Reading Assignments   Week #13 (More kids...still more kids) The National Institute on Media and the Family offers this fact sheet on filtering system for children's online behaviors. America Online is one of the most concerned ISPs when it comes to child safety.  They have joined in a number of initiatives to protect kids, including Safe Surfin'.   Week #11 (Children and the Internet) Please take a look at this guide to safe surfing for teens. Do you believe this will be effective in getting teenagers to think about their internet use? What age range do you believe this is aimed at? And look over this 2006 Internet filter review of Children's Online protection software (filters) .   Week #8: Sexual Preference & Practice Issues Online Please read this article from the Washington Post about online worship and ancient religions.   Week #7: Sexual Preference & Practice Issues Online Please look through some of the GLBT Weblogs online to see how the "Queer Nation" (as a sexually identified community) is being built. And this article, on the Rise of the Metrosexual, looks a the "new softer guy" who is heterosexual, fashion-conscious, and, some argue, narcissistic. The change in "macho" images has led also to changes in how to target men in traditional and online media. (And many advertisers will tell you that ads targeted at the gay community also have strength with their straight counterparts.)   Week 6: Gender Communities Online Is it important to consider men in building gender policy?   Here's EuroWRC's view. And consciousness-raising for women's groups is very much a focus for a variety of writings, both on-line and off. This link suggests how to create appropriate group experiences for women. Michael Flood has said some very important readings in his The Men's Bibliography.   Week 5: Online Community-Building Please read "Community Without a Vision Won't Work." And please also review Freeform.org's "A Case Study in User-Centered Design of a High Traffic World Wide Web Virtual Community"   Week 4: Marginalized Political Groups Online voting: Speculation about how online voting could work and the pro and con arguments (especially following the disasterous 2000 US presidential elections) is multinational. One piece from the UK is particularly useful: here it is as a PDF, and here is a link to it as HTML. Please also review the eDemocracy articles found on this separate page, some of which will, no doubt, be useful for your second paper. (And yes, that's a hint and all.) Week 3: Minority Politics Virtual Politics: The Internet in US Elections Political Privacy and Online Politics: just what are the concerns? Can the Web Save Democracy? (UK/BBC) and, related to it: The Future of Internet Voting (read the executive summary -- more if you wish)   Week 2: Digital Democracy Please read The Future of E-Democracy:  the 50 year plan And also Political Action on the Web offers a boost to presidential campaigns   This page created and maintained by Dr. Deb Geisler Department of Communication and Journalism Suffolk University Boston, MA  02108 Last updated 29 November 2007