ABSTRACT
The world is still some way from being a global village. Lifestyles, opportunities and access to the media and material goods continue to vary. Mali is not Canada; most citizens of Mali do not have the same chances for obtaining wealth and the trappings of development as most citizens of Canada. The same is true of the island world. Take access to the media as an example. On islands in the developed world many people would read both morning and evening newspapers and their Sunday paper requires the sacrifice of a small, hopefully sustainably managed, forest. On their televisions, connected to cable or satellite dishes, there might well be in excess of 100 stations, including several 24-hour news channels. There is the Internet with all its facilities for news, comment and information; there is teletext. Their radios access dozens of stations. In short, there is far more information available to such islanders about the goings on of the world than they can possibly handle.
