Building a Truly World Wide Web: A Review of the Essentials of International Communication    

Though the Web knows no borders, linguistic, cultural, technological and legal barriers have confined most of the Web's growth to the United States. Only by addressing these challenges will Web authors reach a truly worldwide audience. This review of contemporary literature examines the current demographics of Web usage and the challenges these demographics reveal. Next, I describe some of the prevailing maxims guiding Web authors, and other technical communicators involved in the creation of World Wide Web content with the intent of reaching international audiences, and explain how and why these approaches are effective. Finally, I address contemporary thought on what can be achieved by making the World Wide Web a true international medium.

Arnold, Mitchell D. Technical Communication Online (1998). Articles>Web Design>International

International Marketing for the Internet: The Power of Virtual Shopping

Linda, an American living abroad in a country with limited merchandise, orders online for books, contact lenses, and smoked ham. Her Dutch husband buys from www.amazon.com and www.ebay.com because U.S.-based retail web sites offer a wide range of goods at a cheaper price than their adopted country, including lower import duties and lower shipping costs from U.S.-based cargo carriers.

Lopez, Joselito T. Communication World Bulletin (2005). Articles>Web Design>Marketing>International

International Sites: Minimum Requirements

Users from other countries have special needs related to entry fields for names and addresses, measurements and dates, and information about regional product standards.

Nielsen, Jakob. Alertbox (2005). Articles>Web Design>International>Usability

Keep Your Site Competitive    

To gain a competitive edge--or even survive--in a world gone flat, a company must assert a level of uniqueness. Companies creating global Web sites can use competitive analysis and landscape analysis to analyze the market; Lee-Kim details how to add cultural analysis to this mix.

Lee-Kim, Julia. Intercom (2008). Articles>Web Design>International

Promises of a Global Intranet

Did you know an intranet could actually be more global than the Internet? The interactions within an intranet are more intense and frequent, and anonymity is replaced with specificity—your real name, job title and location. Company management often believes that a unified employee communication intranet site will foster a community, a shared corporate culture and a universal standard. But a review of two U.S.-based global intranets reveals that today’s reality may fall short.

Lopez, Joselito T. Communication World Bulletin (2004). Articles>Web Design>Intranets>International

Ten Keys to Increasing Your Web Site's International Impact

People and organizations generally understand the concept of the Internet's global reach. However, few see their Web presence as international, and even fewer have sites appropriate for audiences beyond their borders. As global competition grows and new markets emerge, building an effective international Web presence is becoming ever more critical.

Tindal, Richard. Communication World Bulletin (2003). Articles>Web Design>Marketing>International

Thinking Globally, Acting Locally

How important is tailoring your site for a culturally diverse audience? To some extent it depends on who your target market is; but Web users are increasingly likely to speak languages other than English. For instance, research firm Global Reach predicts that by 2004 only one-third of Web users will be native English speakers. Combine this with IDC's estimate that in three years, Internet spending outside the U.S. will top $914 billion -- two-thirds of the world's $1.64 trillion in e-commerce -- and globalization begins to look less like a nice-to-have than a mandate.

Benett, Gordon. Intranet Journal. Articles>Web Design>International

The Web and Material Matters

At present the Internet continues the one-way flow of information from the First to the Third World. Can the Internet be a factor in promoting a two-way flow between the margins and the center?

Faigley, Lester. University of Texas (1999). Articles>Web Design>International

Localizing the Internet Beyond Communities and Networks    

As the numbers of internet users worldwide continue to grow, the internet is becoming `more local'. This article addresses the epistemological challenge posed by this global process of internet localization by examining some of the conceptual tools at the disposal of internet researchers. It argues that progress has been hampered by an overdependence on the problematic notions of community and network whose paradigmatic status has yet to be questioned by internet scholars. The article seeks to broaden the conceptual space of internet localization studies through a ground-up conceptualization exercise that draws inspiration from the field theories of both Pierre Bourdieu and the Manchester School of Anthropology, and is based on recent fieldwork in suburban Malaysia. This exploration demonstrates that a more nuanced understanding of the plural forms that residential sociality can take is needed in order to move beyond existing binaries such as `network sociality' versus `community sociality'.

Postill, John. New Media and Society (2008). Articles>Web Design>Localization>International

Going Global the Centralized Way

Creating a user interface that is consistent across a website isn't easy. But managers of sites that serve multilingual, multinational users are going to have to rise to the task, however daunting it may be.

Rosenfeld, Louis. CIO Magazine (2000). Articles>Web Design>International>Localization

Us vs. Them - Vocabulary Makes a Difference

Vocabulary used when talking about intranets reveals a lot about an organisation's model and approach to becoming more international, or global. Which raises the question: what's the difference between global and international? I've included a snapshot of a slide on this point which I use in workshops.

NetStrategy-JMC (2006). Articles>Web Design>Intranets>International