Friday, February 29, 2008

Global Communication

Since the Korean War the North Korean society has been closed. What does that mean? Basically that means nobody gets in and nobody gets out. The North Korean government has controlled all aspects of the society, culture, and economy. This has had a crippling effect on the country. Over one million people reportedly died in a recent famine there. On the left is a satellite image that shows North and South Korea. Notice that North Korea can't pay for any lights.


So, the visit by the New York Philarmonic (text link) this past week may be one of the most remarkable events I have ever seen. The concert was broadcast here in the USA two nights ago. It was a thrilling concert. In a world where we have taken for granted that we can talk to anyone at anytime we were confronted with a culture where most in the audience had never been out of the country, seen a foreign TV broadcast, or been able to use the internet. One reporter remarked that "there are no fat people here". They don't have enough food.

I have said before that you can be many things in this world, but there is no excuse for ignorance or inaction. How can you use your skills to effect change? I would like you to try today to make a connection on your blog. Using the front page of blogmeister make a connection with a student from another state or country. Leave a comment about one of their entries or just say hello.
Making connections is an essential skill for this class. If you cannot connect you will become isolated and "isolation is the enemy of improvement". How will I judge this? Our blog can collect great data: number of reads, number of comments, and your clustrmap data. If you do not have a clustrmap, get one today.
Have fun, be respectful, and make those connections. Remember, this may be the first and only connection someone has made to a person from America or Connecticut. What will you say knowing that you might be their first impression??
This assignment is for all classes: web1, web2, web4.


No comments: