Karen Hughes

Through the video we watched in class, we were able to see the use of public relations from the eye of Karen Hughes, former advisor of President George W. Bush. In fact, she explains how she has tried to promote a good image of the United States of America, and calls herself the "U.S's Dialogue with the world". From this latter point, we can understand she has been using the spoken word to reach her goal; yet somewhat missed her point when talking about public diplomacy and only giving one side of it. In the end, she brings up the topic of the role of the US towards Iraq; about whether it tried to occupy it or liberate it.

Concerning the latter point, the idea seems quite foggy. In fact, the role of the US cannot be clearly stated since we don't want to put labels on any action, but on the other hand, some actions seem to link to each other. In other words, the US could really have as a purpose to help the Iraq, just as it could simply be a way to get their trust in order to better reach them (keep your friends close and your enemies closer). All in all, the US's communication effort cannot be labeled as useful or useless in any way.

To come back to our main point, Ms Hughes talks about public diplomacy and it having a primary role in both fighting terrorims and promoting the US image. On that point, it appears that public diplomacy sure has an important role, yet it is only a tools among others for the US to preach their ideas to the rest of the world, and make them follow their path. Reaching the population rather than the government is a subtler way of reaching their target, considering Hughes' definition of public diplomacy. In sum, we can also say that the way she puts the concept itself seems more balanced than some other definitions that only put public diplomacy as a simple matter of bringing people to one's side by any means. In fact, her approach tries to touch every person rather than groups.

Small addition

Just to add a small modification to my previous post, I would like to add the concern of Morocco about those computers. They would be in fact very useful to the Moroccan rural areas. Morocco needs a push towards development, including the introduction of young children to new technologies. The problem is, those children do not even have an appropriate schooling, so how are they supposed to reach the level of using computers? The machine sure is user friendly, but the problem here lies in the people, not the means. In fact, as we discussed in a previous class, it is clear that if a better educational approach is not used, the level of education stagnates, and even those computers may not help. The computer is a means among others. A very helpful means, sure, yet only a means that still needs other factors to lead to its main goal.

100 dollar PC

A hundred dollar computer... The idea seems funny at first but then, we get to see how huge its impact is. In fact, Mr Negroponte really did join science to arts and it all ended up giving a "chef

d'oeuvre. Giving it a closer look, everything seems to have been thought of in details. The computer appears to present a huge financial benefit, in addition to an educational one.

The computer being created for child use, its design and its content seem to perfectly match with its purpose. In addition to being cheap yet of respectable quality, it is also light, handy, and user friendly. The software and design were all designed to be easily manageable by children; and the content can also be modified so that the child using the computer can adapt the computer to their own learning style. Even the battery can be charged by hand; which makes the computer self sufficient. Just as I brought it up earlier: the computer is a chef d'oeuvre.

From this creation, we can easily see the progress that Negroponte is bringing. With such an innovative invention, he is giving an opportunity to the children of poor countries to have an education and "leapfrog" in some way, from their state of basic life, to a state where they have a starting point linking them to the rest of the world and their technologies. They have a contact with the more developped countries and have an idea about where the world is going and how it is going.

Speading Peace Over the Net

It was very smart and thoughtful effort from Trevor to use nowaday's most powerful means of communication to spread peace the easiest, yet most effective, way possible. This reminds me in some way of a campaign called the Free Hugs Campaign that was first held in Sydney by Juan Mann following quite an unusual story (you can get more information about it on http://www.freehugscampaign.org/).

It all always starts with an idea and spreads in a blink, thanks to the internet. Thanks to Juan's initiative, there have been other campaigns throughout the world that started after the online broadcasting of his video. All it takes is a dare.


No need to count the miles and hours of difference, since we may all be different people, living all around the world, with different cultures and mentalities. It is everyone's own wealth and as Professor Stephanie Sabato said, wealth is not counted by how much you have in your bank account. Yet those differences do not keep us from the true things of life. I guess Trevor did make a point that reached every human heart: that no matter who or where you are, you are never alone; for there are other people who can support what first can appear the craziest and most difficult of your ideas. Peace be on everyone :)