Chapter 11 – Quiz 11

Instructions:  There are three (3) topic areas listed below that are designed to measure your knowledge level specific to social issues of community and identity in cyberspace.  You must respond to #1 and select any other one of these topic areas providing appropriate responses in essay form.  In most cases the topic area has several components. Each must be addressed to properly satisfy requirements.

State-wide and in most professional industries, there has been a mandate that college students be more proficient in their writing. While this is not a writing class, all writing assignments will be graded for grammar, syntax and typographical correctness to help address this mandate.

Pay attention to what you are being asked to do (see Grading Rubric below). For example, to describe does not mean to list, but to tell about or illustrate in more than two or three sentences, providing appropriate arguments for your responses using theories discussed in our text.  Be sure to address all parts of the topic question as most have multiple parts. A verifiable current event (less than 4 years old) relevant to at least one of the topics you respond to is a fundamental component of your quiz as well.  You cannot use information from the text book or any book/article by the author of the text book as a current event.  Make sure that your reference has a date of publication.  For each chapter quiz and final quiz you are required to find and include at least one reference and reference citation to a current event less than 4 years old (a reference with no date (n.d.) is not acceptable) in answer to at least one question.  This requires a reference citation in the text of your answer and a reference at the end of the question to which the reference applies.  You must include some information obtained from the reference in your answer.  The references must be found on the internet and you must include a URL in your reference so that the reference can be verified. 

You should type your responses directly under the appropriate question.  Be sure to include your name on the quiz.  Only the first two (2) questions with answers will be graded.   Include your name in the document filename. Your completed quiz must be placed in the appropriate eCollege Dropbox, no later than 11:59pm on the due date.   Do well.

1. Compare Brey’s arguments regarding misrepresentation and bias in virtual environments, especially in virtual reality (VR) applications, to Buchanan’s argument in chapter 10 concerning gender bias in the representation (or lack of it) in video games. (Brey’s arguments can be found in the 4th edition of the textbook on page 349.  Go to Doc Sharing to download the 4th edition in PDF format.)  How are their arguments similar? How are they different? Defend your answer. Please elaborate (beyond a yes or no answer) and provide your “theoretical” rationale in support of your responses. (knowledge)
2. Describe some pros and cons of online communities. What does Mitch Parsell mean when he says that online communities with an “extremely narrow focus” contribute to social polarization?  Assess his arguments for that claim.  Do you agree with Parsell?  On balance, have online communities enhanced or threatened community life?  Explain.  Please elaborate (beyond a yes or no answer) and provide your “theoretical” rationale in support of your responses. (comprehension)
3. Evaluate the argument by Cocking and Matthews for why true friendships in pure virtual (or online-only) contexts are not possible.  Assess the counterargument by Briggle.  Does Briggle succeed in making the case for the possibility of genuine friendships in purely virtual contexts?  Whose argument do you find most convincing? Defend your answer. Please elaborate (beyond a yes or no answer) and provide your “theoretical” rationale in support of your responses. (comprehension)