Needing to Have a Voice

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[]here isn an economic inerne and a social inerne and

a poliical inerne; heres jus he Inerne, U.S. Secreary oSae Hillary Clinon said abou he U.S.s Inerne reedomagenda, claiming ha here should no be walls ha divide heInerne.

Indeed, as he Inerne is embedded in all aspecs o every-day lie, i is dicul or saes o conain Inerne and Inerne-enabled aciviies in one or a ew seleced domains. However,

wha really divides he Inerne may no be walls ereced bygovernmens ha do no like he U.S.s Inerne reedom agen-da bu he linguisic barriers ha have been used o draw he

boundaries in which voices can be ariculaed, heard, and ex-

changed. Tough he Inerne may be global and universal in isreach, any Inerne user can only access cerain segmens o heInerne ha are deermined by his or her linguisic capaciy.Tere may sill be a Chinese-language Inerne and an Urdu-language Inerne.

Te link beween language and media is no new. Considerhe ollowing quoes regarding he role o languages, rs in heprin media wo hundred years ago and second in social mediaoday:

Tese [mechanically reproduced] prin-languages laid he bases or na-

ional consciousnesses. . . . Tese ellow-readers . . . ormed . . . he em-bryo o he naionally imagined communiy. . . . Second, prin-capialism

gave a new fxiy o language. . . . Tird, prin-capialism creaed languag-

es-o-power.1

Benedic Anderson,Imagined Communiies

Norms &Standards

EvolvingEnvironments

EmergingActors

ISD WORKING PAPERS IN NEW DIPLOMACY

INSTITUTE FOR THE STUDY OF DIPLOMACY

Needing to Have A Voice:Linguistic Grouping in theDigital Networked Environment

Han-Teng Liao | juLy 2011

The contours o diplomatic

engagement are changing rap-idly, as are the environments

in which diplomacy is crated,

honed, and practiced. New

media have changed the pace

and content o political aware-

ness and provided new tools

or diplomacy.

Every global issue now tests

the assumptions and practices

o traditional diplomacy. Non-

state actorswhether benign

or malign, constructive or dis-

ruptivenow play increasing-

ly important roles in the con-

duct o international politics

and lead us to think dierently

about global development,

conict, and reconciliation.

These issues, conditions,

and actors are helping to re-

fne, and perhaps redefne,

what diplomacy means, how

it is conducted, and how we

examine the new terrain o

diplomacy.

Han-eng Liao was he Yahoo! Fellow in Residence (20102011) a heInsiue or he Sudy o Diplomacy.


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Social media is all abou connecions. . . . Teres no sronger connecion

han lierally speaking he same language.2

Quoe rom a digial markeing specialis

Benedic Anderson argues ha prin echnologies, prin-languages, and prin-capialism have laid he bases or na-ional consciousnesses3 when he examines he creaion andglobal spread o naionalism rom he lae eigheenh cenuryonwards. When he worlds media conen and echnologies

converge in he digial neworked environmen,4

wha are heshaping roles o languages? I Anderson is r igh ha capialismand prin creaed monoglo mass reading publics,5 wha kindo language users have he Inerne echnologies creaed?

One does no have o agree ha speaking he same lan-guage is he sronges connecion or users o social media inorder o appreciae he imporan role ha language may playin he way Inerne users are grouped, which is he subjec ohis essay. How has he role o languages shaped and inuencedhe grouping o Inerne users?

Tis paper begins by discussing an oen-overlooked poin

in undersanding he digial and neworked environmen: Be-ore one has a voice, one has o speak a language o some kind.o be heard, one has o speak he language o an audience.Tus, he idea o providing more inormaion and aser com-municaion is no ha simple and sraighorward or all helanguages in he world. Tough he general rend o digial andcompuer nework developmen is o become aser and biggerin conen producion and circulaion, no all languages suferrom he problem o overabundance or inormaion overload asEnglish does.

A a minimum, wihou proper sandards and echnolo-

gies or encoding and decoding human-readable exs in digialcodes, a language can never enjoy he volume and speed hadigial echnologies can provide. All human-readable ex has alanguage,6 bu no all languages are ready and available or helaes inormaion, communicaion, and elecommunicaion(IC) echnologies.

In oher words, wha are he dynamics o linguisic group-ing in he digial neworked environmen? A series o quesions


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Needing to Have a Voice: Linguistic Grouping in the Digital Networked Environment

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can be asked again abou Inerne echnologies. Firs, whakind o digi-coded languages are mechanically reproducedha may recongure he bases or a naional (or oher kind o )consciousness? Under his overarching quesion, hree sub-quesions can be raised ollowing Andersons ormulaion inhe opening quoe: (1) In he digial neworked environmen,

wha kinds o ellow-readers are ormed, and wha are heirimplicaions or he idea o an imagined communiy? (2) Arelanguages more xed or uid? (3) Wha kind o languages-o-

power are reshaped or creaed?Te above quesions, cenering on he idea o having a voice

online, are undamenal or he uure o Inerne. I properlyanswered, he quesions have implicaions or linguisic humanrighs online and IC or developmen. I all comes down ohe double meaning o he erm voice.

On one hand, a voice is human uterance ariculaed in acerain language. On he oher hand, i is abou a righ o ex-press a preerence or opinion, which can be raced back ocasing voes in a deliberaive assembly.7 Tus, he movemeno linguisic human righs, or language human righs, which

emerged mainly in he 1980s mosly in Europe, should be re-garded as an efor o remedy he assumpion ha monolinguis-ic speech is ideal or he naional or public sphere.8 Te expan-sion o he human righs movemen rom a poliical and civicrighs movemen o he promulgaion o economic, social, andculural righs hus has linguisic componens in inernaionaldocumens. Tese include he 1948 Universal Declaraion oHuman Righs, he 1966 Inernaional Covenan on Civil andPoliical Righs, and he 1996 Universal Declaraion o Linguis-ic Righs.9 Te idea o muliple voices in muliple languageshas also been linked o he provision o universal access o cy-

berspace when he Unied Naions Educaional, Scienic, andCulural Organizaion (UNESCO) recommended he promo-ion and use o mulilingualism in 2003. Since hen, UN mem-

ber saes have been requesed o submi a repor once everyour years on such acion aken.10

o implemen he mulilingual digial neworked environ-men hus embodies wo inerrelaed desires. One is o expandhuman righs rom he poliical sphere o he economic, social,


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and culural domains. Anoher is o difuse he Inerne ech-nologies o diferen language users in he world. Needing ohave a voice online is hus an endeavor o achieve he doublemeaning o he erm voice or a group o language users: heirexpressions and heir languages should be accommodaed on-line.

LINGUISTIC INFRSTUCTUE:NOT JUST DESIGNED FO ENGLISH

Will he Inerne always speak English? an American linguisasked in 2002, recognizing he ac ha he Inerne was basi-cally an American developmen spreading across he English-speaking world a a as speed.11 In 2002, he English-speaking

world generaed nearly 80 percen o Inerne rac. Quoinghen French Presiden Jacques Chirac, he American linguispoined ou why he prevalence o English on he Inerne had

been seen as a major risk or humaniy ha migh evenuallylead o linguisic and culural uniormiy. A direcor o a Rus-sian Inerne provider, who noiced he disincion beween

English-speaking elies and non-English-speakers among Rus-sian Inerne users, reued he idea o an open Web as heulimae ac o inellecual colonialism because i was no yeopen enough o Russian language and conen.12 Tese reac-ions reeced he radiional concerns o prin-languages ormedia-languages as he bases boh or non-English voices and anaional consciousness.

Indeed, o have a voice in he digial neworked environ-men requires inrasrucure ha can mechanically supporhe language in quesion. o be mechanically reproduced inhe digial neworked environmen, a digial language/wriing

sysem mus be developed o address issues such as encoding(represening language symbols in compuer digi codes), lin-guisic and orhographic acors, and ex processing (inpu,rendering, ordering, ec.). ake keyboards and keypads as ex-amples o ex inpu: Figure 1 shows he respecive layous o

American English, Arabic, and Chinese. Languages oher hanAmerican English have o cram heir language symbols in a way


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similar o cramming English alphabes ono keypads o welvekeys on mobile devices. Users need o be rained o ype helanguage o heir choice. Users wihou proper language sup-

por are efecively voiceless or speechless. Some languagesmay ace many more digial diculies i he symbol and wri-ing sysem hey require is very diferen rom he Lain-alpha-

be-based American English.A succinc hisorical summary o he las decade o linguis-

ic inrasrucure is hus needed o demonsrae how languagescan be mechanically reproduced or all languages in he

Figure 1. Seleced Keypad and Keyboard Layousor American English, Arabic, and Chinese


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world. Te basic sory is o adop he American English-onlyplaorm o a global one where all languages can coexis.

argeing all he languages in he world, several inernaion-al bodies have conribued o efors in making he digial ne-

worked environmen ready or world languages o be mechan-ically reproduced. Recognizing he issue as early as in he lae1990s, he Inerne Engineering ask Force (IEF), he maininernaional echnical communiy concerned wih Inernearchiecure and relaed sandards, has declared ha he In-

erne is inernaional, and hus i is an absolue requiremeno inerchange daa in a mulipliciy o languages, which inurn uilize a bewildering number o characers.13 Te acualencoding sandardizaion efors or world languages, mainlycoordinaed by a nonpro organizaion called he UnicodeConsorium,14 wih ull members mosly rom major compu-ing and Inerne companies,15 have resuled in an inernaionalindusry sandard called he Unicode Sandard wih he aim ohandling all he world languages.16 On he basis o providing aconsisen encoding sandard or all world languages, he Uni-code Consorium also mainains a reposiory ha provides key

building soware componens or locale parameers. Tesedene no only he language setings o users bu also he coun-ry, dae, currency, and oher setings.17 Furhermore, wih allhese specicaions, major soware and Inerne companiescan hus provide soware and Web services ha mee he di-eren language, regional, and echnical requiremens o a argemarke.18

Tus i can be argued ha he linguisic inrasrucure ohe digial neworked environmen has shied rom he mono-lingual o he mulilingual. One example o such a shi is headopion o he encoding sandards on he Web. According o

he global search engine company Google, he proporion ohe exual maerials ha uses Unicode on he Web has alreadysurpassed all oher encoding sandards19 and is expeced oreach hal o he oal Web in 2010 (see Figure 2).20 As shownin Figure 2, he oher major encoding sandards such as ASCII(or American English only), Windows-1252, or ISO/IEC885901 (or wesern European languages mosly) are in clear


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decline in erms o proporion o Web usage.21 Wha Figure 2demonsraes is a clear rend o he Web adoping a universal

sandard ha can poenially accommodae all he languages inhe world, no jus English or Lain alphabe-based languages.Te progress in adoping such a mulilingual sandard in hepas decade has so ar exceeded he IEFs original expecaion,

which esimaed ha i migh ake a leas y years.22However, he shi rom he monolingual o he mulilin-

gual in he basic encoding sandard does no auomaically

Figure 2. Growh o Unicode on he Web (by Google), 20012010

Source: Mark Davis, 2008.


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sugges he webs readiness or supporing all he languagesin he world. Furher empirical work is required o see whichlanguages are suppored and o wha exen: hese quesionsare beyond he scope o his essay. We can ask, however, whoshould adop he echnologies or diferen language users? Ocourse, one can develop ineraces and applicaions ha aredesigned or jus one individual user; however, i would be oocosly and inecien o serve such an individuals unique lan-guage needs. I is, hen, no surprise ha developers o digial

neworked echnologies will have o pu arge and poenialusers in a box, essenially grouping hem ino a caegory so hahey can be served in bulk. Users belonging o he same caego-ry hus would share he same linguisic (and someimes also re-gional) inerace wih he digial neworked environmen. Howcan hese linguisic aspecs o echnologies produce linguisicgroupings in he same way in which he prin-languages havelaid he bases or ellow-readers, a new xiy o language,and languages-o-power, as menioned in an opening quoein his essay?

LINGUISTIC GOUPING:CITIZENS AND/O CONSUMES?

In he digial neworked environmen, wha kinds o ellow-users are ormed, and wha are heir implicaions or he ideao an imagined communiy? Te way in which languages areembedded in media echnologies may coninue o have an im-pac on our everyday lives, as prin-languages have previouslylaid he bases or a naional consciousnesses. Fellow-readersmay have become ellow-ciizens who usually shared he sameor increasingly he same language. Te way in which languages

are currenly embedded in he digial neworked environmenmay be shaping and being shaped by poliical and economicunis. By ar he mos sysemaic echnological implemenaiono such language suppor is wha is called locale in compu-ing. Locale is a se o parameers ha dene no only he lan-guage setings o users bu also he counry, dae, currency, andoher setings.23 One example o his is he IEF language ags,


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mainained by he Inerne Engineering ask Force, so ha henaming convenion o he locale parameers can be shared andused consisenly in he digial neworked environmen.24

Using he Chinese language as an example, he linguisicgrouping reecs he complicaions o he poliical and eco-nomic unis in Chinese poliics. able 1 shows some o hepossible IEF language ags (on which diferen locales can

be buil) ha are used or he Chinese language. Alhough re-

gions such as China, Hong Kong, and aiwan use Chinese asheir ocial language, diferen IEF language ags have beendeveloped o ideniy he various kinds o Chinese used. Telanguage idenier zh reers o Chinese, wihou any speci-caion abou he choice o scrip and he preerence o region.Te IEF ags zh-Hans and zh-Han are language ags

wih subags Hans and Han o ideniy he arge scrip(Chinese writen wih simplied scrip and Chinese writen

wih radiional scrip, respecively). Te IEF ags zh-CN,zh-SG, zh-HK, and zh-W are language ags wih sub-ags CN, SG, HK, and W o ideniy he arge region

(Chinese used in China, Singapore, Hong Kong, and aiwan,respecively).

Is one closer o her/his ellow-users when using he sameor a similar se o locale setings ha usually include a lan-guage idenier and region idenier, such as p-BR or Por-uguese used in Brazil or zh-W or Chinese used in aiwan?Tese are empirical quesions ha need empirical research or

Table 1. Examples o he IEF Language ags.

Code Language Subtags

Zh Chinese Language

zh-Hans Chinese writen wih simplied scrip language+scrip

zh-Han Chinese writen wih radiional scrip language+scrip

zh-CN Chinese used in Peoples Republic o China (PRC) language+region

zh-SG Chinese used in Republic o Singapore language+region

zh-HK Chinese used in Hong Kong language+regionzh-W Chinese used in aiwan language+region


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specic locales, which is beyond he scope o his essay. Sill,wihou unwarraned ears ha hese linguisic and geographicparameers will consiue he ler bubble, 25 i is insruciveo noe ha hese locale setings or parameers are he key orcerain language and language preerences o be mechanical-ly reproduced.26 For soware and Inerne companies, heselanguage preerences are essenial o providing a basic envi-ronmen ha is accepable, i no riendly, or a group o con-sumers. For some oher websies, hese language preerences

reec heir own specic grouping o users based on languagesand someimes regions. For example, in he Chinese-languageonline space, Baidu Baike, he equivalen produc o Chinese

Wikipedia, hosed by Chinas major search company, supporsonly simplied scrip. Chinese Wikipedia, however, has man-aged o provide he same conen or our diferen caegorieso users and ediors: simplied Chinese used in China, simpli-ed Chinese used in Singapore (and Malaysia), radiional Chi-nese used in Hong Kong, and orhodox Chinese used in ai-

wan.27 Tus, he moivaions and concerns or diferen kindso linguisic groupings online seem o reec he grouping o

poliical and economic unis, and he ellow-users are husshaped by he implemenaion o diferen locale parameersembedded in he digial neworked environmen.

Major operaing sysems and websies oday have supporsor various language and region setings, and diferen levelso suppor by diferen players can show ha cerain linguisicgroups have more presence or signicance han ohers. Wiki-pedia, wih is open and do-i-yoursel approach o language

versions and ineraces, has 276 languages in 2011, while Face- book only has more han one hundred language ineraces.28Google allows users o change heir linguisic and geographic

preerences, including inerace language, search language, lo-caion, ec.,29 wih nearly wo hundred language ineraces andnearly wo hundred counry domain versions.30 I is worh no-ing ha Wikipedias do-i-yoursel or serve-yoursel approach,meaning ha users can build heir own ineraces on he pla-orms provided, has also been used by companies such as Face-

book31 and Google.32


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Te ac ha users o diferen languages are encouraged oserve hemselves on a global plaorm leads o he nex ques-ion: Does he digial neworked environmen give a new x-iy o language as in he prin era, where prin-languages aresandardized enough o creae a common basis or exchangeand communicaion?

LINGUISTIC (AND EGIONAL)DIGITIZABILITY

In conras o he prin era, in which he mechanically reproduc-ible prin languages are hose ha can be sandardized in a na-ion-sae or a naional marke, he digial neworked environ-men o he universal kind seems o be more exible and uid. Ianyhing has o be xed in his new environmen, i may well

be he ac ha he language in quesion mus be digiized orxed in he digial orms o zeroes and ones.

Digiizabiliy hus opens up space or all kinds o languageand regional variaions o he digial neworked echnologies.Parly because o he inernaional efors o digiize and ne-

work all world languages, parly because o he malleabiliy ousing digi codes o zeroes and ones o represen all languages,any language in he world seems o be able o be mechanicallyreproduced in he digial neworked environmen. I is henno necessary o argue ha major Inerne companies, even ihey are hosed in he Unied Saes, can never respec he needo have naional voices online. I is dicul o discoun heseinernaional efors in enabling he Inerne o speak he lan-guage where he voice can be ariculaed and heard. Te mul-ilingual developmen o he worlds Inerne inrasrucureshould be seen in he overall conex o he inernaionaliza-

ion and localizaion efors o he soware indusry, which isoen abbreviaed o he numeronyms o i18n and L10n.33

Going beyond mere characer encoding, he efors in i18nand L10n cover many aspecs o soware usage ha are relaedo language and regional diferences, which include he designand layou o user inerace, inpu, display, ime zone, curren-cy, and language preerences. Inernaionalizaion o a cerain


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piece o soware suggess ha he linguisic and regional as-pecs o he soware are designed and developed in a way hais no limied or specic o any locale (he parameers hadene he language and regional aspecs o compuing). In oh-er words, inernaionalizaion prepares a piece o soware o

be independen rom conguraions o a cerain language and/or region so ha i can be repurposed o serve oher languagesand/or regions. Localizaion o a piece o soware reers o re-purposing he already inernaionalized soware or various lo-

cales. Anoher way o look a his i18n and L10n process is asollows: Te i18n process rs makes sure he digial neworkedenvironmen is buil language neural (and hus no biased o-

ward any specic language), and he L10n process hen allowsor diferen kinds o language and region suppor acually o

be implemened. Te i18n process aims o accommodae digi-al bis so ha he digial neworked environmen is exibleenough o provide suppor or diferen locales.

Are locales he new xiies ha are reinroduced back ohe digial neworked environmen? Does he use o localessegmen or even ragmen he digial neworked environmen

ino diferen worlds ha have ew connecions? For example,does he use o locales such as zh-CN, zh-SG, zh-HK,and zh-W (Chinese used in China, Singapore, Hong Kong,and aiwan, respecively) creae comparmens o diferenChinese-speaking worlds? A similar quesion can also be askedabou en-US, en-UK, and en-IN (English used in UniedSaes, he Unied Kingdom, and India, respecively). One caneven ask urher i he locales wih a smaller populaion canhus avoid he prin-era ae o being subsumed by he san-dardizaion o a major naion-sae language. All hese ques-ions may require urher empirical research, bu some educa-

ed guesses are provided by undersanding how Web searcheswork linguisically. Te linguisic dimension o Inerne devel-opmen is vividly described by linguis Geofrey Nunberg, whocapures he mechanism o search engines as he ulimae voicecollecor and conversaion monior:34

Seen rom a Googles eye view, in ac, he Web is less like a piazza han

a souka jumble o separae spaces, each wih is own isolaed chater.


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Te search engines cruise he alleyways o lisen in on all o hese con-

versaions, locae he people who are alking abou he subjec were in-

eresed in, and ell us which o hem has earned he mos nods rom he

oher conabulaors in he room.

Wha brings he isolaed chater ogeher and accessibleis he compuer power o mach srings o ex ha ariculaeshuman voices. Te way search engines manage o lisen o andmonior human voices online depends on he shared keywordsand hus cerain shared language okens. Even social mediasuch as witer and Facebook use hashags, ags, or simply key-

words in cerain languages as he underlying mechanism o ex-change and aggregae voices online. Tus, i is very likely halinguisic (and regional) digiizabiliy may allow or more di-

verse usage o major language scrips, such as Chinese charac-ers, English Roman alphabes, sandard Arabic scrip, RussianCyrillic alphabes, ec., or all kinds o appropriaion and adop-ion by languages such as writen Canonese, Singlish, Egypian

Arabic, modern Mongolian, and so orh.Bringing xiy o languages, be i in he prin era or he cur-

ren digial neworked environmen, is hus abou power andhe poliics o voice. I Nunberg is correc in his descripiono he Web as less like a piazza han a souk, he poenial oconnec disparae voices rom diferen corners o he Inernerequires people o use he same keyword in cerain languagesin order o aggregae souks ino a emporary piazza-like publicorum on he very opic embodied in he language-dependenkeyword. For voices o ravel rom one locale o anoher, hese

voices need o be ariculaed, digiized, aggregaed, searchedand lisened o, wih he help o keywords ha are languagedependen. Since i is probably he rs ime in human hisory

ha muliple languages can coexis in a universal plaorm, iis more imporan o lisen o he global voices in heir variousown isolaed chater (e.g., he Global VoicesOnline.org) beoreenering various ongoing conversaions. Tere are alernaivemehods o lisening o Chinese or American voices onlinehen going o he ocial diplomaic websie, as here are muli-ple new ways o engage exising conversaions wih he relevankeywords in heir own vocabularies.


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So ar we have answered some o he quesions regardinghe dynamics o linguisic grouping in he digial neworkedenvironmen. All kinds o digi-coded languages poeniallycan be poenially mechanically reproduced in he digial ne-

worked environmen; however, i may be oo early o generalizeheir implicaions or building a naional (or any oher kind o)consciousness. Sill, in he increasingly mulilingal digial ne-

worked environmen, new groups o ellow-users are ormedand poenially can change he idea o an imagined communiy

online in a more uid ashion.Te remaining quesion is wha kind o languages-o-pow-

er are reshaped or creaed? Tis essay ends wih a discussiono he noion o a Chinese voice versus an American voice ohighligh he cenraliy o needing a voice online. I is no onlya language or echnical suppor issue bu also a much broaderissue abou he uure o he Inerne.

LANGUAGES OF POWE:A CHINESE VESUS AN AMEICAN VOICE?

Wheher a voice can or canno be ariculaed online shows hedouble meaning o he cenral concep o voice: i is abouexpressions and languages. Te very concep can highligh heimplicaions or he curren disagreemen beween he U.S. andChinese governmens on he role o he Inerne. Te mos cru-cial background inormaion is ha, in erms o Inerne users,he wo counries are seen as he major represenaives o heop wo languages: English and Chinese.35 Alhough he Iner-ne was originally designed or American English,36 China hashe highes number o Inerne users in he world,37 surpassingha o he Unied Saes in 2008.38 Googles chie execuive o-

cer envisioned ha beore 2014, he Inerne will be dominaedby Chinese-language conen. Despie having an auhoriarianregime ha can conrol and censor he democraizing poen-ial o he Inerne,39 China has he highes proporion o us-ers who produce online conen mos requenly and are hemos socially playul online, more so han counries such as heUnied Saes in a 2011 survey on global Inerne values.40 Tese


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Chinese Inerne users may employ he Inerne mosly, i noexclusively, in Chinese.

Wih such background inormaion in mind, i is hen in-srucive o see he diferen inerpreaions o he voice on-line by boh governmens. For he U.S. governmen, he ocushas been he human righ o ree expression or hose whoencouner censorship by heir governmens, which includeshe Chinese governmen.41 For Washingon, DC, i is abouhe poliical and civic righs o he voices online, wih he U.S.

governmen as he major agen or Inerne reedom.42

For heChinese governmen, he issue has been ramed o reasser hecollecive Chinese voice online o exercise sae sovereignyon behal o China. For Beijing, i is abou he exended versiono economic, social, and culural righs wih he Chinese gov-ernmen as he major agen.

Tese argumens made by he Chinese governmen, per-haps more readily acceped by he majoriy o Chinese ciizensand less known o ousiders, can be summarized as ollows.Firs, according o Beijing, he concep o human righs shouldno be limied o he (someimes irresponsible) righs o indi-

viduals bu raher should include he basic righs o survivaland developmen, which is almos synonymous wih he na-ional and sovereign righs o a counry.43 Tis line o argu-men srikes a Japanese and Chinese modern inerpreaiono wesern liberal erms such as reedom, individualism,and righs, as reaining he negaive connoaions o willulirresponsibiliy or a selsh power play or pros and privi-lege, embodied in he Chinese characers used or ranslainghese erms.44 Second, by arguing ha he naional languageis he mos basic linguisic righ or he Chinese people, Bei-

jing emphasizes he collecive perspecive o linguisic human

righs ha he righ o learn and use he common spoken andwriten Chinese is he mos undamenal and imporan ac-or or he Chinese people.45 Tis elevaes he saus o pu-onghua, he sandardized Chinese wih pronunciaion o heBeijing dialec and writen scrips o simplied Chinese char-acers. Tird, claiming o know he Chinese (language) beter,Chinese Inerne companies have porrayed oreign companies


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such as Google as clueless Caucasians who canno even under-sand he senence srucure o he Chinese language.46 Tisreinorces he belie ha oreign orces care litle abou he col-lecive benes o he Chinese people, in conras o naionalchampions who undersand and care. Finally, he Chinesegovernmen and naional companies are he major guardians onaional sovereigny or Chinese Inerne sovereigny o endof inormaion ha conains conens subvering sae power,undermining naional uniy, inringing upon naional honor

and ineress.47

As repored by Chinese ocial media, he ex-isence o hreas o Chinese Inerne sovereigny is he ba-sis on which well-known oreign social neworking sies, suchas Facebook, are blocked in China.48 Almos all inernaionalor American social media plaorms have Chinese equivalensserved mosly in Chinese-language ineraces.49 Tese argu-mens combined presen a powerul version o he colleciveChinese voice in developing and ruling is Inerne: expres-sions o a unied Chinese voice agains oreign inuence, usinghe Beijing-dened naional language.

Is i air o argue ha major Inerne companies, mosly

hosed in he Unied Saes wih a majoriy o English-speak-ing users, canno undersand he need or naional voices andrespec naional consciousness? Is i air o argue ha he Chi-nese voice will be bes served when voiced in he Beijing-de-ned naional language? I so, does he Chinese voice includehe voices o ibeans, Uyghurs, and Mongolians, ec? Cannon-American English (or example, Briish English or IndianEnglish) and non-Mandarin Chinese (or example, Canonese)prosper in he digial neworked environmen where AmericanEnglish and Mandarin Chinese consiue he majoriy o con-en producion in respecive language scrips online? Who are

he new language supporers and auhoriies when he digialneworked environmen is our environmen? Tese kinds oquesions are expeced o be raised across diferen languagesand regions as he global Inerne reaches o more people inhe world. I is hen an absolue requiremen ha policymakersundersand he values and norms or he digial and neworkedenvironmen o accommodae a mulipliciy o languages, in


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a way ha respecs preexising conversaions and he need ohave a voice. In paricular, he U.S. governmen and Inernecompanies should reexamine heir roles in accommodaing andaggregaing local voices, by including much needed culuraland linguisic sensibiliies ha have been he exper domains oradiional diplomacy and area sudies. Languages should no

be barriers ha consiue a ler bubble 49 bu valuable re-sources or muual respec and muual undersanding, makinghe digial neworked environmen ruiul grounds.

NOTES

1. Benedic Anderson,Imagined Communiies: Reecions on he Originand Spread o Naionalism (London, New York: Verso, 2006), pp. 4546. 2. Mark Anderson, Parlez-vous Facebook? IEEE Specrum (June2011), htp://specrum.ieee.org/a-work/innovaion/parlezvous-acebook. 3. Anderson,Imagined Communiies, p. 45. 4. Henry Jenkins, Convergence culure: where old and new mediacollide (New York: NYU Press, 2006). htp://books.google.com/

books?id=RlRVNik06YC; im Dwyer, Media Convergence (McGraw-HillInernaional, 2009). htp://books.google.com/books?id=rbovMF7_F8C. 5. Anderson,Imagined Communiies, p. 45.

6. Harald vei Alvesrand, IEF [Inerne Engineering ask Force]Policy on Characer Ses and Languages, IEF (Bes Curren Pracice)( January 1998), p. 4. htp://ools.ie.org/hml/rc2277. 7. Oxord English Dicionary , voice, n. London: Oxord UniversiyPress, 2011. htp://www.oed.com:80/Enry/224334. 8. Domna C. Sanon, On Linguisic Human Righs and he UniedSaes Foreign Language Crisis,Proession (January 1, 2005): 64-79. 9. Ibid. 10. UNESCO, Recommendaion concerning he promoion and useo mulilingualism and universal access o cyberspace, (Paris: UNESCO,General Conerence o UNESCO, 32nd session, Ocober 2003). htp://unesdoc.unesco.org/ulis/cgi-bin/ulis.pl?cano=151952&gp=1&mode=e&lin=1. 11. Geofrey Nunberg, Will he Inerne Always Speak English? Te

American Prospec (November 30, 2002). htp://www.prospec.org/cs/aricles?aricle=will_he_inerne_always_speak_english. 12. Michael Specer, World, Wide, Web - 3 English Words, New Yorkimes, April 14, 1996. htp://query.nyimes.com/gs/ullpage.hml?res=9E0DE2DA1139F937A25757C0A960958260&pagewaned=all. 13. Alvesrand, IEF Policy, p. 1. 14. Unicode Inc, Unicode Sandard, 2011. htp://unicode.org/sandard/sandard.hml. 15. Unicode Inc, Te Unicode Consorium Members, April 27, 2011.


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htp://www.unicode.org/consorium/memblogo.hml. 16. Unicode Inc, Unicode Sandard. 17. Unicode Inc, CLDR Projec - Unicode Common Locale DaaReposiory, Unicode Ocial Websie (2011). htp://cldr.unicode.org/. 18. Donald A. DePalma, Inernaionalizaion and Localizaion, in

Business wihou borders: a sraegic guide o global markeing(New York: JohnWiley and Sons, 2002); Sarmad Hussain and Ram Mohan, Localizaion inAsia Pacic, inDigial Review o Asia Pacic 2007/2008, ed. Felix Librero andParicia B. Arino (Orbicom and he Inernaional Developmen ResearchCenre (IDRC), 2008). htp://www.idrc.ca/openebooks/377-5/; Byung-Keun Kim, Inernaionalizing he Inerne, in Inernaionalizing he Inerne:he co-evoluion o inuence and echnology (Norhampon, MA: Edward ElgarPublishing, 2005), pp. 1-9; Pan Sorasak and Chriv Kosona, Cambodia,in Digial Review o Asia Pacic 2009/2010 , ed. Shahid Akhar and Paricia

Arino (IDRC, 2010); John Yunker,Beyond borders: web globalizaion sraegies(Berkeley: New Riders, 2002). 19. Mark Davis, Moving o Unicode 5.1, Ocial Google Blog(2008).htp://googleblog.blogspo.com/2008/05/moving-o-unicode-51.hml. 20. Mark Davis, Unicode nearing 50% o he web, 2010. htp://googleblog.blogspo.com/2010/01/unicode-nearing-50-o-web.hml. 21. I should be noed ha he decline o all hese non-Unicode encodingsandards does no sugges he decline o he language usage. Tose Webdocumens ha were originally writen only in English, Chinese, or Arabiccan be convered rom heir old language-specic encoding sandards o heuniversal sandard o Unicode.

22. lvesrand, IEF Policy. 23. Unicode Inc, CLDR Projec. 24. Wikipedia, IEF language ag - Wikipedia, he ree encyclopedia,

English Wikipedia , May 10, 2011. htp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IEF_language_ag; A. Phillips and M. Davis, RFC 5646 - ags or IdeniyingLanguages, Te Inerne Engineering ask Force (IEF) (Sepember 2009).htp://ools.ie.org/hml/rc5646; IANA, IEF Language Subag Regisry,Te Inerne Assigned Numbers Auhoriy (IANA) ocial Websie (January 11,2011). htp://www.iana.org/assignmens/language-subag-regisry. 25. Pariser, Eli. Te Filer Bubble: Wha he Inerne Is Hiding rom You.Penguin Press HC, 2011. 26. DePalma, Inernaionalizaion and Localizaion; Kok Yong Leong,Hai Liu, and Oliver P Wu, Web Inernaionalizaion and Java Keyboard InpuMehods, 1998. htp://www.isoc.org/ine98/proceedings/5/5_2.hm.

27. Han-eng Liao, Conic and Consensus in he Chinese Version oWikipedia, IEEE echnology and Sociey (2009). htp://ieeexplore.ieee.org/xpls/abs_all.jsp?arnumber=5072382. 28. Anderson, Parlez-vous Facebook? 29. Google Suppor, Search preerences : Search hisory and setings

Web Search Help, 2011. htp://www.google.com/suppor/websearch/bin/saic.py?hl=en&page=guide.cs&guide=1224171&answer=35892&rd=1. 30. Google, Language ools, 2011. htp://www.google.com/language_ools?hl=en.


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31. Anderson, Parlez-vous Facebook? 32. Google, Google in Your Language, 2011. www.google.com/ransconsole. 33. Hussain and Mohan, Localizaion in Asia Pacic. 34. Geofrey Nunberg, As Google Goes, So Goes he Naion,

New York imes , May 18, 2003. htp://www.nyimes.com/2003/05/18/weekinreview/18NUNB.hml. 35. Miniwats Markeing Group, op en Inerne Languages, World

Inerne Saisics (June 30, 2010). htp://www.inerneworldsas.com/sas7.hm. 36. Nunberg, Will he Inerne Always Speak English? 37. Cenral Inelligence Agency, CIA World Facbook: China (McLean,

VA: CIA, May 17, 2011). htps://www.cia.gov/library/publicaions/he-world-acbook/geos/ch.hml. 38. David Barboza, China Surpasses U.S. in Number o Inerne Users,

New York imes , July 26, 2008. htp://www.nyimes.com/2008/07/26/business/worldbusiness/26inerne.hml. 39. Evgeny Morozov, Te Ne Delusion: Te Dark Side o Inerne Freedom(New York, Public Afairs, 2011); Rebecca MacKinnon, Chinas Neworked

Auhoriarianism,Journal o Democracy (April 25, 2011). 40. Soumira Duta, William H. Duton, and Ginete Law, Te NewInerne World: A Global Perspecive on Freedom o Expression, Privacy,rus and Securiy Online, SSRN eLibrary (2011). htp://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cm?absrac_id=1810005. 41. Hillary Rodham Clinon, Remarks on Inerne Freedom(Washingon, DC: Te Newseum, 2010). htp://www.sae.gov/secreary/rm/2010/01/135519.hm; Hillary Rodham Clinon, Inerne Righs and

Wrongs: Choices & Challenges in a Neworked World (Washingon, DC:George Washingon Universiy, 2011). htp://www.sae.gov/secreary/rm/2011/02/156619.hm. 42. U.S. Deparmen o Sae, Inerne Freedom, U.S. Deparmen oSae Ocial Websie , 2011. htp://www.sae.gov/e/eeb/cip/nereedom/index.hm. 43. Zaibang Wang, Te Characerisics o Human Righs and heChallenges or World Human Righs in he 21s Cenury, China SocieyFor Human Righs Sudies (2005). htp://www.humanrighs.cn/z/magazine/200402004826120616.hm. 44. John King Fairbank and Denis Crispin wichet, Te CambridgeHisory o China [elecronic resource] (Unied Kingdom: Cambridge

Universiy Press, 1978), p. 5. 45. Jinzhi Su, Proecion o Linguisic Righs in China, ChinaSociey or Human Righs Sudies (2004). htp://www.humanrighs.cn/z/magazine/200402004826120616.hm. 46. Brad Sone and Bruce Einhorn, How Baidu Won China,

BusinessWeek: Online Magazine , November 11, 2010. htp://www.businessweek.com/magazine/conen/10_47/b4204060242597_page_6.hm. 47. Peoples Republic o China, Chinas Inerne Whie Paper: Te


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Inerne in China (Beijing: Inormaion Oce o he Sae Council ohe Peoples Republic o China, 2010). htp://china.org.cn/governmen/

whiepaper/node_7093508.hm. 48. PeopleDaily.com.cn, Whie paper explains Inerne sovereigny,

Peoples Daily Online , June 9, 2010. htp://english.peopledaily.com.cn/90001/90776/90785/7018637.hml. 49. Tomas Crampon, Inographic: Chinas Social Media Evoluion,March 2, 2011. htp://www.homascrampon.com/china/china-social-media-evoluion/.

50. Pariser, Eli. Te Filer Bubble.

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Anderson, Benedic. Imagined Communiies: Reecions on he Origin andSpread o Naionalism. London, New York: Verso, 2006.

Anderson, Mark. Parlez-vous Facebook? IEEE Specrum (June 2011). htp://specrum.ieee.org/a-work/innovaion/parlezvous-acebook.

Barboza, David. China Surpasses U.S. in Number o Inerne Users. New Yorkimes, July 26, 2008. htp://www.nyimes.com/2008/07/26/business/worldbusiness/26inerne.hml.

Cenral Inelligence Agency. CIA World Facbook: China. McLean, VA: CIA, May 17, 2011. htps://www.cia.gov/library/publicaions/he-world-ac-book/geos/ch.hml.

Clinon, Hillary Rodham. Inerne Righs and Wrongs: Choices & Challengesin a Neworked World. Washingon, DC: George Washingon Universiy,2011. htp://www.sae.gov/secreary/rm/2011/02/156619.hm.

. Remarks on Inerne Freedom. Washingon, DC: Te Newseum, 2010.htp://www.sae.gov/secreary/rm/2010/01/135519.hm.

Crampon, Tomas. Inographic: Chinas Social Media EvoluionTomasCrampon. March 2, 2011. htp://www.homascrampon.com/china/chi-na-social-media-evoluion/.

Davis, Mark. Moving o Unicode 5.1. Ocial Google Blog , 2008. htp://google-blog.blogspo.com/2008/05/moving-o-unicode-51.hml.

. Unicode nearing 50% o he web, 2010. htp://googleblog.blogspo.

com/2010/01/unicode-nearing-50-o-web.hml.DePalma, Donald A. Inernaionalizaion and Localizaion. In Business wih-ou borders: a sraegic guide o global markeing. New York: John Wiley andSons, 2002.

Duta, Soumira, William H. Duton, and Ginete Law. Te New Inerne World: A Global Perspecive on Freedom o Expression, Privacy, rus and Secu-riy Online. SSRN eLibrary (2011). htp://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cm?absrac_id=1810005.

Dwyer, im. Media Convergence. McGraw-Hill Inernaional, 2009. htp://


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books.google.com/books?id=rbovMF7_F8C.Fairbank, John King , and Denis Crispin wichet. Te Cambridge hisory o Chi-

na [elecronic resource]. Unied Kingdom: Cambridge Universiy Press, 1978.Google. Google in Your Language, 2011. www.google.com/ransconsole.. Language ools, 2011. htp://www.google.com/language_

ools?hl=en.Google Suppor. Search preerences : Search hisory and setings - Web Search

Help, 2011. htp://www.google.com/suppor/websearch/bin/saic.py?hl=en&page=guide.cs&guide=1224171&answer=35892&rd=1.

Hussain, Sarmad, and Ram Mohan. Localizaion in Asia Pacic. In DigialReview o Asia Pacic 2007/2008. Edied by Felix Librero and Paricia

B. Arino. Orbicom and he Inernaional Developmen Research Cenre(IDRC), 2008. htp://www.idrc.ca/openebooks/377-5/.

IANA. IEF Language Subag Regisry. Te Inerne Assigned Numbers Au-horiy (IANA) ocial Websie, January 11, 2011. htp://www.iana.org/assignmens/language-subag-regisry.

Jenkins, Henry. Convergence culure: where old and new media collide. New York:NYU Press, 2006. htp://books.google.com/books?id=RlRVNik06YC.

Kim, Byung-Keun. Inernaionalizing he Inerne. In Inernaionalizing he In-erne: he co-evoluion o inuence and echnology, 1-9. Norhampon, MA:

Edward Elgar Publishing , 2005. Leong, Kok Yong, Hai Liu, and Oliver P Wu. Web Inernaionalizaion and

Java Keyboard Inpu Mehods, 1998. htp://www.isoc.org/ine98/proceedings/5/5_2.hm.

Liao, Han-eng. Conic and Consensus in he Chinese Version o Wikipedia.IEEE echnology and Sociey (2009). htp://ieeexplore.ieee.org/xpls/abs_all.jsp?arnumber=5072382.

Miniwats Markeing Group. op en Inerne Languages. World Inerne Sa-isics, June 30, 2010. htp://www.inerneworldsas.com/sas7.hm.

Nunberg, Georey. As Google Goes, So Goes he Naion. New York imes, May18, 2003. htp://www.nyimes.com/2003/05/18/weekinreview/18NUNB.hml.

. Will he Inerne Always Speak English? Te American Prospec (No-vember 30, 2002). htp://www.prospec.org/cs/aricles?aricle=will_he_inerne_always_speak_english.

Oxord English Dicionary. voice, n. London: Oxord Universiy Press, 2011.htp://www.oed.com:80/Enry/224334.

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cn/90001/90776/90785/7018637.hml.Peoples Republic o China. Chinas Inerne Whie Paper: Te Inerne in China.Beijing: Inormaion Oce o he Sae Council o he Peoples Republic oChina, 2010. htp://china.org.cn/governmen/whiepaper/node_7093508.hm.

Phillips, A., and M. Davis. RFC 5646 - ags or Ideniying Languages. Te In-erne Engineering ask Force (IEF), Sepember 2009. htp://ools.ie.org/hml/rc5646.

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2009/2010. Edied by Shahid Akhar and Paricia Arino. IDRC, 2010.Specer, Michael. World, Wide, Web - 3 English Words. New York imes, April

14, 1996. htp://query.nyimes.com/gs/ullpage.hml?res=9E0DE2DA1139F937A25757C0A960958260&pagewaned=all.

Sanon, Domna C. On Linguisic Human Righs and he Unied Saes ForeignLanguage Crisis. Proession (January 1, 2005): 64-79.

Sone, Brad, and Bruce Einhorn. How Baidu Won China. BusinessWeek: OnlineMagazine, November 11, 2010. htp://www.businessweek.com/magazine/conen/10_47/b4204060242597_page_6.hm.

Su, Jinzhi. Proecion o Linguisic Righs in China. China Sociey or Hu-man Righs Sudies (2004). htp://www.humanrighs.cn/z/maga-zine/200402004826120616.hm.

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UNESCO. Recommendaion concerning he promoion and use o mulilingual-ism and universal access o cyberspace. Paris: UNESCO, General Conerenceo UNESCO, 32nd session, Ocober 2003. htp://unesdoc.unesco.org/ulis/cgi-bin/ulis.pl?cano=151952&gp=1&mode=e&lin=1.

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Insiue or he Sudy o Diplomacy

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Web sie htp://isd.georgeown.edu

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Needing to Have a Voice