Here's my short list. We'll be focusing on these very soon in MCOM 101.
The Internet: Critical Issues
1. Online dating websites (Connecting with your future spouse or partner). Frequency of use. Popularity. Differences between the various online dating websites. Commonalities. Pluses and minuses. Testimonials. Horror stories. Happy endings.
2. Using Facebook as a tool for reporting a story when something big breaks and you are under a strict deadline to get the story written. Ethical? Legal? Recommended? Often used? Examples of how journalists have turned to Facebook to find out something.
3. “I’m afraid my employer will Google my name and see your story. Can you take this information (about me) down from the Internet, please?” Requests for the media to “unpublish” information that is embarrassing or hurtful or damaging. Examples of what has been done. What can be done and what cannot be done with such requests.
4. Texting while driving. Laws? Guidelines? Do laws vary from state to state? Consequences. Real-life examples of what has actually happened to those who text while they drive. Your personal take on texting while driving.
5. Touch technology (upper left hand corner of page 199 of our textbook). Using the Internet to enhance your five senses. What are some of the latest developments regarding touch technology? What does the future hold? Is touch technology already here? Practical uses of touch technology. Fun uses. Strange uses.
6. Policing or controlling or censoring the content of a website. Examples of what has been done in this regard. Filtering software and how it works. Control of the content of a website a good thing? Bad thing?
7. Intellectual property rights (copyright) and the Internet. Are the copyright rules the same, since the invention of the Internet, as they’ve always been? What are some common misconceptions about “borrowing” or sharing material (words, pictures, videos, podcasts) found on the Internet?
8. What’s all the fuss about “Net Neutrality”? (See page 195 in our textbook and do some additional research). What’s the latest development (in 2016) with Internet Neutrality? Should the common ordinary person become informed about this issue? Explain.
9. The “Digital Divide”—a big critical issue in 2016 or has it been overblown/exaggerated? What exactly is it? What can be done to remedy it? What currently is being done, if anything? What’s your personal take on the “Digital Divide”?
10. What’s the latest development with Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs)? Page 199 of our texbook. Do some research and find exactly what these are, whether they are being signed up for, what people think about them. Tell us about a few examples. Any drawbacks to taking a MOOC? Are they a good thing? Bad thing?
11. Increasingly, a growing number of divorces are attributed to Facebook. Someone has said that Facebook is a divorce lawyer’s best friend or tool. Do some research and explain with a few concrete examples.
12. “Citizen journalism” and the Internet. Do some research and find out what this is exactly, how it works, what people think about it. Track down some examples of outstanding or excellent “citizen journalism.” What are some of its pluses? Minuses? Is there a controversy about it?
13. What exactly are Internet “hackers” up to? What, for that matter, is an Internet hacker? What is a recent example or two of a serious Internet hacking scandal? What are the legal penalities, if any, that a hacker faces? Do hackers ever perform a positive community or business service? Explain.
14. In countries that don’t have freedom of the press (as the U.S. knows it), what are bloggers doing to help the citizens of these countries? Give some examples. What risks (legal or otherwise) do dissident bloggers take? Have dissident bloggers ever really made a difference in such countries?
15. Are search engines such as Google and Yahoo tracking our buying or consumer or lifestyle habits? How can a search engine learn so much about us—and especially how and where we spend our money? What should we as consumers do to protect our privacy—when it comes to search engines or any other aspect of the Internet? Examples.
Okay, enough for now. Here's a short clip on a couple of hackers and what they did to a Jeep Cherokee. Glad I have a Subaru Outback!
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