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Online Social Networks
For this week I actually had some actual experience and knowledge with this technology. My main experience has been with Facebook but have known about MySpace and other networks.
The readings were interesting this week to learn more on this social technology that has grown in great popularity in the last few years. I thought it was interesting that there is so much controvery around these social networks. I never realized that people had such a problem with them. I thought it was interesting with the reading about the professor getting angry with students when they were on these social networks during class time. I think the author makes a point that the professors should think why students are doing this, I don't think even having an amazingly interesting lecture will guarantee that all the students will still be paying attention to what is going on in the lecture.
In terms of social network sites and teens, I think that there is a concern for inappropriate behaviour occuring on these when there is no parental control. Things such as bulllying and predators and a great concern for many parents, and I think that some of the articles downplayed the danger of these on these sites. I do think that teens do need a space where they can hang out with their peers without any parental control but some of these sites give access to their information to possible predators.
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Having been in a classroom situation where I've seen an instructor become furious over computer use, AND later being in a classroom where the professor didn't care if you used the Internet so long as you were not distracting him or your peers, I think I can say I've seen and heard it all. I understand there is a lack of respect if you'd rather play Scrabulous on Facebook than listen to a professor give a lecture that you've paid for and that he or she has worked very hard on. But if there were no computers, we'd still be doing other things (reading, playing crosswords or Sudoku, knitting (yes, I've seen knitting!)). And a more interesting lecture may not always cut it either. I think it ultimately boils down to interactivity between instructors and students, and ensuring there is a dynamic class atmosphere where there is continuous debate and conversation. I think this is part of what Danah Boyd was getting at in her article: Facebook and MySpace are places where kids and teenagers can interact and take control of identities, and you can't always do that in a large lecture hall.
I find sites such as Facebook fascinating because it always shocks me how obsessed some people are with their profiles and with telling people what they are doing on a daily basis. My vexation is with people who feel that those 300 acquaintances of theirs are interested in every little aspect of their lives. In some ways, Facebook is like high school for older people, as we seem hell bent on showing everyone how many people we know and must blab to everyone what we are doing because our lives are so interesting. I don't have a problem with Facebook so much as I feel somewhat sorry for people who feel the need to tell everyone all about themselves. Maybe this is my old, inner outcast speaking, but I find Facebook to be a rather cold way of interacting with people. Still, it is neat when you are able to re-connect with someone from your past, and that is one thing that keeps me coming back to Facebook.