GENDER and SEX

I thought the readings and today's lecture and discussion was very interesting. I am a "female" and "heterosexual" so the questions of being or wanting to look like another sex has never occurred to me to be a problem facing today's social definitions of gender and sex. I would think these online sites only allow people to choose between the two because they are catering to the majority. But then the minority should not be ignored as well. Hopefully a solution can be found such as broadening the gender/sex selection to make it more clear. This will definitely make people who are dating online much easier because they can clearly describe their sexuality. 

Emoticons 1881

This article just gained popularity on Digg:

Again, another innovation bourne during the Victorian Internet.

A further point of interest is the bewilderment to the Digg audience from the archeology of communication techniques that  have a century-old history despite being reproduced over "high-tech" devices.

Rights to Privacy?

Yeah okay, I do read some gossip blogs and actually found this relevant article/blog through one of the more popular ones:

http://amandafrench.net/2009/02/16/facebook-terms-of-service-compared/

It compares the different policies of ownership of personal information of the big networking sites. Like mentioned in class, Facebook retains all your information even when you delete your account. Facebook basically owns everything you provide them, including pictures that you upload. When compared to other networking sites like Myspace, Twitter, LinkedIn and YouTube, Facebook is the only networking site that claims ownership to people's information:

You hereby grant Facebook an irrevocable, perpetual, non-exclusive, transferable, fully paid, worldwide license (with the right to sublicense) to (a) use, copy, publish, stream, store, retain, publicly perform or display, transmit, scan, reformat, modify, edit, frame, translate, excerpt, adapt, create derivative works and distribute (through multiple tiers), any User Content you (i) Post on or in connection with the Facebook Service or the promotion thereof subject only to your privacy settings or (ii) enable a user to Post, including by offering a Share Link on your website and (b) to use your name, likeness and image for any purpose, including commercial or advertising, each of (a) and (b) on or in connection with the Facebook Service or the promotion thereof.


Scared much?

Research Project

Hullo, we're the group doing trolling. Trolling in class was called "griefing."
We'll be attempting to study how and why different people troll, where trolling takes place, and how this affects other users.
I've held off on posting about our group because due to the nature of our topic, we are bound to have some difficulties with our project.
A major problem we have is how to gain cooperation from the community. Since the ethics code prevents us from participating too much, most of our data would have to come from observation, and hopefully some interviews.
Any advice or suggestions would be appreciated.
-Gloria Law

HELP- Need GROUP

Hi all,

I am still not assigned to a group and am looking to join one ASAP.  I am looking for a group that has an interest in facebook. I am pretty familiar with facebook and will contribute all I can to the project. If any group has any space let me know! My email address is jwade@uci.edu. 

This would be much appreciated! 

Thanks,

Jen

Virtual Conferencing

As you all may know, virtual worlds such as Second Life offer businesses the ability to hold virtual events online. Some of you may have even taken a course here at UCI where classes were held within Second Life. This is a growing phenomenon and, as I discuss below, has a number of advantages for businesses. An article in Virtual Worlds News reports that with the downward trend of the economy more businesses are projected to cut back on travel expenses. As a result, virtual conferencing has been viewed as a way for businesses to cut travel costs. Although face-to-face interaction is an essential aspect of business relations, face-to-face meetings are not always necessary, not to mention that they are costly. Telepresence solutions such as video conferencing and virtual world collaborations provide a viable alternative for businesses. And as the technology for video conferencing and virtual world solutions improves and is more directed to business needs, companies are finding it a more attractive option. To illustrate the significance of video conferencing on business, Gartner predicts that by 2012 2.1 million airline seats will be replaced by virtual conferencing alternatives.

Virtual events businesses, such as Corporate Planners Unlimited in Second Life, have expanded their services to take advantage of the growing industry. Corporate Planners Unlimited offers standard sessions and networking events as well as team –building exercises such as skydiving and treasure hunts. These virtual planners give businesses a variety of creative options in much the same way real life events planners do, but at a cheaper price. For most business though, it is not a matter of doing away with physical events and face to face meetings completely, but about finding applications and ways of blending the virtual and real worlds together.

Facebook terms of service- they can do anything they want with your info

I wasn't sure if anyone posted this already but my friend just sent it to me an hour ago. It talks about the new terms of service agreement... Basically the new terms states that facebook own everything on it.. Now if we thought of facebook as a place... and our profiles as space... then that's like saying that we have to leave all our belongings in the space because we don't own it. The article has the responses from facebook that claim it is a protective measure.

It is just frightening to imagine that even if i close my account my information will not be closed along with it... also there is a fact that many people don't know what they are getting themselves into by agreeing to the terms of service.

but with all these contracts online.. what does this show about our "privacy" online?