This is your life online

When graduating senior Winston Wu was getting the word out about his birthday party, he didn’t pick up the phone; he went to his computer and created an event on Facebook.

“Sometimes it’s a lot of work to call your friends or to show them pictures, but on Facebook it’s one click away,” said Wu, a fourth-year physiological sciences student.

After university police used a Taser on a student in Powell Library, fourth-year international development studies student Gloria Lam watched cell phone video footage of the event on YouTube.

“(YouTube) is like a storage bank to keep up on news,” Lam said.

Martin Griswold, a fourth-year physics student, said he used YouTube to view the recent democratic presidential debates after having missed the televised broadcast.

In the last four years, students like Wu, Lam and Griswold have experienced a wide array of new technologies, ranging from video and networking Web sites to online downloads and educational aids such as podcasted lectures.

“This class has seen the most online services,” said Kenn Heller, assistant dean of students at UCLA.

But Rick Tuttle, who was a UCLA graduate student in the 1960s, recalls a time when students made phone calls ““ from land lines ““ and videos were only in movie theaters.

Tuttle, who now works in UCLA’s Center for Student Programming, said technology has changed a lot since then.

Social networking Web sites in particular have altered student interaction by allowing bigger networks of friends, Wu said.

Facebook, which was founded in 2004, had almost 18 million users in February 2007, half of whom log in daily, according to its Web site.

Fifth-year physiological sciences student Brittany Ferguson said she uses Facebook too often.

“(Facebook) makes me put off doing schoolwork a lot longer … but it is a nice way to keep in contact,” Ferguson said.

Griswold said Facebook has allowed him to interact with people he might otherwise lose touch with.

“Sometimes I’ve met people that I may have never talked to again if they didn’t make me a friend on Facebook,” he said.

When Lam first joined Facebook, she was contacted by a friend from elementary school she hadn’t seen in over 10 years.

“It’s fun to see what (friends from the past) are doing,” Lam said.

Tuttle said students used to interact more in person while crossing each other on campus.

“(Today) there’s a lot less interpersonal connection,” he said.

Christina Rea, a fourth-year physiological sciences student, said she was reluctant at first to join Facebook because she prefers interacting in person. But recently her roommates convinced her to create an account.

Rea joked that she is starting to regret having a Facebook because she now visits the site at least once a day.

“Now I’m sucked in like everybody else,” she said.

Heller said the public nature of social networking sites makes it easy for disputes and disagreements to escalate. He added that some actions over the Internet can be interpreted as harassment.

“We’ve seen an increase in behavioral issues surrounding Facebook and MySpace,” he said.

The university has also seen a growing problem in online piracy over the last four years, Heller said.

“Beginning my freshman year, music downloading on campus started being a huge enterprise,” said Dalvin Tsay, a graduating fourth-year history student.

“We like stuff for free,” Tsay said, but he added that he thinks the university has become progressively stricter on online piracy.

Increased vigilance by the university was a result of increased enforcement by the movie and recording industries, Heller said.

Almost 1,400 complaints about copyright infringement have been received by the university since April 2004, and around 9 percent of these complaints were repeat offenses, Heller said.

Tsay said he had friends who had received complaints about online piracy, and he said illegal downloading was not worth the risk.

New technology has also expanded educational opportunities on campus with new services such as online lecture notes and podcasts facilitating student learning.

Rea said educational technologies such as these have made college easier for her graduating class.

“You can do so much research without even going to the library,” Rea said.

Yet Wu said online resources can discourage students from attending class.

“Podcasted lectures help a lot, but they’re more reason to skip lecture,” Wu said.

But Heller said podcasts are no different than purchased class notes when used to supplement lectures instead of replacing them.

“(Podcasts) will help the (university) experience,” Heller said.

In the next six months, the university will work with Apple in an attempt to increase the number of podcasts offered, Heller said.

He added that a number of lecture halls are already fitted with recording devices as part of this project.

A number of students said new technology will make it easier to leave after graduation because they can stay in touch with friends through the Internet.

“(Facebook) makes it easier to leave knowing that there’s an easy way (to stay connected),” said Ferguson.

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