Googlocalisation - Google, globalisation and localisation
You've all heard of 'globalisation' and 'localisation', and you've probably also heard of 'glocalisation'. It seems to have become something of a buzzword over the last couple of years, and used with abandon by politicians wishing to sound as if they are part of the paradigm shift that goes forward by synergising the global knowledge economy and the local cultural knowledge base in a win-win situation. It's an open door proactive repositioning of the e-, i- and bs-economy in a performance-based total quality management that vectors a short and long-term reward-oriented mindset.
OK, enough of the BS
Actually, the first time I heard of 'glocalisation' was in a very good book by Miller & Slater - The Ethnography of the Internet
- back in 2000. They were one of the first to argue convincingly against the 'virtual' vs. 'real' world ideas that were all the rage at the time - they refused to "treat the Internet independently of its embeddedness" (2000:8), and demonstrated how people in Trinidad used the internet in ways that related directly to their Trini culture. It's a good book, but I did think that sometimes they over-emphasised the local thing without acknowledging the international influences that were carried by the internet too.
So what the #@*! is Googlocalisation? Well, I just made that up for the title, but it's because I noticed that I get different results in Google in the two browsers I use - one has the cookies for Google enabled, and the other one doesn't; this means that on one I get the results from google.com.my, and the other returns results from google.com.
I've done some screenshots, but I don't think you'll be able to read them properly. Out of the first ten results (searching 'tropical gardening', for my new blog, only three are the same:
• First on the 'international' (American?) Google site, third on the Malaysian site: Tropical Plants - GardenWeb
• Fourth on the 'international' Google site, ninth on the Malaysian site: Xishuangbanna Tropical Botanical Garden
• Eighth on the 'international' Google site, tenth on the Malaysian site: Tropical Punch - Gardening with Tropical Plants
Continue reading "Googlocalisation - Google, globalisation and localisation"
OK, enough of the BS
Actually, the first time I heard of 'glocalisation' was in a very good book by Miller & Slater - The Ethnography of the Internet - back in 2000. They were one of the first to argue convincingly against the 'virtual' vs. 'real' world ideas that were all the rage at the time - they refused to "treat the Internet independently of its embeddedness" (2000:8), and demonstrated how people in Trinidad used the internet in ways that related directly to their Trini culture. It's a good book, but I did think that sometimes they over-emphasised the local thing without acknowledging the international influences that were carried by the internet too.So what the #@*! is Googlocalisation? Well, I just made that up for the title, but it's because I noticed that I get different results in Google in the two browsers I use - one has the cookies for Google enabled, and the other one doesn't; this means that on one I get the results from google.com.my, and the other returns results from google.com.
I've done some screenshots, but I don't think you'll be able to read them properly. Out of the first ten results (searching 'tropical gardening', for my new blog, only three are the same:
• First on the 'international' (American?) Google site, third on the Malaysian site: Tropical Plants - GardenWeb
• Fourth on the 'international' Google site, ninth on the Malaysian site: Xishuangbanna Tropical Botanical Garden
• Eighth on the 'international' Google site, tenth on the Malaysian site: Tropical Punch - Gardening with Tropical Plants
Continue reading "Googlocalisation - Google, globalisation and localisation"