Facebook causes suspensions

Hey class,

I found it interesting that after learning about facebook.com in class last week that it made the news today. I myself have never seen or used facebook, so feel free to correct me if I make any mistakes or assumptions regarding its use, because I'm basically going from our discussion in class on Thursday.

You can read the article titled "Four arrested at high-school protest" posted March 23rd on; thestar.com

The article tells how four students were arrested today after a protest over suspensions of five fellow students at Birchmount Park C.I. got out of control. The suspensions were a result of a school administer finding derogatory comments made towards the schools vice-principal that were posted on facebook. The grade 11 student who posted the remarks told reporters that he regretted starting the group, but then pointed out that he's not because it's about freedom of speech and it was just them talking. He did agree that the comments were inappropriate, but said he never intended them to get back to the VP because it was a private thing.

Thinking back at our lecture, I wonder if we should consider facebook both a space and a place or not. I realize that facebook meets some of the aspects of place, for example; it allows you to have a sense of ownership, it provides a meeting place and a connection to others, it does have the same location (the website and its address) and setting each time you log on. But doesn't place have to have some sort of privacy and it certainly seems that's there's not a lot of privacy if a school administrator can log on and view students thoughts and conversations. Again, I'm not familiar with facebook, so I wonder if there are places available on this site you can post or discuss things that are private and if so, did these students purposely post it in an area where everyone can view them.

I'm sure we'll be able to read more about facebook, in the wake of this incident, in this week-ends newspapers.

Later, Sean