Question #1

After reading the article, "A Virtual Death", I thought the concept of self disclosure online was very interesting.  Ultimately it is this concept that lead me to choose online dating for my paper.  The truth is, you never really know who you are talking to online.  In this article, the woman blogged about being a woman named Kaycee and describing to her blog readers, her battle with Leukemia.  People completely believed her and never questioned for a second that this could be a made up person.  Other than the situation being totally unethical, no one was injured.  But the lack of self disclosure online can have dangerous consequences.  Parents often have security concerns when it comes to their children talking to strangers online.  They may portray themselves to be a thirteen year old when really they are a 50 year old man.  Ive learned from the Kaycee story and the concept of self disclosure is that you need to be on guard.  You should be careful about the information you are disclosing, since you have no idea that the other person is disclosing accurate information to you.  This article was so sad, but as sad as it was, it is a huge lesson learned!

Question #3, Favorite Reading, :)

We have read so many interesting articles this semester! I think one of the more interesting readings was "Just like me, only better".  Up until I had read that article, I was not very familiar with the avatar world, but i can understand why someone would be interested in creating one.  With avatars you have the opportunity to design yourself to be someone totally different; its like creating the life you wish you could have.  I rememeber reading this article and finding it surprising how so many people who are of other ethnicities than white, decided to create avatars that had blond hair and light skin, calling it "white beauty".  I think this fact is kind of sad; that people would prefer it if they looked like a different ethnicity and that they think that people will feel that they will be more "popular" or "desirable" by creating a fake version of themselves. I have never made an avatar so I am not really familiar with the process.  I do think that this sort of program can be benneficial to those who have low selfestiem but I think at the end of the day, people need to be able to face reality and learn how to deal and not live in a fake universe. 

Virtual Death

The story of Kaycee is so horrible, how could someone create such a hoax and not feel a bit of guilt.  It is true, online you have the capability to create any identity imaginable.  In this case this woman decided to write a blog about a girl battling and dying of leukimia.  When it comes to blogging, you follow a blog that most interests you.  People were saddened by Kaycee's story and followed her blog and wrote comments to wish her well.  Within this blog about Kaycee a community was created; a community of people who all shared sadness and hope for Kaycee to get well.  When it was said that she died and later found out that the whole thing was a lie, it is no surprise that these people would be outraged.  Their emotions went into this blog and they were sincerely hurt by the news of her death.  This kind of story really scares me.  It just further shows that you cant trust everything you read online.  People are not always who they say they are and that really bothers me.  Hopefully people will learn from this article and that no one tries to pull a prank like this one in the future :(

"The New Family Album"

After reading the Virtual death and how communities are formed through blogs, I decided to find an article related to that subject.  I found an article in Time Magazine titled, "The New Family Album".  This article discusses a specific type of blog, parental related blogs.  This one woman decided to start a blog about her growing family.  She wrote posts during her pregnancy and found that most of the people who viewed her little blog were people who were also experiencing the same life changing experience.  This article explains how parent related blogs help mothers especially as they are able to vent as well as hear from other mothers who are experiencing the same things with their children.  If a mother needs tips on how to get their baby to sleep through the night, they have a community to turn to for advice- a community of mothers and fathers.  According to the article, "Pregnancy, childbirth and parenting are times of great personal change and uncertainty, and that enhances our desire to reach out...Blogging helps parents connect in a convenient, efficient and stress-free way without the time and obligation of a face-to-face meeting,"( Time, 2004).  Even though these women dont know each other personally, they feel a certain comfort within the community to express their concerns and fears as well as share their accomplishments and happiness.  I think a blog is a great way to "meet" like minded people and have the opportunity to get answers to your questions and have a place to turn to when things get rough.  Sometimes it easier to talk to strangers online than it is to confide in your own friends and family.

Read more: http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,993832,00.html#ixzz1dSsg7ryF

The World Wide Web

I really enjoyed reading this text and found it a little humorous.  This article goes into detail on how to basically use the Internet.  They explain the basics like how to conduct searches or what is a URL.  There was one part that said that if you havent experienced the World Wide Web, then you should try it.  I find that statement really amusing, to think that at one point people had no idea how to use the Internet.  Our generation has been exposed to this technology at such a young age that it has always been apart of our lives.  I keep forgetting that my own parents had to live a chunk of their lives without this technology... how they survived, i am not quite sure.  The Internet has completely changed the way we communicate. It has brought the world closer together making communication easier and more efficient.  There are still things that I am not 100% knowledgeable about with the Internet; like i still really have no idea how to make a website; haha.  I can only imagine how hard it must have been for people to adjust to using the Internet. 

Blogging: Self Presentation and Privacy

I am not a big blogger; actually this is the only blog I have every created :).  I have read other blogs, cooking blogs, photography blogs, and travel blogs.  After reading this article I thought the results of the study were interesting.  Although the blogs I mentioned above are not very personal blogs, the authors have revealed some personal information in their posts.  This does raise a concern for privacy.  The article stated that after gathering the results from the survey, "the importance of expressive privacy to bloggers is evident because 62.6% of respondents claimed that social interaction through sharing of personal experiences was their main reason blogging, despite the privacy risks. One of the most important functions of expressive privacy is its ability to allow meaningful relationships to develop",(p.9).  According to the article expressive privacy is the ability for one to freely express themselves and interact with others.  I do think that this kind fo privacy is would not be as much of a concern because the whole point of blogging is to express your thoughts and give your oppinion on other blogs.  People do need to be careful of what private information they put on their blogs because once its on the internet, chances are it will always be.

Facebook and Privacy

I found an article on wired .com called "Report: Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg Doesn't Believe in Privacy."  Privacy is a huge concern among internet users especially those who have Facebook accounts.  The information that we put  in our profiles is not only public for your friends to see but to other internet companies and users.  According to the article, "But we wouldn’t recommend posting anything there that you wouldn’t want marketers, legal authorities, governments (or your mother) to see, especially as Facebook continues to push more and more of users’ information public and even into the hands of other companies, leaving the onus on users to figure out its Rubik’s Cube-esque privacy controls,"(Wired, 2010).    The Facebook icon can be found on almost all consumer websites.  Just by simply clicking like, Facebook now has the opportunity to use that information to put similar ads on your Facebook page.  Now this kind of privacy isnt so much of a safety concern but it does concern me that every move  we make online is being tracked and recorded in some way by other companies.  This article is a little dated but I do feel it is still relevant.


http://www.wired.com/epicenter/2010/04/report-facebook-ceo-mark-zuckerberg-doesnt-believe-in-privacy/