Today's post is about one of the most exciting features of this blog: the global news gathering and editing service known as WorldPress.
Only a few years ago, if you wanted to know what the international media were saying about a major (or minor) news story, you had to (A) live in a major city; (B) go to the main library and search among the few international publications available; or (C) subscribe at significant expense to those publications that merited your interest.
Today, thanks to the founders and editors of WorldPress, the world's media is at your fingertips! Just a click on the WorldPress link (below, on the right-hand side) will take you to the major newspapers, magazines and news centers around the world -- an incredible wealth of relevant, professionally selected news articles from every corner of the world!
As we try to achieve what Robert Hanvey called "Perspective Consciousness" -- the understanding that we all have a local, national or cultural perspective through which we view (and often distort) reality -- WorldPress is an invaluable tool to develop our global awareness as global citizens.
WorldPress provides a never-ending supply of possibilities to enrich the lives of our students. What news stories are important in other parts of the world? How do they differ from our media's priorities? Why? What similarities and differences can students note between their local/national news coverage and other global perspectives? What are the implications of differences in perspective for foreign policy? For global peace?
Do you want to know what the Egyptian newspapers were saying about Secretary Clinton's visit? Or what "The People's Daily" in Beijing said about President Obama's visit? Perhaps what the Arab media has to say about the latest Middle East flare-up? Just click the WorldPress link and you will know!
IN THE MIDDLE SECTION OF THE FRONT PAGE of the website you will find "In The Spotlight," a kind of "global front page" that gives you the main global stories and a summary of each article. Clicking on any entry will send you to the full article.
ON THE LEFT COLUMN you find a handy guide that gives you links, among others, to "World News," and "Features," (such as "Country Maps and Profiles", "Documents in the News," etc.)
The World News section is organized by region. Under that heading you also find "World Headlines" and "World Newspapers." Do you want to know what bloggers around the world are writing about? Just click "World Blogs" and you will find a carefully selected list, by region, of some of the most influential blogs in the planet.
ON THE RIGHT SIDE OF THE PAGE you will find "Today's World Headlines." You may want to compare these headlines to your local newspapers'. What differences do you see? Why?
Do you want to know what the global media are writing regarding a specific story or issue? Go to the UPPER LEFT CORNER OF THE PAGE, enter the topic and click on "Search." That's it!
Check out all the other features of WorldPress! Once you become familiar with this website, you are likely to insist on checking it before making up your mind on any issue of importance.
"Is my perspective on target?" Compare it with other global perspectives before you decide.
Enrich your life and have fun with WorldPress!
Until soon....
Showing posts with label WorldPress. Show all posts
Showing posts with label WorldPress. Show all posts
November 22, 2009
October 25, 2009
ANATOMY OF THIS BLOG -- PART l
I would like to take this opportunity to take you on a brief tour of what is available to you, the readers of this blog, beyond the opinions of the blogger(s). In fact, the other features of the blog may in many cases be of greater value to readers than the contributions of the blogger(s)!
On the left two-thirds of the cover page you have the latest posts, starting with the most recent. Please note that at the end of each post there is a box for you to express your comments, reactions or questions to each post. We really encourage you to do this! You can preview your comments before you are ready to post them. Also, you may want to review the comments of previous readers to each of the posts. You will find much thoughtful analysis and opinions from previous readers!
On the right margin, you find what may be the least interesting part of the blog: the "About Me" section, relating to my personal background. At the end of this section, you may click on the link to view a slightly more thorough version of my personal profile (does anyone really care about my favorite books, or what films I enjoy the most? Doubtful.)
Now comes the good stuff! On the right margin, below the "About me/Profile" section, there is a long section entitled "Comments/Links/Resources." It explains what links are available to the readers of the blog. These are invaluable resources to anyone who wants to develop his/her "State of The World Awareness" and his/her "Knowledge of Global Dynamics," as suggested by Robert Hanvey, in order to become an effective global citizen.
You cannot do any better than using these resources to learn about and understand what is going on in the world today. You will have direct access to: BBC Global News, perhaps the most respected news organization in the world (both print and TV resources); The New York Times Global Edition in association with The International Herald Tribune, the top news and analysis vehicles in the Western world; WorldPress.org, a thorough and invaluable resource for discovering what the world's media is saying about our global reality. (Often the stories covered and how they are covered will be substantially different from what we find in the Western media); and Worldfocus, an excellent and much needed effort by Western news professionals to cover the important stories that somehow bypass the mainstream media. We will return to these great resources in Part II of this post. For now, let's continue to discover what else is available in this blog.
Below the links just outlined, there are boxes for subscribing to this blog, and/or to our readers' comments. Below these boxes there is a "Search This Blog" box for locating material of interest in the blog without having to hunt through all posts.
Immediately below, still on the right margin, there is another box to subscribe as a follower of this blog; we hope that you will consider doing so and be notified of new entries as they are posted. A list of current followers is next.
Finally, the Blog Archive is shown, organized by month of entry. The entries of the current month are outlined; you have to click on each of the preceding months to access previous entries.
We hope that this brief tour will help you get the most from this blog. In the next entry, we will focus in more detail on the wonderful news resources that were mentioned earlier -- The BBC; The New York Times/International Herald Tribune; Worldpress.org; Worldfocus -- and we will describe in more detail the great information available in each of these resources.
Until soon, then.
On the left two-thirds of the cover page you have the latest posts, starting with the most recent. Please note that at the end of each post there is a box for you to express your comments, reactions or questions to each post. We really encourage you to do this! You can preview your comments before you are ready to post them. Also, you may want to review the comments of previous readers to each of the posts. You will find much thoughtful analysis and opinions from previous readers!
On the right margin, you find what may be the least interesting part of the blog: the "About Me" section, relating to my personal background. At the end of this section, you may click on the link to view a slightly more thorough version of my personal profile (does anyone really care about my favorite books, or what films I enjoy the most? Doubtful.)
Now comes the good stuff! On the right margin, below the "About me/Profile" section, there is a long section entitled "Comments/Links/Resources." It explains what links are available to the readers of the blog. These are invaluable resources to anyone who wants to develop his/her "State of The World Awareness" and his/her "Knowledge of Global Dynamics," as suggested by Robert Hanvey, in order to become an effective global citizen.
You cannot do any better than using these resources to learn about and understand what is going on in the world today. You will have direct access to: BBC Global News, perhaps the most respected news organization in the world (both print and TV resources); The New York Times Global Edition in association with The International Herald Tribune, the top news and analysis vehicles in the Western world; WorldPress.org, a thorough and invaluable resource for discovering what the world's media is saying about our global reality. (Often the stories covered and how they are covered will be substantially different from what we find in the Western media); and Worldfocus, an excellent and much needed effort by Western news professionals to cover the important stories that somehow bypass the mainstream media. We will return to these great resources in Part II of this post. For now, let's continue to discover what else is available in this blog.
Below the links just outlined, there are boxes for subscribing to this blog, and/or to our readers' comments. Below these boxes there is a "Search This Blog" box for locating material of interest in the blog without having to hunt through all posts.
Immediately below, still on the right margin, there is another box to subscribe as a follower of this blog; we hope that you will consider doing so and be notified of new entries as they are posted. A list of current followers is next.
Finally, the Blog Archive is shown, organized by month of entry. The entries of the current month are outlined; you have to click on each of the preceding months to access previous entries.
We hope that this brief tour will help you get the most from this blog. In the next entry, we will focus in more detail on the wonderful news resources that were mentioned earlier -- The BBC; The New York Times/International Herald Tribune; Worldpress.org; Worldfocus -- and we will describe in more detail the great information available in each of these resources.
Until soon, then.
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