatherings, or the occasional national convention. Thanks to the reach of the media, most recently the Web, such enthusiasts are able to "visit" a huge variety of local Chrysanthemum sites all across the world, both famous and obscure, and communicate with fellow enthusiasts in a "panlocal," rather than generically "global," chrysanthemum culturewhat we might call a "chrysanthemumscape." Your site should speak to a similarly conceived scape (as defined on the Ideas site's "glocalization" page). Imagining the Form and Content
Looking at ExamplesAs we've seen in our review of the term "glocalization," there is a growing consciousness that the local and global can be reconciled, either by customizing (localizing) global topics or products for various audiences/markets, or by publicizing a locale to the world as a symbol, case study, point of origin, "flavor," brand or a commodifiable, "authentic" experience. Indeed, the attraction of the Internet isn't just to escape into the Wide World, but to experience, in some remotely mediated way, the flavor of other locales, cultures and situated individual--a flavor that is somehow already significant to us.
Be sure to read the entry for "Glocalization" from the Ideas site if you haven't already! |