Digital libraries and minority languages

Digital libraries have a pivotal role to play in the preservation and maintenance of international cultures in general and minority languages in particular. This paper outlines a software tool for building digital libraries that is well adapted for creating and distributing local information collections in minority languages, and describes some contexts in which it is used. The system can make multilingual documents available in structured collections and allows them to be accessed via multilingual interfaces. It is issued under a free open-source licence, which encourages participatory design of the software, and an end-user interface allows community-based localization of the various language interfaces - of which there are many

Localisation et variation linguistique. Vers une géolinguistique de l’espace virtuel francophone

Fruit de la mondialisation, la localisation des sites Web touche de façon centrale leur langue de diffusion. La mondialisation se déroulant essentiellement en anglais, nous cherchons à mesurer l’influence de la localisation sur la diversité linguistique en vérifiant si les sites localisés pour les publics d’expression française tendent vers l’uniformisation par l’internationalisation de leur contenu linguistique ou, au contraire, vers l’affermissement des différences culturelles locales. L’étude de quatre sites franco-européens et du site canadien-français de l’entreprise Mercedes-Benz fait ressortir un fort contraste dans les tendances observées.Website localization deals mainly with the languages in which websites are published on the Internet. English is by far the language of globalization. In this paper, we seek to measure the influence of localization on linguistic diversity. For this purpose, we set out to verify whether websites localized for French-speaking users exhibit a tendency towards standardization, through the internationalization of their linguistic content, or if they tend towards the strengthening of local cultural differences. A study of five Mercedes-Benz websites (one French-Canadian and four Franco-Europeans) reveals a sharp contrast in the linguistic effect of localization

STANDARDIZATION OR ADAPTATION IN COSMETICS WEBSITES MARKETING ? AN EMPIRICAL STUDY

The websites marketing is becoming an important tool both for multinationals and SMEs, in their effort to internationalizing their business. This study focuses on the international opportunities that are present within the European markets. The paper aims at identifying the degree of websites marketing standardization vs. adaptation, as a marketing tool for cosmetic products. Moreover, the study examines in a comparative manner the standardization strategy of multinationals and small and medium enterprises (SMEs), leaders in European markets, for different cosmetic cathegories. The evaluation of online advertising standardization is based on the modified Model for Testing Advertising Standardization, developed by Whitelock and Chung. The web sites degree of localizations are analyzed based upon 98 criteria, as resulted from an adapted methodology of ProfNet Institut fur Internet Marketing, Munster (Germany). The sample includes the 101 leaders from European markets. The research outcomes reflect a standardized websites marketing policy for SMEs and localized for multinationals. Also, for perfumes, dental care products and toiletry, European cosmetic leaders implement standardized websites marketing policies and balanced for the other cosmetics categories. The hypothesis concerning a strong correlation between standardization and handling dimension was supported.websites marketing, SME, multinationals, online interactivity, cosmetics, standardization, adaptation Romania

Culture in the design of mHealth UI:An effort to increase acceptance among culturally specific groups

Purpose: Designers of mobile applications have long understood the importance of users’ preferences in making the user experience easier, convenient and therefore valuable. The cultural aspects of groups of users are among the key features of users’ design preferences, because each group’s preferences depend on various features that are culturally compatible. The process of integrating culture into the design of a system has always been an important ingredient for effective and interactive human computer interface. This study aims to investigate the design of a mobile health (mHealth) application user interface (UI) based on Arabic culture. It was argued that integrating certain cultural values of specific groups of users into the design of UI would increase their acceptance of the technology. Design/methodology/approach: A total of 135 users responded to an online survey about their acceptance of a culturally designed mHealth. Findings: The findings showed that culturally based language, colours, layout and images had a significant relationship with users’ behavioural intention to use the culturally based mHealth UI. Research limitations/implications: First, the sample and the data collected of this study were restricted to Arab users and Arab culture; therefore, the results cannot be generalized to other cultures and users. Second, the adapted unified theory of acceptance and use of technology model was used in this study instead of the new version, which may expose new perceptions. Third, the cultural aspects of UI design in this study were limited to the images, colours, language and layout. Practical implications: It encourages UI designers to implement the relevant cultural aspects while developing mobile applications. Originality/value: Embedding Arab cultural aspects in designing UI for mobile applications to satisfy Arab users and enhance their acceptance toward using mobile applications, which will reflect positively on their lives.</p

A Framework to Localize International Business to Business Web Sites

The main purpose of this study is to propose and apply an analytical framework to help B2B marketers assess and develop web sites that are localized not only for the B2B marketplace but also for international markets. This study deals with an area that has not received much attention in academic research as previous studies have mainly focused on B2C web sites. The study focuses on B2B web sites and provides a framework to assess web site localization. A content analysis of American and Korean web sites was conducted to analyze the proposed framework. The overall results show that U.S. companies have not accomplished a high degree of localization for B2B markets. The study results indicate that most U.S. companies focus primarily on the translation of web content from English to Korean to create web sites.While it is true that globalization has brought us closer than ever to Mcluhan\u27s (1964) idea of a global village, major differences across countries and regions exist and play a significant role in how consumers react to web site designs and content. Therefore, this framework is vital to business seeking consumers globally. Using this framework should allow businesses to localize their B2B web sites and included key areas that appeal to local consumers.The study concludes by providing marketers insights into factors that can help them better localize their international B2B web sites

A Framework to Localize International Business to Business Web Sites

The main purpose of this study is to propose and apply an analytical framework to help B2B marketers assess and develop web sites that are localized not only for the B2B marketplace but also for international markets. This study deals with an area that has not received much attention in academic research as previous studies have mainly focused on B2C web sites. The study focuses on B2B web sites and provides a framework to assess web site localization. A content analysis of American and Korean web sites was conducted to analyze the proposed framework. The overall results show that U.S. companies have not accomplished a high degree of localization for B2B markets. The study results indicate that most U.S. companies focus primarily on the translation of web content from English to Korean to create web sites.While it is true that globalization has brought us closer than ever to Mcluhan\u27s (1964) idea of a global village, major differences across countries and regions exist and play a significant role in how consumers react to web site designs and content. Therefore, this framework is vital to business seeking consumers globally. Using this framework should allow businesses to localize their B2B web sites and included key areas that appeal to local consumers.The study concludes by providing marketers insights into factors that can help them better localize their international B2B web sites

Localization of Crowdfunding Platforms : The Influencing Role of Culture, Institutions and Geography

Master's thesis Business Administration BE501 - University of Agder 2019This master thesis examines the role played by culture, geography and institutions onEuropean crowdfunding platform’s decision to localize their content towards international markets. The authors conducted a binary logistic regression analysis is based on 470 observations of platform-country dyads collected from 269 European crowdfunding platforms and supplemented by additional sources of macro level indicators. Of the eleven hypotheses, social trust, geographical distance, high-context culture, rule of law and the investment orientation on platform have an effect on the decision to localize the platforms. IT infrastructure and the cultural dimensions of individualism, uncertainty avoidance, as well as a compounded variable of cultural distance, did not impact the same decision. The study’s findings are limited contextually to European crowdfunding platforms offering lending, equity, donation and reward-based models. Other micro-factors or countries of operation may exhibit different patterns than what is presented in this thesis. The study is one of the first in the field of localization andcrowdfunding, opening up for new discussions and insights. The results constitute and challenge the pre-existing theory on website localization. This thesis’ findings suggest that the context of this research is of significant impact as cultural adaptation has been highlighted to be one of the key factors to succeed in foreign markets in other industries

Croatian tourism web site as text type

The aim of this paper is to present the web site as a new form of the tourist supply. The web sites, as a new text form, show special features when compared with those of conventional, non-electronic texts. The paper examines diverse aspects of web sites created by the tourism industry, as well as of their layout and linguistic features. The language of tourism is also analyzed on the corpus of the Croatian tourism web site, i.e. on the website of the Zagreb Tourist Board. The results of this analysis will show the tendencies in the creation of the Croatian tourism web sites