Final Examination:

Due date: December 16, 2008 by email to drjparker@gmail.com

Answer three of the following questions.  Three is the number of the questions, and the number of the questions shall be three.  Four is not the number of the questions, neither shalt thou answer two, unless thou shalt therefore be proceeding to three.  Five is right out.

1.) Compare cooperating online and in real life.  Both online life and real life have advantages and disadvantages for cooperation; examine both sides for each modality.

2.) Which is harder work, cooperating or competing?

3.) Give examples of both a vibrant active online community and one that is dead.  Explain why one worked and the other didn't.

4.) You have been given the task of breathing life into a nearly dead online community.  The community was once vibrant but due to flame wars the participation has dropped to almost nothing.  How do you save the patient?

5.) I would hope that it is obvious after an entire semester that it is very possible to have real relationships in a virtual world.  If you were designing a community, what would you do to help insure the development of meaningful relationships online?

6.) Our online lives can affect our real lives.  Both positive and negative effects are possible due to online interaction.  How do we keep it real even online?  How can we maximize the positive and minimize the negative?