Sociology 230: Internet and Society

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.