Social Networking Issues Paper

Choose a position on some action that could be taken on one narrow issue of social networking (or any other information technology social issue EXCEPT cyberbullying). Analyze all sides of the issue, including ethical, technical and legal aspects. Draw a conclusion about what should be done in regards only to that specific issue. It must use proper citation of at least 4 reliable sources. At least one library database article must be included.

Organization:

• Cover Page - name and date and title
• Table of Contents Page
• Report Body:
  • Introduction: State both the exact narrowed issue and your position in the introduction.
  • Body: Your paper should include a review of the current situation including legal and technical details. Support your position but do not forget to also present good arguments for the arguments of the other side of the situation. (For example: The issue of school's responsibility for cyberbullying would include the legal responsibilities of schools and limits to the school's ability to interfere off school grounds, the technical means being used for bullying, privacy concerns, free speech concerns, and safety concerns.)
  • Conclusion: Restate the arguments and strongest supporting proofs that led you to your conclusion. (Hopefully, the reader was led to the same conclusion.) No new information should be added in this section.
• Works Cited: Include at least 4 sources, with at least one source from a database name that you include in the citation. (While you can use ebooks found in ALICAT, they do not count as the database article. It must have a database you can cite.) Citations use MLA style. For web sites that are not found in databases, I also need the root web site name after the citation, so I would want www.adelphi.edu/~pe16132 at the end of a citation on my site.
• Length: I expect 2-3 pages, but the content should determine the length.

Social Networking Topics you might explore:

The survey questions might give you ideas, especially the list of acceptable and unacceptable postings that show up in both the acceptable and unacceptable sides. Some other ideas are:

• cyberbullying --> I am removing this as a possible topic
• using facebook for political activism - Mid East; North Africa; Occupy Wall Street
• using facebook information for court cases
• employers using facebook
• Using facebook at work
• oversharing - too many details of your life
• Privacy
• Censorship
• Libel
• Protection for underage
• Ownership of material
• Free speech
• Hate speech
• How to protect kids

Non-Social Networking topics you might consider

• Hacktivism
• Net Neutrality
• Internet Security Issues
• Computers in Education
• Web content responsibility - wikipedia blackout; wikileaks
• Email SPAM
• Intellectual property and information
• Filtering Online Content

Help with sources:

• A good Adelphi database for Pro/Con of Social Networking in general and maybe your specific issue as well: CQ Researcher
  
  
• Ebscohost - choose Academic Search Complete, Communication and Mass Media Complete, ejournals,  MasterFile Premier, Philosopher's Index
• You might also want to try Family and Society Studies WorldWide, and SocIndex
• Academic One File
• ProQuest Central
• JSTOR
• OmniFile Full Text
  
• Don't forget an Alicat Search (the online card catalog)