Extra Reading Materials

Facebook is a global social networking website similar like Friendster, MySpace etc etc. (most users voted Facebook is the #1 social networking website so far). Users can add friends and send them messages, and update their personal profiles to notify friends about themselves.

Racently, Facebook has met with some controversy. It has been blocked intermittently in several countries including Syria, China, Vietnam, and Iran. (click link for more story). It has also been banned at many places of work to discourage employees from wasting time using the service. Privacy has also been an issue, and it has been compromised several times. What is the limit of facebooking in IIUM ? IIUM Facebook (FB) user is only popular among the students but it also has been used as a social networking tools among the professor and staff.

Facebook’s growth as an Internet social networking site has met criticism on a range of issues, especially the privacy of users, child safety, the use of advertising scripts, data mining, and the inability to terminate accounts without first manually deleting all the content. Many companies removed their adverts from the site in 2007 because they were being displayed on the pages of controversial individuals and groups. The actual content of user’s pages, groups and forums has been criticised for promoting controversial topics such as pro-anorexia and holocaust denial.

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What is impact of FB addiction in IIUM ? The Chronicle of Higher Education written by Michael Bugeja, director of the Journalism School at Iowa State University, entitled “Facing the Facebook”. Bugeja, author of the Oxford University Press text Interpersonal Divide (2005), quoted representatives of the American Association of University Professors and colleagues in higher education to document the distraction of students using Facebook and other social networks during class and at other venues in the wireless campus. Similar cases will happen when IIUM deploying its campus wide wireless.

Bugeja followed up on January 26, 2007 in The Chronicle with an article titled “Distractions in the Wireless Classroom,” quoting several educators across the country who were banning laptops in the classroom. Similarly, organisations such as the National Association for Campus Activities, the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication, and others have hosted seminars and presentations to discuss ramifications of students’ use of Facebook and other social networking systems.

Source:

1. Bugeja, Michael J. “Distractions in the Wireless Classroom“. Chronicle Careers (The Chronicle of Higher Education).
2. National Association of Campus Activities. “Facing the Facebook“.
3. Association for Education in Journalism and Communication (2006). “Facing the Facebook: Administrative Issues Involving Social Networks“.

The most recent research on Facebook in higher education shows that there are educational benefits to student Facebook use, including improving engagement which is related to student retention. Furthermore, using technologies such as Facebook to connect with others can help college students be less depressed and cope with feelings of loneliness and homesickness. According to a case study, students surveyed had on average lower grades if they used Facebook than students who did not use Facebook..

Filed under: Uncategorized | Tagged: facebook, IIUM, IIUM Wireless, ITD