Social localisation

Social localization (from Latin locus (place) and the English term locale, "a place where something happens or is set") is, like language localization the second phase of a larger process of product and service translation and cultural adaptation (for specific countries, regions or groups) to account for differences in distinct markets and societies, a process known as internationalization and localization.

Localization and Internationalization have been described in the The Encyclopedia of Applied Linguistics as the "two key steps in the preparation and translation of digital content for international markets and have formed part of the globalization strategies of multinational digital publishers since the mid 1980s."

The main objective of social localisation is the promotion of a demand-, rather than a supply-driven approach to localization. It is based on the recognition that it is no longer exclusively the corporations who control the global conversation, but the communities. Social localization supports user-driven and needs-based localisation scenarios - in contrast to mainstream localization, driven primarily be short-term financial return-on-investment (ROI) considerations.

Social localization has been connected to the nonmarket activities of the translation and localisation services sector by researchers reporting to the LINDWEB Conference, organized by the European Commission's DGT as the Language Industry Platform, allowing its stakeholders to meet in Brussels on 24 May 2012. The concept of a 'nonmarket' approach to economics and to societal activities is a well-known concept and has been reported on in the context of the economics of development, eductation and poverty reduction, for example.

While the size of nonmarket social translation and localisation can only be estimated at the moment due to the lack of empirical studies, the impact of current localization models on people and societies that don't represent a market for the translation and localization industry have been described by

A first attempt to capture the activities of organizations active in the non-market translation and localisation sector, focusing on Social Localisation, has been made by The Rosetta Foundation in a listing of Our Colleagues on The Rosetta Foundation's website.

...
Wikipedia