I have added ten more links to the linkroll on the right. I will now briefly evaluate each of these distinguished webpages, which primarily consist of think tanks that serve as a great tool for information gathering. The Center for Global Development, one of its photos to the left, clearly has a diverse scope of research concerning global poverty and inequality, but lacks a comprehensive regions section that could benefit from an ability to search on a per country basis. An interactive section that strengthens the site is its public blog, where intellectuals actively discuss their opinions and ideas. A think tank that actually produces most of its content via its blog is the Globalisation Institute, which compares and contrasts the effects of globalization on developing countries. Although new posts are made almost bi-weekly, the entries are made exclusively by only a couple writers while no dialogue is encouraged through a comments section. Aesthetically the site appears unsophisticated, especially with the detracting Google ads on the right column. Foreign Direct Investment is the online portal for its magazine that covers themes relating to cross-border investments. While this think tank releases priceless insight relevant to the BRICs, it should definitely consider revamping its lackluster visual design. An example of a clean and modern looking webpage is that of the Institute of Economic Affairs. I highly recommend this site because it relays issues of concern in a manner that is sensitive to a broad group of readers, such as politicians, students, journalists, and businessmen. The Peterson Institute for International Economics is a well established organization that divulges several forms of publication regarding global economics. Despite a homepage that creatively introduces leading hot topics around the world, its follow-up links should be better optimized to ensure that nuances are fixed, such as making readings chronological. A website with a similar theme is The World Economic Forum, which discusses international economic policies at its worldwide conferences. It has a superb layout with effective pull down menus and a refined navigation tool. The World Resources Institute provides a more humanitarian and environmental outlook on global trends which is imperative to consider when combating the negative byproducts of developing nations. In addition to focusing more on pinpointing regional issues, I feel the site should more importantly focus on reorganizing the awkwardly placed sections on its homepage. The Center for Strategic & International Studies releases a plethora of research regarding global challenges, all of which come from highly credible sources. The only rant I have about the site is that it lacks interactivity in any form between its writers and viewers.Aside from eight think tank recommendations that I gave above, I have added a news publication and blog link that will also help diversify my readers' research options on the BRICs. The Financial Times Emerging Markets is a site that I often frequent and constantly rely on to learn of new developments in the marketplace. This webpage compiles in depth content and interactive features that are not easily located by a reader's eyes, which could be relocated through a succinct sections menu. An excellent blog that I stumbled up mistakenly when exploring the web is NextBillion.net, which discusses sustainable business in underdeveloped countries. While it is clear that this is a professionally executed blog with superior content, it could probably appear even more credible with a layout that has a more serious tone and is more horizontally spread to eliminate excessive vertical scrolling. Overall, I believe this week's focus on locating informative think tanks to further my research on the BRICs was a success.
2 comments:
Dear KKI,
I should start by congratulating you on your post! I found your links very interesting and I liked how you gave a brief explanation about them, mentioning their strengths and weaknesses. You seem to have done an extensive research on these sites and it certainly shows in your paragraph. Also, for those who are not familiar to the BRIC nations, you have provided good sources of information, such as the Foreign Direct Investment. Thus, your linkroll serves its purpose well! However, one of the few things that have made me a little bit confused was how you transitioned from websites to websites. Often I did not know if I was still reading about one site or the next (especially since their names are so similar - at least to someone so clueless on the subject as myself - and that is certainly not your fault). On a different note, I also liked how you talked about the aesthetic components of some of the sites. That is definitely an important feature in evaluating a website. It is most likely to influence a visitor to come back to that page in the future. I really liked the photo on your post (however, it is directed to the site where it is and not the specific page). And finally, I completely agree with you when you mention that in the Globalization Institute blog, one of its down sides is that "no dialogue is encouraged through a comments section". I have found many interesting sites on the web with the same 'problem' and felt discouraged after a while to use them. After all, should not the web be used as a tool to provide communication world wide? Anyway, once again, congratulations on the great post!
BM
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