Forum Discussion on Citizenship - Essay Example

Running Head: Forum Discussions Forum Discussion on the Concept of Citizenship Forum Discussion on Citizenship The concept of citizenship has come a long way since the arrival of the innovations in information technology and communications. Through information technology, people from all over the world are able to get a glimpse of other people's lives and perspectives from the other side of the globe. By using the World Wide Web, people's perceptions are greatly affected on the information they gather from internet. It could be in the form of internet articles, broadcasted journals, websites entirely focused on a cause, discussion forums and etc. Discussion forums in particular, are web based applications that facilitates discussions among users. In this paper, I will be evaluating the seven authors who contributed their opinion on an archived discussion forum focused on the issues of citizenship. The seven authors will be rated individually by the given marking criteria to identify in which way they could have improved their contribution to the forum discussion. The evaluation here follows. Stewart Dennis Dimmick: I have given Mr. Dimmick a mark of 19 in his contribution to the discussion forum. He is one of the frequent contributors in the forum. Mr. Dimmick has raised important issues on the concept of citizenship with rightful resources to support his message. One of these is that globalization maybe influencing the judicial system of the United Kingdom and Europe as a whole. He was insightful on his response to the other members of the forum group on the need for campaigns to maintain citizen pride like self criticism techniques. It could be that as citizens, as a nation, or as a global community, loyalties are changing with the need for change. He has served as a big factor to the continuity of the discussion in the forum since two out of three of his contribution was in response to his fellow member's messages and insights. He may have improved his contributions though. I noticed that he had many resulting questions at the end of his messages. It initiates a lot of other discussions but there's only that. It would have been more helpful if he had given his own insights to his questions and in turn encourage other members of the forum to answer same questions. Philip James Golding: For Mr. Golding, I also gave a mark of 19 on his contribution to the forum. He may have contributed only twice in the discussion thread but he has introduced the idea that the information technology has and continues to have an effect on how citizens see their being a citizen of their nations, which were also discussed by following authors in the thread. Although he may have not used concrete sources on his implications, he has indicated the effect of the world wide web and globalization on how people think as citizens and as nations based on comparing what people and nations do in the present and in the past as history. Like Mr. Lambert, he was openly concerned with the thought that maybe one day the "global will" of the people might override their concerns as citizens first of their own nations. On his second message though, he has used relevant sources to support his insights in response to Mr. Trevena's message. Citizens and the government "are" concerned with the apparent democratic apathy happening in the democratic processes in the United Kingdom. I can say his messages were what I would say what I preferred reading because it was well thought of and he got his intended messages across. Neil Trevena: I have given Mr. Trevena a mark of 16 on his contributions to the discussion. He was one of the frequent contributors in the discussion thread. Although his messages to the board were a big plus on the continuity of the discussions, they were mostly in response to the authors who originally introduced the issues. Mr. Trevena explained the issues further to illustrate his affirmations. Although Mr. Trevena should have had posted messages on not only what he agreed on but also on introducing other subjects concerning citizenship, he also made a relevant contribution because he made a stand on the question of citizenship where other authors were reluctant or puzzled to answer. Evelyn Agnes Smith: For Ms. Smith, I have given a mark of 21 despite of her messages accounting to just two contributions on the thread. On her message in response to the subject of global citizenship with respect to information technology, she gave concrete examples on how an individual's rights are violated in two different situations. It is important on my opinion that insights be supported by relevant examples to have significance in the first place. Ms. Smith's second distribution to the forum was in the same manner. She gave her responses in agreement and disagreement to the different authors preceding her messages with accompanying examples. The only thing missing in her contribution in the discussion is by opening or initiating a subject line on her own and the lack of new ideas or innovations. Janet Elizabeth Barrett: I have given Ms. Barrett a mark of 20 on her contribution to the discussion forum. In comparison to the other authors, she has unmistakably the largest quantity of words contributed to the forum in all her four messages. Not that the quantity of the words matter that much, but her messages were of good quality too. Her responses and insights were supported with sources and examples; one of which was her personal experience. She does not only give her responses to the author's messages but she also gives her take on the issue. The resulting question she has is usually specific and persuades more or other discussion on subjects like dual citizenship, global citizenship as a matter of choice, a citizen's privacy on a national scale and etc. Among all the other authors, she gives the most examples to support her claim and take on a subject. Benjamin James Lambert: For Mr. Lambert, I have given a mark of 14 for his contribution to the discussion forum. Among the other members of the discussion group, his single contribution to the message board was a collective response to all the other issues raised by the other authors. In other words, there was nothing new to his insights that I have not read from the messages of the other authors. If there was, it was only brief and lacked thoroughness, thereby not initiating further discussion. Simon Noyce: And lastly, Mr. Noyce gets a mark of 15 for his contribution to the discussion forum. All of his three messages were brief and concise. Each was significant and bringing with them his exact views when asked how he sees his citizenship. He has given significant examples on when citizens most likely feels being a citizen of a nation; that is in times of sporting events amongst countries and at times of war. He could have improved his contribution by focusing on a subject matter different from that of the other authors. People around the world have the same exact feelings or more as these seven authors have on the changing concept of being a citizen to a nation or to the global community at large. Internet forums or web based message boards have paved way for people to communicate and exchange ideas about a particular subject. Users are able to participate and comment on others messages in a particular subject or any subject he/she wishes to give messages about. A Forum Discussion Summary on Citizenship This paper is a summary of an archived forum discussion where seven authors have contributed their views and insights on the concept of citizenship. The common issue that they have discussed was the undeniable effect of globalisation and innovations of information technology on the citizens' view on their citizenship. Citizenship is no longer secluded within a nation and is moving towards the global community. It was discussed that while citizenship is a key component to a nation, the advantages of information technology has enabled people to act and see their citizenship in a different light. Due to amassed information from the written, broadcasted and internet media, people are able to compare how they live their lives to other people from other parts of the worlds. Most of the members of the forum group agree that due to this onslaught of information, life has become more and more complex and that the line that divides where a citizenship begins and ends is ceasing to exist. On the other hand, half of the group readily agreed that first foremost they are a citizens of their nation and that the internet and other media only enables them to get an idea on how they as a country is upholding their nation. Being a citizen of the global community at the moment is on a voluntary basis. Some authors even say that people are too busy with their own lives or the problems in their own country to bother with the issues of the global world. Democracy apathy among the old and young citizens is the common problem of even the so called most democratic countries in the world. Nevertheless, the common agreement among the members of the group is that the citizens of United Kingdom and the citizens of all nations are in the direction of the concept of global community. Gradually, they become pronounced in the form of changes in the judiciary standard, governing systems, in the standard of living and many more. The world has become borderless in a sense where transportation and communication is no longer a problem of how but when. It was also discussed that more and more people are having dual citizenships resulting to multicultural races abound across the world. Today, communications across places or at the most across the globe is a lot easier, cheaper and faster. With the advantages of information technology, several concerns also develop. One of this is violations to a citizen's right for privacy on his/her personal information. Several concrete examples were stated and two of the authors have even shared their own experience on the matter. Monitoring and censorship on the availability of personal information of the citizens was highly suggested. Some authors were also concerned that maybe a time will come that the concerns of the global community will override the concerns of the citizens in their own nations like democratic apathy and the growing tendency of politicians' ambiguity in most countries. One author even doubted if the concept of global community would become a reality for the majority. While most of the authors have said that the concept of citizenship has changed, an author maintained that the old sense of citizenship was still there and that it could be felt when the need for national identity occurs. He gave examples like times of sporting events among countries and times of war. Another author agreed and said that gathering events like sports events, enables people from different countries to get together and learn from each other. I as a reader of their discussion have gathered their views and insights on the subject of citizenship nowadays. I agree that every aspect of our lives are getting more and more complex by the day and therefore need more complex solutions to govern it. One thing I noticed though is that no one in the forum group stressed that people around the world "are" connected in many ways. The simplest way is that every basic needs and things we use in a day come from all over the world and not just in our own countries; it's the food we eat, the clothes we wear, the mobile phones and personal computers we use, the car and buses we always ride on and the list goes on. It is in our hands as citizens first of our nation and then of the world to be knowledgeable and understanding of what we and everybody can and should be doing with the common goal of goodness and harmony for the global community; a very complicated and complex challenge for all. Read More