online buying and selling

Have you used a website like Craigslist or EBay to buy or sell something? What was the experience like? Would you use such a service again? If you haven’t, detail how you have sold or bought something outside the environment of a retailer.


In the past I have used EBay to buy things, though I have never sold anything online before.  I personally like and enjoy EBay because it one giant bidding war and its interesting to see how much an individual will bid or spend for a particular item of interest.  Typically EBay allows for cheaper prices then one could find at a store or another online website.  Furthermore there are numerous vintage items on EBay that people are unable to find anywhere else.  The majority of my experiences with EBay have turned out good, as I have received the item that I won with no problems.  However there has been an occasion or two where i payed for the item yet have never received what I had won.  Unfortunately there is not much of a way to regulate this situation and make sure that the items get to those that won and payed for them.  Thoough I have experienced problems with EBay I still enjoy the website and still look to it when looking to buy something online.

answering an important question

You have an important personal question you’d like answered. Explain the procedure for getting your question answered and why this method appeals to you.


Typically when I have a question before me that I am looking to answer I turn to the internet.  Usually like many others I go for google; I just type in the question or the main idea of the question and instantaneously I'm presented with numerous websites, and articles centered around the idea, and the question that I am trying to answer.  Wikipedia is usually a good jumping off point when I'm looking or information because though it is not "reliable" it provides a good base for an individual to start from.  Furthermore if the question before me requires "reliable" information I turn to google scholar which provides peer reviewed articles from various known journals.  Since being at JMU the library resources page which allows you to assess journal articles such as jstor has become really popular for me when looking to answer a certain question.  

John's Drive In

Describe a group you are a member of (online community, church, job, etc.) and how it is organized. Is there management? How is information distributed within the group?


For the past 7 years now I have worked at John's Drive In back home in Montauk, NY its a small but extremely popular restaurant whose main focus is made to order food such as burgers, chicken wraps, fried goodies as well as it famous homemade ice cream.  My boss and wife are the owners of John's and they are obviously on top of the pecking order.  Thankfully since I've been there 7 years I've made my way up the ladder to be the manager.  However aside from the owners and the manager (myself) there aren't any other so called positions.  Though the level of importance and "power" within the restaurant is set up through experience, the workers that have been there longer have more say then those who have just started.  In all honesty we're somewhat of a family each respecting one another and helping each other in anyway possible.  Though i may have authority of others, I only use that authority when necessary.  As new individuals come into work for use the older more experienced workers help pass down information and knowledge to the new workers.  Aside from that any other information that needs to be told to everyone just circulates from one person to another or otherwise is posted for every individual to see. 

Facebook, Myspace, and Meetup.com

If managers aren’t important anymore towards the formation or control of groups using online tools, what do you consider the main role websites such as Meetup.com, Facebook, or MySpace have provided newly emerging groups?


Its obvious that social networking sites such as facebook play a monumental role in today's society.  Facebook provides a wide variety of resources for all of its users; it allows individuals to keep in contact with their friends and family who may be in other states, or countries.  Individuals are able to share pictures ranging from last weekends raging party to seeing pictures of your new baby cousin.  Facebook has now evolved even further then it was originally intended as they have been the go-to for newly forming groups.  Companies, Musical artists, restaurants, you name it its on facebook.  So many new "groups" are using facebook to get themselves out there to be heard heard from and seen by the world.  Facebook provides free advertising for such people, bands can post their tour schedule and new information for their beloved fans to follow, or a restaurant can provide their menu and special events that they may be having.  The internet is currently the way to become someone, and get your name known because so many people use the internet.  These social networks make it easy to become part of a group.  Clay Shirky provides a great example in his book Here Comes Everybody about the power of the internet.  One girl lost her phone and her friend was able to use the power of the internet to get it back by getting a group together that were all in search of the cell phone.

Grocery Loyalty Cards

Till I have read the chapter I thought very highly of food lion's MVP card as well as other loyalty cards that allow you to save money at the grocery store.  However it is a little weird to me that grocery store track what you buy when you use these cards, I don't think its necessary.  However regardless I still gonna use my MVP card considering I am poor college student trying to save every penny i can haha

Google Censorship in China

Recently google has been criticized for its policies toward China by restricting searches to the people of China and then opening them back up to the people.  In my opinion, though China is a Communist state and has rules against censorship this should not directly effect google.  Google seeks to organize all the information on the internet and allow for users to be able to locate that information as easily as possible.  I feel like it is wrong to deprive people of information and knowledge and therefore google should not censor information to the people of china. 

HI my name is Thomas Loncar, but you can all just call me Tom.

I'm a senior at JMU and I'm a Political Science major, with a ISS and Secondary Education minor

My future goals after graduation are to begin by traveling and make the most of life before actually entering into the real world.  From there I would like to get into teaching, hopefully at the high school level teaching government, history, or something along those lines.

I'm excited about this class it seems very interesting, I'm hoping to learn how folksonomy is growing in our society and how folksonomy can help categorize information within the classroom.