Marc A. Cormier

Most astrophysicists believe that the Universe started with a Big Bang. How it ends is still matter for debate, and some argue it will end with a Big Whimper.

Is the Web, the Information Big Bang, also going end in a Big Whimper?

I present to you the case of the Huffington Post and its new “Canadian” incarnation.

I live in Canada and I’ve been reading the Huffington Post for 4 or more years now, and while a lot of it is bunk and noise, especially anything relating to health issues, I read it because I wanted to hear from the American Left and American Progressives. Just like I check Matt Drudge to hear from the American Right and Guys in Fedoras.

Why do I like to read about American politics? Well interest of course, but also political commentary. You see, in 2008, one of my political blogs (currently offline) was listed in France’s major news websites: LeMonde.fr. I used many sources including the Huffington Post for analysis from a uniquely American perspective.

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Why Congo Matters

You can recognize a Congolese expatriate quite easily: ask them to count to a hundred in French.

Being a former Belgian colony, they will not say “soixante, soixante-dix, quatre-vingt, quatre-vingt-dix” as they do elsewhere in Francophone Africa, but “soixante, septante, octante et nonante”. Trivial you may think, but knowledge of Congo matters and that starts with history and its relationship with Belgium.

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Recent events have thrust the islands of Saint-Pierre and Miquelon into the limelight of Canadian and North American politics (Continental Shelf Issue). This was the perfect opportunity to build a fully functional English language site with news and information about France’s North American territory.

RadioBarachois.net acts as a central repository for all news about the islands. We also produce our own content. RadioBarachois.com, remains a  French language news site about Saint-Pierre and Miquelon with three main audiences: citizens of Saint-Pierre and Miquelon (including expatriates), French citizens from Europe and Overseas territories, and Francophones from around the world.

While the flagship activist site known as Miquelon.org keeps monitoring Franco-American relations this side of the Atlantic, I decided in mid-2007 to create a new project about the United-States of America for a French audience.

By reporting daily about issues and news affecting Americans, I believe a better understanding can be achieved between the two Republics. En Amérique’s readership has exploded in just under a year from just a few visitors to over 200 readers a day with some articles reaching close to 3000 readers.

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