Name______Section______Date______
Worksheet 10-1 Surf’s Up!
Gain access to a home computer or a computer at a lab on campus or in the library. Use the computer to search the Internet (a database or the World Wide Web) or sign on to a bulletin board and download some information. Your instructor may assign you a specific topic.
Print and submit your findings with this worksheet. When you get onto the Web, be sure to check out your department’s or university’s Web site. Even your textbook has its own Web site (www.mhhe.com).
1. What did you find that surprised you while you were on the Internet?
2. What did you find that you think is more easily discovered online than from other more traditional sources (e.g., libraries, traditional media)?
3. Was there anything you wanted to find online but could not? Be specific.
4. In the space below or on the back of this sheet, list the information you would include on your own Web page. That is, how would you translate “who you are” into a mass communication electronic message? Be sure to consider pictures, sounds, and video clips Feel free to sketch out or draw your home page.
Name______Section______Date______
Worksheet 10-2 Copyright Cop
Search the Net and try to find instances of copyright infringement – inappropriate use of intellectual property (text and images).
Were you able to find copyright infringement online? Yes No
1. If you were able to find suspected copyright infringement, what content did you find? Specifically, how did you decide it was inappropriate? If you were not able to find potential infringement, list specific places you looked or strategies you used to try to find it.
2. Assuming you did find content that was “lifted” without permission from another source, what’s the big deal? Why should anybody care? Aren’t there advantages to information being “free” for anyone to use? Isn’t that the hallmark of the Internet and also of democracy? Defend your position.
Name______Section______Date______
Worksheet 10-3 Web Profiling
Here are the URLs of two sites that make a living by profiling their users. You can select one of these, or you can choose a similar one more to your liking. Once you have made your selection, visit that site and answer these questions (two possibilities are offered below; but try your skill at finding your own).
Matchmaker.com http://www.matchmaker.com
Princeton Review http://www.princetonreview.com
1. What site did you visit? What is its URL?
2. Did the site offer a privacy statement or other guarantee that the data you submit would not be sold or given to others? If so, what was it? If not, should this trouble you? Why or why not?
3. Some sites require certain information for participation, and identify other data as optional. What was the site’s reason or justification for asking for the kinds of information it requested? Do you accept it? Why or why not?
4. Detail the nature of the personal information that was requested of you. Did it seem relevant to the task or interaction in which you were engaging? Were you put off by any of the site’s requests? Why or why not?
5. Were you offered gifts or other inducements to encourage you to provide your personal information? If so, describe the incentives.
6. Once you have completed the information form, either submit your data or log off. Now that you are away from the site, do you have any second thoughts about the nature of the information that was sought? How comfortable are you knowing that your personal data are now (or could have been) in the hands of someone else, someone with the ability to store them and distribute them to others without your knowledge?
Name______Section______Date______
Worksheet 10-4 Are There Any Good Domain Names Left?
1. Go to a Web site that allows domain name registration such as www.dotearth.com or www.000domains.com. Pick any single word in the dictionary and try to determine whether it is available with a .com zone suffix. What did you find? Try several times and report your results.
2. Try typing in your own name, first and last. Is it available as a domain name? With what zone endings? At www.000domains.com and some other registration sites you can do a WHOIS search if your name is registered. Conduct a WHOIS search of your name and any other registered domain name. What information can you find out about who owns that domain name?
3. Recently new zones have been made available for domain names, the most visible of which is dot.TV. Go to www.tv and check for availability of domain names there. Did you find any domain names with a dot.tv ending that were not available when you tried it with a dot.com ending?
4. Next, looking at these sites, can you determine what other steps you would have to take to turn your domain name into a functioning Web site? What are those steps?
5. Can you find any domain names for sale at these sites or perhaps on an Internet auction site like www.ebay.com? What are some examples of names and prices you found?
Name______Section______Date______
Worksheet 10-5 Journaling A Cost/Benefit Analysis of E-mail
Informally survey three non-college student adults about their e-mail use. Ask them how much e-mail they get per day. Ask them how much time they spend with e-mail. Ask them what percentage of those e-mails they consider important. Ask them if e-mail simplifies their lives. Then ask them any other questions you consider important in answering the following based on the responses from your survey and your own experience.
Here’s the question: In what ways has e-mail improved people’s ability to communicate and receive information? What trade-off is required in terms of the negative aspects of e-mail in order to get these benefits? Write a one-page essay about your thoughts and feelings.
Name______Section______Date______
Worksheet 10-6 Technical Literacy in an Interconnected World
Our exposure to and experiences with technology have always influenced our culture. Coca-Cola is a word that is understood worldwide in every language, largely because of the ability of the company to deluge the world with the products’ image by using the media. The interconnected world brings other major changes. Think about how the following scenarios indicate cultural change.
1. One day you will graduate from college. How will you get your name and experience out to employers? How might the current generation of students do this differently from the way your parents’ generation did?
2. Employers who are looking for workers are interconnected to varying degrees. Some are probably older and more traditional in their use and view of technology. When would sending an electronic resume be an advantage, and when would it be a disadvantage in the job search process?
3. In the distant past, marriages usually occurred within the bounds of a large clan or family group. As civilization advanced, people began marrying outside of their families, but usually within a community of similar individuals. Crossing lines of social class and community were difficult in looking for a mate. Today, the Internet provides a way for people to make initial connections on their way to what they intend to be permanent relationships. How has this affected culture? Are there people who look down on this cultural change? In what way?
4. What other cultural changes can you see that either exist today or might be forthcoming because of the Internet?