Below is each time zone on a world map. I would like a representative from each time zone to contact me when it is 5:00pm in their time zone and detail:

1. What Time Zone are you in?
2. What are you doing at this time?
3. How long have you been doing this action at 5:00pm?
4. Did you have another customary action before you had to perform this action?

The Americanization of global business has established 5:00pm as an increasingly significant time of day. 5 o'clock Somewhere asks participants to share their sentiments regarding this time of day with everyone. Maybe its not such a bad time of day after all. Maybe people think of it as a beginning of something rather than the end. Potentially, the Americanization of the world has not seeped into every cultural crevass.

I remember when my dad would fly to Europe, and only Western Europe, to conduct business. It was a major ordeal to tend to the social customs of Spain and France with their siestas and afternoon lunches. I especially remember a time when my dad would be frustrated with the French working days, as they always seemed to be having a holiday of some sort.

In the past few years that I have been in college, my father's business deals have gone completely mobile and digital. My dad, one who refused a cell phone for 10 years because he wanted a distinction between work and family time, is now never without a Blackberry. With over 200 emails a day, he cannot leave it for a second. Now, business trips are not so much about scheduling in new aspects of the trade, but to finalize something. The physicality of the business has been reduced, which saves time and money, but kills the conversational correspondence between mutual business associates. Lamenting about European cultures, or Asian cultures are a thing of the past.

But is the lack of lamenting positive? Now, I don't want to give the impression that my father is anything but a culturally savvy and appreciative man. He is the one that dragged my butt to museums and jazz concerts growing up. Lamenting over business is different from appreciating culture. But, I digress. Is the lack of lamenting because the technology has allowed the physicality of business to be compressed so that culture can be observed to its fullest again? Or has something else occurred? Has the globalization of American business actually prioritized over cultural identity? Therefore, a lack of lamentation is because there is nothing to lament over.

This project skims the surface of this hypothesis. It is my goal to see if Internet savvy people (who would have the potential to see this project in the first place) are caught up in the releasing sensation of 5:00pm as Americans are. I know this year of having a job and not class has given me a greater appreciation for this time of day, or whatever time I get out of work. Have cultures around the world adjusted their identity to accommodate big business or have they sacrificed their culture for the profit of business?