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Foundation Commissions $50 Million Online Study

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the participation-gap dept.

PreacherTom writes, "It's not a stretch to say that kids use the Internet to play World of Warcraft and to tweak their MySpace pages. Still, the MacArthur Foundation doesn't think that is quite specific enough. The private, grant-making institution is commissioning a $50 million, five-year study to investigate precisely how and why young people use the Net. $10 million in grants is going to to individuals and organizations to work on projects that stimulate research in digital media. Sign me up."

12 of 70 comments (clear)

  1. Odds are the results will be less than useful by ScrewMaster · · Score: 3, Insightful

    since all of these technologies are relatively young and constantly changing, and any conclusions they may draw will likely be obsolete by the time they're published.

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    The higher the technology, the sharper that two-edged sword.
  2. I'd settle for $25 million... by parasonic · · Score: 2, Insightful

    ...and I know that I wouldn't get it. But here's your sad end result: porn.

    Now if they would now divert their attention elsewhere with that $50 million. Case closed!

  3. 5 Years?? by HeXetic · · Score: 5, Insightful

    A *5-year long* study about the Internet? Come on, by the time the study is complete, it'll be irrelevant as peoples' internet usage habits will have changed.

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    http://www.chmodoplusr.com/
  4. If only there was some way to know by joe_bruin · · Score: 2, Funny

    How can I tell if this is a trap?

    1. Re:If only there was some way to know by ronanbear · · Score: 2, Funny

      read Isaac Asimov

      http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Foundation_Series

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      the more they over-think the plumbing the easier it is to stop up the pipe
  5. Usage by hadhad69 · · Score: 3, Insightful

    #4 Plagiarism

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    If you can read this, it's already too late.
  6. Ask the experts by Dachannien · · Score: 3, Funny

    They're spending $50 million to do the same thing that spyware authors make money doing.

  7. OK kids, it's not funny anymore by sootman · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Can someone write a greasemonkey thingie so I never have to see 'itsatrap' again? And maybe strip out 'fud, notfud' as well?

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  8. Finally! by schnooka_boy · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Honestly, I'm surpsied it's taken this long. Internet use and culture is fascinating, I don't see how psychology can be such an enormous field and yet no one's begun a real effort analyze internet behavior. If you read the article, I'm certain they aren't just going to be analyzing what people are spending their time on (yeah, yeah, we all know teens just look at porn between emo bulletin posts to their Myspace). It should be more indepth then that. Of course, it's debatable if psychological findings really mean anything, but I'm happy to see that people are finding potential in internet psychology.

  9. Alright.. by l0cust · · Score: 2, Insightful

    There are so many carbon copy (WOW,MySpace,AIM) comments, which will be repeated by some other clueless bums trying to act smart. So we can safely say that Adults use internet to try to find one amusing statement/quote and repeat it over and over again till everyone is sick of it, then they move on to the next one.

    Seriously, whats with the negative remarks. Don't you think just maybe some other purpose behind the study apart from which sites 'young' people like to visit and what they use to kill their bandwidth. If the question was more general "What do people use net for?" then the first comment would have been "Porn" - which although amusing and not entirely incorrect, would have been far from the complete picture.

    For example: Most of the people hate seeing ads (targeted or otherwise) but there is a reason why websites have come to realise that putting huge blinking Flash ads on the pages is a bad idea and have started to move away from the stupid idea (Google ads anyone?). Online usage research can be productive if put to good use.

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    Politicians and Pedophiles: Two groups of exploitive bastards who are most dangerous when they're thinking of children.
  10. Misleading Article Title by vmardian · · Score: 3, Informative

    It's not a five year study, it's a five year initiative TO STUDY online culture.

    "... the MacArthur Foundation will give $10 million in grants to individuals and organizations to work on projects that stimulate research in digital media or explore new approaches to educational innovation....The remaining $40 million will be put towards fulfilling the broader aim of connecting researchers, educators, youth, and practitioners in different disciplines (and across sectors). A digital knowledge hub is already in the works, so that teachers from around the world can compare, contrast, and share research, tools, and findings through open-source software and online forums."

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    PowerLevel.com - A next generation marketplace for virtual items and services
  11. The Myth of Porn by overtly_demure · · Score: 2, Interesting
    I suspect that the heyday of porn on the net is passed. Gone are the days when people posted galleries of every pornographic image known to man and damn the copyrights. It is all pay to play now, except for some rather nasty free and "amateur" stuff, and I seriously doubt that many teenagers are forking over for pornsite subscriptions.

    Of course, it depends on what you mean by "young people."

    What fraction of slashdot readers, male or female, have spent more than US$100 in the past 24 months on internet porn?

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    ...are we scared yet?