World Countries - International Stats

Here is a great website to find out a bit about different countries around the world. Not so much focussed on social and cultural elements but interesting none-the-less!
http://hdr.undp.org/en/data/map/
Click on the statistics tables tabs for more data too.

Do I look suspicious??

What does our appearance say about us? What we wear, our body language, our style of communication...
The 'hoodie' has become a topic of debate as an item of clothing and what it represents, as well as the ongoing issues of race and skin colour stereotyping.

The fatal shooting of Trayvon Martin by George Zimmerman took place on February 26, 2012, in Florida, USA.  Trayvon Martin was a 17-year-old African American who was unarmed and wearing a hoodie.

George Zimmerman, a 28-year-old multi-racial Hispanic American, was the designated neighbourhood watch coordinator for The Retreat at Twin Lakes, the gated community where the shooting took place. Since the shooting and the trial, there have been protests, marches and campaigns.

Watch the campaign video to find out more about what happened. BUT be sure to look up other sources of information too to get a balanced view of the the story... there are many parts to it!

Kony 2012 - the video, the social networks.

KONY 2012: How Social Media Fueled the Most Viral Video of All Time

KONY 2012 took the social web by storm last week, as a 30-minute documentary seeking to arrest LRA leader Joseph Kony was viewed online nearly 100 million times.

The Pew Internet and American Life Project investigated how KONY 2012 became the most viral video of all time.

The key, Pew found, was 18 to 29-year-olds sharing links on Twitter and Facebook. While initially 77% of Twitter discussions were positive, the tone shifted as criticisms of the non-profit behind the film, Invisible Children, began to circulate.

Source: Yahoo News

Maybe this is true: Where did you learn about KONY 2012? Are Twitter and Facebook your go-to sources for current events? I am unfortunately out of that 18-29 age bracket and the first place I learnt about it was from YOU- the students, in lessons at school! And then later on the television news. Maybe this is just one small piece of evidence to back up how information and the power of the media is shifting through time.

In addition, our easy access to information today, i.e. via the internet means that we can easily adn quickly find additional information on something that interests us. Within 24 hours the campaign was initially supported and then questioned as people looked more closely at the issues and background to the Kony 2012 campaign and the Invisible Children Organisation.

Or... is this one aspect of our culture today? That as soon as someone or something becomes successful, there are underlying desires to bring that someone or something down? ... 'Tall poppy syndrome?'....???