SOCIAL NETWORKING IN THE 1600's

By: Tom Standage

Published: June 22, 2013; The New York Times; www.nytimes.com Alternatively, just  google the title and writer’s name

Level of Difficulty: **

Thanks are due to my dear friend Oya Özağaç for providing this fascinating text

BEFORE YOU READ

·         How recent a phenomenon is social networking?

·         What are the social advantages of social networking?

·         What are the intellectual, political and commercial advantages?

·         What are the disadvantages?

QUESTIONS

1.       The “weapons of mass distraction” referred to in the first paragraph are………………………………

2.       Media sharing environments are considered to be a new / relatively new / old threat; this view is right / wrong because …………………………………………………………………………………………………

3.       Read paragraphs 3 and 4. We understand from the information presented that coffee houses had a:

·         Political function

·         Practical function

·         Intellectual function

·         Social function

·         All of the above

·         None of the above

·         Other: please specify

4.       How did coffee houses enable information to spread?

5.       What proof can you offer to the contention that the coffee houses of the 1600’s could be described as highly democratic environments?

6.       What conclusion can we draw from the stories of Anthony Wood and Roger North?

7.       What similarity does there seem to be between the reaction to coffee houses and the reaction to modern social media?

8.       The example of The Royal Society proves that ………………………………………………………………….

9.       Why were coffee houses called “penny universities”?

10.   Both Lloyds and The London Stock Exchange have their roots in ……………………………………..

11.   Why is it “no coincidence that coffee remains the traditional drink of collaboration and networking today”?

12.   What major difference between coffee houses and modern social networking sites is highlighted in the text?

13.   Read the example of the 2012 study published by McKinsey & Company. What conclusion can we draw from it?

14.   The project OpenWorm proves beyond doubt that ……………………………………………………………

15.   The writer finds the negative reaction to social networking understandable because……………

16.   He also says that we should learn from history because ………………………………………………………….

WRITING TASK: COMPARISON CONTRAST ESSAY

Write an essay discussing the similarities and differences of the 17^th century version of social networking and current social networking.There is an example under Sample Essays

Similarities according to the text are as follows:

Social differences not recognized, enabling the spread of information, enabling discussions on various issues, blamed for preventing young people from concentrating on their work,

Providing opportunities for learning, being crucibles of creativity

The differences are as follows:

Modern day social networking in the virtual environment, technology affects speed, quality and nature of communication.

SOCIAL NETWORKING IN THE 1600’s KEY AND TEACHER’S NOTES

This fascinating text was sent to me by a very dear friend and I fell in love the moment I saw it. A brilliant topic with a wow factor, an opportunity to design a good writing task… I was hooked. I would use this reading task to introduce comparison contrast essays. The students can make notes as they read and then write

1.       Social networks

2.       New, wrong, the coffee house was the social networking site of the 1600’s. You need to put all the references in their proper places when giving the answer.

3.       All of the above

4.       As the customers moved from one to the other, information circulated with them

5.       Patrons were not merely permitted but encouraged to strike up conversations with strangers from entirely different walks of life.

6.       Not everyone approved of coffee houses

7.       New media sharing platforms pose a particular danger to the young.

8.       Rather than enemies of industry, coffee houses were in fact crucibles of creativity (because of the way in which they facilitated the mixing of both people and ideas

9.       Scientists often conducted experiments and gave lectures in coffee houses and the admission fee was just a penny.

10.   Coffee Houses

11.   Because coffee houses provided a lively social and intellectual environment which gave rise to stream of innovations that shaped the modern world

12.   In our social media platforms, conversations are entirely virtual

13.   Corporate versions of Facebook encourage collaboration, discover hidden talents and knowledge among employees and reduce the use of email.

14.   Students learn more effectively when they interact with other learners.

15.   During the transitional phase (or adjustment period), technologies are often criticized for disrupting existing ways of doing things.

16.   The lesson of the coffee house is that modern fears about the damages of social networking are overdone.