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4. NETRO - THE ELECTRONIC LEARNING SPACE
4.4.3 The Path - PHASE
VII: : On cultural issues and the web
| Theme: Multiculturalism
on the web and the question of languages used on the web. |
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CONTENT
KNOWLEDGE
to raise awareness on culture-related differences on the web,
to question the domination of western world on the web and
to raise awareness on the small domain of web content accessible
to us because of the language barriers.
METACOGNITVE KNOWLEDGE
how do my cultural background and language skills effect my
reading on the web?
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1.
The diversity of web content is presented with example sites
after which the question of domination of the western culture
is discussed at the Stop
2. Languages on the web: an on-line poll triggers the passengers
to think about the amount of web content they never access because
of their language backgrounds |
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The first
discussion task needs a lot of time, for the topic is quite
difficult to grasp and requires time for reflection.
When discussing and commenting on the cultural web sites chosen
for this task, place an emphasis on why we Finns seem to prefer
the "western" design and structure of web sites. You
can for instance guide the passengers by asking the following
questions: Is it that we prefer the web content that we are
used to? What seems to be similar world-wide? What differences
are there? Do you know what kinds of practices are common to
the web content you are familiar with? Should there be a universal
list of best web publishing practices or is there something
positive in the diversity? Also think about the kinds of web
content that use the culturally accepted practices of web publishing
in some specific part of the world, which are targeted to a
specific audience etc.
The language related task is simple and clear, yet the discussion
that follows it requires more time for reflection. The passengers
seemed to be in a hurry and did not dwell on this question in
detail. Naturally it depends on the groups' interests, which
task is regarded as useful and worth discussing.
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