Sunday, November 7, 2010

Xenophile

Our world is becoming flat in a way. An earthquake happens in China and the BBC finds out about it via Twitter. With the increase in technology one would think there would be more xenophiles in our mist. For those who don't know what a xenophile is I will you refer to http://www.thefreedictionary.com/xenophile

xeno·phili·a (-fl-) n.

A person attracted to that which is foreign, especially to foreign peoples, manners, or cultures.



We have the world at our finger tips, yet most of the news we view is local or at most national. There are wars and tragedies occurring all over the globe which can and probably will have an impact on our lives in some way, yet we don't hear about them or seem to care to hear about them.


Here is a talk by Ethan Zuckerman, "a senior researcher at the Berkman Center for Internet and Society at Harvard University. His research focuses on the distribution of attention in mainstream and new media, the use of technology for international development, and the use of new media technologies by activists. He and his team recently launched Media Cloud, an open-source platform for studying online media that enables quantitative analysis of media attention." (http://www.ted.com/speakers/ethan_zuckerman.html)

Ethan Zuckerman: Listening to global voices | Video on TED.com

How much do you engage in educating yourself on what is going on outside of your own world? Try to find out something new about a different part of the world every day or once a week. Reach out to another flock and expand your flock of knowledge.



1 comment:

  1. You, and Ethan Zuckerman, make a good point, but I tend to find much of the news from distant lands interesting, but not as exigent as news from our more proximal world. The staggering number of Americans who don't seem to know or care how our government works, what the issues are that form our domestic policies, or even who the people are who make many of our most important decisions seems to render earthquakes in the opposite hemisphere a little less relevant.

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