Teacher
Good morning class, we have so much ground to cover today
 Please copy the links I wrote on the board
I think they will help you when we begin our

moral and ethical vs "freedom of speech" debates

http://ethicsops.com/default.aspx

http://www.scu.edu/ethics/practicing/decision/thinking.html

I am looking forward to next week
we have already had some lively discussions on that very topic
before and after class
 
moral and ethical issues are certainly not black and white
as you are discovering more and more while we dig deeper
into this mysterious world
of the social networking hierarchy
 there is a fine line
between freedom of speech
and
 rights vs the common good
we will be touching upon such topics as

should an e mail be made public
should an IM be posted
should comments be deleted
what if work is plagiarized
giving credit where credit is due
should people be singled out
or named in a post
should slanderous accusations be allowed
what if
if any
are the consequences

check your syllabus for the complete list
and be prepared
you will not know your subject matter
until you sit facing your opponent

(a few complaints and rolled eyes)

I have a few graded papers on my desk to
return to you today
the good, the bad and the ugly essays were a riot
You are also going to receive your
comparing and contrasting
essays at the end of class

how to choose one social networking site over another

as a result of all your hard work
we were able to focus on
one site in particular

somanythoughts.com

all semester we have been
looking into why its so successful
identifying problems
suggesting improvements

Everyone was assigned 10 bloggers to interview
from the oldest members down to the newest members

oh
How is that going by the way?

I want you to know how important this is to your overall grade
I hope you do not wait till the last minute
Ellen
how is it going and how did you choose your bloggers?

Ellen
I went all the way back to July and August of the first year
the site was up and running
and I chose my ten by the number of blogs and comments they wrote
I also wanted to study people who joined a year later and a year after that
I tried to get a cross section of people,
and an equal number of males and females

teacher
sounds good
are you almost finished gathering your data
Ellen
yes, as a matter of fact, I just completed it over the weekend
I knew it was going to be alot of work
and I wanted to get it out of the way

Teacher
Jackie
how did you decide
Jackie
well
I wanted to find an equal amount of trouble makers
and an equal amount of respected people
and I threw in a few others who only post in the forums

Teacher
Bill what about you

Bill
I choose 2 from the general discussion forums
2 from the the members who frequent the creative writing forum
2 regulars from Mamamias chat room
and
2 of the top 10 from the top 100 bloggers list
and last but not least
I found
 2 sexy looking ones
at least their avatars are pretty darn sexy
both ladies write about all sorts of mysterious things

laughter

teacher
has it been eye opening

bill
Oh yeah

everyone laughs

Teacher
let's here from Angela

Angela
I kept reading so much about the newbies
and noticed how the older ones were treating them

Teacher
I detest that word, don't you?
it reminds me
of pledges in a fraternity or sorority
Are any of you pledging this semester?

show of hands
Teacher
I wonder who made that word up?

Larry
probably the same person who calls everyone
"alluthoughtsters"

laughter

Tom
maybe its the same one who coined the phrase
"top of the soda pops"

I had no idea how many bloggers chose
" popularity"
as their blog topic
it's as if they don't know what else to write about?

laughter

Teacher
well, we will be discussing 
the POPULAR LISTS
later today


I'm sorry, go ahead Angela

Angela
well I went into the archives and I found a few of the newer names and a few of the oldest names
and I followed 5 of each

Teacher
Katherine you have had your hand up
tell us about your group

Katherine

I guess I chose an easy route
there were so many members!!!
I was starting to get overwhelmed

I found my bloggers by
getting the names of the trip winners from the last 2 years
and then I added the person with the most posts

Teacher
OK that works

Teacher
we only have time for one more

Pat
how is it going?

Pat
I wanted to find an entertaining blogger who made me laugh
a serious blogger who made me think
a stupid blogger who made me yell at the computer
one who used it as a journal
another one who is writing a book
one who I think should have their work published, they are so good
a do gooder
a pot stirrer
a cheater who manipulates their counts to make it to the top
and one who never had anything to say
but that never stops them from posting

laughter

Teacher
I can not wait to hear your report
and all the rest of them, for that matter!

I am going to choose a few at random
and let you share them with the class

Ok
time for the Popular List
please find all of your notes

as students moved about
Teacher
we formed think tanks
and analyzed all the data
and I want to hear from the leaders of each group

half of the class was given the top ten posts to evaluate
for the day
48 hours
a week
a month
a year
and all time

and the other half
studied
the 100 top bloggers on the site

you really dug into the archives
and each of you were supposed to ask the blogger
you were tracking for their opinions as well

I TOLD ALL OF YOU TO COPY DOWN THE FOLLOWING QUESTIONS
AND KEEP THEM IN MIND
WHEN DRAWING YOUR CONCLUSIONS

NANCY
WILL YOU READ THEM TO THE CLASS

Nancy
What you don't know won't hurt you
OUT OF SIGHT OUT OF MIND
The more you know the better


TOP 100 BLOGGERS


ED, LETS HERE FROM YOUR GROUP FIRST
BRING ALL YOUR WORK TO THE FRONT OF THE ROOM
AND SIT IN THE DESKS FACING US
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ED
 we have been told that when the site began
a top 100 blogger list
was not included
it was added later

yet, they did provide a place on the site
for the top 10 bloggers
although it could have been easily overlooked
not many members frequented it
(it was similar to the groups and the category situations)
no one was aware it was there

 Teacher
we will discuss 
groups and categories
another day

Ed

good,
because we have an abundance of information
on those 2 areas
anyway
  the little known list of top ten bloggers
not to be confused with the top ten posts
did not attract much attention
if at all
their names and avatars were displayed
 and the last few posts they had written were there 
although
and this is key
a friend count was not included

not much info was provided really
and
If 
the members did manage to find their way there
no one would fess up
it was frowned upon
the other bloggers sort of resented it
looked down upon it in a way
nevertheless
No one ever chose the top ten bloggers
as a topic or a target,
no one "picked" on them
no one mentioned them
their status was simply ignored
people never referred to any of the individuals
on that list
actually
most acted like the top ten logger list
did not exist

and
certainly no one was ever singled out for being there

we think the majority of members forgot about it
similar to private messages in the forums

even if they knew about another place for mail
it was not uppermost on their minds
months would pass before they 
checked the old mail that was sitting unanswered in their
in box
however, almost everyone read their main mail regularly

Teacher
Ed, I think you are going off on a tangent and getting ahead of yourself
now is not the time to discuss mail, categories and groups
Mary please help him get back on track


Ed
you are right, sorry
I just have so much to say about this site
I feel like I have actually lived there
spent all my spare time logged on
   the people seem so real to me
I actually care about a couple of them

"I feel the same way" could be heard whispered around the classroom


Mary
OK Ed, (giving him " the look ")  
as far as the top ten bloggers list goes
once in awhile someone would mention it
but in the same breath would
make sure to add how it meant nothing to them

after discussing this situation with some of the bloggers I interviewed,
a few people seemed to resent the members on the list
while others were simply not interested

To make a long story short
laughter
it was never anything like it is today
the topic of endless posts

Anne
exactly
we believe the saying

out of sight
out of mind
applies to the top ten list

Ed
In OUR opinion,
the creation of the top 100 bloggers list is one of the main reasons there seems to have been a shift in the quality as well as the quantity of the posts and a breakdown in the warm supportive and friendly neighborhood community atmosphere that had existed
peacefully and naturally up to that point.

 Bookmarking and gathering friends lost their original value
and took on an entirely different meaning.
bell rings

Teacher
Is that the bell?

Ed, we will start tomorrow where we left off today
 please assemble your group
in the front of the room as soon as you walk in the door!

wait a minute everyone....

Don't leave without your papers

Jean, this was excellent, A+, Bob, you made me laugh, good work,
Pete, where did you get this insider info, we will have to talk, great work!


to be continued



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