Electronic
business services are services provided by business and government to
other businesses, governmental departments, and consumers through
electronic means. Because these services are electronic both the
frequency and duration with which they are provided and consumed can be
easily measured and their associated costs known. Thus, even the
importance of services whose marginal cost of provision and use are
near zero can be measured.
Although there
is little human activity in which language does not play
at least some role, the role of language in the provision of electronic
business services is crucial, because it is through language that
products are identified, ordered, purchased, delivered and received.
How much language is required depends of course on the nature of the
service. A single automated teller machine that services hundreds,
maybe thousands of people a day, requires only a single recorded voice
for each language spoken by its customers. This same recorded message
can be utilised in thousands of machines. A single webpage advertising
one or a large number of products that can be selected,
ordered, and purchased over the internet by many millions of people
must be created only once and translated only as many times as there
are languages of potential customers. Each
translation requires only a handful of people including the author of
the webpage's content, a translator, a proofreader, and an agent to
bring these people together. How many people speaking how many
languages are required to maintain these pages and facilitate
transactions
between buyers and sellers depends of course on the universality of
the
product and the ability of sellers to attract consumers from different
cultures. As any marketeer will tell you, the way to the
heart of consumers is through their own culture and language. Though
advertising solely in the English language will surely attract people
from all over the world, it will only attract those with good
command of the English language. These latter may constitute a very
large number of people when all countries of the world are included.
They may also provide a very strong incentive to advertise only in
English at the outset. Nevertheless, as a proportion of the entire
world's
population these customers likely represent only a tiny fraction.
Moreover,
if your product is truly popular and universal in nature, your
competition will surely obtain it, localize it, and marginalize your
own ability to sell it, if you do not localize it first. Thus, whereas
many electronic business services and products may be advertised solely
in English at the outset, this is surely not where they finish, if they
are services and products worthy of world demand.
So,
let us take a close-up look at Hong Kong's local
market for electronic
business services and products, and see what is offered. Table 53
(new window) divides the electronic business services available to Hong
Kong consumers into two basic, somewhat overlapping categories: those
available to users over the internet (new window) and those not available
over the internet -- namely, electronic devices (new window). A brief look at
the
description (right) associated with each electronic business service
(left)
in the table should provide you with a good notion of what kinds of
services are included in each broad category of service. What makes
these
broad service categories so very different is their method of
delivery and use. Whereas the latter
require a special electronic device other than a personal computer or
personal
computer-like device, the former require only a personal computer and a
connection to the internet via an internet service provider.1
After
familiarizing yourself with each of the services listed under
each broad heading,
ask yourself which services are probably used most in your own society.
As a further exercise, you might also like to rank them in order of
their probable relative importance. You may do this for each of the
major
categories separately, or for the services of both categories together.
Whichever you
do, ask yourself which of the two major categories (the internet
or electronic devices)
are likely used most.
If you are not a Hong Kong resident, or have not lived in Hong Kong for
some time, you will probably find note 2
(new window) below the table instructive with regard to a
somewhat unique, but very popular Hong Kong electronic business
service -- the Octopus. Having completed your rankings,
either in your mind, your
computer, or on a piece of paper turn to graph
86a (new window) and compare them with the results of a recent
survey conducted by the Social Surveys Section of the Hong Kong Census
and Statistics Department.
What at
least
some people in the Hong Kong government know
If you are an
economist very familiar with the information technology industry, the
above exercise probably resulted in no new information. For most
everyone else, especially those who like computers and the internet,
the results were probably surprizing, and for many maybe even
disheartening.
Nevertheless, the facts speak for themselves; the information
technology industry as it applies to retail consumers, has far more
to do with the replacement of machine-like, impersonal sales clerks by
no-nonsense, at-your-service, real-time machines, than it does with
Bill
Gates vision of a world dominated by three-dimensional virtual space.
This is not to say that the internet is not growing, rather that it
lags very far behind the use of electronically automated machines.
Whereas
graph
86a (new window) provides a snapshot of B2C
(business to consumer) electronic business services in 2003, graphs 86b
and 86c (new windows) provide
glimpses of this same activity extending from 2000 to 2003.
What we discover in graph
86b
(new window) is that with the exception of Octopus and interactive
voice response systems (IVRS) the number of users has stopped growing.2 This does
not mean, of course, that more uses for these services are not being
found, rather that the number of those who use them has remained
constant. Whereas IVR systems eliminate the need for telephone
operators, Octopus makes gate attendants a thing of the past and
replaces the coin in many vending machines. Certain business services
offered over the internet appear to me meeting with a similar fate.
Though all of the B2C internet services exhibit
growing numbers of users some services are growing much faster relative
to others. Online searches for goods and services, cyber-banking, and
online reservations have demonstrated the fastest growth, followed by
online settlements. Other internet services, such as
stock trading, online auctions, and attending to customers' needs,
remain far less popular and their rate of growth much less dramatic. In
the final analysis, when it comes to online services and products, some
industries are being truly revolutionized; others are not. In short,
virtual
reality
is not a substitute for the real thing; rather, it is an additional
dimension of what we already know and experience, subject to important
cultural,
technological, physical, and psychological constraints. Obviously IT
has captured the imagination of many; for many others it is just
another
innovative way and different market niche. Certainly it is something
that
will affect the way many businesses advertise their products and most
consumers make payments for certain kinds of goods and services. What
the longer term will bring, however, is highly speculative. Yeah, its
cool to own a computer, but so too, is it cool to own a lot of other
gadgets and household appliances that many people rarely use, or often
use in very limited ways.
In order to
distinguish between the industry hype of virtual reality
and the real world of day-to-day living, just ask yourself about the
fanfare surrounding the introduction of the ATM machine -- an event
that took place already many years ago. Was there any? Can you even
remember it? Then look at where
ATM services rank among all electronic business services offered to
consumers (graph 86a - new window), and ask yourself where
all the noise is coming from about
the internet.
Obviously there are a lot of people in the business world
who would like to say, "Look at me, I'm Bill Gates!". Obviously there
are a great number of people who now own a desktop, where before there
were very few. Obviously there will be many more people who own
personal computers in the near future. Getting from one's desktop to
the head of Microsoft Corporation, however, is your own story, and for
most it will remain one of fiction, rather than one of virtual
realization.
Let us not stop
here, however. No myth has ever been destroyed with a simple waive of a
hand, and the myths of the English language and IT in East Asia often
go hand in
hand.
Knowledge
begets knowledge and ignorance begets exploitation
The market goes where the numbers are.
Dawn or dusk in
the Age of Information?
Surely
it is a surprise to few to learn that IT favors those who
are well-off. After all, the well-to-do can afford to buy the
electronic hardware and software that those, who are doing everything
just to make ends meet, cannot. Moreover, once the hardware and
software are purchased they require intelligence, time, and education
to make them
work. Of course, not everyone who is wealthy has a lot of free-time,
but these same people are likely to have children and grandchildren to
set them up
and connect them to the internet at home. If there
is justification at work, they will also find someone, who can get
them started and keep them running for a small fee. On the other hand,
people who are
poor are often the same who have little education, because they found
it
difficult to keep up with their classmates while in school. They are
also a
fairly poor source of guidance for their children when it comes to
getting ahead in society. Moreover, poor people tend to
live with others who are poor, and those who are rich with others who
are rich. Thus, each group reinforces itself by cultivating a
life-style and attitude among its members that make it difficult to
leave one's group except by chance or mishap, or by a
system of education
that provides equal opportunity to everyone's child. Obviously,
with class sizes of close
to 35 students at the primary level and 40 students at
the secondary level, equal opportunity in Hong Kong classrooms can be
little
more than an enormous paper tiger created by Hong Kong's
Education and Manpower Bureau to
support some of the highest
paid teachers (new
window) in the world on the
one hand, and
justify simultaneously a very limited
educational budget (new window) on the other.3 In brief, what personal guidance most Hong Kong
children are able to
receive must be obtained in the home or not at all, as only children
who are outstanding in the classroom, on the play ground, or on stage
will attract enough attention to encourage teachers to provide them
with the additional wisdom and encouragement they require to make it
to, and remain at
the top.4
Obviously, parents from
poor neighborhoods (in Hong Kong these take the form of high-rise
estates) are less likely to be well-educated and less able to provide
the
same level of
guidance as parents of wealthier children.
Moving
in the opposite direction is the market
itself. In 2000 the median monthly income of Hong Kong households
unable to afford a computer was just under HK$12,000. By 2003 it was
somewhat under HK$7,000 (Graph
97 -
new window) This represents just over a 40% decline in only four years.
Of course, the
median monthly income of those households with both a computer and an
internet connection was substantially higher, but also falling. In
short, information technology in the home is becoming more available.
Unfortunately, the absence of equal opportunity does not vanish with
one's ability to afford a household computer. For example, some
households have a computer for each member of the family; other
households have but one computer for everyone. See graphs 92a
and 92b (new windows). As poorer households tend to have more
children than richer households, poorer households are placed at a
still greater disadvantage. In 2003 just under 20 percent
of all Hong Kong households had two or more computers, more than 30
percent
had none. A large number of households had more than two. If the number
of computers does not increase
with the size of the household, competition for computer use likely
increases. Depending on how each household allocates its computer time
across its members, many members of many households likely become
casual
observers of other domestic users, rather than active enthusiasts.
Moreover, the
problem of computer-deprived neighborhoods does not necessarily
disappear
with falling computer prices. Consider graph
91a (new windows) how household computer ownership is distributed
across different dwelling types. The cut-away section of both pie
graphs compares Hong Kong households classified as public rental
housing as a proportion of all households (right) and as a proportion
of only those households with at least one personal computer. We
observe that households classified as public rental housing
make up a larger proportion of all households than they do
households
with at least one computer. As public rental housing is inexpensive,
subsidized housing for the poor, it should be readily obvious that the
seeds of a culture of information poverty have already been
planted.5
In short, the poor and information deprived live together in the same
local community. This same phenomenon can be observed with regard to
internet access in graph
91b (new window).
In
graphs 90b
and 90c (new windows) a similar comparison between all
households and households with a computer is also made with regard to
different levels of income. Whereas those households with monthly
earnings equal to or greater than HK$30,000 make up less than a quarter
(24%) of all households, they constitute nearly a third (32.8%) of all
households with at least one computer. At the other end of the spectrum
households with monthly incomes under HK$10,000 make up nearly a third
of all households, but as a proportion of households with a computer,
they account for not even 20 percent. Obviously, not everyone who is
poor lives in public rental housing, but is there not strong reason to
believe that similar pockets of information poverty are also
occurring elsewhere, where they are statistically speaking less
easily observed.6
Further
evidence with regard to the development of a culture of
information poverty can be found in the responses provided by household
members that do not have a household computer or are not connected to
the internet. Indeed, the two most often provided reasons for not
owning a computer in 2003 were a "lack of computer knowledge" and "no
special need for a computer". The response "too costly" came in with a
very poor show just about neck-and-neck with the response
"access to a computer elsewhere" (see graph
89a - new window). Similarly, the most often provided reason for
not having access to the internet was "no special need" (see graph
89b - new window). With much of the world climbing onto the
internet the preponderance of the answer "no special need" is
particularly disturbing, as it suggests either a canned response given
to nosy
government officials gathering data from Hong Kong citizens, or real
ignorance about one of the greatest inventions since the electric light
bulb. Of course, the internet is nothing without a computer, and having
a lack of computer knowledge fits well into the overall notion of a
culture of information poverty.
Being required
to attend a computer class, no more guarantees that you
learn enough about computers to operate a computer, than it insures
that
you graduate from secondary school with sufficient ability to hold an
intelligent conversation in the English language. In table 6
(new window) under the heading Hong Kong Generic we observe
that a substantial number of human resources are dedicated to the
teaching of computer studies. In the table we also discover that this
same category of teaching ranks only second from the bottom with regard
to teacher training. Although a large number of computer studies
teachers apparently hold degrees, more than 60 percent (see graph 2 -
new window) received them in a subject area different from computer
studies. Counting from left
to right in the same graph (new window) also shows that computer studies teachers
ranked 24th on a scale of 1 to 30 with regard to their level of
professional training in their principal subject area. Even Hong Kong's
English language and English literature teachers scored better in 2002;
they
came in at 14th and 23rd, respectively. Can you now imagine why so many
Hong Kong households without a computer claimed "lack of computer
knowledge" as the single most important reason for not owning one?
Finally, let us
compare the
number of households that claimed they had a computer in 2003 with the
number that claimed they did not. Graphs 94a,
94b, 94c,
and 94d (new windows) provide this comparison across
income levels for each of four different age groups. For each age group
the pattern of response was nearly the same -- a monotonic
increase in the number of "No" responses as one descends from higher
to lower income groups. Still more evidence in this regard can be found
in graph 96a (new window), which compares the ratio
of Yes to No answers as a single Yes/No index across age groups for
each income level. With the exception of the 15 to 24 year-old age
group, and what appears to be sampling error for the 65 and over age
group (See Note 2, table 96a - new window), two distinct
patterns arise. On the one hand, the ratio of households with
a computer (Yes) to those without a computer (No) generally declines
with age for each and every income level; on the other hand, Hong Kong
society appears to be divided into three distinct income groups (high-,
middle-, and low-income) with respect to computer ownership. The
declining rate of ownership with rising age for all income groups
probably reflects the relative newness of personal computers to Hong
Kong society. A somewhat similar, but more diffuse pattern arises for
the same index when applied to internet access (see graph
96b - new window).
Chinese for
a Chinese society
While
still an undergraduate instructor at a
prominent Hong Kong university I asked my students to recommend a good
method of Chinese input for my computer. I was told Tsong Kit.7 When I
asked why they were recommending it, they told me that it was the
fastest and most popular method in Hong Kong. This was enough reason
for me to get started, so I asked to be introduced. Somewhat later I
was handed a three-quarter-inch
thick, used textbook written entirely in Chinese and told to download a
free educational program from the internet. Though very knowledgeable about Japanese
I was only a beginning student of Chinese, and the book was somewhat
intimidating. Fortunately, the recommended Chinese software program was
easy enough to
follow, and after an hour or two
of rigorous practice I was able to master the Tsong Kit key board.
Notwithstanding, after a full year of subsequent key board use and
Chinese input practice, I
still found myself having to refer to the book. Though this explained
why the book I received was so worn, it did not explain why Tsong Kit
is so popular among Hong Kongers. Indeed, as I later learned, there are
other input methods far easier to use for those with knowledge of
Chinese phonetic transcription and the English language keyboard.
What apparently makes the Tsong Kit
input method so
popular among Hong Kongers is that evoking Chinese characters on one's
computer screen requires no knowledge of their pronunciation, and only
partial knowledge of their
written representation. This is especially useful, insofar as Hong
Kongers are generally not taught a phonetic transcription of their own
language in school, save how to write
the English pronunciations of their own names and certain place names
with the Latin alphabet.8
Moreover, with knowledge of only certain key radicals Hong Kongers can
evoke on their computer screens those characters that they can no
longer remember how to write. With Tsong Kit they no longer have to run
to a dictionary for the correct representation of forgotten characters,
because they appear in a program menu with all the other characters
containing the same set of key radicals. Finally, because Tsong Kit can
be utilised on an English language key board with only simple knowledge
of the English alphabet, one does not have to go out of one's way to
find a computer that permits Chinese input. In conclusion, despite the
high
learning curve associated with Tsong Kit, the long term benefits are
substantial, and just about everyone in Hong Kong, who spends a lot of
time writing
in Chinese appears to use it.9
Finally, in 2003 Hong Kongers were asked which
method of Chinese input they preferred most and the large majority
indicated that key board input methods were superior to electronic
writing pens and pads (see graph
85b - new window).
For those who
are quick to associate the English language with
information technology and Hong Kong business, it is useful
to examine just who among all Hong Kongers are most familiar with a
Chinese
input method. It is not Hong Kong students, housewives, and retirees --
those Hong Kongers most likely able to find the time required to master
a Chinese keyboard input method. Rather, it is Hong Kong's employed.
More than 2/3 of all Hong
Kongers familiar with a Chinese input method belonged to Hong Kong's
work force (graph
84b - new window) in 2003!
As
there
are
approximately equal numbers of Hong Kongers familiar with computers
between the ages of 15 and 44 (graph
81a - new window), there is important reason to pause. Someone who was 44 years of age in 2003
probably sat for the HKCEE between 1975 and 1978. It was within this same time frame that Microsoft
hired its first permanent programmer, and Bill Gates dropped out of
Harvard University to devote full time to his company. In 1976 Stephen
Jobs and Stephen Wozniak founded the Apple Computer Company, and the term personal computer first
appeared in
print in a major US computer trade magazine.10
To make a long story short
the personal computer skills and Chinese input methods acquired by more
than half of Hong Kong's work force were acquired either on the job or
during precious free time at home. As few employers will allow their
employees to spend valuable work time acquiring personal computer
skills that they cannot use on the job, this suggests either a very
important personal desire to learn a Chinese input method on the part
of Hong Kong workers, or an important need for knowing one within the
Hong Kong business community.
A full 80%
of Hong Kong's work force knowledgeable about computers is also
familiar with a Chinese input
method (graph 84c - new window). Moreover, three quarters of all Hong Kongers
familiar with a Chinese input method use a key board input method (graph
85b - new window) as their principal method of input. This means
that Hong Kong's business community has devoted substantial time,
effort, and/or expense toward the acquisition of Chinese input
methods. Finally, many entering the Hong Kong work force for their
first time will not have to spend valuable work time learning how to
input Chinese characters; because they will have arrived at
least partially equipped (graph
84d) -- provided, of course, that they were among those at the top
of their class.
The same
old story, and still again.
Obviously
knowing a Chinese input method does not
exclude the use of English in the work place. In fact, a full 20% of
Hong Kong's economically active, computer literate in 2003 were
unfamiliar with a Chinese input method (graph
84c - new window). Their number is, of course, substantial, but
once again -- as always -- a probable far cry from what is demanded of
Hong Kongers under Hong Kong's universal English language requirement.
Just who are these people? Are they not the same, who advocate
Hong Kong's UEL requirement -- the same influential minority who
claim to know better about what is good for Hong Kong, than what Hong
Kong citizens know themselves? Graph
82c (new window) compares Hong Kongers knowledgeable about personal
computers by their level of educational attainment. Each group is
represented as a proportion of its total within the entire population.
Whereas more than 90 percent of all Hong Kongers with a tertiary
education or better make use of personal computers, only about 60
percent of those with a secondary education appear active. This
disparity is especially large, when one considers that those still
enrolled in secondary school are among those classified as having a
secondary education. Indeed,
those most likely to enjoy considerable command of the English
language; are overrepresented as a proportion of the total computer
using population by more than 63%.11
In the end the market will have its way
No matter how
self-serving the leaders of a nation are, in a market economy the
market will have its way; if it is in the best interest of the market
to do so, it is a problem that markets can resolve, and government
cares enough about the market to insure its proper functioning.
One sometimes
hears in the East Asian press about the failure of
certain US software manufacturers to provide adequate instructions in
the language of those for which their software is localized and sold in
East Asia. You have only to be a user of US manufactured software sold
in East Asia with an East Asian language interface to know how serious
this complaint is. Certainly it does not arise, because there is
no market for the software; otherwise, US software manufacturers would
not go out of their way to localize it in the first place.
Rather it is because the same universal English language policies that
delude East Asians into believing that they have adequate command of
the English language also delude Western manufacturers into believing
the same.
US software
manufacturers are subject to budget constraints just like
everyone else, and when they can find a way to cut costs in order to
achieve a targeted return on capital, and thus secure reasonably priced
capital whenever it is needed, they surely must. Installation
instructions are read only once, and then quickly forgotten. The
underlying assumption appears to be that there are enough East Asians
with sufficient passive knowledge of the English language to sift
through the instructions that one time. What's more, many people
do not read installation instructions, until after they have installed
their software and discover that their machine no longer functions
properly, anyway. This tendency has far less to do with adequate
software
localization, than it does with the nature of the content of what must
be read. Sifting through entire pages of unfamiliar technical language
in search of that one problem that can make or break a successful
installation does not make for exciting reading, no matter what
language it is written in.
In the end,
East Asians who fault US software manufacturers for failure
to cater adequately to the language needs of East Asian citizens could
better direct their attention toward their own governments' language
policies. US software manufacturers are simply responding to East Asian
markets, as they find them. Moreover, unlike the myths surrounding the
need for the English language in East Asia, the problem of inadequate
localization is likely to go away on its own. In graph
80b (new window) we observe that knowledge of personal computers
among Hong Kongers has been growing at an average annual rate of 5.6%
for the past two years. In graph
83b (new window) we observe that during this same period increasing
numbers of Hong Kong users became knowledgeable about Chinese input
methods. Although it may take time for Western software manufacturers
to separate fact from fiction with regard to language use in East Asia,
the message will eventually get through, and they will respond. For if
they do not, they will surely lose. Who will win? Those who cater best
to local customer needs!
Conclusion
Chinese input
methods are alive and well in Hong Kong and growing. Whereas English
may be a quick way to attract a lot of people to new electronic
business services that do not depend on a specific locality for their
provision, those who succeed in the end are those who cater best to
local needs. Moreover, when it comes to information technology in the
service of consumers, the most important services provided are not of a
virtual sort; rather, they are electronic devices that replace people,
otherwise compelled to behave like machines. Surely, information
technology is a boon for at least a portion of humanity!
Once again, there is an important disconnect between what "is in the
air"
in Hong Kong and what is on the ground. Moreover, the people who
are pushing Hong Kong's UEL requirement are likely the same who are
pushing Hong Kong's IT consumer industry -- people well-informed about
how best to serve themselves, but inadequately informed about those
whom they are paid to serve. It is the same tragedy over and over again
-- a developmental state with a vision of a future that serves its
elite in the name of its people.