Cyberculture: Research Projects

Here are a few suggestions for research project topics. These are only suggestions; many other topics are possible.

• Webcams: broadcasting the self in cyberspace
• Weblogs (Blogs)
• MP3s: the practices, communities, and copyright issues involved in music file sharing
• Gender, sexuality, race, ethnicity, and/or class in online communities
• Computer Games of various sorts (Doom, The Sims, Black and White, etc.)
• Gaming Communities (Everquest, Ultima Online, The Sims Online, etc.)
• Online Gambling
• The culture of popular online sites (Ebay, for instance)
• Cypherpunks: anonymity, encryption, virtual money, etc.
• The culture of mobile phones
• Virtual animals (Tamagochi, Furby, Aibo, etc.)
• Artificial intelligence, artificial life, robotics
• Science fiction and cyberspace (Gibson's Neuromancer and other SF novels that have influenced the development of the Internet)

Class Pages, Winter 2003

• Roberto Alvizo, Race and Culture Online
• Andrew Berger, Playtime Is Over
• Kyle Byers, Human Culture in the Gaming World
• Ryan Clark, Technology and the Seattle School District
• Amber Goodwin, The Impact of Weblogs
• Sarah Gottlieb
• Nancy Ho, Ender's Game and Military Simulation
• Jinna Johnson, Multiplayer Online Games
• Kagnar Som, Safe Internet Kids.com

Class Pages, Winter 2002

• Ryan Acierto, Multiplayer Online Games
• Ben Allen, Freaks and Mutants
• Sun Bae, Peer2Peer
• Craig Bigby, Dangers of Cell Phones
• Colin Bleckner, User Interfaces and the Internet
• Sam Brozusky, Carnivore and Magic Lantern
• Brian Dunn, Loups-Garous--Japan
• Brian Enriquez, The Cinema Reel
• Michael Farag, Under(what)Ground
• Michelle Ferris, Race, Class, and Sexuality in Cyberspace
• Hyo Hwang, Multi-User Games
• Eric Weston, The Palace and the Pyramid
• Amanda Whitty, The Virtual Marketplace as a Commerce Oriented Community