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I'm sure by now most college students have heard of chat roulette. Before reading on, I will warn everyone that before you click on the link, there may be some offensive material. Anyways, chat roulette is a website that allows people with webcams to speak through microphones, or type in a chat bar, with anyone in the world that has also has a webcam. There has been recent coverage by the media concerning the innapropriate material that some users have been filming. However perverted some users may be, chat roulette is an interesting new way to communicate with people via the web. There are two things about this website that I think are interesting. The first is that the site is run by a 17 year old in a European country. The fact that at any given time, there are over 30,000 people connected to the site makes this a potential goldmine for advertisers. The second thing I find interesting is that while the site is meant for communication, almost nobody uses it to speak to other individuals. It is mostly used to satisfy the curiousity and voyeuristic tendencines that lie within most of us. The average user will just click through random people without speaking to anyone. This says something about the way the internet may be breaking down communication in some aspects, instead of uplifting it

This is a blogging site like Blogger. However this one emphasizes the community aspect more.

The youngest generation use every medium of communication possible but avoid the actual phone conversation, an average teen amasses 3,000 texts per month.

The internet has become more a communication system over the years and facebook has played a huge role in giving the internet this name. Facebook allows you to connect with others across the world. Sharing pictures, seinding messages, and chatting through a instant messanger all can be done on facebook.

This website is basically the largest index of text/ chat abbreviations used on the web. It chronicles abbreviations from A-Z. "With the popularity and rise in real-time text-based communications, such as instant messaging, e-mail, Internet and online gaming services, chat rooms, discussion boards and mobile phone text messaging (SMS), came the emergence of a new language tailored to the immediacy and compactness of these new communication media. If you have ever received an instant message or text message that seemed to be written in a foreign language, this Webopedia Quick Reference will help you decipher the text chat lingo by providing the definitions to more than 1,200 chat abbreviations."

This NY times article talks about the swift growth of the Facebook community and how that community is starting to take quite a hold in society.

This article talks about how our generation stays connected primarily through the web and social media sites, but that we aren't really building much of a community.

The new Google Wave application may be the next "big thing" in internet communication. Unfortunately, the best demo of Google Wave is over an hour long. This one also has a very good demonstration of its capabilities, however, it is to the script of "Pulp Fiction" which has MANY swear words.

This is a site that is sort of like PostSecret except that is is specific to Fandom secrets

Although this article is from 2002, it's interesting and important. It talks about how the web has helped deaf people be able to communicate and relate to others easier and more effectively (i.e. with the telephone).

This is a real life high-tech treasure hunt found all over the world. There's even some in Morgantown. Use your GPS to navigate coordinates to find secrect cache boxes. Fun for all ages and allows you to communicate to other geocachers !! You create hunts for others; everyone becomes an author.

This shows how everyone is using this effective communication tool. A student was calling a teacher with rude names and was suspended for his action. Where's the line drawn for freedom of speech?

This is an online community where gays and lesbians can interact without the pressures of our society.

This pdf file just gives the basic run down of how Myspace works and the dangers of social networking. It also gives ways to educate and communicate with others about the site.

A study of student IM usage reveals many advantages and some obstacles to using IM as a classroom communication tool

"The Halfbakery is a communal database of original, fictitious inventions, edited by its users. It was created by people who like to speculate, both as a form of satire and as a form of creative expression."

Douglas J. Wood is a partner with Reed Smith, chair of its media & entertainment industry focus group, and editor of the firm's white paper on social media, "Network Interference: A Legal Guide to the Commercial Risks and Rewards of the Social Media Networking Phenomenon."

This article talks about the history of instant messaging and how it works. It states that "IMing" is used as a faster way to emailing.

Interesting study in Baltimore about how news starts and how it moves through various communications vehicles (e.g., daily paper, blogs, new media etc.)