Amelia Thompson (centre), a second-year student of Colegate University College in New York and the Caribbean Students Association, assists grade five students of Excelsior Primary School, along with their teacher, Tanya Bindloss, to connect to the Internet in a penpal cultural exchange progamme between Excelsior Primary School and Hamilton Central Middle School in New York. Jamaica now has an estimated 100,000 Internet users. - IAN ALLEN/STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER
SANDOR PANTON of Top5Jamaica.Com, in association with the Gleaner Online, guides you through what's new, cool and interesting on the Internet.
From Jamaica to the wider Caribbean and the rest of the world, this is the 'Week on the Web'.
ALTHOUGH FRANCE, Britain and the United States have conducted pilot Internet voting programmes, the Baltic state of Estonia recently became the first country to have Internet voting on a national level.
About one per cent of votes in a local government council election were cast online through use of an electronic identification card, and there were no reports of glitches or security issues.
GOOGLE KAI
In September, a Swedish couple who are big fans of the search engine Google, decided to name their newly-born baby boy after the search engine. His full name: Oliver Google Kai.
They've also set up a website - http://www.google-kai.com - to share photos and information about their now famous son.
WORLDWIDE INTERNET POPULATION 2004
Clikz.com, the Internet statistics and information website, has detailed estimates (by country) of the total global population of Internet users, with the estimated grand total being 934 million.
According to the report - which you can view here at http://www.clickz.com/stats/web_worldwide/article.php/151151 - Jamaica's contribution to this overall figure is estimated at 100,000 Internet users.
Given the recent rapid expansion of Internet access and use in Jamaica, this figure may actually be too low.
WEBSITES OF THE WEEK
http://www.youstation.com - If you're abroad and want to see new and old Jamaican music videos, as well as listen to the latest dancehall/reggae songs and riddims, youstation.com is the website to view and listen to it all.
http://www.clickz.com - Clickz.com is one of the most comprehensive online resources for marketers. From advice and opinions that is by and for marketers, to regional and global Internet trends and statistics, it is a complete portal for both offline and online marketers.
