To begin, here is a link to the blog we have created http://theprivatei48.wordpress.com/. The blog is a work in progress and should have several more posts by the end of the weekend.
Below is our problem statement and project hypothesis.
Project Problem Statement:
Many, if not most, social networks collect personal data from its users, which is then distributed to organizations who use such information to advertise directly to each particular user. Do users of social networks such as facebook understand the consequences of providing personal information, specifically how it is directly given to advertisers, and how does knowledge of this change the information they are willing to share?
Our project has taken the form of a blog that introduces, or will include, the following; the perceived problem at hand, links to the privacy information of Facebook as well as links to articles on Facebook's data use policies, a survey aimed at seeing what users of Facebook know about certain privacy policies, and a conclusion of our findings that will try to make sense of how to move forward with the information we have received. A group memeber also conducted a brief actiivty in which they created a faux Facebook account that could have its information changed so as to see how the changing of information changed the focus of the advertisements displayed on the page.
The goal of this project collaboratory is to provide a brief research assignment on the sharing of perceived private information to specific social networks, and to conduct surveys of college students to discover whether or not users of such social sites are aware of the places their private information is sent to. The research as well as the surveys will be cataloged in a basic Wordpress blog so as to make it available to the general public.