This week will be used to prepare for the exam.
A study guide will be distributed later this week, and your online blogging assignment this week is to choose one part of it and answer a question for your peers. As others fulfill this assignment, try to choose something someone else hasn't answered. The test preparation will be much more effective if it covers a broader set of questions.
Cite page numbers, too! Part of good scholarship is allowing others to check your work. Be kind, and be as specific as you can about how and where you are getting your answers.
To keep this all organized, please respond in the comments to this post.
Video Reflection
14 years ago
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Week 5:
What if they built an Internet and no one came? In other words, once we have the first three Cs, what else is necessary to get the groups the authors identified into a participatory mode in an increasingly Internet-dependent society?
If the internet was created and no one ever logged on, then it would not be the internet. This is like one of those "what came first, the chicken or the egg?" and "what would soccer be like without the invention of the sphere" kind of questions. The internet is defined by the people that invested in it when it was first got started, the countless geeks that helped to write code for it (i count myself as one of those geeks), and all the millions perhaps even billions of people that use it on a daily basis. So i guess the answer to the first part of the question is: It wouldn't be the Internet anymore and since it wouldn't be the internet, the question collapses on its own void of ludicrousness.
There are a variety of factors that determines the success of the internet. As detailed by Kvasny on the 3rd page of the first reading for week 5, people need a reason to use internet. Be it killing time (networking if you wanna call it that), finding information, playing videogames, or finding a job. If there are things on the interent that prove useful for people, then people will use it. If not, they won't. So i suppose if people want the disadvantaged to use internet, then we have to give them reasons for using it ... kind of like we already do with information about literally everything in the human knowledge base. But at a certain point these "disadvantaged people" need to start looking towards themselves to improve.
What is social capital? According to Putnam's Bowling Alone, (page 19) social capital refers to connections among individuals. But this can be further seperated into two distinct groups: Bonding and Bridging.
Bonding social capital: On page 23, Putnam describes bonding social capital like a superglue which is also exclusive. Bonding social capital is bringing people together. Usually these people have the same interests and are very much alike. He gives an example of the Knights of Columbus. They "...bonding along religious and gender lines." Other examples are: church based womens reading groups, country clubs and ethnic fraternal organizations (pg. 22).
Bridging social capital: As for bridging, Putnam similates it to WD-40. Makes the community work better togather (like WD-40 is used in car engines). There is less friction then. These are bringing groups togather. Perhaps they had a conflict in a matter and by bridging them, they can resolve this. Why the WD-40 analogy works well. He also used the Knights of Columbus as an example. He said, "...created to bridge cleavages among different ethnic communities..." (page 23). This bridging social capital is inclusive. Other examples include: civil rights movement, religious organizations and many youth service groups (pg. 22).
What is Community Informatics? What does it hope to accomplish?
Community Informatics is an emerging field of interdisciplinary scholarship and practice devoted to enabling communities with information and communication technologies. It has also been described as a multidisciplinary field for the investigation and development of the social and cultural factors shaping the development of new Information and Communication Technologies and its effects upon community development, regeneration, and sustainability.
It hopes to address questions of community development, learning, empowerment and sustainability in the context of efforts to promote a positive role for computers and the internet in society. This can be found on Pages 6-7 in the reading, Community Informatics: Integrating Action, Research and Learning.
WEEK 2
What were the primary findings of the study?
The primary findings of this study were that the middle class was the most likely to use the public libraries. For the rich (200k+) it is more effiecient generally to just buy the books needed, and for poorer groups they speculate that the time cost is too great for widespread library use.
The study also finds that there is a positive correlation between education and library usage, with high school dropouts using libraries the least, and college graduates with professional or higher degrees using them the most.
WEEK 2
What findings about circulation did the study make?
The study found that low-income library systems have lower circulation stats because more of the materials are used more in-house. The authors recommend that other factors be looked at when trying to obtain information about libraries.
What is “the problem of leisure”? Why is it a problem? When did it arise?
The problem of leisure is that "Americans have too much time on their hands (pg. 16)". This is a problem because with increased time for leisure, people sometimes forget how to spend that time wisely. People start to think they're too busy to do certain tasks, but in reality they are just too lazy. Increased time for leisure was first noted in the 1960s when community groups were seeing a large increase in activity because citizens had more time on their hands to participate in these groups.
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