Ulla wrote:
Our students are a different generation, one who grew up with technologies (and social acceptance of those), rather than having to appropriate and explore them, as we did.
I wonder how much of this is generational, and how much of it is a function of college life in the U.S. and perhaps beyond: a life in which a lot of them are living in dorms (or fraternities or sororities, or apartments or houses with friends), there may be a fair number of activities and social events on campus and of, there's a push to have internships and be involved in community groups to build resumes, and many have part-time or even full-time jobs. Some or all of these factors may make involvement in online groups, lists, and so on seem irrelevant, unnecessary, and/or too time-consuming, so the students haven't explored online groups too much. When I taught an undergraduate seminar on wired technology and society last spring, my students confessed to be heavy users of email and seemed quite facile at exploring places and ways to download music from the net. They also used ecommerce serves frequently. I think maybe students are using the applications that seem most important or relevant to them while they're in college. For a few, online communities are part of it and for many they're not. Once students leave college, are perhaps in more anomic settings (not that college can't be very anomic, of course!) in which they don't have access to campus life and have a different set of demands imposed upon them and are developing new interest or are cultivating pre-existing ones, then involvement in discussion groups may become more salient. Holly -- Holly Kruse Faculty of Communication University of Tulsa 600 S. College Ave. Tulsa, OK 74104 918-631-3845 holly-kruse@utulsa.edu