Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Communication
Tools
for lmmigrants
by Lin Wang
Websites& Blogs
W-ebs(www.webs.com)offers free web hosting
underits domain name.You can createa personalized
pagewi,thanythingyou will ever want to sharewith
your ftmily. Thereare more than 300 templatesoffered, l'vefounC
along,Withpageeditors.Photoand video sharing
fufltctirbnsare also available, though not as advancedas
w,ay
r"nv
o#sidreated solely for thosepurposes.You can even
qtbatea,'oring"to connectwith your family, or add them
agaln
tb yhur mailing list. A function of interestto families
t*yifig to stay in contact is the personalforum. You and
your family can createthreads,and thus share
discussionswithout any worry over time difference.
Ask abouttheir healthand post any exciting news you
may have.A simplerversionof web-creatingis the Page
Creator,offeredby Google.
Blogs are also gainingpopularity acrossthe web.
Userscan post announcements and writing alongwith
videos and pictureson the blog. Setthe blog statusto
private, give eachfamily memberan accountand you
will be able to network. Blogger (www.blogger.com)
and Wordpress(www.wordpress.com) both host them
free, and their functionsare similar.
Whetheryou arejust preparingto leaveyour home
country or you are a landed immigrant, there are ways
for you to stay connectedwith your family and roots.
Distanceshouldno longerbe an obstaclefor immigrant
families trying to maintaincontact. Gnn
Canadianl{ewcomerMagazine May/June2009 55