New Media Mid-Term Study Guide

MDIA 392 Midterm Review Questions

The following is intended to help you in preparing for the exam. This is not a comprehensive list of what may be covered on the exam. To be fully prepared for the exam, make sure to also review the readings, lecture notes, and your notes from the film screening.

1. What the significance of the work of the Advanced Research Projects Agency ARPA and how is it linked to the origins of the Internet ?

2. What are some key developments between the creation of the ARPA and the availability of the Internet to the public ?

3. Define and distinguish the Internet and the World Wide Web. Internet verses World Wide Web

4. What are some key factors that led to the Popularization of Blogs ?

5. What is a wiki ?

6. What are some essential features of Wikis, according to its founder, Ward Cunningham? What does he think constitutes the “useful” Wiki?

7. What is Lanier’s critique of Wiki and other forms of what he calls Online Collectivism?

8. Define Social Networking Sites and outline some of the features they share.

9. What are the key moments in the development and popularization of social network sites?

10. What are the demographics of Youth who do not participate in SNS? What explains their lack of participation?

11. What are networked publics?

12. According to the findings of PEW, how do factors such as location, age, and gender determine disclosure of information online?

13. What are some social and cultural factors that explain Why teens flock to social network sites?

14. According to Nussbaum, what are the links between reality TV and youth’s embrace of social networking sites?

15. What does Scholz mean when he talks about "Community as Product"? Why does he raise concern about this in relation to the popularity of social networking sites?

16. What does Sherry Turkle note about the fragmentations of our online and offline lives in her observations about MUDs? See Fragmentations of Online and Offline Life