Agenda for Today

1. Agenda for Today reminder: prepare for lab class What is “social capital”? Social capital and political participation CMC and social capital

2. What is social capital? connections among individuals networks of social connectedness generalized reciprocity trust bridging vs bonding schmoozers vs machers

3. Effects of social capital economic performance political participation civic pride crime health happiness

4. Erosion of social capital T.V. generational effects time and money pressures, two-career families suburbanization, commuting, sprawl

5. Future of social capital “civic inventiveness” interaction with neighbours public space cultural activity government leadership

6. Social capital and participation broader context causal: relationship to other forms of participation effect: larger than democratic legitimacy

7. CMC & social capital concerns about CMC’s social impact hopes expressed for CMC conditions that shape impact of CMC different assessments of CMC’s impact research issues my own assessment of CMC & social capital

8. CMC’s social impact CMC displacing real life online interaction poorer than real life lack of true plublic space new dangers CMC compounds existing problems reinforces existing divisions class, gender

9. Hopes for CMC online community as remedy for erosion of social capital postmodern identity experimentation online approximation of real life interplay between on- and off-line

10. Conditions shaping CMC social context of CMC specific technologies used users of CMC

11. Assessments of CMC Net cynics: CMC erodes community Net optimists: focus on hopes Net equivocators: both good and bad Net agnostics: future still unclear

12. Research issues current Net demographics looking where the light is assessing postmodernism

13. Conclusions information exchange as basis for engagement embedding CMC I.R.L. applying real life lessons CMC vs TV technological solutions

14. Discussion