When I was first introduced to the internet, I was told not to talk to people I didn't know. I wasn't supposed to go into chat rooms or add people to my instant messenger unless I knew them. As time went on and the internet became more interactive, I started to form relationships with people 0nline who I didn't actually know personally. I leave comments on YouTube videos I like, I reply to news stories and debate them with other commenters, I interact with classmates that I've never met in person, and I join Facebook groups and have discussions with other members. And the most amazing thing is that the people I'm interacting with are from all over the country--some even the world. We, as a society, are well on our way to globalization where we can interact with people from all over the world with modern technology. That made me think of how quickly news travels over the internet.
The term viral videos was new to me this week; although the idea of it was not. I actually think it's quite amazing how quickly videos spread on the web. It's been suggested that we can all be related through six degrees of separation, so it doesn't take much for a video to travel half way around the world in a short amount of time. Apparently there are websites devoted to accumulating the top viral videos. Check out these two: Top 10 Virals and ViralVideos.com. I saw a few familiar ones on there.
Viral videos got me thinking about viral news stories. It's also pretty amazing how quickly news spreads these days. For instance, the balloon boy saga swept through the nation faster than ever. I had friends on Facebook and Twitter writing updates as they arrived on the situation. News websites did the same, and there have been several follow-up stories heard and seen all over the web. People who didn't even know the boy were worried about the him. Now, people who don't know the family are debating whether they should get charged or not.
Even North Dakota is getting national news coverage. I went to Yahoo.com and saw the same article I had read on Inforum. It was about a dog in Casselton, ND. This dog was being measured for the Guinness Book of World Records as the biggest dog in the world. Not only was this dog featured in our local news, it made national news as well. The article and pictures of the famous dog drinking out of the kitchen sink can be found all over the web.
Because of our globalized world, I've decided it's time to start learning a foreign language. I chose Spanish, and I'm learning it this year. Maybe soon I'll be able to speak to an even broader group of people online.
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With the world becoming smaller everyday, or as our esteemed professor calls it a global village, I think it is a great idea that you learn another language. Being multilingual looks great on your resume and may help you to communicate in other states.
ReplyDeleteFor instance there are parts of South Florida where Spanish is the predominant language spoken. Many of the fast food restaurants in this are only list there menus in Spanish.
In downtown Chicago you make want to know how to speak Italian, Russian or Polish since the majority of neighborhoods have families and shops that communicate in these languages.