Unit 1 begins by talking about international inequities. Surprisingly, most people around the world are not online for many reasons
- 1.5 billion people in the world live on less than a dollar a day
- the national average monthly income in Africa is approximately 50 US dollars
- 4 billion people around the world will probably never get online
Online ethics is the next important topic that the book covers. It pertains to how we communicate online, and the rules and morals we should use online. For instance, the Association for Computing Machinery has developed an internet code of conduct. Also, the Computer Ethics Institute has a list of Ten Commandments of Computer Ethics.
Inequality online is a very big deal. As well as in person, people are being discriminated against because of language differences, gender, age, physical ability, race, and ethnicity online. One reason for these problems is that most people who use the internet are white and economically well off. For example, only 5 percent of US internet users are African American, the statistics for Latino Americans are even lower. Economic power equals the ability to communicate online.
People now are trying to get internet available to more people around the world. Some ideas for doing this include:
- community technology centers
- sending computers to under priviledged countries
- public internet terminals
Unit 2: Online Identity: Real or Virtual
In Unit 2, we begin by reading about symbolic markers which is a concrete way in which people communicate their identities to others. Identity is what we are portraying through symbolic markers. For instance, clothing is a symbolic marker. It's how you associate yourself with a particular group of people. The people you identify with.
Online the issue is multiple identities. We can experiment with different ways to express ourselves online since we are not limited by being judged by our appearances.
People were excited about the anonymity of the internet. The popular saying "on the internet, nobody knows you're a dog" illustrates the mystery and curiosity of online identities. The computer was considered a 'second self'.
Another important issue is what to tell about yourself and what to hide online. The Johari window does a wonderful job illustrating how and what we disclose to others on the internet.
I was surprised to learn the statistics regarding Hispanic and African Americans online usage or shall I say, lack of. I figured that just about everyone was on the internet but apparently, that is not the case. I'm sure this has a lot to do with economic status and things of that nature. The people that I know that can't afford the internet visits their local library for internet access. But then there are those (in other countries)that don't even have that option.
ReplyDeleteAs far as privacy online, I think it's best to only put online what you don't mind others seeing or knowing. We have to be careful about this because certain demographic and personal data are collected by advertisers and marketers. Facebook sells people's information for a profit. And then there are instances where what we put out there can be used against us. For example, we can be denied employment, scholarships, etc due to the content we choose to display over the internet. And even though we are to believe that we can be anonymous online, there's always a trail that leads back to you. I'm just saying.