Purple Hair and More, Coming to a Classroom Near You!

Hello, people I've now known for three years! Assuming you've all picked up amnesia over the break--or that we might have people looking at this blog who don't know me--allow me to once more introduce myself. My name is Angela Harkins. I'm 22 and a senior at Reinhardt University. Next year, I hope to start working towards a Master's degree in Human-Computer interaction at Georgia Tech. Mostly, though, I'm known as the girl with the purple hair.

 This purple hair, to be exact.

In fact, that picture is one of me in Spain where I studied abroad over the summer. As a web designer, I was able to continue doing some work for Cherokee FOCUS, a non-profit located in Holly Springs, Georgia whose website I built and maintain. It is in this way, then, that cyber culture has quite an impact upon my life. Even though I was half a world away, I was able to participate in my workplace culture almost as if I were there in person. 

It's a little bizarre, when you think about it, to realize that cyber culture has developed over the past few decades to the point that I don't have to be physically near anyone in order to participate in a community. I go to work online, I pay my bills online, and I interact socially online. In fact, since most of my interactions occur on the web, most people's mental representation of me is my avatar rather than my actual face.

However, with this new field suddenly open to us, a lot of the major ethical questions of our day are being raised. I recently received an email about a lawsuit against facebook for using personal information of its users in their advertising. Is it okay for them to do this? After all, we did voluntarily give them the information.

What about the problems over at Instagram where they're selling pictures and user information?

Or, more broadly, should the internet come under the control of the United Nations, or are we doing okay on our own?

What about online piracy, the use of online information by police, and the existence of vigilante groups like Anonymous?

We're setting the example that all future generations will follow. In order to make sure we are laying a solid foundation of moral responsibility, we need to understand the cyber culture in which we are participating before making decisions about issues such as those listed above.