human agency

Description

Mario Rodriguez, a faculty member at Stetson University in the Communications and Media Studies department, maintains a research specialization in social networks brings an innovative perspective to our Communication Studies curriculum. This specialization helps students develop professionally while they learn to critically evaluate social media. His particular emphasis on privacy is not only relevant to the job market; online privacy is an essential topic for cultivating 21st century media literacy. Moreover, social media privacy is a useful framework for discussion of participatory democracy and human agency. It involves intercultural collisions and questions of culturally diverse representation online. College students should dare to be significant, but the wrong kind of online presence could significantly damage changes of landing a job. IN the contemporary media landscape, seniors graduating from college must negotiate an undulating terrain of Facebook privacy, something that even the savviest privacy experts can have difficult staying up-to-date with. Mario interviewed college seniors about their Facebook privacy as they approached graduation to understand how this particular group strategically controlled what they revealed about themselves online. While overall privacy settings increase on Facebook during the senior year, attitudes varied in subtle ways regarding personal information. Despite this, interviewees were more concerned about the privacy of their pictures on Facebook than their words and commentary, which nevertheless leave their own virtual trail. Many believed they had sufficiently protected Facebook privacy for the job search, bringing up the possibility of a "third-person effect" on Facebook. In the spirit of ideas worth spreading, TEDx is a program of local, self-organized events that bring people together to share a TED-like experience. At a TEDx event, TEDTalks video and live speakers combine to spark deep discussion and connection in a small group. These local, self-organized events are branded TEDx, where x = independently organized TED event. The TED Conference provides general guidance for the TEDx program, but individual TEDx events are self-organized.* (*Subject to certain rules and regulations)