Internet and the Economy

by Adrian Pansch

Intro (4 min)

Since the birth of the World Wide Web, the economy has gone through major changes. The Internet has changed the way people do business as well as how we spend our money.

*Ask class who has purchased something online and what have they purchased

*Ask who has bought music in a store recently as opposed to downloading it online

As some of you know shopping online lets us shop from the comfort of our own homes. We can purchase clothing, electronics, plane tickets, music, and even groceries all while relaxing on our couch in our pajamas. Sometimes we are too busy to go to the store or for us living in Minnesota, snowstorms prevent us from leaving our houses. The Internet allows us to get what we need in any situation. With the Internet, we can also compare items based on consumer reviews before we purchase them. However, we were not always able to do this. With the evolution of the Internet came the evolution of how the economy is ran today.

How the World Wide Web began, Friedman’s flatteners (2 min)

Author, Thomas Friedman wrote a book called The World Is Flat, which talks about how with the help of new technology and the Internet, the world has become flat in the sense that it is a level playing field. Geographic borders no longer matter when applying for some jobs. People can send data instantly and chat face to face even with those on the other side of the world. To get an idea of how the world became flat due to new technology and how that has changed our economy I am going to give a summary of what Friedman calls in his book “The Ten Forces That Flattened the World.”

*Ask class to pay attention because they will be quizzed on the information later. Who ever can answer the questions correctly will get candy.

Flattener 1: The fall of the Berlin Wall (2 min)

• The fall of the Berlin Wall occurred on November 9, 1989.
• It liberated the people of the Soviet Empire and tipped the balance of power toward democracy and a free-market economy.
• The fight was over between communism and capitalism and capitalism won.
• It allowed the world to be viewed as a single community. There were no longer communist barriers preventing a unified global market.
• Birth of Windows
• People could create their own digital content

Flattener 2: When Netscape went public (9 min) (video alone is 7 min)

· World Wide Web

• Tim Berners-Lee
• A system for creating, organizing, and linking documents that could be shared online

· Fiber-Optic cable

• allowed the spreading of the internet

· Netscape, August 9, 1995

• First popular commercial web browser
• Made the Internet accessible to everyone in a universal format

• Dot-Come Bubble
• With the internet, companies were able to participate in ecommerce
• People wanted to get rich quick
• A look back on how the dot-com bubble was viewed during the late 1990s-early 2000’s

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bUwu5CiESbc

(CNN special report on dot.com bubble, 1999)

• 1999 vs. today
• In the midst of a recession it is interesting to look back on the guarantied prosperity that people in 1999 thought would be present during today’s time

*Ask students for thoughts and questions to start conversation about topic

Flattener 3: Work Flow Software (2 min)

· Allowed people to create and collaborate on business data no matter what their location,

• Global offices

· Made it easier to communicate with people all over the world about anything

· PayPal

• Allowed people to buy and sell over the internet
• Ebay

Flattener 4: Uploading (4 min)

· Open-source software

• Apache

· YouTube

· Blogs

• Online journalism is becoming more and more popular. Anyone can act as a reporter
• Is traditional journalism at risk?

*Ask who in the class has a blog or follows one and have them explain.

· Wikipedia

• Open for anyone to publish anything and edit any information they choose

Flattener 5: Outsourcing (8 min)

· The combination of fiber optic cable and open source software allowed jobs to be sent over to India where they could be done more efficiently and at a cheaper cost

• $50.00 a month in India = $1000.00 a month in the United States
• India = quality and quantity in its population

· Call centers, customer service support, medical transcriptions, knowledge work

· Indian call centers

• Train employees to speak with different accents
• Highly coveted jobs

• Making fun of outsourcing, The Onion
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rYaZ57Bn4pQ

· What does this mean for people in the United States and our economy?

• More competition
• Ability to learn from others from different walks of life
• Ability to collaborate on ideas with people from the other side of the world
• Controversy, Asssociated Press Video Clip about outsourcing

· http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H95-IS_EQlI&feature=related

Flattener 6: Offshoring (3 min)

· Moving a factory from one place (United States) to another (China) in order to lower production costs

• Cheaper production, lower taxes, lower health-care costs
• “America products 75% of what it consumers but that’s down from 90% in the mid-90s.” ~Friedman

· While the Chinese are working for American companies, they are also creating a marketplace of their own.

· Company owners are saving money by offshoring but at the same time Americans are loosing jobs. It is a controversial topic.

*Ask class about their opinions on offshoring. Is it good or bad for the economy?

Flattener 7: Supply-Chaining (3 min)

· Wal-Mart = worlds largest retailer

o Distribution center

o No middle man

o Company owned transportation

o In-house logistics

o “It cost roughly 3 percent more on average for Wal-Mart to maintain its own distribution center. But it turned out that cutting out the wholesalers and buying direct from the manufacturers saved on average 5 percent, so that allowed Wal-mart to cut costs on average 2 percent and then make it up on volume.”

~David Glass, Wal-Mart CEO 1988-2000

· RFID

o Radio frequency identification microchips

· However, there is controversy.

o Poor employee treatment

o Where can you draw the line?

Flattener 8: Insourcing (3 min)

· Delegating a job to someone within a company, as opposed to someone outside of the company (outsourcing). One reason for insourcing to occur is if a company had previously outsourced a certain task, but was no longer satisfied with the work being done on that task, so the company could therefore insource the task and assign it to someone within the company who they believe will do a better job. ~businessdictionary.com

· UPS, they don’t just deliver packages anymore

· Now they act as repairmen, merchandise inspectors, and logistic planners

· With insourcing, small companies can act big because they are able to hire UPS to do their logistics so they can focus on their main goals.

o Ex. Nike and shoe design

Flattener 9: In-Forming (4 min)

· Searching for knowledge

· Self-empowerment

· Google

o 1 Billion searches a day

*Ask students how many of them have used google today, yesterday, in the past week. What did they “google”

· Implementations for the economy

o People can compare products online before they purchase

o No need to buy certain books or magazines because information is online

o Many things that required travel can now be done at home, free of expense

o Ability to research before you invest your money

· Online groups

o Provide a forum for consumers to discuss thoughts and ideas

o Marketers can use the information they find on groups in order to better target their audience

Flattener 10: The Steroids, Digital, Mobile, Personal, and Virtual (2 min)

· Internet speed and advanced capabilities

· Instant messaging

· P2P networks

· Video conferencing

· Graphic design

· Advanced wireless technologies

All of these flatteners have contributed to the change of how we do business, how we spend our money, and how we communicate with each other. Without the help of the Internet we would not be able to do business with people in other countries and therefore our economy would be much different than it is today.

Questions, Wrap Up (5 min)

*Ask questions to students to see if they are able to remember key points of the lecture (give candy to those who answer)

• According to Friedman, what is the first even that caused the world to flatten and how did it do so?
• What was the period in time where ecommerce first became a major part of our economy?
• What are some examples of uploading?
• Why have companies began to outsource?
• How does in-formng as we talked about it in lecture affect the economy?

*Ask for any other questions or thoughts

Sources (other than videos)

Friedman, Thomas. The World is Flat: A Brief History of the Twenty-First Century. 3rd. New York: Picador, 2007.

http://www.wisegeek.com/what-was-the-dot-com-bubble.htm

http://www.itif.org/publications/internet-economy-25-years-after-com

http://www.wired.com/magazine/2010/02/10yearsafter/2/

Social Media

>Greet Class/Ease into topic of social media (7 min total)

Explain to students that they will be learning about social media. Inform them that throughout the presentation they will be asked to participate in survey/quiz questions; hand out a clicker to each student and explain that they will be using the clicker to participate in survey questions throughout the lesson (if the classroom is not equipped to handle clickers, raising hands can also work, thought it is not as fun for the students). Begin right away with this one:

1. Which of these is NOT considered social media?

x Facebook

x Twitter

x Blogs

x Cable news

Define social media:“Social media is an alternative to mainstream media powered by public through social participation and interaction to produce content in various traditional & evolving forms and/or formats.” (Maharshi)

Leads into this video (4:30 min) based on the book Socialnomics by Erik Qualman. It gives a general overview of SM and its popularity and prevalence in our lives. It has quite a bit of shock value (what with the surprising numbers) and should get students interested in the topic right off the bat:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lFZ0z5Fm-Ng&feature=player_embedded

>History of SM (6 minutes total)

Briefly go over the history of social media sites and how they have come to be as they are today:

Late 1950s/early 1960s: Worry over nuclear war with the Soviet Union led to the invention of the Internet, which was initially used for military purposes. Over time it has led to greater communication.

1972: First E-mail sent

1970s-80s: Development of UseNet (allowed users to post articles to newsgroups), CompuServe (for businesses), and Instant Relay Chat

1990s: First online dating sites were introduced. We know what people want!

1997: First ACTUAL “Social Media Site” - Six degrees; allowed people to make personal/dating/business “connections” with others

1999: After slew of others, Friendster takes social media another step; it allowed users to become friends with friends of friends and expand network

2003: LinkedIn introduced for making business connections

and MySpace for social connections. MySpace is first to really allow users to completely personalize profiles with backgrounds, music, layout, and users begin to share more and more information.

2003: Photobucket and Flickr for photo-sharing

2003/4: Del.icio.us, Digg, & Redditt allow users to bookmark, tag, & share info found on the web

2004: Facebook! Allows users to create private, personal profiles. Used mainly to connect with friends. Facebook combines public posting (on users’ “walls”), private messages, and instant chat. Also allows users to upload photos, videos, share links, etc. The site is constantly changing…

2005: Youtube launched. Allowed people to upload and watch videos.

2006: Twitter allows real time updates & keeps users concise with limits of 140 characters

Facebook & Twitter are the most popular social media sites today.

(Chapman).

>Discuss the prevalence of certain social media sites (8 minutes total)

Continue Survey (2 min)

2. Do you have a Facebook Profile?

2a. How often are you on it?

3. Do you have a Twitter account?

4. Do you use any others? MySpace/LinkedIn/Friendster?

>Categories/Popularity (3 min)

As seen in the history of social media, there are numerous sites that allow users to be social in different ways:

>Photo and Video: (e.g. Flickr & YouTube) Sites allow users to upload personal photos and videos to share with others; they can also browse everyone else’s photos and videos and create albums of favorites.

>Professional: (e.g. LinkedIn) As the video showed, 80% of businesses use social networking sites (predominantly LinkedIn) to seek out new employees.

>Blogs: (e.g. anything on Blogger) Can act as diaries; may have specific themes….

Show examples & navigate through sites with class (5 min):

http://www.collegefashion.net/ -- Fashion Blog

Explain that the founder “Zephyr” started the blog while in college, and the site has since grown to feature bloggers from colleges around the country. Blogging allows people from many different locations to collaborate on one project, possibly/probably without ever having met each other.

http://www.neatorama.com/ -- All things awesome!

Peruse one or two interesting stories that the students choose, and then look at a few comments and explain that other users, as well as the authors themselves, can read and respond to comments in a matter of minutes. This instant communication was not possible prior to social media sites.

>Personal: (e.g. Facebook) Allows users to connect with particular “friends” and share personal information.

>Who is using SN? (2 min total)

Facebook: 500 million plus users worldwide

Initially created exclusively for college students, and the ability users had to control whom was allowed to view their profiles. Eventually it opened up globally, but the initial principle of controlling and maintaining privacy remains part of the reason it has become so popular.

18-25 year olds still make up the largest age group of Facebook users at 29% of total users (Smith), but recently, members of older age demographics have been realizing the benefits of social networking sites. They have consequently been flocking to the sites themselves in order to join in on the fun; the 30-and-up crowd now have quite a presence on social networking sites (Ricadela).

No longer only individual users (now of all ages and from many different countries), organizations have realized the benefits of social networking.

Twitter is also used by many organizations. Also interesting about Twitter is that it first gained popularity with middle aged and older adults, unlike most other medias that typically started with young people (Miller).

>What are effects of SN on individuals? (12 min + 10 min discussion = 22 min total)

CITE: http://www.forbes.com/forbes/2007/0507/176.html

>Blurring of line between real life and virtual life (4 min)

“We have become virtuosos of self-presentation, accustomed to living our lives in public. The idea that 'we're all being observed all the time anyway, so who needs privacy?' has become a commonplace. Put another way, people say, 'As long as I'm not doing anything wrong, who cares who's watching me?'“ (Turkle).

In other words, people are becoming less concerned with privacy. From tabloids in the grocery store checkout line, to television, to all kinds of websites, the amount of celebrity news we are bombarded with is somewhat disconcerting. Celebrity culture and our obsession with public figures’ private lives have grown exponentially over the last few decades. In 1966, John Lennon famously commented that the Beatles had become more popular than Jesus (“Time Magazine”). This was a controversial statement at the time, but perhaps Lennon was on to something. We have begun to worship celebrities so much that comparisons can easily be drawn to the worship of other religious figures throughout history.

Obsession with celebrities is one thing, but lately we have begun to want this same kind of attention ourselves. Those of us using social networks today share a great deal of personal information considering how much of it is seen by others, sometimes others whom we do not even know.

Privacy is not as sought-after as it once was, and young people today are more comfortable sharing their lives on social media sites than Baby Boomers (Sutter). And for many young people it goes further than that; not only do they feel comfortable sharing more about their lives, they feel a certain need to disclose personal information online.

As Xiyin Tang, a 19 year old Columbia student and avid social media user, puts it, “To me, or to a lot of people, it’s like, why go to a party if you’re not going to get your picture taken?” This statement exemplifies a greater desire that many social network users feel to cultivate their online lives so that their social network profiles accurately (sometimes with a bit of embellishment) reflect their real lives. To some, it is even as if real life takes a second seat to online life. There has been a growing movement to do interesting things, not simply for the sake of doing them, but in order to gain material (e.g. photos and quotes) that can be uploaded and added to a person’s profile (Shih 35).

>Privacy Issues (4 min)

It can be difficult to fully control privacy. Privacy settings may not fully cover you, or they may not be quite understandable. They also may be fallible—always susceptible to hackers.

Photos can be especially incriminating. If an inappropriate photo goes online, even if it is up for only a short while, the file can be saved to anyone’s computer. May get people into trouble at work, with the law, or may just be bad publicity for public figures (Pegoraro).

5. How much information do you feel comfortable sharing in your online profile?

x. Nothing. It’s dangerous/scary/weird to share too much!

x. Basic info to let others get a sense of what I’m about

x. Quite a bit–favorite movies, books, shows, bands, my job, birthday, family members, & a few other things about me that I think others would find interesting

x. Everything! I have nothing to hide & see nothing wrong with sharing my interests and experiences online

6. How many Facebook friends do you have (for those who have it)?

x. less than 200

x. 200-300

x. 300-400

x. more than 400

Speak briefly of the dangers of over-sharing. Show this video (1 min):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wCh9bmg0zGg&feature=related

The video, although making fun of the fact that it is incredibly easy to find out TOO much information about people online, does prove a point. Online predators are a real threat, but usually only for those who do not monitor the privacy of their online identities. To keep safe, do not share too personal of information.

>Losing connectivity with other humans (4 min)

7. Do you consider everyone you keep in contact with online a “real-life friend” as well?

8. Do you act more candid/outgoing online vs. in real life?

9. Would you say online you are able to act more like your “real self”?

“Traditional telephones tied us to friends, family, colleagues from school and work and, most recently, to commercial, political and philanthropic solicitations. Things are no longer so simple. These days our devices link us to humans and to objects that represent them: answering machines, Web sites and personal pages on social networking sites. Sometimes we engage with avatars who anonymously stand in for others, enabling us to express ourselves in intimate ways to strangers, in part because we and they are able to veil who we really are.” (Turkle).

Social relations have been drastically altered with the onslaught of social media networking sites. People these days are so tied to their online presences (and the online presences of others), that it can drastically cut into and in some cases almost become more important than the real life presence. So much of our interactions now take place in virtual spaces; how do we rationalize our two existences (real life and virtual life)?

Discuss the term “ambient awareness:"

"Each little update — each individual bit of social information — is insignificant on its own, even supremely mundane. But taken together, over time, the little snippets coalesce into a surprisingly sophisticated portrait of your friends’ and family members’ lives, like thousands of dots making a pointillist painting. This was never before possible, because in the real world, no friend would bother to call you up and detail the sandwiches she was eating. The ambient information becomes like “a type of E.S.P.,” as Haley described it to me, an invisible dimension floating over everyday life." (Jardin)

Questions to Ponder...Can this ambient awareness replace our need for real life social situations and interactions? Are we getting accurate depictions of our friends' lives from the vast amount of little bits of information they share over time? Does it matter if it is an accurate depiction?

Ask the class to speak with members of their small groups (3 to 4 people per group) about these questions briefly, and then ask that they prepare answers to the questions below in order to share with the class.

Discussion: 4 min in small groups, then 6 minutes for groups to share what they discussed.

A. How does your behavior differ when online vs. the way we act in real life?

B. Do you feel that you care less about privacy than your parents did at your age?

C. Can you think of an instance when your real life has taken the backseat to your virtual life?

a. For instance, have you gone to a party just to take photos to share online to prove you were indeed at the party? Or have you shared online that you like a particular film because you know it’s popular and not necessarily because you actually like it?

D. D. Do you regularly check up on the profiles of strangers/people you don’t know very well? Is this creepy? Or is that just part of life today?

>What are SM’s effects on Organizations, Advertising, and News? (10 min total)

In the business world, social media sites can almost be considered “necessary” to survive today. Businesses can connect with other businesses or directly with customers, and vise versa. For instance, earlier this year, GAP unveiled a new logo that made customers very happy. Backlash from the new logo abounded on social media sites, and it did not take long for GAP to listen to consumer demands, scratching the new logo and returning to its original (Parr).

According to mashable.com, 36% of the CEO's of the world’s 50 largest companies are using social media to generate profit. And why not? Advertising is free! Advertisers just need to know how to use the media in order to gain attention and spread their message. Any person/organization has the opportunity to create a viral video.

When a video goes viral it spreads rapidly to a massive audience of viewers. This happens through user/website recommendations online as well as real life word of mouth and even mentions in other media mediums (TV, newspaper). A viral video can work wonders for an organization if it has a message attached to it that will help the organization, or even in some cases, if the name of the organization is simply attached to the viral video.

Show examples:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=owGykVbfgUE -- Old Spice (25+mill views)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D2FX9rviEhw&feature=player_embedded#!

LED Sheep (13.5+mill)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lkwh4ZaxHIA&feature=player_embedded --Microsoft (Just under 5 mill)

Doesn’t even need to be direct advertising—simply attach the brand to a video that people will want to see.

How much does this type of advertising really work? New advertising model aims to generate word of mouth/recommendations from friends instead of forcing consumers to take in message sent from producers like has been done in the past with basic television commercials, for example. With viral videos, people see the ad, then send the link to other friends in their networks, who then share with their friends and so on. Since people are seeing that the video is recommended by friends, they are more likely to view it ("TechCrunch").

>On News

News now able to seep into our lives grander scale and more often, as people are always online (Facebook/Twitter, sharing links, clicking links), instead of only, say, reading the newspaper for a short period in the morning or watching television between 7 and 9 on weeknights. There is always a chance to hit someone with a link to a news story online. Many major news organizations have strong online presences and are taking advantage of the interactivity that social media sites allow between journalists and readers. Lots of photos and videos are now selling more stories along with text. Also, online news has the capability of churning out breaking news stories 24/7. There are pros and cons to this, as people feel very in the know with the absolute latest news, but sometimes the pressure to turn out a story first can lead to misguided or straight up wrong information (Lewis).

>On Politics

Social media forces politicians and public figures to be authentic, as anyone can check up on their status and activity at any time. Even the White House has a Twitter account! Many politicians are successfully reaching out to people via social networking sites. In the 2008 presidential elections, President Obama gained a huge amount of followers online, and also helped lead to the fundraising of an astounding $600 million (Carr).

>What do we see in the future? (2 min)

Will Facebook soon be taking over the internet? It is Google’s number one competitor, and has plans to expand its empire. Zuckerberg has stated that eventually he would want Facebook to "serve as the infrastructure that knits together the world's information." Instead of searches based strictly on algorithms and the number of links a particular website has from other sites and number of hits, a Facebook search would take the idea of friend recommendations, making your search (likely) more relevant to your life (Salan).

But can Facebook keep up the popularity? It has been doing well so far; as Zuckerberg has stated, the site is like fashion…it is never finished, but always evolving. However, is it going to hold our attention? Or will another new replacement come along? Will we develop new social media needs? Will we just quit using the site or all social media sites eventually out of sheer boredom?

"We can fear the growing power of Facebook. Or we can watch and marvel as a weird new world takes shape" (Salan).

>Conclusion/Homework Assignment (3 min total)

Wrap up

Review key points

Answer any questions

WORKS CITED

Carr, David. "How Obama Tapped Into Social Networks’ Power ." The New York Times. 9 Nov 2008. Web. 13 Dec 2010.

Chapman, Cameron. "The History and Evolution of Social Media." WebDesigner Depot. N.p., 07 Oct 209. Web. 12 Dec 2010.

Jardin, Xeni. "NYT on "Ambient Awareness," Ethereal Intimacy, and Internet ESP." BoingBoing. N.p., 6 Sep 2008. Web. 13 Dec 2010.

Lewis, Woody. "10 Ways Newspapers are Using Social Media to Save the Industry." Mashable. 3 Nov 2009. Web. 15 Dec 2010.

Maharshi, Santosh. "I Too Hate the Term 'Social Media' -- But Here's a Definition." Screensumer. 10 May 2008. Web. 13 Dec 2010.

Miller, Claire Cain. "Who’s Driving Twitter’s Popularity? Not Teens ." New York Times 25 Aug 2009: n. pag. Web. 13 Dec 2010.

Parr, Ben. "Gap Reverts to Original Logo After Social Media Backlash." Mashable. Oct 2010. Web. 12 Dec 2010. .

Pegoraro, Rob. "It's Not a 'Privacy Breach' When the Information About You is Out There Already." Washington Post 14 Nov 2010: n. pag. Web. 13 Dec 2010.

Ricadela, Aaron. "Fogeys Flock to Facebook." Bloomberg Businessweek 06 Aug 2007: n. pag. Web. 28 Nov 2010.

"Rock 'n' Roll: According to John." Time Magazine 12 Aug 1966: n. pag. Web. 26 Nov 2010.

Salan, Reihan. "The Future Of Facebook." Forbes. 26 Apr 2010. Web. 12 Dec 2010.

"The Secret Strategies Behind Many "Viral" Videos." TechCrunch. 22 Nov 2007. Web. 13 Dec 2010. .

Smith, Justin. "December Data on Facebook’s US Growth by Age and Gender: Beyond 100 Million." Inside Facebook. Inside Network, 04 Jan 2010. Web. 27 Nov 2010.

Sutter, John D. "New Facebook Privacy Tip: 'Super-Logoff'." CNN 12 Nov 2010: n. pag. Web. 27 Nov 2010.

Turkle, Sherry. "Can You Hear Me Now?." Forbes 7 May 2007: n. pag. Web. 13 Dec 2010.

The Digital Divide

What is the Digital Divide? (2-3 mins)
"Digital Divide is defined as the inequality between "have and "have nots" differentiated by dichotomous measures of access to or use of the new technologies- (DiMaggio, Hagittai)."

The digital divide is both a national and global issue.

(after you read each question ask the students their opinions)
It is not just about access to technolgies there are many other obstacles involving the digital divide. Some of which include:
1. Access to the internet physically( some people may not be able to physically access the internet due to location or a physical disability)
2. Lack of knowledge using technology(people are uneducated and or afraid of technology/internet since it is fairly new, this applies mostly to the elderly)
3. Content is not useable/understandable for everyone( there are language barriers/physical handicaps that keep people from using technology)

Global Issue- (10 mins)
http://shielddigital.com/economicsofsellingonline/2008/11/01/building-a-bridge-to-everywhere-%E2%80%93-closing-the-global-digital-divide
(compare figures 2 and 3 graphs from 2000-2008.)

Things to talk about- Change of digital divide between 2000-2008.

Some things you notice are:
1.Africa has always had the least internet users in the world. They have went from 1% in 2000 to 3% in 2008.
2. Europe used to be right behind North America (USA) in 2000 with 30% to 29%, but now we are behind them with only 17% internet to there users.
3. Asia has always been the leader in internet usage. They had 32% and keep climbing up to 40% in 2008.

Questions to discuss:
1. Why do you think Asia has and continues to be the leader in online users?
2. Why do you think we have fallen behind since 2000 when we used to be one of the leaders in internet usage?

National Issue- (12 mins)
http://news.cnet.com/8301-1035_3-10454133-94.html
view figure 9 there are two graphs

First graph discussion-
Things to notice-
1. Notice the age gap between internet users and how that has decreased from 2007
2. Notice the rural areas to urban area differences
3. Notice the umemployed to employed difference in usage

Questions-
1. Why has the age gap decreased?
2. Notice the employed to unemployed ratio hasn't changed, why?

Second graph disscussion
things to notice and discuss
1. Affordabilty and lack of interest have been the top 2 reasons for not using the internet and this hasn't changed, why?
2. The people having no computer or inadequate technology has risen, why?
3. People claiming to not have internet skills has also risen, why?

Education and the digital divide (5 mins)
(video)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NgIimMEronAEducation (3 mins)
(discuss the video) (2 mins)

Group activity (10 mins)
break into groups of 4-5 and discuss in your groups
1. What is the biggest problem that you have learned when regarding the digital divide? (3 mins)
2. Come up with a solution to this problem and explain to the class what you came up with (7 mins)

Some Solutions (5 mins)
1. It goes far beyond just providing people service and access, as we have learned one of the main reasons for not using the internet is lack of interest. we need to make people want to use the internet by making them more educated and less afraid/intimidated.
2. We also learned in this country its not about lack of avalibilty but more of a financial issue.
3. The content needs to be available and understandable for everyone. This means more handicap accessable content and also more content in more languages.
4. There needs to be training for individuals to gain more skills in using technology and the internet.
5. There needs to be more internet availablity in less fortunate countries and rural areas of this country. There is still a wide gap between rural and urban usage as we seen in the figure 9 graph.

(these are some things to think about/read and then ask the class what they think after)

(watch clip on the importance of bridging the digital divide in america)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fCIB_vXUptY (2 mins)

Read the following paragraph

Class Project due 1 week from today (2-3 minutes to explain and answer questions)
I want you to experience first hand what it is like to not have the access to the internet and how it will affect you personally. I feel you will learn best by doing this rather than me just talking about it. For 1 week you will go without the internet. I know this will be hard, but I need you to really experience this first hand. Try and take this seriously, it's truely a learning experience. I want you to keep a journal each day of your challenges. Write down 5 things per day that not having the internet is disadvantaging you. Try to be specific in your examples because we are going to as a group a week from today talk about your journals in class and see what you had in common. I will be grading your journals seperately so if you are going to cheat you better at least put some thought into your answers and not all have the same answers or you will get points taken off. The point of this assignment is not to punish you, but to make you reflect and think. I understand this is not a fun assignment, but the digital divide is a problem that many of you have never experienced. This is a way for you to experience this. Any questions?

works cited:
(Deborah Fallows, 2004,) retrieved fromwww.pewinternet.org/reports/2004/the-internet-anddailylife/1-summaryoffindings.aspx

Building a Bridge to Everywhere-Closing The Global Digital Divide(November 1,2008) retrieved from
http://www.sheilddigital.com/economicsofsellingonline/2008/11/01/building-a-bridge-to-everywhere

(DiMaggio, Hargittai,2001) From The Digital Divide to Inequality: Studying Internet Usage as Penetration Increases, Sociology Deptartment Princeton University.

Powerpoint, Mellissa Thompson "Digital Divide"

A Digital Revolution for the World's Remotest Regions(Jan 25,2007) retrieved from: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NgIimMEronaA

Survey:40 Percent in U.S. Have No Broadband(Feb. 16,2010) retrieved from
http://www.newcnet.com/8301-1035_3-10454133.html

What is Digital Divide(April 06,2009) retrieved from: www.youtube.com/watch?v=fCIB_vXupty

Hacktivism

0-5 minutes:

The Hacktivists Trailer

This documentary was made in the year 2000. These hacktivists fight against global capitalism as well as large transnational companies (Kelly, 2002). With each of the four character's operating skills, they work together, virtually to fight governments and corporations (Kelly, 2002).

HACKTIVISM

What is it? Most of you probably think that hackers are people who like to cause trouble and harm to the Internet. However, hacktivism is defined as hacking for a specific cause on the Internet. Hacktivists are people who work either alone or with non-governmental groups (NGOs) to fight with electronic civil disobedience for such a cause (Still, 2005).

SMALL GROUP DISCUSSION:

Get together with a few people next to you and discuss your thoughts on what we have just learned about hacktivism.

1. Did you ever think of hacktivists working to do good or have you ever thought of them as troublemakers?

2. What do you think of them now?

5-10 minutes:

HACKING ETHIC

What does development of the Internet and the Open Source Movement have to do with these hacker ethics? Hacktivists are working to control authority on the Internet, they're working to provide free access to all the information on the Internet with the hacking tools that are already available for them to use (Still, 2005).

CORPORATIONS

There's the idea that computer programming is the intellectual property and there's the idea of information. These two ideas are opposing views of each other.

In addition, Microsoft engages in politics by working with the Chinese to gain agreements. At the same time, they are not acknowledging their country's human rights violations (Still, 2005).

HACKTIVISTS

Hacktivists use their power to stand up against corporations. On the other hand, corporations and the government use rhetoric to frame hackers as destructive, unproductive, and a menace to society. This is where most of us get the negative idea that hackers are causing trouble to the Internet (Still, 2005).

10-15 minutes:

SHORT POP QUIZ:

1. What is hacktivism?

2. Who are hacktivists?

Some hacktivists do not work independently, but instead with other organizations like non-governmental organizations (NGOs) (Still, 2005). Other hackers work by themselves or with other hackers.

There is some debate upon hacktivists' ways of plan. (Still, 2005).

These organizations give a way for hacktivists to talk to each other about their plans and outlooks. Here is a great example: Hacktivismo is a real hacktivist organization that works towards free information for all people. Hacktivismo has a specific location to meet at virtually (Still, 2005).

HACKTIVISMO

With a simple Hacktivismo Declaration, this hacktivist organization made their intentions clear and public to the virtual community on their website: Hacktivismo Declaration. This declaration serves rhetorically to declare its position and distinguish it apart from other hackers or dissidents who lack similar declarations or offer different ones (Still, 2005).

15-20 minutes:

What does this organization actually do to try to combat censorship of information?

In his article, "Hacking for a cause", Brian Still writes, "...a Web browser, Peekabooty, that resists monitoring and censorship from nation-states, such as China, that seek to filter or deny Internet access to its citizens..." (2005). Another thing that Hacktivismo has is the Camera/Shy tool, letting users keep secret information inside graphic documents on the Internet (Still, 2005).

However, we wonder what they are actually being used for being that with access, you can send information to someone else through a graphics file such as Graphical Interchange File (GIF).

Hacktivismo aims to avoid being used for evil and harm, such as child pornography. Hacktivismo also has their own Hacktivisto-Enhanced Source Software License (HESSLA) Agreement (Still, 2005). This is the punish those who take advantage of their ability to access the information and files and use it against the rules. This is one way that makes Hacktivismo more organized than other hacker groups (Still, 2005).

Hacktivismo is different from other hacker groups, because  the people who who are organizing in this group have decided they want to have this, because this is necessary for their tools to do the most good and to do what they originally intended them to be used for.

There are other ways these hacktivists use to define themselves as a unique, electronic community separate

from the larger, loosely connected hacker community or computer underground. One of the many ways these hacktivists differentiate themselves from other hacker groups is that they have a meeting place or virtual location only for its members to interact (Still, 2005).

20-25 minutes:

SUCCESS

The success is earned after a slow, long process. It is the result of a progression with small steps.

The idea of people trading technology for money is what motivates hacktivists to do what they do (Still, 2005). A great example is Google (Still, 2005).

MORE RHETORIC

Fear includes an opposing view, challenging to identify, classify. There is the fear of controlling people.

The Patriot Act looks at what they are doing and monitors them in ways that were never allowed before (Still, 2005).

CONCLUSIONS

To this day, hacktivist tools are still out there being used. These tools are still in the process.

People in the public society are becoming influenced of the hacktivism idea and spreading it to help them become aware of this great idea.

25-30 minutes:

To this day, hacktivists continue their work for free flow of information. This is unsettled. Still writes, "...the Global Internet Freedom Act, originally proposed in the 107th U.S. Congress, would, if passed into law, support the development and deployment of technologies to stop Internet censorship" (2005).

INTERNET AND DEMOCRACY

There are pros and there are cons.

Let us begin with the pros. First, it is fast to get news from around the world through social networking such as Twitter and Facebook. Second, you can find what you need quickly, because there is a lot of information out there on the Internet. Third, if you want together with people that think like you and have a lot in common with you, you can do that easily, despite the the distance between locations.

Now, onto the cons. Some people narrow the information on the Internet to only what they want to see, meaning you can miss out on other information, possibly even important, life-threatening information. There is an "echo chamber effect" defined as when you only hear what you already agree with, because it is possible to say, "I know that. I do not want to hear what they are going to say, because I am not going to agree with it and I do not need it".

KEY TO DEMOCRACY

30-35 minutes:

There are unanticipated encounters. These are ideas that people find irritating, and therefore have not searched for. Unanticipated encounters are key, because these points will expand about how you think of an issue. Common experiences are experiences shared by everyone. Common experiences help everyone share topics, ideas, and points of view with each other. It helps certain people address problems and issues to the public. A few obvious examples are the 9/11. This had some sort of negative effect upon everyone. So people could find some common ground with this event. At the time, it helped President Bush address this event to everyone immediately. We all went through this together.

PUBLIC FORUM DOCTRINE

This is the idea of getting your voice heard, be informed, and argue with people that there is free flow of information taking place. They can say whatever they want.

What is the point?

First, it gives speakers the access to a large range of people. Second, it gives people access to specific people of their choosing, whom they think need to be aware of their issue. Third, there is a better chance that speakers can speak out to open-minded people who may have the same views as the speaker. Here is an example: the guy that often times stands in front of Walter Library. You cannot shut your ears out when you are walking by him, but just to walk on past.

35-40 minutes:

MEDIA

The media airs many different views of information, getting voices heard and ideas out there. So this is a similar idea to the public forum doctrine.

GROUP POLARIZATION

This is defined as a discussion within like-minded groups tends to move groups in one direction of what they already thought, but just a more extreme position. Group members already agree with the position. So they are likely to defend and stand for that position.

The Internet means like-minded people can debate each other because they able to form a community, where they are enabled to share their viewpoints and they do not have to go outside of it to get news, agree, and go forward, not challenge.

SOCIAL CASCADES

People join groups, because they know there are people who probably have at least similar or the exact same values. A great example is Facebook postings. The only problem is there is always false, incorrect, inaccurate and/or, outdated information on Internet.

40-45 minutes:

SHARED EXPERIENCES

Much of the time, people like experiences, because they are shared between other people. A great example is the recent visit to the U of M Twin Cities by U.S. President Barack Obama. There is people cheering, excitement, and videotaping and video recording to post on YouTube.

Shared experiences help people become friends and socialize to each other about the interesting issues.

Shared experiences help people talk to each other about things they have in common. Being that they all know about it, it gives them something to share with others and helps understanding each other.

CASS SUNSTEIN'S SOLUTIONS FROM MEDIA PRODUCERS IN "THE DAILY WE"

Disclosure. In her article, Sunstein writes, "Disclosure: Producers of communications might disclose important information on their own, about the extent to which they are promoting democratic goals" (2001). What this means is they are working for public good. They are working towards public interest activities. However, this is not highly upheld, because some are private. There are popular views. This is profit-making.

45-50 minutes:

Self-regulation. In her article, Sunstein writes, "Producers of communications might engage in voluntary self-regulation" (2001). What this means is producers of communications are saying, "If we air this, then we must air an opposing view point." This is the case where broadcast channel equaling time still has to be given candidates. This is NOT for cable media.

Subsidy. In her article, Sunstein writes, "The government might subsidize speech, as, for example, through publicly subsidized programming or publicly subsidized websites" (2001). What this means is there is public subsidy. Eight percent of NPR comes from government funding, which is underwritten.

Links. In her article, Sunstein writes, "Websites might use links and hyperlinks to ensure that viewers learn about sites containing opposing views" (2001). This makes it simple to browse one thing to another on the web.

Public Sidewalk. In her article, Sunstein writes, "If the problem consists in the failure to attend to public issues, the most popular websites in any given period might offer links and hyperlinks, designed to ensure more exposure to substantive questions" (2001). There is a list we run down on the side, trending topics on Twitter.

Works Cited

Still, Brian. Hacking for a cause. Ed. Edward J. Valauskas. N.p., Sept. 2005. Web. 20 Nov. 2010. <http://131.193.153.231/www/issues/issue10_9/still/index.html>.

Kelly, Patricia. hacktivists_studyguide.pdf (application/pdf Object). N.p., 2002. Web. 20 Nov. 2010. <http://www.abc.net.au/tv/hacktivists/hacktivists_studyguide.pdf>.

Information War-The Hactivists trailer Video. By Australian Film Finance Corporation, Hilton Cordell and Dominant 7, and mercurymediaJTD. 12 May 2008. <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LJDd0QSc6b8>.

http://www.hacktivismo.com/public/declarations/en.php. N.p., 4 July 2001. Web. 20 Nov. 2010. <http://www.hacktivismo.com/public/declarations/en.php>.

Sunstein, Cass. "The Daily We." Boston Review 2001. Web. 20 Nov. 2010. <http://bostonreview.net/BR26.3/sunstein.php>.