Bias | Culture | Cultural Relativism | Electronic Conference

Ethnocentrism | Language | Stereotype | Subculture

Web Chat | Web Discussion Group | Web Research

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BIAS

A point of view, a way of looking that gives you a preference for or against a group of people, a situation, or an idea. Recognizing that we have biases lets us examine them, see how they dictate our actions, and helps us improve our relationships. (Nobody's Born a Racist - The Students Commission Guide to Equity. Toronto: The Students Commission, 1995, 6.)

CULTURE

A set of rules or standards shared by members of a society, which when acted upon by the members produce behaviour that falls within a range of variation the members consider proper and acceptable. (William A. Haviland, Cultural Anthropology, 8th edition, 1996, Harcourt and Brace College Publishers: Florida p. 32)

Traits of Culture:

Culture is Learned: Culture is not biological, it is something which we are taught/perceive and read as we mature. If you came into a new cultural situation, you would need to learn the cultural practices of that situation.

Culture Is Shared: Culture is shared, for if it weren' t we would'nt be able to understand one another. The fact that culture is shared allows us to understand the actions of others, and lets us know that our actions are either within the norms of acceptance, or not, within our society. But, remember that culture is also shared differentially, for example, between men and women and children.

Culture is Symbolic: This is the means by which culture is communicated. The best example of this is language.

(Notes taken from Patricia Smith, Graduate Student , McMaster University)

Cultural Relativism

Cultural is an adjective that means relating to culture. Relativism means how something relates to another and the signifcance of it.

Electronic Conference

An electronic conference is a meeting that happens on the web, over an extended period of time. Every participant gets a password and can access a website that is specially designed for the conference. An electronic conference can be open (anyone can join) or closed (by invitation only). The Community and Sustainability Electronic Conference is closed.

Rather than talk or present their work in person, electronic conference participants "post" their work and chat in discussion groups. They ask their questions by posting them on the web. One special quality about an electronic conference is that anyone can answer questions. Because we are able to cover a wide range of specific topics within a general area of interest, we need many people with specialized information to answer a variety of questions. Each of us can research an area and thus become overnight experts!

The success of electronic conferences depends almost entirely on the quality of participation. Participants do research, post their work results, talk to other participants and keep interacting. Basically, the participants decide themselves what work they want to do and when because other than the chats, they can get on the net whenever they want to!

Ethnocentrism

When a person views their culture and ethnicity as superior and dominant, and always thinks of it first and foremost.

Language

A method of communication that includes not only language but vocal sounds, written symbols, signs and gestures.

Stereotype

A stereotype is a broad generalization made about a given group. A stereotype can be culturally, sexually, ethnically based and either negative or positive. Stereotypes rob people of their individuality and lead to narrow-mindedness. Stereotypes are especially prevalent inthe media.

Subculture

Members of a group or culture that break off to form a smaller group due to shared beliefs. A link to the larger group is still maintained.

Web Chats

This way of communicating allows people to have group conversations where everyone is connected to the internet and signed onto a chat site at the same time. Each person can type what they want to say and it appears on everyone's monitor simultaneously. This way, several people can talk at once and "meet" people from all over the world.

The key to a good chat is to pay attention to what others are writing, to have a clear set of objectives to accomplish, to have a good chairperson (who keeps things moving by suggesting questions) and participants that know what they are going to be talking about. The idea with a chat is to create a comfortable, creative kind of rap session where everyone participates in their own way and is focussed on finding the answers to key questions.

Web Discussion Group

A web discussion group is a "site" on the internet where people post their questions, comments and thoughts so that everyone can see it. Usually, when a message is sent to be posted, it goes up within 24 hours. A web discussion group monitor actually posts the messages on the folder in the same order that they were received in.

Web discussion groups are cool when there is a chain of topics that link each posting to the others. That is why most discussion groups start with a question that the moderator keeps current in everyone's mind.

Do you know the game Telephone? Have you ever made up a story where one person starts it, the next person continues, and then another and another continues until someone tells the ending? Well, that is what a web discussion group is like. Everyone can add whatever they like but tries to hold the story together by focusing on the main plot or theme.

 Web Research

Web research is the art of finding information on the internet and communicating it to others. There are specific programs (called search engines like yahoo and Alta Vista) that can help people to find website related to a request.

Before beginning a search, it is important to know exactly what kind of information you are looking for and what words are used to describe it. For example, if I were searching for information regarding waste disposal, I might use the key words trash, waste products, sewage treatment and recycle. It all depends on what I am looking for.

Never give up on a search. Sometimes it takes a long time but almost any kind of information is available on the web. Sometimes information is too technical or specific. In these cases, it is best to start at a library or a resource centre to get basic information.