Week 8
Skyrock.com social networking website that provides a personal web space to its users. On this website it is possible to make a blog, add a profile, and exchange messages with other registered users. The site also allows you create blogs dedicated to the musical compositions of members and a specific space dedicated to these creations.1
1 Accessed: 04/11/11 http://www.skyrock.com/blog/
[ O h L e M o n d e ™] is a blog dedicated to traveling, and popular tourist attractions. This blog provides suggestions for places to see and things to do while visiting a foreign nation. If you wish to travel the world without moving an inch, read this blog!1
1 Accessed: 04/11/11 http://ohlemonde.skyrock.com/1.html
Week 11
The Statistical Office of the European communities, Eurostat publishes the results of a survey conducted in the first quarter of 2008 across the European Union. Households were asked about Internet access at home by a member of the household, and individuals (16 to 74 years) on their online activities during the three months preceding the survey (Internet activities at home or work). According to the survey, 60% (below EU average of 75%) of households had Internet access, 48% had broadband connection. The activities conducted on the internet for private purposes are as follows: travel services and accommodation 38%, online banking 40%, contact with the government 43%, finding information about health 39%, reading news-newspapers or magazines online 22%, ordering products or services 28%, job search & sending applications 17%.1
As Pippa Norris mentions in his editorial Information Poverty and the Wired World, the United Nations Development Report warns that the gains in productivity resulting from new technology may widen differences in economic growth between the most affluent nations and those that lack the skills, resources, and infrastructure to invest in the information society.2 This affects France in two aspects; one-its own citizens who are not apart of the 60% who have access to the Internet are unable to keep up with the informational society may be continually unable to bridge the gap because of the economic opportunities lost due to not having access to the Internet. Secondly, the entire nation of France itself may fall even more behind other industrialized nations considering that on average, 60% of its population has access to the Internet compared to the EU average of 75%. Investing in the infrastructure needed to have a 21st century nation is vital to remain being a superpower.
1 Access Date 04/11/11 http://bit.ly/gidTXw
2 Norris, Pippa. Information Poverty and the Wired World pp. 2. Print
Rastapresident, a YouTube vlogger (video-blogger) utilizes YouTube.com as his medium to not only spread the news of the recently enacted (April 11th, 2011) burqa ban throughout all of France, but also as a conversation starter amongst the people of France, and around the world.
To summarize the video, Rastapresident states that France is a nation that respects all religions, however that, that alone is not enough. He goes on to say that if every nation around the world began teaching their children religion as a discipline starting around the age of ten, that there would not be any disputes regarding religion. What we currently refer to as terrorists and enemies would be fictitious if everyone was well educated on each religion. In Islam it’s prescribed that women cover their faces, so who is President Sarkozy or any republic to decide how one should dress, especially when it’s apart of your religion? Rastapresident claims that Sarkozy is trying to control people he knows nothing about, and is an advocate for enlightenment to create a more tolerant society.1
The subject covered in this video is one that provides a platform for serious debate and communication amongst people around the world. Rastapresdient’s vlog is one of many that address the burqa ban, and due to its controversy has created awareness about issue.
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