Week1 Weave the World Wide Technology Web

R685 opens my eyes, it leading me to see an open world, where all the people, no matter countries, languages, cultures, genders and ages enjoy the freedom of communication and information searching online. 21th Century internet and other advanced technologies have made our world smaller and have covered it with a powerful but invisible web through which people are connected and information are transferred.  However, after reading several relevant articles and reflecting on some incidents which I heard from others or experienced by myself, I started doubting the completeness and effectiveness of this big web. Has it really covered all the single corners of the world? Is everyone able to take the full advantage of it? Does it really benefit people’s life? Apparently, answers to these questions are no.

 The article reporting the Millennium Development Goals had us notice that some parts of this world are still poor and less developed. A large amount of population is still suffering from hunger, diseases and gender inequality. United Nation announced an ambitious plan, but I think no one is totally sure that all those goals can be achieved in a couple of years, especially when we take environmental sustainability issues into consideration. So, form here we see that the internet and high technology web has just covered part of the surface of this world. There are still holes and gaps need closing.

Now, move our view to those better developed areas, like big cities in China and India, where hunger and poverty are never big problems, but people are still conservative in using technologies. In China, children are still struggling within an exam-oriented education system and most parents see internet as viruses that prevent their children from achieving high scores. When I worked in a public elementary school in Beijing two years ago, I noticed that about half of the students in my class had no computer at home and ¾ did not have internet access. I believe most of the parents could afford the devices and system service fee, but they refused to provide their children with computers and internet access because they worried that their children would be poisoned by these new technological inventions. but consiering the reality that there is little good online learning resource for Chinese children, parents’ worries are totally understandable. If you browse Chinese children’s websites, you will find most of them are simply built and the information provided was just piled up without any careful design and selection. Recently, a Chinese children online game, Morre Park, gains great popularity. Its builders claim that they are dedicating in providing Chinese children better online experience. Based on my examination of this game, however, this game is no more than a min online game container under a virtual community frame.

Finally, let’s focus on America. Here people should have had the best hardware (internet access and other advanced technologies) and software (well developed resources), but problems are still existing. Technologies are ready in schools, but teachers do not know how to appropriately incorporate them into their daily teaching; policies made for traditional education cannot serve the new teaching and learning pattern; worries about privacy protection and bullies stop educators from applying social networking websites, like Facebook. All of these issues seem not easy to be resolved.

The above reflection reminds us that there are still many works left to be done before we can really own an open world. Although different places are facing different problems and difficulties, no part can evade responsibilities to improve the completeness and effectiveness of the world wide high technology web.