Basics "User Profiles: The Bridge that Connects Online Communities to the Real World"

This is something I wish we would cover in class a bit more. We seem to be exploring online communities almost entirely apart from their affect on the "real world".

With no offense intended to the authors, I think this might reflect their status as immigrants to a digital world. For those who grew up or are growing up with online communities I think many of the articles in this class will seem a) really obvious or b) just plain flawed in some way.

I really think the chart on page 2 is a fantastic visual for the point you are trying to make.
I don't know if it is within the scope of your research, but you may want to explore communities like facebook or myspace where the impact user profile information can be huge (myspace has had several unfortunate homicide events lately and many schools are limited student access to it because they believe students lack the maturity to properly censor themselves. Are students really expecting privacy that their guardians know doesn't exist or are parents just behind the times and this kind of privacy simple has less value for teens? or do the benefits (whatever they may be) simply outweigh the costs for teenagers who are native citizens in this highly connected world?