Sociology 230: Internet and Society

And no, cancelling class is not an option.

Here are the possibilities that I've come up with, and that we talked about in class on 3/24.

• Video Games (MMORPGs, XBox Life, etc.)
• Podcasting and other "New Media"
• Cell Phones / Mobile Telephony
• Distance Education

Please vote for ONE choice by leaving a comment on this post. I will tally the votes on FRIDAY EVENING and we'll talk about the highest vote-getter on the 11th.

Because class attendance has not improved, I will be changing the method by which you hand in reading responses.

Starting on April 4th, you will write a reading response for each class meeting, and these responses will be due on paper at the beginning of class. I will no longer accept responses posted to your 'blogs. Your responses should be roughly 1 double-spaced page typed or three handwritten pages.

I will grade each response out of 5 points, giving you a possibility of 10 points for responses each week (the same number of points as before). I will drop your three lowest scores OUT OF TEN (which actually means that you can skip twice as many responses, assuming you haven't used all of your skips already - so it's not all bad!).

To summarize:

• No more 'blogs.
• Turn in reading responses at the beginning of EACH CLASS SESSION (both Tuesdays and Thursdays).
• The two responses for each week are worth 10 points total (the same number of points that the one 'blog entry was worth).

E-mail me if you have any questions.

For April 4, I would like you to read:

• Wellner, "TrustUs.com" (BB)
• Gergoire & Lockyer, "Internet Privacy Principles" (BB)
• Jensen et al., "Privacy Practices of Internet Users" (BB)
• Starke-Meyerring et al. "American Internet Users and Privacy: A Safe Harbor of Their Own?" (SO)

Your reading response should answer the questions, "How do you deal with privacy concerns in your online life? How successful are these privacy practices?"

For Thursday, please read:

• Barak, "Sexualy Harassment on the Internet"
  
• Finn, "A Survey of Online Haassment at a University Campus"
  

INTERNET service providers could face huge fines if they do not provide spam filtering or impose email sending limits under new rules set down by a communications watchdog. [Australia]

Read:

• Bellovin, “Spamming, Phishing, Authentication, and Privacy”
  
• Sipior et al., “Should Spam Be On The Menu?”
  
• “FTC Nixes ‘Do-Not-Spam’ List”
  
• Awad & Fitzgerald, “The Deceptive Behaviors that Offend Us Most About Spyware”
  
• Hu & Dinev, “Is Spyware an Internet Nuisance or Public Menace?”
  

‘Blog (choose one):

• How does Internet abuse like spam & spyware impact the average Internet user?
  
• Discuss the relationships between spam and other forms of unsolicited advertising (junk mail, telemarketing, etc.).
  

Apropos our discussion of online gambling on Tuesday, WBFO aired an American RadioWorks documentary about teens and online poker yesterday morning. I didn't hear most of it, but what I did sounded interesting. They do have a podcast but they don't seem to have posted this particular piece yet.

"ONLINE payment company PayPal has unveiled plans to roll-out a new service that will allow mobile phone users to make purchases and money transfers using a simple text message. "

I've noticed quite a bit of "slippage" in when reading responses are being posted. I just wanted to remind you that they are due at TEN PM Monday night! Responses posted significantly after 10 pm will receive a 0.

"In the wake of Belarus' presidential election, which the opposition says was rigged in favour of President Alexander Lukashenko, critics of the government are struggling to spread the word about their protests."

For Thursday I only want you to read one article - Jordan, “(Ad)Dressing the Body in Online Shopping Sites”. In addition to reading this article, I want you to do TWO online activities.

• Go to the My Virtual Model website and create a model for yourself. Spend 20 minutes or half an hour "shopping" with the model, and think about the following questions:
  
  
  
  1. Is your model a good representation of yourself?
     
  2. How does MVM try to change the online shopping experience?
     
  3. Is it successful?
     
  4. Would you consider buying clothing that you've tried on your Virtual Model?
     
  
  
• Think of a "big-ticket item" that you would love to buy - a camera, a computer, a car, even a house. Use the Internet to research this item, compare prices, and ultimately decide on a product and a vendor from whom to purchase it. As you do this, think about the following questions:
  
  
  
  1. How many resources do you use when doing this sort of shopping?
     
  2. What are the offline analogs to the online resources you used?
     
  3. Does the Internet make doing this sort of shopping easier?
     
  4. Does the Internet encourage the purchasing of such items?
     
  
  

You should come to class on Thursday prepared to discuss the outcomes of these two activities.

All this week, NPR has been doing a series called "Conversations About Privacy." Today's installment was about a 22-year-old grad student who is active on MySpace and maintains no less than SIX 'blogs.

"HAVANA (Reuters) - A Cuban dissident who has been on a hunger strike for 36 days to demand unfettered Internet access is refusing medication and his health is deteriorating rapidly, fellow dissidents said on Wednesday."

For March 21, the Tuesday after Spring Break, I would like you to read:

• Salam et al., “Trust in E-Commerce”
  
• Uslaner, “Trust Online, Trust Offline”
  
• Mutz, “Social Trust and E-Commerce”
  

For your reading response, I would like you to reflect on how you personally participate in e-commerce.

Here are the 'blog links that I promised you guys from last week. First off, the blogs that you wrote your own 'blog entries about.

Additionally, here are the links that we looked at in class, or that I mentioned in passing.

• MC Hammer
  
• photojunkie SQUARED
  
• Tales of an Enlightened Fellow
  
• snowdeal.org > ex machina
  
• I Make Things
  
• fast moving animals
  

Once again, multiple news links:

MySpace.com to bolster security: MySpace, still the media darling, is upping security in order to prevent crime.

Google offers glimps of web-based hard drive: Are they really trying to take over the world? We're definitely going to revisit the Google issue when we discuss privacy & security in a couple of weeks.

For Thursday, I'd like you to read (both from Society Online):

• Stromer-Galley, "Will Internet Voting Increase Turnout?"
  
• Rice, "The Internet and Political Involvement in 1996 and 2000"
  

I'd also like you to skim the Pew report entitled "The Internet and Campaign 2004" (available on Blackboard).

For Tuesday, I'd like you to read:

• Dessauer, "New Media, Internet News, and the News Habit" (in Society Online)
  
• Tewksbury, "What Do Americans Really Want to Know?"
  

In your 'blog response, you should answer one of the following questions:

• How has the Internet changed the news media as an industry?
  
• How has the Internet changed the way that you consume news?
  

Chicago planning for city-wide WiFi: As we discussed when we covered broadband, there's a movement to make wireless access freely available. It'll be impressive if Chicago does manage to make the whole city a hotspot.
Teens at risk on social web sites. There's always some new Internet technology that's the media darling - right now it's MySpace.
Text message boom leads to digit damage: Those of use who text a lot apparently need to worry about it adversely affecting your helath.
'Virtual' visits for children of divorce: Some families are using webcams to allow kids & their non-custodial parents to keep in touch; some states have made this an official option.