mdst_110 / 2007_fall / week_4


are digi peeps really peeps in the same way that peep peeps are peeps?



agenda

keywords

digital millenium copyright act; digital rights management; metadata; social network services; web 2.0

questions from lecture

1. are individuals and/or economies better served by conditions of plenitude or conditions of scarcity?
2. which is the better technological model: the open/collaborative environment or the closed/controlled environment?
3. are facebook and myspace instances of cultural democracy or corporate sharecropping?

questions from readings

danah boyd, "friends, friendsters, and top 8: writing community into being on social network sites"

1. to what extent does digital friending serve complicate, dilute, enhance, hierarchize, and/or simplify one's overall experience of friendship?
2. which audience do you cater to most in building your digital self-presentation?

pew report, "online communities: networks that nurture long-distance relationships and local ties"

1. is it possible for online communities to nurture both long-distance relationships and local ties, or are the former enhanced at the expense of the latter?
2. do you turn to the internet to get ahead, to get by, for belief or lifestyle purposes, for ethnic/racial connections or for civic engagement, for politics, entertainment, or sports? which of these categories are foremost, and why?

john m. grohol, "anonymity and online community (a critique of the wiki culture)"

1. is anonymity a blessing or a curse where digital collaboration is concerned?
2. has your experience as a user of wikipedia changed substantially as a result of the stricter controls they've placed on editors?