ELI: A Wider World: Youth, Privacy, and Social Networking Technologies

  • Tracy Mitrano, Director of IT Policy and Computer Policy and Law Program, Cornell University
  • Anita Rho, Student, Cornell University
  • Abstract
    Facebook represents a growing number of applications that provide communication, connection, and community building among users, so please bring your laptop to this session for an introduction to this cool new tool! We will learn how to create an account, make “friends” (connections with others you know or would like to know who share common interests), and use various functionalities such as bulletin boards, “poking,” or posting content such as text, photos, and video. If the prognostications are true that e-mail is for old people and social networking is the new killer app, then come join the future!

    She asked how many of us had a Facebook account and use social networking software with our students and a large amount of us have. To be expected with this crowd…

    Web 2.0
    Examples will be posted (I am not sure where). Just Google “what is Web 2.0.” Interesting…from O’Reilly:

    Web 1.0   Web 2.0
    DoubleClick –> Google AdSense
    Ofoto –> Flickr
    Akamai –> BitTorrent
    mp3.com –> Napster
    Britannica Online –> Wikipedia
    personal websites –> blogging
    evite –> upcoming.org and EVDB
    domain name speculation –> search engine optimization
    page views –> cost per click
    screen scraping –> web services
    publishing –> participation
    content management systems –> wikis
    directories (taxonomy) –> tagging (“folksonomy”)
    stickiness –> syndication
  • The gov’t and higher ed were the source of the web and web 2.0 and we need to remain relevant and engaged in its development.
  • Citing Pew Internet and Life Project See the site for stats.
  • She is interested in the social, political policies and concerns. Privacy, etc.
  • What is all the fuss?

  • Criminals push the technology envelope. We need to protect children from predators, etc. She warns that this is real, these things have happened and we don’t need to “protect” the technology. We simply need to build into the virtual world the kinds of protections we have in the real world. Private firms like MySpace are hiring “security officers” who monitor searches (do certain names make searches for particular traits regularly, etc.)
  • What is it about computers that lowers inhibitions?

  • Absence of physical social cues
  • Deeply personal relationship with computers (?!) not unlike an analyst-analyzed relationship
  • Human computer interaction for impulsive creative behavior
  • Reason for making technology illegal?

  • HR 5319 – Would render all social networking technologies illegal; Passed by House in 2006; Died at the end of the session.
  • She has written an article on it, “Thoughts on Facebook.”
  • The remainder of the comments are from the article above. See also the followup article on the Educause site in the Educause Review.

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