The coming together of the global and the local.

These days, thanks to technology, we are now able to be both global and local at the same time. The things we access give us experiences that are not always ‘local’ to us, but may even be in an entirely different Country. Using television, the Internet and forms of print media we are able to learn about and discover global news, creating both local and global identities within ourselves.

The concept of ‘Glocality’ which combines global/local into a type of fusion is basically all about the way technology has made us able to access the world anywhere at anytime. Joshua Meyrowitz discusses how “we interact with people in other locations, and imagine ourselves in very different ways.” Each person is different and has many characteristics that make them who they are, rather than just where they came from as it may have been before technology allowed us all to connect. In the past, where someone came from may have said a lot about who that person was. But now, every person is unique and different and cannot be thought of as a person of just one suburb, but as a person of many different locations.

I personally find myself although bound physically to Melbourne, able to connect with my friends who are overseas in Europe and America travelling the world. I am able to look at their photos and videos and connect with them through technology and be apart of their experiences. I am able to see them physically through my laptop on Skype, and hear there voice and share an experience with them although they are not in the same physical space that I am in, which is pretty incredible and something that only occurs now due to ‘glocality’. Those experiences are something that would be impossible without this concept where our local and global worlds are interconnected.

I have many friends who would consider their version of ‘home’ as many different Countries, and although they may live in Australia they also feel that home to them is elsewhere, making it hard for them to define exactly where there identity is, as it is all over the world in many different places. Although we are physically bound to a location, we are able to use technology to access global content and make connections with others that are not near us, creating glocality all around us.