[Air-L] question about use of Facebook in classroom

[Kimberly De Vries]

I think my first reply failed; sorry if anyone gets two of them...

First, I agree these ads suck as constant reminders of gender stereotypes
and as destructive messages about body image.

Second, in addition to opting out, participants can also actually announce
what they are doing because I suspect the marketers are not also mining wall
posts, status updates or messages.  In fact, maybe it would be fun to get as
many people as possible to delete gender and age info as a protest.

I appreciate the concerns others have voiced, but since they can opt out, I
think students can make an informed decision, sign a consent form and that
is sufficient.  They are over 18, aren't they?

Also, though people do it all the time, dummy accounts are against the TOS.
I'm not saying don't do it, but I think it could also carry risks, just
different ones.

--Any protest or action that is a little critical of a large system has some
risk.  That would be a great discussion topic.

Please keep us posted on how it goes.

Kim

ps--just saw Steve's message--I still think it would be ok for students to
change their profiles, but if they didn't feel comfortable and opted out,
Steve's ideas make a great alternative.

-- 
Kim De Vries

http://else-if-then.blogspot.com