This document proposes a project titled "Globalizing the Local and Localizing the Global as a Tool by which Africans Would Readily Embrace Technology." The proposal was submitted by Ashimolowo Tomisin and aims to study how localizing technology (adapting it to local languages and culture) and globalizing local aspects of culture can help bridge the digital divide in Africa and increase acceptance of technology. The proposal outlines the background, problem statement, objectives, and proposed solution. It argues that localizing technology by making it accessible in local languages and adapting it to local norms can help more Africans readily embrace technology, while still exposing them to global aspects through cultural globalization.

1. PROPOSAL FOR MY PROJECT
TITLED:
GLOBALIZING THE LOCAL AND LOCALIZING THE GLOBAL AS A TOOL BY
WHICH AFRICANS WOULD READYLY EMBRACE TECHNOLOGY
SUBMITTED BY: ASHIMOLOWO TOMISIN
DATE: 09 JUNE 2015

2. Abstract
Globalizing the Local and localizing the Global as a way African would readily accept
technology is essential because we as Africans find security within local areas and culture, so for
Africans to readily embrace technology and to bridge digital divide it is more preferable to
localize it and globalize the local within this localization.
Introduction/background
I am using Africa as a case study because I believe that the continent Africa can be better by
Globalization in technology which is knowing how to do things the way the rest of the world is
doing it and also I believe that the technology could also be localized to bring about massive
revolution of the African continent in terms of a better economy and better productions in
agriculture for export.
Problem statement
Africa is still backward in terms of technology, just because a smaller population is ready to
embrace technology and a larger population are laggards and still want things to be done their
local way, so in other to bring about a balance, the most preferable thing to do is to localize the
global and globalize the local, which in another word mean bringing technology down to their
level while exposing them to the world at large. It has worked for different countries in the world
and Africa would not be an exception if properly implemented, although the diversity of
languages and currencies might be a constraint it is still workable.
Objective of the project

3. The main Objective is to study and provide a lasting solution to the digital divide problem in
Africa, through the topic of study and also look into how culture can be used as an important
component to connect people locally and globally or internationally.
Also this project would explore how things could be done better with technology in Africa to
bring it to global standards that would easily be accepted by the world.
Main Objective/Goals/ aims Specify objectives
To explore and assert means by which Technology could be localized for Africans as a mean of
connecting them to the world bridging digital divide and making laggard Africans accept
technology readily.
Other research topic
Impact of Technology on Current and future businesses

4. CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION/BACKGROUND:
According to Globalization101, Globalization is a process of interaction and integration among
the people, companies, and governments of different nations, a process driven by international
trade and investment and aided by information technology. This process has effects on
the environment, on culture, on political systems, on economic development and prosperity, and
on human physical well-being in societies around the world.
A more similar definition of Globalization relating to our topic is by (Albrow, Martin and
Elizabeth 1990) which states Globalization (or globalisation) is the process of international
integration arising from the interchange of world views, products, ideas and other aspects
of culture. According to me globalization in the context of this topic is exposing or connecting a
group of people to the rest of the world through the process of localization.
Localization on the other hand according (Patrick A.V. Hall, Martyn A. Ould, eds. 1996) stated
that localization are means of adapting computer software to different languages, regional
differences and technical requirements of a target market (locale).
Localization is the process of adapting internationalized software for a specific region or
language by adding locale-specific components and translating text. Localization (which is
potentially performed multiple times, for different locales) uses the infrastructure or flexibility
provided by internationalization (which is ideally performed only once, or as an integral part of
ongoing development) (Bert Esselink 2003) therefore Localization enables technology and
internet to be in line with local languages, norms and culture for the people to easily embrace it.

5. A digital divide is an economic and social inequality with regard to access to, use of, or impact
of information and communication technologies (ICT). Localization is bringing technology
down to the level of a particular set of people and culture through globalization.
Globalization and localization are both very useful tools which could be used to bridge the
digital divide problems in Africa, because as stated earlier people easily accept things which
relates to their culture, this could be a window by which the government of Africa can use to
make technology accepted by the local communities around Africa.
1.2 PROBLEM STATEMENT
Africa is lacking behind in Information communication technology not only because majority do
not have access to the hardware’s and connectivity but because internet and computing
software’s are not in their local languages,
Many Africans today send text messages through their 1G phones on their local languages, but
they cannot access information on the internet in their local languages and also they cannot
contribute to resource on the internet through their local languages
The Problem this research is trying to analyses and solve is the problem of digital divide, looking
more into the non-acceptance of technology by laagereds in rural areas in Africa which form the
major population of people in Africa who do not have access to technology many of who are not
willing to accept technology.
The non-acceptance of technology emerges from the parochial culture which they have oin mind,
many of them believe that technology is coming to do things in a new way which would change
the way their fore parents and many generations taught them to do it, which makes localization
coming handy, the question is can what their fore parents taught them be absorbed by technology

6. and presented to them through technology? Also can we globalize the way their fore parents and
generations thought them how to do things so that such ideas can be absorbed by the world?
The majority of Africans who are yet to embrace technology and absorb technology into their
occupations and businesses are the ones who contribute greatly to the development and
productions of Africa as a continent, there is a need to take a bolder step forward to help t
The Problem of digital divide can not only be solved by distributing computers, tablets, mobile
phones and internet to areas where there are no technologies that would not be used by the
people, the technology can also be Localized to make the local people Globalized.
1.3 OBJECTIVE OF THE PROJECT
The main objective of the project is to bridge digital divide and make technology readily
acceptable by laggards in Africa by localizing the global and globalizing the local.
1.4 PROPOSED SOLUTION
The proposed solution to non-acceptance to technology in Africa and digital divide in Africa is
by Localizing the Global (Bringing technology to the level of the people) which entails letting
technology be in their local languages, website translations into their local languages, it involves
learning and teaching local farmers how to do things in their local languages, it entails teaching
local business men how to do business globally through their local languages, it’s a whole lot of
interesting process that would benefit both the local communities in Africa and the Global
communities.

7. The local communities benefits through promotion of their cultures which gives them the
assurance that their cultures would be preserved, Drawing local and international investors to
them, Digitization of their manual processes and Globalization them by teaching them and
making them to learn how things are better done in other communities and around the world.
While the international community Benefits by Knowing the unknown, getting local ideas that
would benefit the world discovered and giving African government the right statistics for
strategic planning.
1.5 PROJECT JUSTIFICATION
This project has being critically thought on and the idea to Globalize the Local and localize the
Global through technology was thought on as a solution to digital divide and non-acceptance of
technology to laggards in Africa.
1.6 SCOPE OF THE PROJECT
The Scope of this project is looking at Africa and how technology can be better absorbed by the
African population and other people around the world through globalization and localization.

8. CHAPTER TWO: LITERATURE REVIEW
BRIEF OVERVIEW
Since technology is the agent behind globalization, and localization can be intertwined with
Globalization, we can assert that localization and globalization can effectively be implemented if
they are coupled together to play their roles since they are two distinct but complimentary
attributes.
According to (Patrick and Martyn 1996).”In a commercial setting, the benefit from localization
is access to more markets” If this is through in the commercial setting I agree with the above
author and think this can be borrowed into the ICT world for the localization of information
technology which would give people more access to the world if the word market is interchanged
for the world. Which would bring me to saying that in an ICT setting, the benefit from
localization would bring access to the world.
Before Localization of software can be very much effective and efficient it has to be properly
globalized or internationalized so that when the software/ internet meets international standards
then it would be very easy to translate directly from the local languages to the international
which would give users proper world view and would make the transition from local to
international languages very easy, this is confirmed by (Reina, Laura, Robles, Gregorio, and
Jesús 2013) in their book said “Once properly internationalized, software can rely on more
decentralized models for localization: free and open source software usually rely on self-
localization by end-users and volunteers, sometimes organized in teams” from the above
statement internationalization/Globalization of internet pages and software comes into aspect

9. which is first of all Letting the software/pages meet international/global standards, then it could
easily be localized because it meets the international/global format, after the software meets the
local needs and it is being used by the end user it then globalizes/internationalizes the end user of
the system by giving them access to world through their local languages and cultures.
Furthermore after a software/internet page meets international standards Volunteers and bilingual
locals which understand both the local and internationalized/ Global languages can be used to
develop or translate this internationalized language into their local languages, which makes the
transition(Globalizing the local and localizing the Global) process easy and more cost effective.
Transition process of globalizing the local and localizing the global
According to (Patrick, Hall, Martyn, and Ould, 1996) “A globalization method includes, after
planning, three implementation steps:` internationalization, localization and quality assurance”
According to the above statement planning is where would require abit more work and research
because careful and studious research has to be done by professionals and experts in various
fields that would conduct studies in various aspects like environmental, social, cultural,
intercultural and others so as to ensure that the right statistics could be arrived at and concluded
on.
The methods to globalization as stated above are Internalization, localization and quality
assurance, which I slightly disagree with the method should include globalization twice, the
Order in which I see the Globalization methods are Globalization, localization, Globalization and
Quality assurance. The first globalization should be used for the Globalization/internalization of
Global software and internet the next stage is the localization which involves translation into
local languages and adding elements of culture for acceptability, Globalization comes again
because that is the achievement after localization, now at this stage people are able to see the big

10. picture of the world through localized or translated websites and software. After this quality
assurance comes in to ensure that the localized software/ websites meet the standard needs of the
population and also meets international/global standards.
So according to me the Globalization methods are Internationalization, Localization,
Globalization and Quality assurance.
BRIEF HISTORY OF GLOBALIZATION
Thomas L. Friedman divides globalization history into three parts in year periods, he said
Globalization 1 from 1492 to 1800, Globalization 2 from 1800 to 2000) and Globalization 3 from
2000 to present. (Thomas, 2005) states that Globalization 1 involved the globalization of
countries, Globalization 2 involved the globalization of companies and Globalization 3 involves
the globalization of individuals.
Globalization 1, from the period of 1492-1800 involved the globalization of countries, shrank the
world from a size large to a size medium, and the dynamic force in that era was Countries
globalizing for resources and imperial conquest (Thomas, 2005).
Globalization 2, from 1800-2000 involved the globalization of companies, it shrank the world
from a size medium to a size small, and it was spearheaded by companies globalizing for
markets and labour (Thomas, 2005)
Globalization 3, from 2000-present involved the globalization of individuals which started
around 2000 is shrinking the world form a size small to a size tiny and flattening the playing
field at the same time (Thomas, 2005)

11. According to (Thomas, 2005) Globalization 1 and 2 were driven primarily by European and
American companies and countries, but going forward this world be less and less true.
According to (Thomas, 2005) “Globalization 3 the thing that gives its unique character is
individuals, small groups globalizing. Individual’s must and can now ask: where do I fit into the
global competition and opportunities of the day, and how can I, on my own, collaborate with
others globally? But Globalization 2 not only differs from the previous eras on how it is
shrinking and flattering the world and in how it is empowering individuals it is also different in
that Globalization 1 and 2 were driven primarily by European and American companies and
countries, Globalization 3 is not only going to be driven more by individuals but also a much
more diverse nonwestern, nonwhite group of individuals, in Globalization you are going to see
every color of the human rainbow take part”
I very much agree with the statements of Thomas above, Globalization 3, the era in which we are
in now is going to get everyone involved but the question is how? Because the world has become
a global village because of Technology, technology has lowered all the mountains around the
globalization which is enabling us to communicate effectively, and its only by technology that
everyone would get involved in the globalization process because there would be no room for
tribalism, racism and culturalism because technology would be the background of the
globalization process and since it is not human it cannot segregate or filter according to race and
tribe except it be influence by human beings.
The internet would be a very effective tool for fostering and improving the Globalization 3,
because the internet is not owned by anybody. So that means everyone around the world can be
involved irrespective of their differences, the question is then how to effectively ensure that
everyone is involved, this is by localizing the internet and software, as Thomas stated in the

12. above that Globalization 3 is transforming the world from a size small to a size tiny which I
totally agree with, but if we were to have players from all other countries playing on this fields
we have to teach them all the rule of the game which I would put in my own understanding
localization.
As much as I agree on Thomas statements in the above, he has failed to give is more insight on
how the future Globalization would look like and I would feel this gap by saying that future
globalization/ Globalization 4 would be by technology and technology alone which involves the
internet and software’s. The global users of technology are increasing by the day, and people are
getting to know a lot more through internet and global software’s, also through the internet
people that are from different geographical locations can now do business through the internet,
apply for document and permit through the internet, study via the internet with no need to be
physically in the class, have meetings/ video conferencing via internet, call each other and not
limited by geography via cellular phones, send email and documents via the internet, get real
time information on weather, road and airplane traffic via the internet, work and own offices via
the internet or virtually, and the world is now more technology driven and digitally enabled.
In years to come, there would be a need for everyone to be on the internet and know how to
effectively use the internet, and there would be a need for the globalization of internet users, now
in a world where we are launching into cloud computing and internet of things there is a vast
need of internet enabled users.

13. CONCLUSION
According to Thomas in the above statement the world is a flattened pitch and for us to
understand the rules of the game on the pitch everyone must be thought in a way that they would
understand the rules have to be localized for everyone to understand the Global rules of the
game. Especially in Africa we need to understand the internet language or have it in our local
languages/ vernacular so that we would be exposed to the global world or be part of the
globalization process and our local culture would be preserved and can be passed on from one
culture to another. Since people often find security within their culture, can this approach be a
means by which we would make majority of Africans embrace technology.

14. CHAPTER THREE: STUDY APPROCH OR METHODOLOGY
METHODOLOGY
In this project, the development methodology of choice was prototyping. The analysis of various
experiences of carriers makes it possible to make certain general recommendations related to
Globalization, localization and Information technology. And the role Globalization and
localization in enabling African to readily accept technology.
TARGET POUPLATION POPULATION
According to this research the targeted population are Africans.
SAMPLING TECHNIQUE
The sampling technique would be the major African languages in all countries, this languages
are to be used on the internet and in soft wares that would be enable them to access the world
wide web and software’s that are being used around the world.
INSTRUMENT VALIDATION
ETHICAL ISSUES
The researcher took time to look into the topic, developed questionnaire and carried out research,
within this process he took caution and ensured that the identity of people involved in the
interview and questioning were not exposed, they were protected, and also the researcher
exercised due patience when collecting data from people. The researcher also ensured to protect

15. the validity of data, did not interview the people directly so as not to get biased information but
used forms that cancelled their identity, the researcher also ensured that he properly cited the
works that are not mine and carried out references accordingly. .
DATA COLLECTION
According to (Parahoo, 1997), a research instrument is crucial to collect data, “An instrument is
a tool designed to measure knowledge, attitude and skills”, the data collection would be done by
questionnaires, oral interview and Observation, Obtaining information from participants with
different experiences prevent information bias and this increase the accuracy and credibility of
information
DATA ANALYSIS STRATEGIES
The data that was collected using questionnaires were properly edited for completeness, accuracy
and consistency of data. The questionnaires was coded and responses were grouped into various
categories.

16. Reference
1. Patrick A.V. Hall, Martyn A. Ould, eds. (1996).Software Without Frontiers: A multi-
platform, multi-cultural, multi-nation approach. With contributions and leadership by
Ray Hudson, Costas Spyropoulos, Timo Honkela et al. Wiley. ISBN 9780471969747.
2. Reina, Laura Arjona; Robles, Gregorio; González-Barahona, Jesús M. (2013-06-25).
Petrinja, Etiel; Succi, Giancarlo; Ioini, Nabil El; Sillitti, Alberto, eds. A Preliminary

17. Analysis of Localization in Free Software: How Translations Are Performed. IFIP
Advances in Information and Communication Technology. Springer Berlin Heidelberg.
pp. 153–167.doi:10.1007/978-3-642-38928-3_11. ISBN 9783642389276
3. Thomas L Friedman, "It's a Flat World, After All", New York Times Magazine; Apr 3,
2005
4. Globalization101
http://www.globalization101.org/what-is-globalization/
5. Global transformation
https://www.polity.co.uk/global/default.asp
6. The globalization of technological innovation
http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?doi=10.1.1.557.9703&rep=rep1&type=pdf
7. The role of technology in globalization
http://www.skwirk.com/pc_s16_u185_t493_c1813/nsw/geography/globalchange/globali
sation/the-role-of-technology-in-globalisation
8. Access to information: bridging the digital divide in Africa
http://www.theguardian.com/global-development-professionals-
network/2014/jan/24/digital-divide-access-to-information-africa
9. Consumption in an age of globalization and localization
http://www.academia.edu/4651187/Consumption_in_an_Age_of_Globalization_and_Lo
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10. Where Does Culture Go In Globalization?
http://sds.parsons.edu/transdesign/where-does-culture-go-in-globalization/