Mike Fancher / Times executive editor
Globalization story is one that touches way in which we live

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Globalization is changing more than how we work. It's changing who we are and may be creating a new class of world citizens.

The Seattle Times tells that fascinating story in a four-part series starting today. Written by technology reporter Brier Dudley, the project explores the outsourcing of high-technology work, with a focus on the U.S., India and Microsoft. Dudley has covered the software giant for four years and has been working on this series for about 18 months. "Microsoft was a great case study because they are playing all the angles in India," he said.

Microsoft not only hires thousands of people from India to work here, it exports jobs to India while creating a new consumer market for its products and services there. All of which adds wealth for the company's shareholders.

"It's obvious that the issue of outsourcing is enormously complex, but it's often viewed in fairly simplistic terms: job loss and its consequences on the one hand, and reduced expenses and economic smarts on the other," said Mark Watanabe, who edited this project.

"What I hope readers get is a sense of the deep impact global economics has on individual lives. Not only does it affect how they work, but how they live, their aspirations and the culture that surrounds them," Watanabe added.

Dudley decided the best way to tell that story was "through the eyes of somebody in the midst of all these changes. The best way to draw readers into a really complicated topic was to write about the people."

He found Rajiv Kumar and his wife, Rekha Singhal. Rajiv started work at the Microsoft Redmond campus in 1992 and moved back to India last year to help build the Microsoft franchise there. Dudley sees the couple and their young daughters as "new global citizens." His story quotes Rekha as saying, "We are international. I'm not attached to one place — wherever life takes us."

The reporter said, "I think there will be more multinational citizens like the Kumars, who think of the whole world as their home."

Watanabe added that he hopes readers come away with "the sense that we may be living in a time in which a huge, fundamental transformation may be taking place. A century and a half ago, much of the world, particularly the U.S., went from being agricultural or unconnected small towns to one of big cities and an emerging industrial economy.
 
"The Kumars may be part of the next phase — the global citizen. They may be among those at the leading edge of the globalized economy in which much of work has become service and knowledge jobs and people move easily from one country pursuing them."

This project is part of an occasional series exploring Washington's place in the global economy, directed by Associate Managing Editor Jacqui Banaszynski. She said the Kumar story shows we're not just exporting jobs, but value systems and lifestyles, as well. "And it's not just one way. It all becomes part of an intricate global web."

Ironically, technology jobs can be outsourced because the technology itself enables workers to be anywhere. "You don't have to be in a place. The boundaries are gone. They're just gone," she said.

"Technology makes it impossible to stop the forces of globalization," she said. "The debate isn't whether we deal with it, but how we deal with it."

A further irony, Dudley said, is that people in India "have some of the same fears people in the U.S. have about outsourcing." While India is emerging as a technology powerhouse, "you can't escape the poverty. It's a little overwhelming," he said.

Dudley explores all of this and much more, including the many ways technology developed in India is changing your life.

Let the Games begin

The much-anticipated opening ceremony for the Athens Olympics is Friday, but The Seattle Times' team is already on the ground in Greece. Columnists Ron Judd and Blaine Newnham and photographer Dean Rutz will be providing daily coverage from Athens, both in the newspaper and online at seattletimes.com. Each has previously covered at least four Olympics, dating as far back as the tumultuous Mexico City Olympics in 1968.

Back in Seattle, Sports Editor Cathy Henkel, who covered the 1984 Olympics, will be editing her ninth Olympics for The Times. And sports reporter Jayda Evans, who covered the Salt Lake Olympics, will be offering daily critiques of television coverage, which will be available in some form 24 hours a day.

Readers will get an early look at what to expect in Athens with a 24-page Olympic special section in Tuesday's Times. We'll take a look at the 38 Olympians with ties to our state — more chances for local medals than ever before. You'll also find a complete TV guide in the section, as well as a history of the summer Olympics, from Athens in 1896 to Athens in 2004, as the Games return to their birthplace. This one's a keeper, and will guide you through the Games, which end Aug. 29.

When the Olympics begin, we'll provide at least five pages each day of coverage, and Judd will provide audio reports on the Web. For breaking news on local athletes, seattletimes.com will be the first place to look.

Inside the Times appears in the Sunday Seattle Times. If you have a comment on news coverage, write to Michael R. Fancher, P.O. Box 70, Seattle, WA 98111, call 206-464-3310 or send e-mail to mfancher@seattletimes.com. More columns at www.seattletimes.com/columnists