Webwatch

For the first time ever Webwatch is online. Webwatch is a review of websites published in the Covenant Companion. We rate sites by critiquing content, architechture, and design. If you have any comments please feel free to email Heidi Griepp

Webwatch looks at poverty, Hurricane Katrina, and how you can help.

Think · Write · Do Something ABOUT IT

This month’s Webwatch started out with a focus on Hurricane Katrina, but developed into a focus on poverty. The more I read about Katrina, the more my thoughts were directed towards the poor who couldn’t evacuate from New Orleans. Soon I ended up with a batch of websites, all having to do with poverty and the issues of economic justice.

This month’s Webwatch comes with a challenge. They say you remember 10 percent of what you hear and 90 percent of what you do. So if you have a blog, I am challenging you to write a reflection on poverty this month and a specific way to do something about it. Then do it and write in and let us know what happened.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hurricane_Katrina
Wikipedia is like an encyclopedia except that it evolves as people add content. This site is the extensive wikipedia entry on Hurricane Katrina. Toward the end of the article are these notes about the residents of New Orleans: “More than 25 percent live at or below the poverty line. Within the city itself, the poorest tended to live in the lowest parts that are most vulnerable to flooding.” For comparison, the national poverty rate is 12.7 percent.
This statistic, combined with news reports of people trapped in New Orleans because they lacked the resources to leave, changed the course of this month’s Webwatch.

Possible Uses: Understanding the context helps us understand how poverty affected what happened when Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans.

Rating: (Five stars) Having a variety of people contribute to an article on a topic helps make it more extensive and filled out.

www.one.org
The ONE campaign is an effort to rally public support for the fight against global AIDS and extreme poverty. The goal is to convince the U.S. government to spend an additional 1 percent of the federal budget toward providing the most basic needs of the poor—and fighting the corruption that wastes precious resources ––to “transform the futures and hopes of an entire generation in the poorest countries.” The website has information about the campaign, upcoming events, ideas so you can take action, as well as a blog and photo gallery. The blog posts news about debt relief and thoughts on eliminating poverty.

Possible Uses: Join the ONE Campaign. Educate yourself. The stakes are high. By allocating an additional 1 percent of the U.S. budget toward providing basic needs like health, education, clean water, and food, the lives of millions of children will be transformed.

Rating: (Five stars) Both the organization and the website are excellent. ?

www.iabolish.com
I Abolish is the website of the American Anti-Slavery Group (AASG), the only human rights organization in the United States dedicated solely to abolishing modern-day slavery worldwide. Twenty-first century slavery takes many forms, the most common being debt bondage, sexual servitude, chattel slavery, and the severest forms of forced labor. By conservative estimate, twenty-seven million men, women, and children currently lead their lives as slaves—more than at any other time in human history, even during the height of the Atlantic slave trade. According to Loui Itoh of the AASG, more than 131 cases involving more than 19,254 men, women, and children have been reported in the U.S.—about half the cases involve prostitution.

Possible Uses: Do you ever wonder what you would have done if you had lived in the U.S. during the time of slavery? This site introduces you to how slavery still affects people today, and what you can do about it. Check out the beginner’s guide to learn how you can become a modern-day abolitionist.

Rating: (Five stars)This website has a lot of quality content and a thoughtful layout. ?

speakingoffaith.publicradio.org/programs/seeingpoverty/index.shtml
This is the website of National Public Radio’s program Speaking for Faith and the story they did on “Seeing Poverty after Katrina.” Here’s their description of the broadcast: “Hurricane Katrina brought urban poverty in America into all of our living rooms. In this program, David Hilfiker tells the story of how poverty and racial isolation came to be in cities across America.” The site also features articles like “A History of Poverty in America” and “Personal Stories from Biloxi,” which includes audio clips and photos of a church service held in a parking lot in Biloxi, Mississippi, after Hurricane Katrina, and behind-the-scenes stories.

Possible Uses: Stories are a great way to make difficult and complex issues easier to process and understand. These stories do that.

Rating: (five stars) NPR does everything with excellence. This website and the content shows that well. ?

www.calltorenewal.org
Call to Renewal is a national network of churches, faith-based organizations, and individuals working to overcome poverty in America. Originally started by Sojourners magazine, it is now a separate organization.
Sections of this site include a “get active” area, resources, public policy, and events. Under “resources,” you can either subscribe to the email newsletter or browse an archive of Call to Renewal newsletters. Under public policy, you’ll find articles like: “Fact Sheet,” “The Basics of Social Security,” “Solutions,” “Faith-Based Organizations’ Responses,” and other resources on how to impact social policy.

Possible Uses: Think about having your church join Call to Renewal.

Rating: (three stars) The navigation and design for this site is mediocre. There were one or two dead links. However the information is good. ?