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This podcast deals with a discussion of internet anonymity and the Tor software. This program allows people to be online anonymously and hides their location and activity. With many sites like Google, Facebook and Amazon tracking and monitoring our activity for many reasons, including advertising, this discussion of online privacy and anonymity is timely and informative.

This blog was created by Indiana University students and faculty who were interested in Social Informatics. On top of providing information on current events, conferences, and a pretty good bibliography, they also write their own entries about related topics in social informatics. Some of the posts seem more geared toward moderate to experts in social informatics, but there are a lot of great posts incorporating theory, literature in the field, personal opinion, and current events.

I posted this blog above, Maranda, before I could see anyone else's posts... sorry about that! Great minds think alike :)

I have never played WoW, but I do enjoy the idea of playing a game while simultaneously adopting or constructing a new persona or identity as part of the game. WoW and other online MMOs have vast communities with diverse members interacting in various online social setting both within and outside the game realm. I have a particular interest in the way that social media and technology shapes and affects the construction or reconstruction of "our" identities, and how intertwined much of our lives are with the technology we use.

I've never played WOW either but I do buy into the whole idea of an online identity. Non-gamers create one, too, by way of social networking sites--LinkedIn, facebook, Myspace--and some via usernames on online messageboards. It's possible to have several different online identities; the clean and presentable one you use to promote yourself to employers and work colleagues on LinkedIn, the slightly more laid-back Facebook profile, and with the promise of anonymity on message boards and forums, you can really let loose!

My husband and I have spent hours upon hours playing Everquest, so I know first-hand the draw of creating an online persona/identity. It's a way to step out of your everyday life and become someone or something you aren't. For instance, in one game I'm a Dark Fairy with magical powers. Who wouldn't want to be one? It's also a way to have relationships with people all over the planet without giving too much away about your true identity, so the draw for those that are less than comfortable in real-life situations is huge. Not to mention you learn all kinds of things about different areas of the world, so it's a learning experience too!

This looks like a good, up-to-date blog created by a group of PhD students with an interest in social informatics. It includes links to recent papers and studies in many wide-ranging SI areas... some rather engaging, such as the connections b/w censorship and SI. It also has book reviews, such as a review of Virginia Eubank's Digital Deadend -- good stuff on social justice!

Oops, looks like someone else already posted this. You guys have beat me to everything I've found so far! Way to go.

In addition to the actual blog, I found this group of researchers also has a Facebook page. I like the option of accessing information this way because Facebook provides snippets from the blog articles, which allows you to screen the content: https://www.facebook.com/SocialInformaticsBlog