are people better informed in the information society

Are we as a people really better informed in an information society?  I believe that we are better informed in the information society.  Having access to the internet today can open up a whole new world for people.  Within seconds of logging on the internet we can access so many different networks and become informed about information occuring all over the world.  As we dig deeper into the article we find that two different people have different opinions on the subject matter.  Linda Jackson went on to do an experiment with students ages 10-18 to see if kids who heavily use the internet would have better test scores than those who dont.  Her experiment was a success but Mark Bauerlein still went onto say that the internet isnt making us smarter, only more dumb.  I feel like both sides are right.  With constant advances in technology the internet is definetly an essential function to the future, however it is how it how a person uses it that can make themselves better informed or more dumb.  If a person uses the internet as a valuable resource he or she can gain access to a wealth of information and knowledge.  If a person wants to use the internet to watch mischeif behavior then most likely they will become more dumb.  The decision lies among each person as an individual if they want to use the internet to become better informed or if they want to use it to become less intelligent.

International perspective on local/global issues

After viewing alot of diferrent international presses I decided to do mine on the the United States apolpogy to Guatemala. The United States is currently apologizing to Guatemala for research done from 1946-1948 which intentionally infected hundreds of people with sexually transmitted diseases. The objective of the research was to see if there was a way penicillin could prevent or treat syphillis. CNN.com reported that according to the study more than 1,600 people were infected. 696 with syphillis, 772 with gonorrhea, and 142 with chancres. CNN also gave a statement from Secretary of State Hilary Clinton and Secretary of Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius stating: "We deeply regret that it happened, and we apologize to all the individuals who were affected by such abhorrent research practices," the joint statement said. "The conduct exhibited during the study does not represent the values of the United States, or our commitment to human dignity and great respect for the people of Guatemala."

When I looked for the story on guatemala-times.com I thought for sure I would find alot more information about this story with hopefully quotes from the people of Guatemala about how they felt. However, guatemala-times only had a very short paragraph about the story. The paragraph just stated that President Obama had spoken to Guatemalan President Alvaro Colom of Guatemala to express his deep regret regarding the study conducted by the U.S. Public Health Service in the 1940s and that Presiendt Alvaro had accepted his apology even though he didnt think it was right.