Acknowledging a campus .com(munity)

1. Acknowledging a campus .com(munity) [thefacebook] & DIVERSITY COLLEGE Presented by: Jessica Bishop-Russell, Marie Dubord, Elizabeth Hansen, Kyle Webster The University of Maine

2. Facebook.com is an online directory that connects people through social networks at schools1. • Facebook.com is a virtual version of a traditional university publication that lists incoming students’ profiles with a picture, hometown information, and hobbies/interests. • Facebook.com’s interactive nature affords students the opportunity to: • Connect with classmates in large lecture classes and form study groups. • Find out about on- and off-campus events. • Find high school classmates who are now on other campuses. • Showcase themselves by highlighting recreational activities, relationships with popular people, etc. • Develop a sense of community by finding students with similar interests and backgrounds.

3. As of June 2005, over 88% of Boston University students had established Facebook.com profiles2. • Where residence halls, student unions, and classrooms once thrived as the centers of collegiate community, virtual reality has diminished the necessity of these geographic locations for community formation3. • Facebook.com’s online community meets the requirements set forth by Chickering and Reisser (1993) for an environment that promotes student development by providing regular interaction between students, opportunities for collaboration with people from diverse backgrounds, and serves as a social reference group4. • Online interactions have powerful implications for universities because they foster new social routines that have an impact, however partial, on organizational features3.

4. Kansas State University students made use of facebook to trade information without the Professor’s knowledge5. • Cheating • Potential for stalking • Hate speech issues • None of these are new issues in higher education, however, new student orientation programs tend not to address the implications of a website like facebook.com. • Universities should be concerned about the unique association between their institution and students’ behavior through facebook.com. It is the only social networking website that requires a .edu email address to access it and also groups registered students by academic institution.

5. Students think of Facebook as a private journal but it is a much bigger deal…They don’t realize how available that information is to people5… • Students’ perceptions of Facebook.com commonly fail to encompass the potential negative repercussions of posting personal information and photos online. • Colleges and universities must assume responsibility to educate their students about facebook.com. • The following slides will walk you through a sample of a tutorial consisting of a slideshow, discussion and quiz that students will be required to take part in. • Please note that this proposal is only a starting point. Due to the constantly evolving nature of on-line communities, policies and trainings like this one should be revisited on a frequent basis.

6. All new students (whether first year, transfer, traditional, or non-traditional) will be required to attend a presentation put on by Information Technologies (IT) on Facebook.com. These presentations will also serve as an overview of student rights online. The presentations will take place in one of our many on-campus computer laboratories. Each presentation will consist of three basic parts following Booth and Anderberg's (2005) model for academic development: learning, reflecting, developing6. It will begin with a slideshow overview followed by a question and answer period and finally a quiz. Discussion will be encouraged throughout the presentation. The following four slides are the beginning of that presentation:

7. Welcome to Diversity College! • As a DC Internet user, you have the following 3 basic rights7: • The Right to free expression - There shall be no restrictions placed on your freedom of speech except those necessary to protect the rights of others and preserve the order necessary for Diversity University to function as an institution of higher learning. • The Right to due process - In cases of discipline resulting from rules violations all users are guaranteed due process in order to promote the fundamental fairness promised to the students of Diversity University.

8. and... 3. The Right to privacy - Students can expect all electronic mail and personal information to be kept private and not be used against them. HOWEVER... once you establish a profile on Facebook.com, this last right is WAIVED based on the extent to which you share information on that website. Thus, it is important for you to be familiar with this site and recognize the benefits and inherent dangers it possesses.

9. Facebook.com is a place where you can: • find people in large lecture classes to study with. • find out about activities at school. • be reminded of friends’ birthdays. • reconnect with old friends from your high school/ hometown. • connect with others based on common interests and associations. • meet all sorts of new people.

10. Facebook.com is also a place where: • you may become the victim of stalking. • you may be harassed. • people face un-litigated hate speech. • you may find incriminating photographs of yourself that others have posted that you cannot take down. • potential employers seek out information that may be used against you in hiring decisions. • your identity may be stolen.

11. Facebook 101: The Basics • To set up your profile, visit Facebook.com and hit "register." • You will then follow a walk-through set-up of your profile. • Although you have the option of entering various things, be cautious and avoid posting things such as your address, phone number, and screen name. Remember: ALMOST ANYONE CAN FIND YOUR PROFILE.

12. Immediately following the slideshow and question and answer session, students will be required to complete and pass an online quiz before receiving their .edu e-mail address. This quiz will consist of 10 multiple choice questions and ten type-in answer questions. The following two slides are examples of the two test formats.

15. If a student passes the exam (at least 16 of the 20 questions correct), they will be issued their .edu e-mail address. • If a student fails the exam, they will be required to participate in an online version of the tutorial and take the quiz again until they do pass. • Students who cannot make it to the live tutorial will be allowed to participate in the online version at their leisure. They will also be required to pass the quiz in order to be issued their .edu e-mail address.

16. In order to truly emphasize to students how accessible their profile is to the general public, we propose that the profile in slide #5 of the student tutorial be that of a pre-picked student orientation leader in the crowd. • Although they know it is coming, the orientation leader should act uncomfortable and surprised by having their profile made so public (although in reality, it is no more public than usual). • This will cause uneasiness in the crowd and will make students truly notice that your Facebook.com profile is not private.

17. We feel it is important to revisit this information in order to make sure students are staying knowledgeable and safe. We suggest one session of their first year experience class (FYE 101) be devoted to this subject matter 11 weeks into the semester. This will re-emphasize the importance of online safety for the students and show us how well our initial tutorial stuck with them. • We also propose a mid-semester meeting of our core-committee to re-evaluate the program and see where we are at with it and see where changes should be made. • After this initial year, it is important to re-evaluate the program prior to each orientation program, just as is done with any other part of the orientation program. This should be forever viewed as a work in progress.

18. Through our research and preparation for this presentation, we were all forced to take a closer look at our own individual Facebook.com profiles. We realized the possibilities this tool offered us in reaching out to students, as well as the mistakes we had made in our profiles. • We encourage all members of the DC community to establish Facebook.com profiles or re-evaluate the one you currently have posted. • Facebook.com is a place where students are, and thus it is a place where we, as student affairs professionals, should be as well. • Posting office hours, office phone numbers, office locations, and a basic picture make us more accessible to students on-campus and increases our visibility.

19. Facebook. (n.d.). Retrieved February 18, 2006, from http://www.facebook.com • Schweitzer, S. (2005, September 26). When students open up -- a little too much. Boston Globe, news - local. • Riva, G. & Galimberti, C. (1998, November). Computer-mediated communication: Identity and social interaction in an electronic environment. Genetic, Social and General Psychology Monographs 124(4), 434-464. Retrieved February 18, 2006, from http://search.epnet.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=aph&an=1381193 • Chickering, A. W. & Reisser, L. (1993). Education and Identity (2nd Ed.). San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. • Mendelson, B. J. (2005, December 11). Misuse of Facebook May Cost You. Retrieved February 11, 2006, from http://blogcritics.org/archives/2005/12/11/213844.php

20. Booth, S., & Anderberg, E. (2005, November). Academic development for knowledge capabilities: Learning, reflecting and developing. Higher EducationResearch & Development, 24(4), 373-386. • Zillman, D., & Chapman, R. (1999, January 11). The University of Maine -Electronic Communication Policy [Brochure]. Retrieved February 17, 2006, from UMaine Information Technologies Web site: http://it.umaine.edu/support/old/digitalrights/pages/policy.htm

21. Bugeja, M. J. (2006, January 27). Facing the Facebook. Chronicle of HigherEducation, 52(21), C1. • De Souza, C., S., Preece, J. (2004) A framework for analyzing and understanding online communities. Interacting with Computers, The Interdisciplinary Journal of Human-Computer Interaction. (accepted, in press). • Preece, J., and Maloney-Krichmar, D. (2005). Online communities: Design, theory, and practice. Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication, 10(4), article 1. http://jcmc.indiana.edu/vol10/issue4/preece.html. • Read, B. (2006, January 20). Think before you share. Chronicle of HigherEducation, p. A38.