Deconstructing the Net
The following short activities for the Internet, with accompanying questions, have been used successfully by Neil Andersen, Toronto District School Board Consultant and AML Board Member.
*Those activities suitable for senior elementary students have been marked with an asterisk (with modifications at your discretion)
*City Sites
- How do cities represent themselves to be attractive to visitors and businesses?
- Compare the Toronto site to the Toronto you know. What has been omitted? ...embellished? ...fabricated?
- Which cities provide the best information regarding costs?
- Crime is an aspect of all urban areas. How are visitors informed and warned about the crime risks?
- Visit at least three other cities and compare and contrast their sites.
- Rank the sites according to which is doing the best job of representing itself. Use specific examples to support your choice.
Research tips
City sites may found on almost any search engine by using the city's name.
Chat Lines
- How do chat, e-mail and listservs/ news-groups differ in the ways that they use language?
- Visit at least two chat lines, participate in e-mail discussions, and read at least two listservs/newsgroups.Note their different uses of language (sentences, word choice, icons, slang, grammar, levels of language). Note the differences in their cultures (values, priorities, running themes, gender representation, gender preferences, etc.)
Research tips: Many chat lines are attached to other activities (advocacy groups, TV shows, movies, etc.). One dedicated chat server to visit is Alamak. A dedicated e-mail server may be found at HotMail. Another is attached to Yahoo!
Post-Secondary Education
- What information is available to people trying to choose a Post-Secondary education?
- Which institutions provide the best information?
- Search five sites and rank them in order of which is providing the most useful and easily-accessible information.
Research tips
Institutions can be located by name in most search engines. There is also a site that contains links to all Ontario universities. Visit at least one Post-Secondary Institution outside Canada.
*Travel
- How easy is it to arrange travel using the net?
- How easy is it to find the best fares, schedules and options?
- How complete are the options? (Can EVERYTHING be done on the net, or are some phone calls or personal visits also necessary?)
- Are all forms of travel well-served, or mainly air travel?
- Are all budgets well-served, or mainly healthier budgets?
Research tips
Airlines have their own sites, as do many travel agencies.
Visit Travelocity (www.travelocity.com/), Fodor's and/or Frommer's (www.frommer's.com etc.)
*Research
- What are the benefits and pitfalls of researching on the net?
- Which of the many search engines provide the best results? Provide examples.
- What strategies are best for narrowing the search to the desired information? Provide examples.
- How can a surfer authenticate, or verify, information found on the net?
- What information can be found on the net that is rarely found elsewhere?
Provide examples.
Research tips
Teen Sexuality Index: www.intac.com/~jdeck/habib/index3.html
CIA homepage: www.odci.gov/cia/index.html
Aurora High School: www.yrbe.edu.on.ca/~ahs/four.htm
Welcome to Newsworld Online: www.newsworld.cbc.ca/
Elsop's Webmaster Resource Center: www.elsop.com/wrc/
Webmonkey design: Building a Better Monkey: www.hotwired.com/webmonkey/97/45/index0a.html
Welcome To Starting Point™): www.stpt.com/
Info on info: www.zgram.net/attic.html
JournalismNet Home Page: www.journalismnet.com/
The World-Wide-Web Virtual Library: Environment - All Links:
earthsystems.org/All.shtml
Media Launchpad: www.oise.on.ca/~nandersen/pad.html
www.schoolsucks.com/collection/
*Advocacy
- How are advocacy groups (groups which promote a particular religious, ethical or political point of view) using the net?
- What strategies are they using to communicate their agendas?
- How are they recruiting new members?
- How are they avoiding or refuting criticism?
- Which ones might be accused of prejudice, bias or hate-mongering? Provide examples.
- Which sites are advocating without attacking?
Research tips
Visit Stormfront: www.stormfront.org/
The White House anti-drug pages: whitehousedrugpolicy.gov/
Scientology: www.scientology.org/
World Wide Web City Chapel: wwwebcity.com/churches/mandate.htm
*Marketing
- How do net communication and organization influence marketing strategies and styles?
- Visit several marketing-focussed websites.
- Which ones are using the qualities of the net best/worst? Provide examples.
- How can products and services be purchased directly (using the net rather than phones or mail)?
- How are banks utilizing the qualities of the net to expand their services and recruit new customers?
- Compare and contrast websites for the same product, e.g. motor vehicles, recorded music, cell phones, movies.
Research tips
www.movies.warnerbros.com/
www.barbie.com
auto companies, sound equipment companies, financial institutions
www.urineluck.com/
media launchpad: www.oise.on.ca/~nandersen/marketing.html
www.schoolsucks.com/collection/
Publishing
- How has publishing changed as a result of easy access to the net?
- Visit some traditional publishing outlets, such as newspapers or magazine sites.
- How have authors without fame or (sometimes) talent been able to be published on the net?
- Is it as special to be published on the net as it is to be published in a known book or magazine?
- How easy it is for someone to publish their writing or submit for publication on the net?
- Can good writing be found on the net?
Research tips
Visit bandersnatch.com/banderlo.htm and use a search engine to find poetry, short stories, essays, novels, etc.
The Nation Digital Edition: thenation.com/
The Globe and Mail - Advertising Information: www.theglobeandmail.com/docs/advertising/information.html
Welcome to Amazon.com Books! Earth's Biggest Bookstore: www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/subst/home/home.html/4612-5888803-321406
The New York Times on the Web: www.nytimes.com/yr/mo/day/
Blue Jean Magazine: www3.bluejeanmag.com/BJ/current.html
Shift Magazine: www.shift.com
Adbusters' Culture Jammers Headquarters: www.adbusters.org/adbusters/
TVGuide: www.tvguide.com/tv/magazine/970127/ftr2a.sml
Z Magazine: www.lbbs.org/frusezmagn.htm
Brillo Magazine: www.virago-net.com/brillo/
Media Launchpad: www.oise.on.ca/~nandersen/pubs.html
Media Extensions
- How have earlier media forms extended themselves on the net? To what effect?
- Examine how older media forms (television, radio, magazines, movies, novels, recorded albums) have extended their messages, services and marketing onto the net. What forms have done more effective jobs? Which have demonstrated the most savvy regarding exploiting the qualities of the net? Which are simply new versions of the old medium (e.g. a newspaper on a screen)? Provide examples.
Research tips
Visit: Pathfinder, Toronto.com, and
Canada.com, cnn.com, abc.com, nbc.com, cbc.ca
hypertext fiction: www.stg.brown.edu/projects/hypertext/landow/SSPCluster/fiction.html
and
www.q107.com/
*Communities
- How does the net create and nurture communities (collections of people, sometimes far apart) and communication?
- What sites and activities encourage people to connect and communicate?
- What is the nature of the communications? Are the communications mutually beneficial to the sites and the correspondents?
Research tips
Visit molson.com, stormfront.org, hotmail, fan sites (Titanic, Millennium, Puff Daddy, Born Again Christians) and research minority group sites.
Personal Expression
- How have individuals used the qualities of the net to express themselves?
- How have people published their own work when it might have been tough to get someone else to publish it? In how many different ways are people expressing themselves (visual art, drama, movies, music, writing, multimedia)?
Research tips
Visit the Canadian world domination site: www.golden.net/~cmkerr/index2.html
for me?: www.apinkcow.com/send.html
Todd Rundgren's site: www.schoolsucks.com/collection/
The Outer Limits
- How has the net become a way for people to explore cultural forms that are unusual or on the edge of social practise?
- How have net-empowered people expressed their feelings towards issues of the day, such as RCMP use of pepper spray or Clinton's indiscretions in the White House?
Research tips
Visit Deathpool, News of the Weird, Cult Death Story:
www.e-media.com/cultdeath/
NegativworldwidewebLand: www.negativland.com//