EDUCAUSE | Social Computing and Privacy

Facebook 2.0

elilly — Fri, 29 Feb 2008 14:32:43 -0600

"What challenges remain with this killer app? I suggest three: (1) user education, especially for adolescents and their parents; (2) new features connecting higher education's missions to the popular site; and (3) legal and policy considerations on a global scale."

Privacy related links of interest ...

mpasiewicz — Wed, 20 Feb 2008 09:57:06 -0600

I just discovered a series of interesting blog entries from Danny Weitzner, W3C Technology and Society Policy Director and co-director of MIT CSAIL. These aren't especially new links, but I thought they might be worth relaying ...

Reciprocal Privacy for the Social Web - provides an introduction for a proposal "to establish a reasonable privacy balance in social networking environment" using FOAF. Also of interest is a link from Shahan Khatchadourian describing the use of FOAF and OpenID to establish trust/prevent spam. Apparently the solution could be available from Ryan Lee as a Drupal module? In some ways, this sounds similar to the Social Network Portability concept mentioned by Stephen Downes.

Social Network Sites: Definition, History, and Scholarship

ckeller — Tue, 04 Dec 2007 10:21:21 -0600

Social network sites (SNSs) are increasingly attracting the attention of academic and industry researchers intrigued by their affordances and reach. This special theme section of the Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication brings together scholarship on these emergent phenomena. In this introductory article, we describe features of SNSs and propose a comprehensive definition. We then present one perspective on the history of such sites, discussing key changes and developments. After briefly summarizing existing scholarship concerning SNSs, we discuss the articles in this special section and conclude with considerations for future research.

Sharing, Privacy and Trust in Our Networked World: A Report to the OCLC Membership

ckeller — Wed, 31 Oct 2007 17:11:59 -0500

The practice of using a social network to establish and enhance relationships based on some common ground—shared interests, related skills, or a common geographic location—is as old as human societies, but social networking has flourished due to the ease of connecting on the Web. This OCLC membership report explores this web of social participation and cooperation on the Internet and how it may impact the library’s role, including:

The use of social networking, social media, commercial and library services on the Web
How and what users and librarians share on the Web and their attitudes toward related privacy issues
Opinions on privacy online
Libraries’ current and future roles in social networking

The report is based on a survey (by Harris Interactive on behalf of OCLC) of the general public from six countries—Canada, France, Germany, Japan, the United Kingdom and the United States—and of library directors from the U.S. The research provides insights into the values and social-networking habits of library users.

OCLC Report on Social Networking

mpasiewicz — Wed, 31 Oct 2007 09:48:38 -0500

OCLC has issued a new report that sounds like a must read for those interested in navigating the waters of the social web and I look forward to delving into it. I, personally, have mixed feelings about what I've skimmed of the report. I'm particularly vexed about a call from OCLC to "relax the rules of privacy" ... I haven't read the report yet, but that's an interesting call to action. Personally, I'd love to see a call for a more research and experimentation into alternative approaches to the social web that might find a way to protect privacy and raise awareness of why it might be important.

I'm also interested in the so called attention economy and the work of groups like AttentionTrust.org, but they haven't gained much traction as far as I can tell. As I learn more about these new social spaces, I've begun to worry more and more about privacy. In an era of mash-ups, widgets and outsourcing services to third parties, it almost seems to easy to skim over issues like privacy. I also worry that for many, the topic of privacy is limited in scope to compliance with FERPA related issues. Am I alone in my perception there?

I often wonder whether or not we're sometimes are too quick to embrace some of these areas without pausing to consider the potential for unintended consequences and other side effects. Furthermore, I often wonder about who'll take up the banner of privacy and trust in an era where the library is being disintermediated and where the values that librarians often hold are brushed aside as organizations look to embrace some of these emerging technologies. The library was once a key locus for managing the relationships between content and consumers, but now access to information is much more diffuse and the breadcrumbs of consumption are scattered about and managed by many different players ... and many of them are private sector participants whose values may be very different from those often embedded in our library colleagues. Is this a good thing? I'm not so certain, but I'd love to hear your thoughts.

http://www.oclc.org/reports/sharing/default.htm

Well, if They’re Already Using It ...

ckeller — Mon, 29 Oct 2007 11:30:16 -0500

College representatives at Educause conference ponder outsourcing e-mail to Google and how to embrace students’ Facebook habits.

A few new podcasts of interest ...

mpasiewicz — Fri, 05 Oct 2007 09:07:36 -0500

NPR's Andy Carvin recently joined Talk of the Nation to cover social networking and sites like Facebook and MySpace. During the recording, they covered a number of issues related to their use in education.

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=14993512

First Monday is starting up a new series of podcasts. The current recording features an interview with Ian Bogost about his new book, Persuasive Games. Next up is Siva Vaidhyanathan ... I was forwarded a preview of the very interesting recording, but they haven't linked it up yet.

http://www.firstmonday.org/podcasts/

A Wider World: Youth, Privacy, and Social Networking Technologies

drupal — Fri, 26 Jan 2007 17:18:40 -0600

Facebook represents a growing number of applications that provide communication, connection, and community building among users, so please bring your laptop to this session for an introduction to this cool new tool! We will learn how to create an account, make "friends" (connections with others you know or would like to know who share common interests), and use various functionalities such as bulletin boards, "poking," or posting content such as text, photos, and video. If the prognostications are true that e-mail is for old people and social networking is the new killer app, then come join the future!

An Interview with Lisa Hinchliffe

mpasiewicz — Mon, 18 Dec 2006 10:35:15 -0600

In this 15 minute recording, Lisa Hinchliffe shares some thoughts on, among other things, the role of librarians in the social computing sphere and shares some thoughts on her experiences there.

This interview is provided courtesy of CNI and was recorded at their 2006 Fall Task Force Meeting. The Coalition for Networked Information (CNI) is an organization dedicated to supporting the transformative promise of networked information technology for the advancement of scholarly communication and the enrichment of intellectual productivity. You can learn more about CNI at their web site, http://www.cni.org

A Wider World: Youth, Privacy, and Social Networking Technologies

drupal — Tue, 28 Nov 2006 13:56:36 -0600

Four factors of the Internet—technology, the market, the law, and social norms—offer a means to analyze the legal, policy, and educational considerations associated with the use of social networking technologies by today's college and university students.