According to the American Heritage Dictionary, the adjective local is defined as the following:
1. a. Of, relating to, or characteristic of a particular place: a local custom; the local slang. b. Of or relating to a city, town, or district rather than a larger area: state and local government. 2. Not broad or general; not widespread: local outbreaks of flu. 3. Of or affecting a specific part of the body: a local infection. 4. Making all possible or scheduled stops on a route; not express: a local train.
We're really only needing to talk about the first definitions, and the key issues are the words "place", "city", "town", or "district".
Do you recall the phrase activists have used "Think Global, Act Local"? There is an important distinction between the two. We need to know the big picture, but our most effective actions occur within our own sphere of influence.
But with new technologies extending our abilities to communicate well outside our physical time and space coordinates, the "particular place" definition of local starts feeling out of touch.
What truly is "local"? If speak regularly with friends in another state, who, let's say share my interest in the theater, are they not local. And if my physical neighbor is someone I never see, why should they be considered local?
What does local mean with global communication techologies widespread, cell phones, email, and broadband? Has it changed? What about the impact of international flights over the past century? And what is the importance of the "old local"?
Harold: I particularly liked the line I made reference to in your original post on TP. "But the new communication technologies today also make it easy and attractive to connect one-to-one with those closer to us in the geometry of a spiritual-mental space map than of the earth map of longitude and lattitude"
The need to redefine local is associated more with thought than physical space. In my opinion, local has always reflected customs and cultures rather than geography. For instance, local can reference climate - what types of things that grow in a region - what is the weather typically like, etc. More often than not, when people discuss local they talk about what the "locals" do or what the "local" custom is or local politics.
Historically, local thinking has been dominated by people and traditions that have, more often than not, been dominant simply because no other thoughts have been posed. Generally, those who seemed to make the most sense were the ones that directed local thinking.
In the age of communications as we know it today one can be exposed to a literal smorgasboard of ideas that they simply never had access to before without travel. People no longer have to travel to find people that share similar viewpoints. Consequently, where a small local community would historically be limited to prevailing local opinion on a subject, they now have the opportunity to have or at least be exposed to a great many diverse viewpoints.
Given this, our traditional thinking about what constitutes local is not actually descriptive of the actual situtation. Thus, for a company to base any marketing or development strategy on local concepts they are limiting their thinking at best and completely missing the boat at worst.
Great stuff Harold and Walter. My views will be rooted in simplicity and pragmatism.
I see the need to re-define ‘local’ is being driven by technology. If we consider the industrial revolution then local had to be re-defined because new transport infrastructures made places accessible that previously were not accessible.
I consider we are now living through a revolution in technology that is equally profound. Local to me now is not the physical - it is a psychological thing. My own ‘locality’ is now defined through my electronic contacts. I have discovered people throughout the world through e-mail and Blogging. Those contacts have often resulted in what I now consider to be friendships first and business contacts second. It is amazing. This team is an outstanding example of what I am saying. A few guys with a mutual interest in doing something – we come together and get to know each other through electronic correspondence and some of us may even become friends – we may never meet but the potential is awesome.
This new local is 'virtual' and in many cases I will probably never meet (in the physical sense) many of the people I now regularly correspond with and I am fascinated by that. It has massive implications for a definition of ‘local.’
I remember as a kid my definition of ‘local’ was the tiny village in England I lived in of about 800 people. There was a village about two miles away that was not in my ‘local’ definition as a kid. The nearest large town – 7 miles away (about 20000 population) was certainly not in my locality in a psychological sense.
So in summary my feeling is that we need to redefine local because communication is driving us to do so. I imagine in 20 or 30 years time that instant communication will be the normal mode of communication for almost everyone in the world and local will have to be re-defined. To me the joy of this discussion is the opportunity to be creative in our thought process. We can try to imagine our future and what technology can do for us as long as we use it carefully, ethically and most importantly in the interests of our less affluent nations in the forefront of our minds. We have an opportunity ion this project to produce something really ground breaking in my view – thanks again Walter for your leadership and co-ordination.
3 comments:
According to the American Heritage Dictionary, the adjective local is defined as the following:
1.
a. Of, relating to, or characteristic of a particular place: a local custom; the local slang.
b. Of or relating to a city, town, or district rather than a larger area: state and local government.
2. Not broad or general; not widespread: local outbreaks of flu.
3. Of or affecting a specific part of the body: a local infection.
4. Making all possible or scheduled stops on a route; not express: a local train.
We're really only needing to talk about the first definitions, and the key issues are the words "place", "city", "town", or "district".
Do you recall the phrase activists have used "Think Global, Act Local"? There is an important distinction between the two. We need to know the big picture, but our most effective actions occur within our own sphere of influence.
But with new technologies extending our abilities to communicate well outside our physical time and space coordinates, the "particular place" definition of local starts feeling out of touch.
What truly is "local"? If speak regularly with friends in another state, who, let's say share my interest in the theater, are they not local. And if my physical neighbor is someone I never see, why should they be considered local?
What does local mean with global communication techologies widespread, cell phones, email, and broadband? Has it changed? What about the impact of international flights over the past century? And what is the importance of the "old local"?
Harold: I particularly liked the line I made reference to in your original post on TP. "But the new communication technologies today also make it easy and attractive to connect one-to-one with those closer to us in the geometry of a spiritual-mental space map than of the earth map of longitude and lattitude"
The need to redefine local is associated more with thought than physical space. In my opinion, local has always reflected customs and cultures rather than geography. For instance, local can reference climate - what types of things that grow in a region - what is the weather typically like, etc. More often than not, when people discuss local they talk about what the "locals" do or what the "local" custom is or local politics.
Historically, local thinking has been dominated by people and traditions that have, more often than not, been dominant simply because no other thoughts have been posed. Generally, those who seemed to make the most sense were the ones that directed local thinking.
In the age of communications as we know it today one can be exposed to a literal smorgasboard of ideas that they simply never had access to before without travel. People no longer have to travel to find people that share similar viewpoints. Consequently, where a small local community would historically be limited to prevailing local opinion on a subject, they now have the opportunity to have or at least be exposed to a great many diverse viewpoints.
Given this, our traditional thinking about what constitutes local is not actually descriptive of the actual situtation. Thus, for a company to base any marketing or development strategy on local concepts they are limiting their thinking at best and completely missing the boat at worst.
Great stuff Harold and Walter. My views will be rooted in simplicity and pragmatism.
I see the need to re-define ‘local’ is being driven by technology. If we consider the industrial revolution then local had to be re-defined because new transport infrastructures made places accessible that previously were not accessible.
I consider we are now living through a revolution in technology that is equally profound. Local to me now is not the physical - it is a psychological thing. My own ‘locality’ is now defined through my electronic contacts. I have discovered people throughout the world through e-mail and Blogging. Those contacts have often resulted in what I now consider to be friendships first and business contacts second. It is amazing. This team is an outstanding example of what I am saying. A few guys with a mutual interest in doing something – we come together and get to know each other through electronic correspondence and some of us may even become friends – we may never meet but the potential is awesome.
This new local is 'virtual' and in many cases I will probably never meet (in the physical sense) many of the people I now regularly correspond with and I am fascinated by that. It has massive implications for a definition of ‘local.’
I remember as a kid my definition of ‘local’ was the tiny village in England I lived in of about 800 people. There was a village about two miles away that was not in my ‘local’ definition as a kid. The nearest large town – 7 miles away (about 20000 population) was certainly not in my locality in a psychological sense.
So in summary my feeling is that we need to redefine local because communication is driving us to do so. I imagine in 20 or 30 years time that instant communication will be the normal mode of communication for almost everyone in the world and local will have to be re-defined. To me the joy of this discussion is the opportunity to be creative in our thought process. We can try to imagine our future and what technology can do for us as long as we use it carefully, ethically and most importantly in the interests of our less affluent nations in the forefront of our minds. We have an opportunity ion this project to produce something really ground breaking in my view – thanks again Walter for your leadership and co-ordination.
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