 |  Sociology: The Core, 6/e Michael Hughes,
Virginia Polytechnic Institute & State University
Carolyn J. Kroehler
James W. Vander Zanden,
The Ohio State University (Emeritus)
Culture and Social Structure
Internet Exercises| Exercise 1
The Internet has created an environment in which people can create and sustain groups whose members may never see one another face-to-face. This presents new challenges to group interaction and group maintenance. Read through “The Core Rules of Netiquette” at the Netiquette home page (http://www.albion.com/netiquette). Then visit The Original Emoticon Web site (http://www.angelfire.com/hi/hahakiam/emoticon.html) to see how people convey emphasis, emotions, and tone of voice in their Internet communications.
a. Based upon the “Core Rules,” what do you consider to be the norms that guide Internet behavior?
b. How do people enforce norms in their face-to-face interactions? How does this change in cyberspace?
c. In addition to being fun, what is the purpose of emoticons? Why do they seem to be necessary in cyberspace but not in other forms of written communication?Exercise 2
Visit the Intentional Communities Web site (http://www.ic.org/pnp/cdir/1995/01kozeny.html) and read the article entitled “Intentional Communities: Lifestyles Based on Ideals.” Answer the following questions:
a. Briefly describe the range of intentional communities discussed in the article.
b. What do these intentional communities have in common?
c. What type(s) of networks and alliances emerged in the 1980s? How have these networks and alliances supported intentional communities?Exercise 3
On the Internet, go to http://www.yahoo.com/.
In the search window, type the word "slang" and then click on the search button.
When the next screen appears, click on the word "slang" under the "reference > dictionaries" heading.
Explore two or more of the slang sites that appear and write a short report on subcultural slang.
What subcultural groups use the slang vocabularies you have uncovered? What are some examples of slang terms?
Speculate on some of the reasons that these groups use special vocabularies to communicate among themselves.
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2002 McGraw-Hill Higher Education