1. Social Phenomena 14 April

2. Class Discussion  Discuss the recent case of cyberbullying http://www.wltx.com/sports/story.aspx?storyid=60759  Specifically, discuss is people’s behavior in cyberspace different?  Why do you think that it is?

3. Social Issues  Social networking  Multiple personae  User as consumer  Internet addiction

4. Social Networking

5. 6 Degrees of Separation: the Legend  Stanley Milgram (Harvard) 1967 asked each of several volunteers in the Midwest to get a letter to a stranger in Boston Could send a letter only to someone they knew Median number of intermediaries was six  Hence “six degrees of separation”

6. 6 Degrees of Separation: the Reality  Milgram experiment Initial experimant: only 3 of 60 letters (5%) made it Later experiments only achieved 30%  First proposed in a 1929 short story Chains by Karinthy Frigyes

7. Pretending to be someone else

8. Multiple personae and avatars  Having multiple personalities in the real world is considered an illness  Is it okay in cyberspace?  What’s the difference? Awareness Choice of focus  Second Life Second Life

9. Exploring Personailty Options  Get control of your life  Try new techniques  Opportunities that you would not otherwise have  How is this different from lying? Pretending that you are someone that you are not

10. Internet Addiction  Is it real?  What is an addiction?  Discussions Yee  Internet Addiction Center Internet Addiction Center