SISummer11

I've always tended to cringe at the sight of Wikipedia, mainly because of the danger that community participation without expert editorial would diminish the truthfulness of posts. After reviewing some of this material, I'm now thinking that our skepticism should source from the editorial experts - or site administrators - at Wikipedia themselves. They seem like governors of a new system of direct representation who come to fear their constituents, policing their activities in a "tyranny of structurelessness." It's difficult to determine the right balance between administrators and participants.

First of all, I don't think entries for 500 Pokemon characters all that trivial - that's exactly the reason I would use Wikipedia, if I needed a refresher in Wiggly Puff or another character. in terms of self-governance I get the idea of a more formal or established social contract, seems to make a lot of sense and sets a standard. I can't say I'm convinced that going for inclusion vs. deletion leads to stronger self-governance. Doesn't there have to be some for of consensus/compromise to establish a system that everyone can live with?

The article reflects that Wikipedia relies on the "wisdom of the crowds for its quality control processes". I agree that knowing there is some sort of governance or policing occurring on the site increases confidence in the content, but I am going to agree with Wesch that our tendency to be skeptical of collaborative work in an educational setting is in part due to our comfort level with a hierarchical model that places authority at the top.

In my group project research on the digital divide, I came across this blog from an educational technology teacher that might prove interesting to you; this is a link to all his postings on the digital divide: http://www.pbs.org/teachers/learning.now/digital_divide/. It is from a few years back, but I think a historical view on how technology has changed and how its use has changed in the classroom is something to consider.

After reading your article and thinking about my own opinions on digital privacy, I think that people aren't too concerned with their privacy because the virtual world seems so gigantic. I feel like a very tiny part of this world so I am more apathetic and unconcerned when it comes to my personal privacy than I should be. Sounds horrible, right? We, as a society, also tend to be very open about ourselves - even posting where we are at that second to everyone on our facebook!

wow...scary stuff!! i think that's a great topic with a lot to explore. a lot of content and some interesting psychological implications...funny how a lot of people ignore the issue since the evidence is pretty terrifying. but good to be aware since it affects us all.

Interesting to also consider the ways in which teens view privacy - particularly in comparison to the ways in which their parents view it: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/digitalnation/relationships/identity/famous-for-15-minutes.html?play. Glad I could bring danah boyd into the conversation here!

Elisa, I actually just got an email from Ravelry.com (an online knitting community) saying that their account database had been hacked and that I should change my password anywhere where I used the same email address and password to log in. I just went through this a few months ago when the Gawker Media servers were hacked! It's hard to rack my brain to remember every single website where I've signed up using my primary email address and go-to password. There are probably hundreds! God forbid I have accounts with that information that also have my credit card associated with it. It's scary to think about how much of me is spread all over the internet, and I can't even remember where in order to protect myself.

I think I fall into that category of people who care about privacy but then contradict themselves with their behavior. From the personal to more organizational, this report on cyber hackers was on NPR today. http://www.npr.org/2011/06/06/137000302/latest-hacks-could-set-the-stage-for-cyberwar

I can haz meme? I like this article, especially since it covers Rickrolling. You know, this is a good article to share with my parents--I'm a member of lots of communities, and it's hard to explain memes like LOLcats and Rickrolling to them. It's like a different culture, and sometimes I'm at a loss to explain it. I have to say that it's a bit weird to see this from an academic perspective. By the way, you've been posting a lot of articles like these. Where are you finding them?