Tasty tests

First of all, I did Bob’s quiz. It was a warm up about adjectives and now you can see my results .

Then I tried many others such as BBC learning english, the British Council, or ESL test.

Finally, I chose this one because it was general and I could save my final results so that I can share them with you.

Wikimania

It is really hard to publish an article on Wikipedia when you are a beginner.

First, you have to create an account with a user name and a password : that’s the easy part ( except that they told me that “FloS” was too close from another username so I had to change it one hundred time to got a valid one).

Then, you have to think about the subject you want to write about and this is more complicated than I thought given that it’s already a very complete online encyclopedia. Of course, you can add a totally new article or add something to an article that already exists.

Once you have written something, you have to describe shortly what you wrote about or what were the main changes you did AND, most important thing, you have to share your sources so that they can check the information you gave was correct.

I tried both ways but I only succeeded in one : I have added a French touch to an article about the AFD, the French agency of developement. My post is about the main actions of the AFD such as fighting against poverty or support economic growth in poor countries.

At first, I wanted to publish one of my previous article entitled  “Yallah underground” but they immediately deleted it because of lack of sources.

I think I have to start slowly with this Wikimania and get use to it !

 

Yallah Underground ( trailer)

A documentary about the cultural underground scene in the Middle East.

Throughout the Middle East young artists start to emerge and develop new interesting projects in all different fields of culture (music, fashion, arts, etc). They challenge the differences between modern global youth culture and their traditional Arab culture and try to find a way to combine different values and ideas in a positive and constructive way. They not only have to struggle with certain conservative restrictions of their own society but also with prejudices and misinterpretations in the Western world, which leaves them often with a feeling of isolation and lack of outlet or opportunities.

The display of these young artists, their lives and their creative processes, including problems they have to face, is aimed to inspire other people, mainly young Arabs, to make them realize their own potential and the possible benefits of intercultural communication and cooperation. Our film will give these promising artists a platform to display their work and their ideas and by doing so change the perception of Western audiences of the Arab world as well as show Arab audiences that there is a constructive way how to express themselves and find their place in a globalized world without denying their own cultural heritage.

10 rules to survive in I-land

– To have a good connection                           

-To be open-minded

-To try to get the whole picture and the context

-To like to click and discover things

-Don’t trust the appearances

-To be aware

-To realize that the Internet introduces great opportunities

-To protect personal information, to be careful

-To try to understand things one’s dont’ know about

-To get use to it

Beirut, I love you ( I love you not)

E-books or not e-books?

Definitely e-books ! Why? Because sooner or later I’ll have to try it and even the most reluctant people will have to. But in the first place I will try it before adopting it . If it’s practical, funny and easy to use with a nice design, I’ll buy one and it will be part of my habits.

 

 

An e-book is a tool like an Ipod but instead of music you can download books. The screen is adapted to your eyes so that it doesn’t hurt. So if you are traveling for instance, it’s very useful since you don’t have to carry all the books you need, especially as a student. You can also read newspaper, or magazines. There are many advantages : you can have access very quickly everywhere to a book, everywhere and when you want, you can change easily, you don’t have to go to a book shop or wait until they send you the book, and it protects the environment since you don’t use paper and ink.

Nevertheless, if an e-book is broken or stolen, you can lose all your e-books and you need electrical power because if the battery is exhausted, you cannot read anymore. Besides, it can put in harm’s way the book industry with illegal downloading.

e-CV

Things You Don’t Know About…

 

The Internet offers many different possibilities and you can discover new things. For instance, in terms of e-learning , the Internet broadcasts and introduces a lot of different ways to learn and teach things.

First of all, you can find online dictionary and translation tools. You can also use web-based training and for example, to prepare the TOEFL you can train online and then sit for the computer – based exam.  Learning management system is an other tool which includes a whole web site where you can share files and attend courses. This kind of softwares manages to create a real community thanks to forums and e-mail adresses where you can exchange and share what you want with people who learn the same things as you do. There is also a specific area where you can find online courses and online articles that teachers have posted for you. Moreover, you have access to the agenda, calendars, and you can check  the events planned out. Furthermore, you can train for the exams thanks to the different tests and works that teachers give to the students and post online. Many “Grand école” has developed this new concept such as Science Po or l’ENA ( the school of public administration) which allow you to check articles and its own library online if you sign up.

Actually, e-learning is becoming a real challenge. On the one hand,  children and  students have to be prepared to the changes in a world of e-communication where information goes faster and stronger thanks to many different electronic tools since they will eventually experiment these changes in their professional and personal life. Nevertheless, on the other hand, it is important to remember that quality has to be improved without loosing human contacts and feelings. Indeed, if the Internet seems to get people closer, it doesn’t actually improve their communication and their relationships. Huma nature is not going to change because of the Internet which is just a tool and we are the main actors.

 

 

One of the main advantages of the Internet is the streaming. You can use it to watch TV shows or soap operas. To me, as a ballet dancer I discover it and I use it to watch different artists, different interpretations and broadcast some videos that I like or share with my friends  some workshops I did with my friends.

You can also check blogs’ artists out and watch their videos and the way they dance like jazmasri.

But you can also download video clips from You Tube. Personaly, I use Real Player. It really helps me to do my video CV and I also learned how to post a video on You Tube. First, you have to create an account and then you have an option to add a new video.

 

Furthermore, I have discovered many different softwares to produce e-contents. First of all, I had to download Audacity to record my voice with music. It’s very useful beacuse you can mix tracks or cut them.

Then I learned to compress a video with software like SUPER, mediacoder or Riva FLV Player which helps you convert a video AVI into a FLV format( flashplayer).

 

Cybercrime

 Nowadays, the Internet surfers are confronted to various cyber crimes such as spam, fraud, obscene or offensive content, harassment, drug trafficking, cyber terrorism. Thus, cyber crime is a general word to describe many different illegal activities.

 Cyber terrorism is part of these activities. It is possible to give a broad definition of cyber terrorism which is  “the premeditated use of disruptive activities, or the threat thereof, against computers and/or networks, with the intention to cause harm or further social, ideological, religious, political or similar objectives. Or to intimidate any person in furtherance of such objectives.” (Ronald McDonald).

Nevertheless, since 2000, the interest for cyber terrorism increased especially with the terrorist attacks in the United States on September 11, 2001. Thus, it is also possible to give a very narrow definition of cyber terrorism which concerns well known terrorist organizations and which consists in using the Internet to develop disruption attacks against information system in order to create alarm and panic.

Indeed, the effects of cyber terrorism can be quite harmful. First of all, it can put in harm’s way the economy of a country by stripping  its resources. It can also weaken its military forces and make it more vulnerable. Besides, terrorist organizations can create “terror”, panic and a real disfunctioning within the society. Because groups of terrorists are not  located in one place, the Internet can perfectly serve their purpose. They totally understand the information systems of the government and manage to use them.

 

First of all, to struggle against cyber terrorism, people should be extremely aware of its dangers. That’s the reason why they should be extremely well informed by the medias and by the government. Then, as the terrorists use a network strategy, governments should also develop one. So it is very important to cooperate and to exchange information between different countries but also between people. By surfing in the Internet, each one of us can witness dangerous content. But the main difficulty remains to create an official organization where people could post their complaints or what they have noticed on the Internet which can be disturbing , quite unusual or  dangerous, without endangered  freedom of  thought and of speech.

Fantastic four :

Impermanence

First of all, the Internet changes our perception of time and space. Besides, the information is not material anymore. In other words you can’t touch it anymore. You can save e-mails  but unless you print them, you cannot get them in your hands like a letter for instance. Nowadays, you just have to click to get what you want. This blog is a perfect example of impermanence on the Internet : what I’m writing right now isn’t grave into stone and I can rewrite it or delete it at anytime and instantaneously.

Moreover, the new technologies increase innovation and development of new models of communication. Thus, if writing a blog used to be exclusive, it has become a common practice. Social networks are also a new way of communicating and a good example of impermanence on the Internet. While it’s easier to create links with people, relationships can be more superficial which is a little bit paradoxical. In addition to this, there are so many web sites and competition on the Internet that it’s harder to create a model of communication or a web site that last.

 

 

The European library 2.0 Europeana is a good example of impermanence with around 2 millions of digitized cultural objects classified on the Internet to compete with Google’s project online library. Indeed, people are starting to question impermanence since on the one hand it allows progress and change but on the other hand it increases the risk of  losing data. The online European library highlights impermanence on the Internet given that it’s a new practice but it’s also a will to introduce permanence on the web because the aim is to save European cultural patrimony for the next generations.

Breaking habits

I really think that the Internet brings new habits into our lives. For instance, I watch movies and television series online , I read the newspapers online,or  if I want to collect a piece of information about something I don’t know, I do research on Google. Moreover, when I was younger I used to spend much more time on TV whereas now, I spend more time on the Internet than watching TV. In the first place, I didn’t want to create a Facebook account since I thought it was a unappropriate way to intrude in my private life ; but then I realized that  I had to if I wanted to keep communicating with my friends.

Because impermanence is one of the main characteristics of the Internet, it is all the more difficult to implement long- term behaviors. As a matter of fact, some websites succeed in appealing the users of the Internet without problems like You Tube , Facebook or DailyMotion but this requires a whole strategy.

Transparency

Transparency is both a drawback and an advantage of the Internet. As a matter of fact,  the protection of private life is a main concern, that’s the reason why many groups are created on Facebook in this way. Indeed, despite the existence of some controls like tools to keep something private or to hide things from some people,  you can never be totally protected. The hackers will always find a way to break into your account for example.

For politics, transparency is very relevant since it’s a huge opportunity for them to broadcast their campaigns and ideas but it can also really hurt their public image.

Last year in the Lebanon, for the elections in june 2009, the Free Patriotic Movement broadcasted a campaign untitled “Be beautiful and vote”. But instead of inciting people to vote, it launched a controversy especially because of the online networks and forums which broadcasted everywhere.

 

 

Precious opportunity

The Internet is a real opportunity since it has created a real community in which everybody can play a part. Thus, equality and freedom seem to be the main points for the Internet surfers.

Besides, you have access to all kind of information you want and you can discover the whole word and new cultural aspects thanks to the Internet.

Moreover, you get precious professional opportunitues since you can apply for a job or an internship and send your CV easily and quickly.

To put in a nutshell, the Internet is a medium which encourages multiculturalism and diversity through a huge community in which people are equals.