Saved by the Bell – Sixty Second Tech Tips
Christopher Bell -- School Library Journal, 9/17/2008
BuzzTracker: World News MappedAs a high school librarian, it seems that at least once a week I have students come to the library in a panic looking for current events. They usually need to find an article specific to a location or one that they must connect to a location in the world. BuzzTracker is the answer.
BuzzTracker connects news articles from around the world and links to them in a single location using a world map as a guide. BuzzTracker gives a percentage of the world news dealing with that location in the world. For example, Seoul may have 4 percent of the news in the world that day.
Another feature of this tool is the Archive. There are a ton of articles to sift through by date and location. The greatest thing about this site is how easy it is to use. Students locate the city on the map and click on that link. BuzzTracker shows the articles related to the locations and other related articles. Those links then take you to any number of media sources, such as MSN, AP, CNN and others.
Save the trees and look it up electronically. Students get articles from ‘round the world and recognize how our world is tied together. Check it out and get your news!
Christopher Bell is the Library Media Specialist and Head of Technology at Castle View High School, Colorado (where he influences students to do the worst thing on earth - think for themselves.)
