Google has launched the new .soy (punto soy) as an online domain. What do you think of it? Looking at things from a cultural perspective, what types of cultural dilemmas can be seen in these events? What theoretical constructs that we have discussed in class come into play here? What recommendations do you have about this issue?
Before answering, please review the following links.
Here’s the URL from Univision Noticias to announce the event:
Here’s a URL from Colorlines that is more critical the concept:
And here’s a URL from Latinpost that is more supportive of the new domain
And here’s the original google announcement and information site:
http://www.google.com/registry/
https://www.iam.soy/#domain-name-search
Please post your comments before 3:00am on Tuesday morning, Oct 28.
(Note: Please keep your comments brief, but feel free to post multiple comments as you see fit. Also, feel free to write in either Spanish or English)
Dealing With Intercultural Communication 
October 24, 2014 at 8:04 pm |
I think that this is just a way for Google to experiment and gain a larger market share as the Latino population is growing. Since Google is sitting on so much cash, I believe this is just something that they are testing out. If it works, great. If not, Google is not going to lose much. I’m going have to disagree with the Colorline article that criticizes Google for launching a domain for Latinos but not hiring them for jobs. Google is a technology company and needs computer scientist and engineer. If we look in our universities, the majority of students studying those subjects are not Latinos. So even if Google wants to, they do not have much of a choice other than white and Asians.
Actually, this point is a perfect example of specificity vs. diffused. For Americans, we recognize that the purpose of the company is to generate returns for its stockholders. Employees are hired to perform specific function. They are expected to have the necessary skills before they even start their jobs. There is not a lot of training involved. However for Latinos, a company exists more for its people. Employees are hired more because of their personality rather than the hard skills. The companies usually are expected to provide the training.
Google, being an American company, definitely leans more towards the specificity side. They want to hire people with those hard computing skills. Although they have a lot of perks for their employees, their business model is not build around training people but rather on hiring the best talents. Because of this, people like Alanna Nunez and Roberto Lovato (from the Colorline article) were upset that Google is “exploiting” Latinos for profit but not investing in them.
My recommendation to Google is to start with the young Latinos. Since the Latino population is growing tremendously, Google needs to have more Hispanics in the organization who understand the needs of the biggest minority group in United States. I would suggest organizing computing camps for young Latinos where they can be exposed to computer science. Google can also invest more at the college level by providing scholarship targeting Latinos who are studying computer science. I think those will be more effective ways for Google to reach Latinos.
October 26, 2014 at 8:10 pm |
Estoy de acuerdo con tu uso del concepto del modelo especifico vs. difuso, pero en una manera diferente (aunque tu ejemplo tiene sentido, por supuesto). La introducción del dominio .soy es un ejemplo de la empresa Google usando una perspectiva especifica: la compañía anunció esto cambio minor para demostrar al mundo que apoya diversidad y progression.
Sin embargo, unas acciones que representan una perspectiva difusa son tus ejemplos más comprensivas, como apoyar talleres de ciencias de la computación para los jóvenes latinos o financiar becas para los estudiantes interesados. De verdad, de hacer una diferencia grande en los demográficas de las empresas tecnológicas, necesitamos más esfuerzo para incluir minorías en el campo de STEM (ciencia, tecnología, ingeniería, matemática) en general.
En mi opinion, creo que la introducción del dominio .soy es innecesario y un poco superficial. Como el autor de Cosmo Alanna Nunez dijo, “Si Google de verdad quiere incluir los latinos de una manera significativa, .soy probablemente no es la repuesta.”
October 28, 2014 at 12:20 am
Me olvidé 1957! Y también quería decir que después de leer todas las respuestas de la clase, creo que en general estamos de acuerdo que el intento de Google no era malicioso pero al mismo tiempo estamos confundidos con el propósito de .soy y como dominios separados van a apoderar los latinos en la Internet (o cualquier grupo cultural que tiene un dominio único).
October 28, 2014 at 6:48 am |
Qué tal este de Queen of Tacos:
http://queenoftacostx.soy
October 25, 2014 at 6:35 pm |
Hace poco Google lanzó un dominio para el público latinoamericano llamada .soy. De mi punto de vista al principio parece una idea buena. Intentan atraer la atención de los latinoamericanos y lo quieren lograr al darles un espacio especialmente establecido para ellos. Supongo que la idea de Google fue promover el uso de sus plataformas y ya que saben que la gente hispanohablante se identifica mucho con su origen y de que dan mucho énfasis en su cultura llamaron el dominio nuevo .soy, que podría ser un poco confuso para el americano que no habla español y piensa en algo para comer. Sin embargo, no creo que esta confusión va a ser el conflicto mayor con el cual Google va a ser confrontado. En la página web de http://www.latinpost.com/articles/24105/20141021/hispanic-companies-explain-appeal-behind-googles-new-soy-domain-designed.htm#ixzz3HCpRS7aE
se puede leer lo siguiente: (1957) “Our goal is to bring together all Latinos in tech together to form a familia where every member can find support.” Para el dominio nuevo es crucial adquerir nuevos miembros para tener una masa de usuarios y tener significado en el mundo. A mi juicio, va a ser muy difícil lograr la participación de la gente latinoamericana. Esto puede ser explicado con el modelo de LESCANT con el tema da la Organización Social. La familia para un latinoamericano no es algo que se encuentra en la red, la familia es algo con mucho significado que no se puede establecer en unos minutos o horas. Además, no van a querer colaborar tanto con otras personas que utilizan este dominio, porque dan mucho énfasis en las relaciones personales, en el mundo personal tal que en el mundo laboral. Les recomiendo a los empleados de Google que se fijen en la populación latinoamericana que vive en los Estados Unidos al principio, ya que ellos van a ser un poquito más cómodo con el concepto americano de una familia y de que se puede establecer relaciones buenas en la red, aunque no se conoce el otro partido personalmente. Entonces, esto sería un buen camino para construir una basis de usuarios que va a ayudar a propagar la idea de .soy y de un espacio en la red para latinoamericanos, y poco a poco el dominio va a difundirse mejor también en Latinoamérica. Sin embargo, uno no debería esperar un milagro en cuanto al éxito del dominio.
October 28, 2014 at 6:51 am |
Creo que te refieres a sites como este:
http://latino.soy
October 26, 2014 at 12:03 pm |
While Google’s interest in appealing to the Hispanic market is interesting, overall I believe that .soy was not the proper way to go about handling this marketing need. Although some aspects of the “grouping” of Latinos could be beneficial, such as by, “creating a clearinghouse of Latino startups and what it calls ‘inclusive investors,’ which indicates a given venture capitalist’s interest in backing people of color” as one article states, the overall feeling of .soy is that it is an effort to segregate the Latino Google market from other Google markets. While this may not have been the intent of the project, it seems to be the effect. I think the problem that Google is facing is a misinterpretation of cultural differences. The creation of .soy was likely an attempt to satisfy the cultural traits of a “typical” Latino and make them feel valued as users, but instead they over simplified a cultural value.
The development of .soy appears to be created out of an appeal to what LESCANT categorizes as social organization and the strength of the family and community unit in Latin America. Because the Hispanic population is often more family and group oriented, marketers at Google most likely felt that offering a domain specifically for Hispanics would make them feel inclusive of a certain group of people who share many commonalities. This miscommunication is also strengthened by what Hampden-Turner & Trompenaars (1957) categorized as being more individualistic versus community focused. Hispanic cultures are more in line with the idea of communitarianism and thus believe that the strength of a society comes from a group of people working together towards common goals in support of one other. Google potentially believed that .soy would be representative of bonding agent for the culture.
Overall, I recommend that Google completely rethink the implementation of the .soy domain. There are some aspects of this development that could be positive, however, they are doing so in an unproductive way. As one article states, Google should consider creating job boards more targeted towards the Hispanic population rather than a completely separate domain. Or even more simply, if this is an effort to enhance popularity with Hispanic people, they should consider diversifying their workforce to be more inclusive of other demographics. As we discuss in class, we should learn about these cultural differences but not actually “believe” in them. Google is investing too highly in cultural generalizations and failing to see the larger implications.
October 26, 2014 at 12:48 pm |
The .soy Google domain is a creative way to unite Latinos through a common domain name. Prior to this new domain name, .edu and .gov are specific domains for education and government websites. When a person is searching for a website written or approved by one of these institutions, it is easier for the individual to verify its reliability based on the domain. Similarly, if a person wanted to access a website that was created specifically by a Latino, they would be able to verify this through the .soy domain. Through this domain name, Latinos can connect around the world. In this way, the new domain name is an innovative resource, and can in the future be applied to other cultural groups. There are critics of .soy who are seeing through a polarization perspective, from intercultural development inventory (IDI). For example, the author of “Google’s Latino-Targeted Domain, .SOY, Inspires Frustration, Confusion” writes that Latinos are being set apart and are hypocritically not given equal job opportunities by Google. This author has an “us versus them” perspective on the issue. Because there aren’t other domains for culture groups at this time, this is a potential problem. However, Google is trying to move toward adaptation with this new domain name because it is accepting the Latino culture as a unique entity and is broadening its services to harvest the Latino identity.
October 26, 2014 at 12:51 pm |
I recommend that Google, to avoid the feeling of isolation by Latinos, should create new domain names for other cultural groups as well. This will show that Google appreciates and accepts all culture groups. Also, to avoid critique on the diversity within the company, Google should focus on its hiring process to further diversify its company.
October 26, 2014 at 1:42 pm
As a matter of fact, google has also launched a site for japanese called “mee n ah” which means everyone. It’s kind of the same idea as .soy.
http://www.google.com/registry/
October 26, 2014 at 5:57 pm |
Upon reading the first article from Univision about the new .soy domain for the Hispanic market, I was surprised. The Internet has .com, .net, .edu, .org, etc, and all are accessible to anyone with Internet access. I feel that by creating .soy, a separation is being created between Latinos and Americans, or between English and Spanish speakers. I didn’t know there was an interest in or that it was possible to make an entire domain dedicated to the Latino culture. However, it seems that some Latinos like it and think it will be helpful for small businesses and networking. They seem thankful and proud to have a domain just for them where they can connect with their own culture.
After reading the second article in Colorlines.com, my initial thoughts were reflected in their take on .soy. I agree with what is said about Google’s hiring practices not being acceptable and the confusion as to why Google doesn’t treat Hispanics equally but then creates a domain just for them. Is it because they want to separate them further? One could argue that, as well as that Google is only trying to cater to the Hispanic market and make their lives easier by providing a comfortable place for all of their needs, wants, and interests.
I think this is an example of Hampden, Turner, Trompenaars’ universalism vs. particularity (1957). When Google uses the common .com or .net, among others, every race, individual, etc. is included and it is the same for all. But, when they create a separate domain for Latinos, they are separating them from the whole as if they are excluding them. They are putting Latinos in their own “bubble” and are categorizing them by it. In fact, not only are they creating a separation of the Latino culture from the others, but it has been said that in the professional world, Google is also excluding them from possible employment.
If Google is going to keep the .soy domain, I recommend they present it in more of an inclusive way. While the domain is extremely useful to Latinos, it can also be great for American companies that are looking for Latino talent or specific Latino content. The information about the new domain should invite non-Latinos as well as Latinos in order to avoid, although not entirely, the negative reviews that it is separating Latinos from Americans. Also, I recommend that Google reform their hiring practices so they are no longer attacked on this issue and so they can open their minds to a new culture and new interpretations.
October 28, 2014 at 6:53 am |
Vea esta lista de otros dominios que google quiere lanzar al público:
http://www.google.com/registry/domains.html
October 26, 2014 at 9:51 pm |
I think the domain name .soy is definitely an attempt by Google to reach what they see as untapped market share. I don’t doubt that their intentions in catering to this group are pure and that they intend for .soy to be a domain that enables latinos to find and support one another. However, it is a very apparent and divisive way of doing so. There is nothing inherently exclusive about .com, .net, .me etc. In my opinion it creates a sense of them versus us within cyber space even if intended to bring unity within a community who prides itself on its culture.
The cultural dilemmas are closely tied to the way the public receives this initiative. If latino groups and businesses receive this domain as something meant to aid them rather than separate them, it is a great product. However, America as a whole is highly sensitive to cultural differences and it shows in the responses from colorline.com. The sensitivity is appropriate by all means but both sides of the coin need to be considered.
The theory I see best fitting this example is Hampden-Turner & Trompenaars idea of universalism versus particularism. The universalism side would argue that having general domains treats all organizations the same regardless of culture whereas the particularism of .soy highlights and celebrates the cultural differences and aims to create a more personal product.
I recommend that Google continues to be very clear about their intentions of the .soy domain being a positive tool for latinos and that if successful they expand this concept to other cultures. Google should be receptive of public opinion, both good and bad and maintain clear communication with the public demonstrating the positives of this apparently divisive product.
October 27, 2014 at 11:27 am |
While I do not think it is a bad idea, it sequesters Spanish speakers, or “latinos”, who seem to be their only target audience, away from potential jobs and opportunities with non-Spanish speakers. This seems like an ineffective form of individualism. It gives them the chance to seize new opportunities, yes, but from whom? From a business perspective, this isolation may not advance them. Individualism only succeeds if there are new frontiers to explore, metaphorically, and .soy, as a new domain, may have those new frontiers. On the other hand, .soy does create some “best practices” of community. It encourages cooperation and sharing, and increases production and quality of work, at least aided by the feedback and examples set by like-minded peers. These things should be focused on, at both the individual and community level. However, an exaggeration of that community creates unnecessary support for weak entities or companies. Too much of this support in an unproductive place could cause the entire platform to fail.
There is also a dilemma between ascribed and achieved. Latinos, traditionally, subscribe to ascribe practices. Nepotism and the self-fulfilling prophecy keep families in one line of work or all in the same business. In this way, they succeed. .soy eliminates all of that security, and instead, forces individuals to rely on effort and change. .soy does not have specific familial influence, nor is it nepotistic. This gives latino users complete freedom, up to a point. Freedom to achieve above their status, previous pay grade, or expectations, but also, without family backing or some similar security blanket, freedom to fail.
I recommend moving forward with .soy, but encouraging non-latino companies to utilize it too, making sure they cater to the language and culture presented on the domain. This affords latinos additional opportunities and companies insight into a culture unlike their own. In this way, IDI dilemmas of polarization and denial between latinos and noncan be overcome, latinos have more opportunities to actualize ascribed practices through new opportunities, and community is bolstered even more, strengthening the new platform.
October 27, 2014 at 11:28 am |
1957!
October 28, 2014 at 6:57 am |
Tal vez http://webs.soy sirva como un ejemplo de eso.
October 27, 2014 at 2:26 pm |
A lot of discourse surrounding Hispanic cultural studies centers on the idea of “reclaiming space.” While interesting to note that this idea of space can extend to online services, I feel that the .soy campaign offers little else. The domain assigns latinos to their own place, rather than expanding the space of previously established .com sites to be inclusive to other cultures. Also, to whom does the .soy domain belong to? – those of Hispanic heritage in the US? Latin Americans? Spaniards? Monolinguals? Bilinguals? Of which languages? Too many unanswered questions. It seems that Google has made the oft mistake of seeing latinos as an amalgam, rather than distinct populations.
October 28, 2014 at 7:11 am |
Compara también con otra tentativa de crear el dominio .uno
October 27, 2014 at 5:40 pm |
El lanzamiento de .soy en mi opinión es una manera de atraer a la comunidad latina al uso de Google. Según el artículo de Univisión, “según la compañía, el dominio .soy ofrece a los consumidores hispanos, a las marcas y a las organizaciones “un lugar para construir, crear y compartir contenido web culturalmente relevante”.” Tal vez funcione hasta como una manera de unir a los latinos en EEUU.
Google es un “motor de búsqueda” americano y la atracción a la diversidad de sus usuarios puede ser creciente en importancia hoy en día. El problema cultural que se presenta es aquel de Hampden-Turner & Trompenaars de particularidad y universalismo. EEUU suele tener un estereotipo de universalismo imponiendo reglas y manteniendo ciertas normas para mantener eficiencia. En cambio, ahora, Google está creando .soy como una forma de demostrar particularidad, como a la que están acostumbrados los latinos. Este dominio es una forma de buscar lo diferente de los latinos y ponerlo junto para ellos.
Creo que Google toma un buen camino al tratar de ser más efectivos y unificar a los latinos, pero a la vez los separa un poco de la sociedad estadounidense. Se debe ser precavidos en que tanta particularidad se forma en el dominio de .soy ya que estos también son parte de EEUU y solamente hay cierta separación que se puede formar entre los latinos en América y los estadounidenses.
1957
October 28, 2014 at 7:08 am |
Sí, compara por ejemplo los sites de Hispanic Heritage Foundation:
http://www.hispanicheritage.org
http://www.yosoy.soy
October 27, 2014 at 8:48 pm |
I think that the .soy announcement is a smart business move for Google, and a great resource for the Latino community. The new domain offers a place to come together to collaborate, share ideas, and keep in touch, all of which are important in a society that values the achievements and progress of a community over that of an individual. According to the 1957 version of Hampden-Turner Trompenaars, such a culture views “shared knowledge, common values, and mutual support” as the keys to success for a society, and thus all the individuals involved. I think that some of the negative responses to .soy stem from the individualistic mindset that each person should look out for his or her own achievements, and attempt to achieve success without the aid of others. The value of an online community specifically for Latinos is not as obvious to someone with an individualistic mindset, because the thought of working equally with others to solve problems, and then sharing the success, is absurd. Although this is a great resource for the Latino community, I believe that Google and other companies in the Silicon Valley could take more steps toward the practical aid of the growing Latino population surrounding their own headquarters. I would recommend that Google continue to offer culture-specific resources such as these, while also evaluating its own hiring process and diversity profile. Doing so could lead the industry leader to change some of its practices, and give the company a more culturally-inclusive atmosphere.
October 27, 2014 at 11:44 pm |
Creo que es muy interesante que Google se sintió la necesidad de aprovechar en el grupo minoritario más grande en los EE.UU. mediante la introducción de un nuevo nombre de dominio, la soja punto. Google dice que su objetivo es llevar a todas las diferentes partes de la comunidad latina en conjunto y poder de la comunidad para conectar entre sí. Esto dice mucho acerca de cómo Google piensa que necesitan para ayudar a los latinos representan a sí mismos y conectarlos, reuniéndolos. Creo que es una idea muy bien para crear los nombres de dominio para los diferentes grupos para llevarlos juntos, pero al mismo tiempo si sienten como si se desconecta a los latinos con el resto de la comunidad no-latino.
Esto puede ser visto como un ejemplo de los dilemas Hampden-Turner Trompenaars de universalismo versus particularismo (1957) porque en lugar de tener en mente la idea de tratar a todos equitativamente, Google ha creado un nombre de dominio especifico para un grupo de personas, en este caso para los hispanos. En el particularismo, todo es íntimo, personal, o especialmente para “usted”. Esto es básicamente el camino que Google ha ido diciendo el nombre de dominio es especialmente para los latinos. Tal vez lo hicieron con el fin de compensar el hecho de que no tienen muchos latinos en su fuerza de trabajo, y que quieren estar más involucrados con una comunidad que es la minoría más grande en los EE.UU.
Mi recomendación es que Google encuentre otra manera de conseguir latinos involucrados, excepto dándoles nombres de dominio específicos. Entiendo que puede que no haya muchos latinos que trabajan en Google, pero hay sin duda una mejor manera de incorporarlos a la empresa.
October 28, 2014 at 6:32 am |
I agree with you that google could have thought of a better way to incorporate the latino market into the corporation. Google could have easily created a new webpage almost identical to the american version but tailored to the latino population. Instead, they created an entirely new page that seems to separate a population instead of including them efficiently.
Google could have taken the resources that they used to develop this new webpage and focus on more important issues concerning the development of the latino market and workforce. By seemingly ignoring these issues and producing a product that aims to unify latinos instead of unifying the entire community, Google seems to be out of touch with reality to some degree.
While the new domain name is a great attempt to unify Latin-Americans under a new technology, I think that google should have realized that the latino population is more than one huge conglomerate. For latinos that want to remain independent and successful, I think that this will be a drawback. I do not think that professional latin-american tech workers will be quick to categorize themselves and separate themselves from the rest of the population. Due to the divisions that already exist between the latino population and the rest of the United States, I think that latin-american workers would prefer to be provided a more inclusive way for them to join the google family.
1957
October 28, 2014 at 7:14 am |
Por mi parte, no entiendo la relación entre .soy y el número de latinos que trabajan para Google. Creo un poco injusto que colorlines lanzó esta crítica.
October 27, 2014 at 11:44 pm |
At first when I began to read the first article from Univision, I did not see this as such a bad idea. After reading the second article by Colorlines I started to see this .soy domain as a way to separate Hispanics from everyone else on the world wide web which began in 1957. This brings into mind individualism and community concepts that we learned in class. In a way, the Hispanic community who is joining .soy is trying to be unique in comparison to the rest of the internet users. They are trying something new and taking advantage of the resources available. The people who participate in .soy are not interested in having a community bond with the rest of the internet users. They do not wish to have the same values or have mutual support.
There is also a dilemma between universalism and particularity. Universalism would be not adopting this new .soy domain and being the same as everyone else. Universalism favors mass production, acceptance of a wide variety of users and accepts the votes and opinions of everyone. Particularity would be adopting this .soy domain and being unique, different and new from most online users.
I recommend that the creators of .soy be very careful in the way they advertise this new domain. If advertised wrong, it might offend some users or give out the wrong idea of the purpose of this domain. I would also recommend that they promote the particularity of this site, the fact that being part of it would make you unique and make you stand out from the crowd.
October 27, 2014 at 11:49 pm |
The creation of .soy domain name is an interesting move on Google’s part. Although I can recognize the advantages of having an overarching internet identity for the largest cultural group present in the United States, its creation seems counterproductive. A creation of an isolated network of sites and internet communities seems not to promote cultural awareness and diversity, but further separation and racialism.
The existing domain names are present to distinguish the intent of the website: a .org domain name is used to recognize non-profits, open source projects and similar organizations, a .biz domain is to be used to house business and corporate webpages, and .gov represents websites created and supported by the government. The .soy name doesn’t provide this differentiation in what the webpage offers, but instead in its targeted demographic, a move that not only limits accessibility but also reduces possible exposure to potential users excluded by the latino-centric domain.
As my peers have stated before me, this conflict clearly illustrates the principle of Universalism vs. Particularism; however, it’s also a good example of another principle discussed by Hampden-Turner and Trompenaar, the idea of Individualism vs. Collectivism (1957). The struggle between working as an individual in a deeply independent American society, and acknowledging a collective cultural tie to a greater Hispanic culture and community is depicted in the creation of .soy, and in a society where assimilation and individuality are huge points of pride, an idea of a segregated internet community will ultimately prove unsuccessful.
This being said, I don’t think Google’s idea is entirely unsuccessful. As the articles stated, the Latino demographic is not only incredibly large, but it continues to grow in size and importance every year. Targeted efforts to include and acknowledge such an important group is a smart business move, but maybe the answer lies in the businesses and webpages themselves rather than in their domain names. Accessibility to bilingual pages, culturally significant advertisements, and direct recruiting and involvement might prove more effective in reaching the Latino community.
October 28, 2014 at 12:17 am |
The idea of creating a domain exclusively for a specific purpose is interesting, but not uncommon — as the Google Registry page mentions, “.EDU has always meant education, .GOV government, .ORG non-profits.” However, these previous domains catered toward industries and organizations, not ethnic groups. It is, of course, important to preserve cultural heritage; however, creating an internet domain — something normally reserved for industry — was probably not the best choice. Even with its ideal purpose of promoting Latino businesses, it could pull away Latinos from other workplaces that may be just as beneficial to them, and section out Latino businesses from a non-Latino market where they could thrive.
Additionally, several issues arise with simply labeling the domain as “the place for Latinos online,” according to iam.soy. Exactly what group does it “cater” to? What about individuals who identify with multiple ethnic groups? It seems unfair that a domain has been created for the Latinos, but no other group. To effectively represent one ethnic group, I feel that Google must represent every group.
The creation of this domain indicates an awkward balance of the American lean toward individualism in the Hampden-Turner/Trompenaars dimensions, and the Latino lean toward communitarianism. Google tried to tap into the group-oriented nature of many Latinos by providing a domain all their own, but seemingly failed to acknowledge that the very nature of this domain is to help individuals to rise above the rest, instead of truly promoting the group as a whole.
By creating this domain, Google makes it clear that there exists a tech-savvy and highly able Latino community. For that reason, I recommend that Google focuses more on hiring Latino employees for the technical roles that it is clear they can fill. I also recommend that Google sticks to industrial purposes like “creativity, business, explorers, comedians and professionals,” as the Google Registry page describes (consciously leaving out language on ethnically-based domains), and allows the preservation of cultural heritage and promotion of Latinos in the workplace to those organizations and businesses that individually choose to focus on those topics.
1957~
October 28, 2014 at 12:33 am |
Como ha dicho mucha gente en los comentarios, creo también que .SOY es una muy buena manera de crear un espacio donde los latinos pueden colaborar y compartir sus ideas , pero puede ser una estrategia de negocios para Google más que nada. Aunque Harding tiene razón que Google debería enfocar más en contratar más empleados hispánicos si quiere considerarse una compañía diversa, el dominio .SOY en mi opinión no es necesariamente una mala idea. Según ella, la única cosa que hace este nuevo dominio es segregar la comunidad latina y no hace nada para crear una población de usuarios diversos. Por un lado, es muy difícil para una sociedad específica (como nosotros) apreciar el valor de este nuevo concepto porque no comprendemos por qué necesitamos un dominio sólo para latinos. Sería mejor tratar a todos por igual, ¿no? ¿Por qué necesitamos favorecer a un grupo particular y ofrecerles beneficios sin considerar nada sus logros? Por otro lado, una sociedad difusa puede ver esta idea como una manera de unir la comunidad latina y crear lazos más fuertes entre la gente hispánica. La unidad y el compañerismo son conceptos muy esenciales para una cultura difusa. Quizá Google se da cuenta de la influencia que los latinos tienen en el mundo de hoy y trata de contractar a ellos por crear este dominio. A pesar de que algunas personas creen que eso dividiría más nuestra sociedad, yo lo interpreto diferentemente y creo que esta idea es buena para promover inclusión de las minorías en nuestra cultura. Dicho esto, recomiendo que Google continúe con esta idea porque creo que la inclusión es muy importante. Si una persona se siente valorada por la sociedad, podría contribuir más a la sociedad comparado con una persona que se siente excluido.
October 28, 2014 at 12:40 am |
El dominio .soy recientemente lanzado por Google ha recibido muchas críticas y pero también alabanzas. Está diseñado para “atender a las crecientes necesidades del mercado hispano en Estados Unidos” en el que puedan juntar a la comunidad latina. Este conflicto cultural es un buen ejemplo de particularismo y universalismo como dicho en Hampden-Turner Trompenaars.
Por un lado, los críticos como en el artículo Colorlines, están diciendo que en lugar de diseñar lugares virtuales donde los latinos puedan comunicarse, Google (y muchas otras empresas grandes de tecnología) deben centrarse en mejorar la diversidad dentro de su misma empresa. Adicionalmente, Núñez habla de cómo Google debería examinar sus propias prácticas de contratación. Por otro lado, los partidarios como en el artículo Latin Post mencionan como diferentes empresas hispanas están usando .soy para su beneficio. Compañías como LATISM lo están utilizando para conectar los latinos en la tecnología.
En este caso, Google está aplicando el concepto de particularismo porque están agrupando la población latina bajo un mismo dominio. Esto hace que la comunicación latina sea mucho más íntima y personal. Sin embargo, también parece que la compañía está separando un grupo lejos de otros grupos étnicos y que está favoreciendo este cierto grupo.
A pesar de que los latinoamericanos son más propensos a exhibir el concepto de particularismo, Google está operando como una compañía global y probablemente va a enfrenta criticismos de otros grupos étnicos. Por lo tanto, recomiendo que Google se mantenga alejado de particularismo y se inclinan más hacia el universalismo, como por ejemplo construyendo dominios para otras etnias también. La aplicación del universalismo podrá beneficiar a la empresa porque incluiría más etnias, representará la igualdad, y más voces podrán ser escuchadas. Aunque no estoy de acuerdo que la creación de un dominio para una etnia resuelve un determinado problema, yo creo que como una compañía internacional, Google debería preferir universalismo en lugar del particularismo.
October 28, 2014 at 12:41 am |
Honestamente, creo que la estrategia de Google al lanzar el domino .soy, crea un segregación cultural. Aunque entiendo la razón por la cual Google creó este y otros dominios, el tratar de ” crear un lugar para construir, y compartir contenido web culturalmente relevante”, solamente es una forma de cubrir la estrategia de facilitar y categorizar mercados que Google quiere dominar. Desde una perspectiva local y cultural, siento que la comunidad latina beneficia de esta estrategia, porque si logra unir a la comunidad latina. Desde una perspectiva global, no creo que esta estrategia beneficie a la sociedad porque va a crear una division de culturas. Se puede concluir que existe un conflicto cultural de Hampden-Turner & Trompenaars particularidad y universalismo. El “.com” “.gov” o el “.org” son dominios que se pueden usar a través del mundo en general y no causan disturbios, no como el ” .soy” que solo es particular a la cultura latina y no a otras culturas. Siento que los nuevos dominos que Google quiere crear son igual que el “hashtag” que han sido muy exitoso para categorizar diferentes cosas. Yo recomiendo que Google no deje de promover o usar los dominos universales como el “.com” porque estos dominos son los que unen a diferentes culturas. Si dejan de usar los dominos universales va a existir una division de culturas que ayudaría a los negocios pero afectaría la comunicación entre culturas diferentes.
October 28, 2014 at 12:48 am |
Aunque estoy de acuerdo con las críticas del concepto de .soy, pienso que en general es un concepto bueno para la comunidad latinoamericana. Si observamos a la organización social y politica de los negocios en Latinoamérica en el modelo de Lescant, podemos ver que le gustan trabajar con personas del mismo comunidad, familia y circulo social. Este concepto del nepotismo es muy prevalente en la manera que los hispanos hacen su trabajo y por eso pienso que el dominio de .soy puede ayudar a conectar a las personas. También podemos ver por dilema Hampden-Turner Trompenaars (1957) de individualismo contra la comunidad que los latinoamericanos por la mayor parte viven a través de los conocimientos compartidos y valores comunes. Por eso, .soy es una manera en que los hispanos pueden ser informados por solo las noticias y conflictos relacionados a sus países y comunidades. No es que .soy esta tratando de aislar a la comunidad latinoamericana, sino pienso que esta tratando de crear algo que la comunidad latinoamericano va a apreciar y atraer a la compañía Google quienes son tratando de crear algo único. Mi recomendación para Google será para crear el concepto de .soy para otros comunidades que son orientados más a la comunidad en vez del individualismo.
October 28, 2014 at 12:53 am |
1957
Como algunos otros compañeros de clase ya han comentado, la campaña de Google me parece un error. Aunque, desde la perspectiva de la empresa estadounidense, Google esté creando un espacio para latinos en las redes sociales, yo creo que en realidad, como ha dicho Colorlines.com, el efecto del nuevo dominio será a aislar a los latinos. En este ejemplo, tenemos una empresa que está intentando involucrar a una población integral del país por crear un dominio especializado. Si el objetivo es aumentar el número de usuarios latinos en Google, pueda tener éxito. Sin embargo, la interpretación de los ejecutivos latinos, cuales creen que esta campaña pueda crear un espacio para los “disrupters hispanos,” como dice Ana Roca Castro, es una esperanza muy dudosa. Mientras este dominio no restringirán a los latinos a acceder el internet completo, puede ser que impida la intergración digital entre los latinos y el resto de la población estadounidense. Por ejemplo,si una empresa latina utiliza el dominio de .soy, es muy posible que la empresa efectivamente se esconda a la población no latina, lo que resultaría en la péridida de clientes potenciales.
En cuanto a los dilemas de HTT, Google está siguiendo el universalismo. Aunque esta situiación parezca a un ejemplo del particularismo por la parte de Google, en realidad es universalismo. Por tratar a los latinos como un bloque grande y uniforme, Google está equivocando en reconocer las diferencias individuales entre las culturas distintas que forman parte de latinoamérica. Además de las diferencias entre paises, Google está fallando en reconocer diferencias adicionales, como las de la clase económica y social o los varios objetivos digitales que una empresa o individual latino pueda tener. En efecto, Google está agrupando una población muy diversa bajo un dominio que tendrá el efecto de homogeneizarla a los demás.
Como recomendación, aconsejaría a Google a dejar este proyecto e intentar esconder la insensibilidad que muestra. Cada empresa, aun las más existosas, se equivoca de vez en cuando. En este caso, debe tirar el proyecto antes de que atraiga más polémica para la corporación de Mountain View.
October 28, 2014 at 1:56 am |
1957
While I personally think that the ulterior motive behind the introduction of the .soy domain as well as the other 10 or so that were introduced is not to give celebrate Latin Americans, but essentially open up more space on the web (as more and more websites are being created it is increasingly difficult to select a unique domain, so this will help solve the problem of url cluster) there are definitely cultural implications. For one this method creates the perspective of “us and them,” which could be seen as an tool of isolation. I think this is an example of implementing particularism in a negative way because while it can be seen as celebrating Latin American culture, it wasn’t Latin Americans that created it, but rather Americans so particularism was kind of forced on them (though they still have a choice not to use the .soy). In this way I feel that the severing of the universal nature of the web will have negative impacts. Also on the other side of the argument, I feel that .soy elevates Latin Americans above other cultures, seeing as there was no new domain to celebrate other cultures. Where was the .je for the French, the .ich for the Germans? There are countless cultures that were excluded in this “celebration.”
October 28, 2014 at 2:01 am |
As far as recommendations go, I would say that if Google wants to continue to advocate this new domain, it should also create different domains for other cultures. This way there isn’t a uniquely the world vs Latin Americans domain and in this way there is a universal domain as well as a particular domain for each culture and thus the “us vs. them” perspective is diminished. Also this give the same importance to all cultures.
December 4, 2014 at 5:34 pm |
Yo creo que la nueva iniciativa de Google para lanzar un dominio de internet especialmente de latinos y para latinos es una idea buena y mala a la misma vez. Como la minoría más grande en los Estados Unidos, latinos son el futuro. Este esfuerzo que google ha hecho reconoce la importancia de latinos y sus negocios. Creo que la diferencia cultural más prominente es de específico contra difuso. El hecho que Google ha creado un dominio específicamente para latinos, es muy específico. Demuestra que Google acepta progresión y diversidad, pero a la misma vez yo creo que es un poco discriminatorio. Los Estados Unidos es un país de muchas culturas y muchas diferencias entre sus ciudadanos. En el futuro yo creo que el mundo se va a volver más y más interconectado, que eliminaría muchas diferencias que se ve hoy.
Lo malo que veo de esta iniciativa es que crea un mentalidad que los latinos son separados del resto de la populación. Creo que en teoría es una manera de conectar a los latinos para que se puedan ayudar, lo cual sí es importante. A la vez creo que esto podría crear dependencia en negocios latinos solamente. Creo que desde la perspectiva de latinos, .soy es excelente, pero desde un perspectivo más amplio no es tan bueno.
Yo creo que .soy debería continuar a atraer usuarios y socios de negocio para expandir la presencia. Cuando sea más establecido podremos ver la dirección que tome el dominio.