Gambling with the Virtual World:

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Gambling with the Virtual World

• Advising in the Internet Age

Anna Schmidt Alexandra Cordero
New York University
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Introduction

• I. Introduction
• II. Definitions Samples of Sites
• III. Legal Issues
• IV. Ethics and Implications for Advising
• Practice and Relationships

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Definitions

• What are these online communities?
• Profile/Directory
• Blog/Journal Type
• Blackboard

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Profile-Type/Directories

• Sites such as Thefacebook, Friendster and Myspace
  are online directories that connect people
  through social networks
  
• Thefacebook is an online directory that connects
  people through social networks at colleges and
  universities
  
• Started 2/4/04 at Harvard and now has over 300
  colleges
  

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Frequency of Facebook Use
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Facebook Statistics

• NYU has around 16,404 users
• 20 signing up each day (this includes students,
  alumni and faculty/staff).
  
• Over 9,000 users log in each day, generating
  about 350,000 daily page views.
  
• About 90 of users log in each week on our
  network.

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Journal/Blog-Type

• LiveJournal,Blogger, Xanga
• Create an account and write journal entries
• Forums, Discussion Boards also exist on these
  type sites

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What sites are they on?
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Reasons for Using Sites

• Processing developmental issues through this
  medium
  
• Trying on personas
• Negotiating relationship issues
• I feel that several students use some of the
  more social-based sites (i.e. Facebook) in order
  to show off or portray themselves in a
  "cool"/deviant light. I feel that many people
  don't perceive they need to be held to the same
  standards online as in real life. (For example, I
  know of a resident who trash talked her roommate
  in her Livejournal, while never confronting her
  roommate in person, and some of what she said can
  be considered harrassment.)
• Protection of online detachment

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Self-CensorshipDo you censor yourself more than
in a real journal?
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Self-Censorship

• I don't bother to censor it at all, because none
  of my friends will know that it's me because I
  don't use my real name Now I interact with
  random strangers through livejournals, but I
  don't care if strangers know all my secrets
  because they're just strangers and their
  judgments don't matter and they can't do anything
  to me.

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Who do they think are onthese sites?
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Legal Issues

• Our Responsibility to the Student and the
  University
  
• Liability
• Privacy
• Scenario

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Ethical Issues

• Implications for the Quality of the
  Student-Adviser relationship and our
  effectiveness as academic advisors
  
• Ethical and Educational Obligations
• Scenario

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Privacy Issues/Cyberstalking

• Cyber stalking an extension of the physical form
  of stalking, is where the electronic mediums such
  as the Internet are used to pursue, harass or
  contact another in an unsolicited fashion.
  (CrimeLibrary.com)
• May present a range of physical, emotional, and
  psychological consequences to the victim
  

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Privacy Issues/Cyberstalking

• Students referred to TheFacebook as Stalkernet
• I really love facebook but sometimes it feels
  like a breeding ground for stalkers - I've had
  random people from other schools message me
  constantly, IM me, and even text message me as if
  I've known them for years.

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Privacy Issues/Cyberstalking

• My main concern is that many students innocently
  display their cell numbers and addresses on these
  websites. Anyone can access this information and
  it is dangerous. There are some serious stalkers
  in this world and now with this public display of
  information, it does not take much to become a
  skilled stalker.
• Some people "stalk" each other on the sites,
  like check out a certain person's profile every
  night. I know. I've done it, you know, when
  there was an attractive girl in my politics class
  or whatever. This may sound strange, but
  everybody "stalks" somebody on the site on a
  regular basis.

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Privacy Issues/Cyberstalking

• ITS Security Alert posted on October 13, 2004
• Recently, students have been using websites such
  as Friendster, TheFaceBook, and other
  community-type, social networking applications.
  These applications ask users to enter personal
  information such as date of birth, email address
  and other personal information. This information
  is then available to others using those
  websites.
• Some of this personal information is used for
  authentication into other on-line services such
  as on-line banking, email accounts and other
  highly sensitive applications. Adding this
  information to world readable websites makes
  identity theft easier because it gives the thief
  a "head start" with the information that is
  posted on these sites.
• Again, please be careful in what you decide to
  post on the web...identity theft is the fastest
  growing crime in the US.
  

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Do They Build Community?
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Do They Build Community?

• The NYU community can leverage these communities
  to spearhead community building initiatives and
  prompt intellectual dialogues.
  
• There are many positive groups on sites like
  Facebook and Livejournal, including sports fan
  groups, residence hall floor communities, and
  extensions of "real life" NYU clubs and
  organizations. These provide an additional venue
  through which to communicate and express ideas
  that enhance students' experience in the "real
  world.

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Do They Build Community?

• In my opinion people take these things with a
  sense of community, which I disagree, there is no
  real community but something temporary. The idea
  is that you can literally choose who to meet by
  having a preview of who the other person kind of
  is.
• I think they are helpful for a lot of people in
  building sense of community
  

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Questions?