Re: Spartacus Movie Online
Shay Silvertooth
Though the competition was done in an online format, it actually paved the way for 46 pieces to compete in it, which would have been nearly impossible if the competition had been in person like in previous years.The competition has a system of 4 ratings: superior, excellent, good, fair, and poor. There were 46 events competing which received only superior and excellent ratings, which is pretty amazing. Out of those were 23 superiors, 19 excellents and 2 Top Honors (which indicates a perfect score).
Spartacus Educational is a free online encyclopedia with essays and other educational material on a wide variety of historical subjects principally British history from 1700 and the history of the United States.
Based in the United Kingdom, Spartacus Educational was established as a book publisher in 1984 by former history teacher John Simkin and Judith Harris.[1] It became an online publisher in September 1997.[2] It grew into a large database of primary and secondary sources on a wide variety of subjects: World War I, World War II, Russian Revolution, campaign against slavery, Chartism, women's suffrage (biographies of 230 women), Nazi Germany, Spanish Civil War and Cold War. Wherever possible, the history is told, Simkin explained, via the words of the people involved in the struggle for equality and democracy.
Monica Burns is an EdTech consultant for Edutopia free online resources in history for teaching students how to comprehend informational text. Of Spartacus Educational Burns 2013 wrote: "a great resource for global history. It contains free encyclopedia entries that directly connect to primary source documents, making it a perfect tool for educators looking to give students a starting point in their research.".[6]
Clearly, people from different professional backgrounds using their platforms to promote social change can be very effective. When people call themselves activists, it usually comes with the expectation that this person will use their resources to support marginalised communities. This might be via sharing Go Fund Me pages, posting infographics or even creating spaces online for discussion and transparency. There is no glory in denigrating the work that online activists do because many people benefit from the ways they use their platforms.
Social media, and online activists, have also supported people trying to enact change. For example, in 2016, when images of 13-year-old Zulaikha Patel went viral, as she, and her fellow students, protested alleged racist hair policies in Pretoria Girls High, the school removed the natural hair ban, following the pressure that had amounted online. While it could be argued that had every person who retweeted called themselves an activist, the cause would not have carried the same weight as Patel calling herself an activist. But it did show that people can show solidarity as part of a cause and help the process of enabling change.