Presentations1

Today Lorena, Shelia, Corrinda, Moreece, and Kat did their very interesting presentations.

Lorena-
Lorena's argument was about internet censorship in China, and how it changes peoples perspectives on things. After Julie's remarks I don't know how credible the numbers are, but from the presentation Lorena showed how limited China's search engines are due to China's internet filtering to everyone. China has what is known as the Golden Shield, which pops up when you are venturing off to a site that is restricted. There are various censoring keywords that are in place along with over 500,000 URLs blocked. Within China, there are 3 different types of censorship: Governmental, Private, and Self Censorship. Basically China only allows their people to see the good things about China on the internet.

Shelia-
Shelia's argument was traditional gender roles found in meatspace are reinforced and perpetuated in cyberspace/online communities. The traditional gender roles are learned behaviors as each person grows up in their culture. When she looked at facebook and myspace, people generally posted pictures of them selves, not using avatars or other descriptive pics to describe themselves. On Stardoll people make their own avatars and post them for all to see, some pay money for certain looks and dress their avatar up to look like their dream figure or a certain celebrity. Then on Club Penguine, it is a genderless site but people try to identify who is a male, and who is a female.

Moreece-
Argument-Modern cell phones which are connected to cyberspace is helping close the digital divide; specifically changing how rural farmers are taking care of their crops. Cell phones linked to the internet can give the farmer more direct information, they can log on and see what the weather will be like in their specific 5 square kilometer sector. Since this information is available in your pocket, people will more redily adapt and purchase these cell phones linked to the internet which will help close the digital divide.

Corrinda-
Argument-children DO learn through gaming. Research question-can children learn through gaming? She wants to learn what children do and don't learn playing games. For example the memory game online. This game helps increase your short term memory. The biggest thing is gaming has instant rewards, which motivates kids to keep participating, and they are learning while they are having fun.

Kat-
Argument-political parties are using the internet more and more to reach out and show themselves to everyone with internet access to boost their campaining in hopes for wining. The internet played a key role for Obama's campain, he had a group of followers before he even decided to run for president so with his online group, he was able to put his name out earlier and faster than anyone else.