One of my absolute favorite local businesses right now is the Joe n' Throw in downtown Fairmont, WV located on Adams Street. It's a lovely locally-owned business that operates as a combination of a coffee house and pottery studio. The atmosphere has such a great vibe that can't be recreated on a commercial level, and it also brews some of the best exotic Mayan and Sumatran blends for the coffee connoisseur in mind.
Small businesses face some added difficulty when attempting to compete with giant online businesses. For one, the price is probably the #1 reason why some consumers prefer to stick with the big guys-when you're a family on a budget you want to get the most that you can out of your paycheck. (And, as a college student that is something that I can empathize well with.)
When it comes to online purchases, I will purchase everything from clothing to appliances in order to avoid going shopping. (It's just not my cup of tea.) However, I don't shop for too much food online, unless it's something obscure that doesn't require refrigeration. (e.g., Chia seeds, protein powder, Goji berries.)
Search the internet to see if your local community has a “shop local” movement? What is the messaging the campaign uses to educate the public about the need to “relocalize” itself?
I currently live in Fairmont, and there is a grassroots "shop local" movement. Despite the fact that there isn't too much online marketing taking place, there's a small movement in the downtown area that has a few new shops, including an organic market that has all natural and organic foods. They sell local honey, meat, and produce from farmers here in Fairmont.
I've been to a few events this past summer, where the Veteran's Square would hold outings that supported local commerce with everything ranging from artwork to farmer's market produce.
However, we really don't have too much of a local campaign gong on here-it's basically small businesses teaming together in an effort to bring quality local business to our community. The small events supporting all local providers and businesses is a great start-we just need to see more of that in order to spread the word about the local movement.
Even though it gives exposure to a worldwide market, in what ways does the internet work against local business?
The internet gives preference to the big businesses by promoting their advertisements on search engines and even social networks. Obviously, these corporations have more funds to support their marketing ploys-something that smaller businesses just simply don't have. The larger commercialized businesses also have vivid and engaging advertisements as a result.
What are some ways the internet can be a benefit to local business, local activism or local culture?
Despite the fact that the internet is a decentralizing technology, it can still be of benefit to local business, culture, and activism. Particularly in regards to activism, the internet makes it possible for an entire nation to 'rally around an idea' as the author puts it. Rather than local activism ending at the local level, the entire world has the opportunity to see social injustices that are taking place.
In terms of local business, I believe that regardless of the amount of marketing that can be employed with the use of the internet, local businesses will still have a difficult time competing with "big box" retailer giants. Even though the local businesses now have the ability to reach out to consumers, they are nonetheless at a disadvantage because the larger corporations have more money to spend on marketing and advertisements. However, this isn't to say that we haven't made a move towards favoring local businesses despite this apparent disadvantage.
One result of the “delocalizing” nature of the Internet is the use of long-distance technologies when local and face-to-face interaction is possible. (Have you ever used an Instant Messaging Client to message a roommate, even though she was working on her computer in the same room?) What are two more examples of delocalization as a result of a networked existence?
There have been many times when I have sent a text to my sister or brother, when they were in the same exact room. Often times though, we would completely realize the irony of it all and laugh. (And many times we were texting about our parents, who were in that room. Clearly we're still kids.)
Another example of 'delocalization as a result of a networked existence' would be a lesson in school where students sit in front of computer monitors and interact with one another on a social network platform such as Edmodo. Rather than engaging with one another in real time in a real place, they use a method of decentralizing technology where we lose the essence of human interaction.
Another prime example of this could be where a group of friends are out to dinner and they are mindlessly scrolling through their news feeds-when they could be interacting with the people right in front of them. (Nothing irks me more than this! lol) What is the purpose of going to dinner, if you're not going to speak to the people directly in front of you?
Beyond the way we sometimes employ technologies for the gee whiz factor, or for convenience, do we sometimes utilize distancing as a “feature” rather than a “bug?” In other words, when do we like the fact that the person we’re communicating with is far away?
This question was kind of tough-I had to ponder it for a while, and I'm still not sure if I'm approaching this correctly. But I think this would apply to the instance where I mentioned that my siblings and I will sometimes talk about our parents (who are in the same room) via text. We wouldn't be able to do this without technology. (Well, I guess we could write our message on a napkin.) So, we obviously like that we can communicate in this way.
Another example of when somebody could use technology for the convenience factor, could be a mom texting her children that dinner is ready. Rather than walking up the stairs, we could just shoot them a text-since they're probably engrossed in their technology anyway.
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