LIB100 Section K

There are a lot of social tools out there to help you communicate and share information. Pick one of the following, watch, and comment on how this tool might be useful for you in your academic, personal, or future professional life.

Blogs | Photo Sharing | Podcasting | RSS | Social Bookmarking | Social Media | Social Networking | Twitter | Twitter Search | Wikis

The other day, when discussing newspapers, we also talked about privacy. We touched on privacy in Facebook, the use of library materials, and in Google.

An issue that is closely tied to privacy is online identity. Online identity is the concept of who you present yourself as when online. For example, I am really active online, but I only talk about certain parts of my life on the Internet. My online identity doesn’t represent my entire self, but just the part I feel comfortable sharing.

Take a few minutes to post on your thoughts about privacy online and personal identity. Is it disingenuous to represent yourself differently online? How do you share your personal side with friends while maintaining enough privacy to feel good if job interviewers were to see your information? Do you even think privacy matters all that much at this point?

Our next class discussion will be on the future of publishing. We’ll talk about books, magazines, music, and newspapers. To get started thinking about the topic, please read As Cities Go From Two Papers to One, Talk of Zero . Once you’ve read the article, please comment on some aspect of it. If you’re having a hard time getting started you could consider:

• Do you believe newspaper publishing will be around in 20 years? What about books?
• How have your reading habits changed? How do they differ from your parents? How does this impact what media you choose to spend money on?
• What is the role of a newspaper in the community? Can something else fill that void?

Kevin Kelly, the speaker, is well known among people who pay attention to technology. He tends to think pretty clearly about where we are and where we’re going.

To get ready for Tuesday’s discussion, watch at least the first 2 minutes and 15 seconds of this video featuring Kevin Kelly. (Update: If the video doesn’t work for you, you can view it here.)

For this discussion post: Please comment on something of interest in this video. If you’re having a hard time getting started, consider the following questions.

• Does this video raise any questions for you? If so, what?
• Was anything confusing? Do you need help understanding anything Kelly said?
• Do you, as a college student, think differently about the internet than this older man–and if so, how?
• How can you imagine the internet changing over the next five or ten years?
• Can you remember your first computer? The first time you used the internet? The first time you used the internet on a phone? Oregon Trail? How have things changed since then?
• How can you prepare for the future when we’re unsure what role technology will play?
• You could also make a response to someone else’s comment. Be sure to refer to the specific comment you’re replying to.

Please remember that this assignment is worth 5 points. For this first blog post, you will get credit as long as you post a sentence or two that goes beyond “I agree” and indicates that you’ve engaged with the content. If your comment is too short or not thorough enough for full credit in the future, Jean-Paul or I will email you with comments. Let us know if you have questions!

We will be using this blog as our primary class website. Please check back frequently for announcements, assignments, and discussion posts.