5. Perspectives for an improvement and a continuation of the research

The aim of the study is the measurement  – in quantitative terms – of the cultural presence of Latin countries on the Web, in comparison with the dominant Anglo-Saxon culture.

This study wants to give a first element of judgment to the planners of promotive activities for different Latin cultures on the Web. Thereafter, it would be necessary to measure this presence - and its impact on the other cultures - from a qualitative point of view, basing ourselves on the experience we have already acquired. If the same parameters are used at regular intervals, a research from an evolutionary perspective would be possible.

In order to improve the obtained results in following versions, the authors will apply some lessons drawn from this study. Just as in this version, the studies to come should analyze the quantity of times that so called "entities" are mentioned (this name has been chose for reasons of simplicity) . These entities will be:

• individuals having an importance in arts, politics, sports, medias etc.,
• real or fictional characters, coming from tales, legends, cartoons, audiovisual broadcasts, etc.
• cultural works (a painting, an opera, a book, a movie, etc.).
• concepts significantly linked to specific cultures (a dish, a rhythm, a tradition, a sport, a sartorial habit, a philosophical current, etc.)

These entities must represent completely the studied cultures, that is to say that they must be clearly perceived as members of one of the mentioned cultures. It means that some parameters, and especially the geographical, linguistic and historic parameter, must be considered with care.

Geographical. These entities have to:

• come from regions where targeted cultures are dominant or having lived there sufficiently to be their representatives (Julio Cortazar, born in Brussels, is nevertheless a representative of the Hispanic culture, as well as Julian Green for the French culture or El Greco for the Hispanic culture...)
• not belong to international or universal value (the Renaissance, the opera and Pinocchio are entities originating from Italia; nevertheless, the first two became international and the last one universal) or be integrated in another culture (for example Halloween, Irish Celtic tradition, assimilated by the United States and adopted by other countries).

Linguistic.  It is often dangerous to identify a nation to a culture or vice versa. Indeed, different cultures exist in countries where the English language is official, and the same is for the French-speaking, Spanish-speaking or Portuguese-speaking countries. Catalan, Breton, Quechua, various Creole and a many others cultures have created values that are often perceived as elements of the dominant cultures of the involved nations. As these cultures are identified with the official language of the that nation, the borderline between language and culture is difficult to define.

We are obliged to commit a sin of reduction. We will consider all entities coming from countries where the official language is English, French, Portuguese, Spanish, Rumanian or Italian except those that left an important sign for a specific community: the singers Lluis Llac or Alan Stivells, very involved in the defense of Catalan and Breton cultures would be , for example, absent from the research, but Salvador Dalí or the druides would appear in researches concerning hispanity and the French speaking countries.

Having said this, we will particularly concentrate on the countries where targeted languages are native for the majority of the population. As far as other countries are concerned (those where the concerned language is official but where the mother tongues are different, especially in Africa and in Asia), the only entities that will be preserved will be those directly linked to the studied cultures (i.e. Leopold Senghor for the French speaking countries).

For countries having several official State languages, the only entities to be indicated will be the ones coming from regions where these languages are spoken by a majority. For the French, it is the case, of Brussels and of the Wallonie in Belgium, of Quebec in Canada, as well as of the French speaking Switzerland. For the English, the Canadian provinces other then Quebec will be taken in consideration. As far as New Brunswick case is concerned (bilingual province), the authors will be careful to identify correctly the "cultural" origin of the entities in order to proceed with their classification.

Historic. It is inadvisable to go excessively back in the time because some cultures would be penalized ( the English-speaking world was marginaly present before 1700 in the universal culture if compared with the French-speaking and Italian speaking cultures, while the American continent had few cultural references). Moreover, the geopolitical and linguistic conditions have changed considerably, and today's cultures have few things in common with the Middle Ages or modern period. Therefore, we are going to work only on the last two centuries.