Essay

Student Number: 607k1185

The creation of Web 2.0 changed our way of life; the world quite literally became smaller: emails took seconds to be delivered not days or weeks like the posted letter; Facebook  and myspace allowed for friends and family spread all over the world to stay in contact at the click of a button; and where there used to be isolation of countries, there is the inclusion of them all as one global unit, as websites are globally accessible to anyone with a computer and an internet connection.

The rise of blogs then permited the public to have greater freedom of speech, as comments could be posted onto them with the author remaining anonymous if they wished.

Blogs let people comment and write on anything that they feel is significant to them, so naturally blogs would appear from all over the world on an issue that impacted the entire globe: the Swine Flu pandemic.

 

“Blog Lines” is a South African based blog that ran an article posted by “The Times” newspaper of a possible vaccine that could be available for the virus towards the end of the year.

The blog itself is a simple design, with basic fonts being used. It lists the various blogs available on the site down the sides of the webpage, and also advertises ways to download music. It also advertises Mandela Coins that can be bought online and provides the link to get to the mentioned website. Being a South African website I was not surprised to see the Mandela Birthday coins being advertised to be bought online, as Nelson Mandela is a selling point of South Africa, so naturally many South African websites would used that association to their advantage.

This blog post deals specifically with the vaccine and the deaths associated with the virus. By recording the number of deaths around the world, the article tries to emphasise the need for a vaccine of Swine Flu. It doesn’t mention signs and symptoms or any other details of the virus, instead it embeds links to other sites down the side of the webpage that deals with that specific information, if the viewer was interested to read up on it.  From reading various magazines and newspapers, South Africa seems to place a great emphasis on the introduction of breakthrough vaccines, especially the possibility of an AIDS vaccine , and with this outbreak of Swine Flu, the country is looking towards a vaccine for it, which is possibly being developed overseas by the United States.

There is the option to comment on the article placed on “Blog Lines”, but in order to do so one must link to another webpage, as both the comments and “pings” have been closed on the website. On this website the reader  has to be registered or a member to comment on it, which I feel does not permit  a wider range of comments, as only select readers  who saw the article can comment on nit. We can see the growing popularity of blogs and the importance of the internet, when newspapers, traditionally a print medium, use it to post articles.

 

 

“Smart Kenyan”  is a relatively new business and commerce blog created in Kenya that deals with the economics of the African country. The article does not deal with the virus itself, but rather what the impact it has had on the country. Kenya’s primary form of income is from the Tourism industry. And anything that compromises it is a major source of news, and cause for a certain amount of alarm. The economy of the East African Country relies on Tourism, and the outbreak of the Swine Flu pandemic has had a negative impact on the amount of Tourists travelling to it.

Being a blog that deals primarily with the economics of Kenya, it focuses intently on the business and economic impact the virus has had on the country.

The blog itself is simply designed with an austere blue background, indicating the nature of the blog. Similar to the South African “Blog Lines”  down the sides of the article, the webpage embeds links to the county’s selling points, which in this case is Tourism; links have been embedded for top travel deals and hotel offers, in the possible hope of readers to look at the potential of spending a future vacation in Kenya. However, all these added links makes the visage of the page look untidy and busy.

There are very few comments if any, posted on the blog although the option is there as well as the option to share it and link it to related articles. The reader has to be registered with the blog before they can post a comment, which in a way limits the range and number of comments that can be posted. If the amount of comments is anything to go by, then there are very few readers who are actually registered with the blog and even less who comment on the available articles.

The blog deals with the specialised subject of economics in Kenya and seems to expect the reader to already be associated or part of that world. The creators have not posted details of the virus itself as there are no links embedded into the webpage to pages with information on the virus. It is simply a business report with links to holiday destinations- Kenya’s main form of income.

 

 

 The Hutch Report  is an American based blog created by Mark Hutcherson that allows the public to comment on leading news stories of the day; and the pandemic of the Swine Flu virus was major news. A very Simply designed blog with very few links embedded’ it has a “clean” and organised visage. Both “Blog Lines” and “Smart Kenyan” are very “busy” in their layout, which makes them look a bit disorganised. Unlike the previously mentioned blogs, one does not have to register with the Hutch Report in order to post a comment on any of the articles. A useful feature that the blog has is a link to its archives , allowing the reader to browse earlier news articles.

The post written by the creator, deals with the potential for the number of Swine flu cases to rise considerably when school term starts again. Millions of children will be in close proximity to each other that will allow for a rapid spreading of the virus. He also mentions the clinical trials that are in progress to generate a vaccine for the virus, here Hutcherson takes an interesting look on it, emphasising the reluctance of some people to take a “fast forwarded”, unproven vaccine especially by the older generation.

This blog allows for the public to comment on issues that affect their lives, it’s written by a member of the public, which in itself is an important factor as it creates a stage for liberal comment.

 

Swine Flu affected the entire world in a drastic manner, not in the number of deaths associated with the virus (hardly any in comparison with Malaria and AIDS), but rather in the mass hysteria that was whipped up mostly by the media. These three blogs show different ways of reporting on the virus:  “Blog Lines” looks at the research and clinical trials that are underway to generate a vaccine for Swine Flu; “Smart Kenyan” reports on the economic impact that the “hysteria” around the virus has had on many countries-Kenya was used as the example- that rely on tourism as their major form of income; and thirdly “The Hutch Report” outlines the drastic manner in which the virus can spread in areas where many people are in close contact with each other, similar to any respiratory infection. These are three of many ways of looking at Swine Flu, but the social and economic impacts were issues that all the blogs reported on.