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1. This and the following seven questions are from Issue 18, Are People Better Informed in the Information Society? Roush, who believes people are better informed in the information society, says that PlanetLab will improve the Internet in all of the following ways EXCEPT
- [ ] a. allow streaming video to be retrieved instantly even if millions are accessing the same site.
- [ ] b. set up personal user preferences that will allow your computer to search Web sites for new material that might be of interest to you even when you are not online.
- [ ] c. detect viruses before they infect home computers.
- [ ] d. archive important data on nodes.
2. Robinson, who does not believe people are better informed in the information society, said a majority of Americans lack what type(s) of basic knowledge?
- [ ] a. political
- [ ] b. social issues
- [ ] c. scientific
- [ ] d. all of the above
- [ ] e. none of the above
3. Robinson describes the Internet as a global nervous system. How does he describe the addition of PlannetLab?
- [ ] a. nerve cells
- [ ] b. heart
- [ ] c. brain
- [ ] d. muscle
4. OceanStore's data storage and security capabilities would allow users to have more access to greater amounts of not only their own personal files anywhere in the world but also the files that other people labeled "public in the new security system.
5. Where is data stored on the PlanetLab system?
- [ ] a. large servers
- [ ] b. smart nodes
- [ ] c. PCs the size of cell phones
- [ ] d. data hubs
6. What types of things are Americans more likely to remember about political leaders, according to the data presented by Robinson?
- [ ] a. The most controversial decision they made, like sending troops to war
- [ ] b. their style of speech, like their laugh or drawl
- [ ] c. trivial personality traits, like which vegetable they despise
- [ ] d. the region of the country they've resided in most of their lives
7. While a majority of Americans cannot explain DNA, they at least know what type of health insurance coverage they have. Only five percent misidentified their coverage, showing that information that personally affects them is sought out and understood.
8. Which group(s) benefit(s) from voter ignorance, according to Robinson?
- [ ] a. challengers to current office holders
- [ ] b. media outlets
- [ ] c. pollsters and media outlets
- [ ] d. political incumbents and social activists
9. This and the following seven questions are taken from Issue 4, Do Video Games Encourage Violent Behavior. Psychologist Craig Anderson testified before Congress that video game violence has been shown to increase aggressive behavior in players in all of the following instances EXCEPT
- [ ] a. among pre-teen and teenage girls who play violent games.
- [ ] b. among boys and girls more than a year after playing the games.
- [ ] c. among pre-teen boys who play first-person shooter games.
- [ ] d. among boys an girls right after playing one of the violent games.
10. The Economist editorial believes that much of the argument surrounding video game violence can be explained by what phenomenon?
- [ ] a. The recent school shootings that have been erroneously linked to violent video game players.
- [ ] b. The desire of the U.S. Congress to tax that burgeoning video game industry with a "sin" tax much like those imposed on alcohol and tobacco sales.
- [ ] c. The generational divide that separates those who play from those who criticize.
- [ ] d. The gender disparity in those who play violent games versus non-violent games.
11. Why does Anderson argue that television violence research should be used to inform the video game violence discussion?
- [ ] a. Watching a television program and playing a video game are both passive behaviors utilizing electronic images.
- [ ] b. Kids tend to play video games for the same number of hours each day that they watch television.
- [ ] c. Parents are just as concerned about video games as they were about television 30 years ago.
- [ ] d. Children's learning processes are affected by video games like they are affected by television.
12. Anderson believes research shows that playing violent video games results in all of the following negative behaviors EXCEPT
- [ ] a. an increase in aggressive thinking.
- [ ] b. a decrease in respecting parental authority.
- [ ] c. an increase in aggressive retaliation.
- [ ] d. a decrease in helping others.
13. Anderson noted that one of the myths of media violence research is that harmful effects are only seen in a small minority of those exposed to the violent content. While he admits that the relationship between smoking and lung cancer accounts for close to 25 percent of those who suffer from the disease, he believes the 10-12 percent relationship between viewing violent media content and engaging in aggressive behavior is strong enough to warrant action.
14. The Economist argues which age group is the predominant players of video games?
- [ ] a. children under the age of 18
- [ ] b. young adults
- [ ] c. males between the ages of 18-45
- [ ] d. adults over 35
- [ ] e. Answers "a", "b" and "c"
- [ ] f. Answers "b", "c" and "d"
15. Studies into the effects of violent video games suffer from all of the following shortcomings, according to The Economist, EXCEPT
- [ ] a. they only look at short-term effects
- [ ] b. they generalize about playing games, even though content is very different.
- [ ] c. they fail to account for the active vs. passive nature of playing games.
- [ ] d. they assume all players engage with video games for the same number of hours.
16. Video games have the potential to educate players in decision-making skills, economics, narrative writing, and even company policies, according to The Economist.
17. This and the following six questions are taken from Issue 17, Can Privacy Be Protected in the Information Age. Contrasting today's real threats to privacy with George Orwell's vision, Simon Garfinkel, who believes that privacy can be protected in the information age, predicts that over the next 50 years, we will see our privacy breached not by Big Brother but by
- [ ] a. spies, historical revisionism, and control over the media by a totalitarian entity.
- [ ] b. "Little Brother": capitalism, the free market, advanced technology, and the unbridled exchange of electronic information.
- [ ] c. video surveillance.
- [ ] d. anyone out to make a buck.
18. Adam L. Penenberg, who does not believe that privacy can be protected in the information age, hired Web detective Dan Cohn to
- [ ] a. investigate companies that profit from the sale of personal information about their customers.
- [ ] b. look into Garfinkel's credentials.
- [ ] c. access the "innermost details" of Penenberg's life.
- [ ] d. produce evidence that politicians were paid off in soft money by corporations resisting regulation of database use.
19. Which one of the following bargains represents the "deal with the devil" to which Garfinkel refers?
- [ ] a. confidential information in exchange for money
- [ ] b. a stronger economy in exchange for our souls
- [ ] c. today's relaxed attitude toward privacy in exchange for the future loss of privacy
- [ ] d. convenience in exchange for privacy
20. As outlined by Garfinkel, which one of the following principles is not one of the five upon which the Code of Fair Information Practices is based?
- [ ] a. There must be a way for a person to correct or amend a record of identifiable information about the person.
- [ ] b. Any organization creating, maintaining, using, or disseminating records of identifiable personal data must assure the reliability of the data for their intended use and must take precautions to prevent misuse of the data.
- [ ] c. No organization may distribute personal information about any individual without that person's written consent.
- [ ] d. There must be no personal-data record-keeping system whose very existence is secret.
21. According to Garfinkel, a nationwide data-protection act giving people the right to know if their personal information is stored in a database, to see that information, and to demand that incorrect information be removed
- [ ] a. has been stifled by a lack of leadership.
- [ ] b. was passed by Congress in 1979 during the Carter administration.
- [ ] c. means that companies are liable for misuse of customer databases.
- [ ] d. would be costly, time consuming, and difficult to implement.
22. Penenberg was shocked to find that Cohn - thousands of miles away from his source of information - was able to use just a phone to
- [ ] a. discover extremely sensitive personal information about members of the United States Congress and their families.
- [ ] b. find out everything about Penenberg from where he ate dinner the previous night to the time his children get on the school bus every morning.
- [ ] c. have Penenberg's name, address, and Social Security number removed from all commercial databases.
- [ ] d. retrieve Penenberg's investment history, deposits, withdrawals, check numbers, and account balances from Merrill Lynch.
23. Penenberg's temporary strategy for self-protection of privacy includes
- [ ] a. asking his bank to withhold his social Security Number from credit bureaus; restricting telephone access to his investment account; changing his bank, utility, and credit card account numbers.
- [ ] b. writing each company with whom he does business to request that his name and Social Security number not be sold or otherwise distributed.
- [ ] c. ensuring that Cohn's license is revoked so he can no longer dig up people's secrets.
- [ ] d. writing his congressperson to urge support of privacy-related legislation and voting only for candidates who see privacy issues as a priority.
24. This and the next three questions are taken from Issue 10, Is Blogging Journalism. Reporter Matt Welch believes that blogs perform all of the following functions EXCEPT
- [ ] a. serve as fact-checkers for traditional media sources
- [ ] b. provide an objective alternative to the subjective aspect of current alternative newspapers
- [ ] c. provide a training ground for great writers
- [ ] d. encourage readers to interact with the author as well as the story
25. Welch says that bloggers have made four primary contributions to journalism. Pick the response that includes two of them.
- [ ] a. new knowledge, technological innovations
- [ ] b. editorial filtering, social context
- [ ] c. personality, editorial filtering
- [ ] d. eyewitness testimony, social context
26. Blogging became accessible to non-technologically adept individuals in 1999 when PyraLabs introduced a template-based package with web hosting functions.
27. While blogging has generated a great deal of enthusiasm and some angst among the reading public and the journalistic profession, how many Americans actually engage in blogging, according to Welch?
- [ ] a. less than one million
- [ ] b. slightly more than one million
- [ ] c. approximately two million
- [ ] d. between two and three million
28. This and the next seven questions are taken from Issue 8, Is Negative Campaigning Bad for the American Political Process? Pinkleton, Um and Austin, who believe negative ads can harm the political process, concluded what from their study of negative advertising?
- [ ] a. positive ads were more useful to voters than negative ads
- [ ] b. negative ads contributed to greater apathy among potential voters
- [ ] c. negative ads caused potential voters to be more negative toward political campaigns
- [ ] d. both a & b
- [ ] e. both a & c
29. Lariscy and Tinkham, who do not believe that negative ads harm the political process, note that complex positive ads are just as effective as complex negative ads. The key, they say, to a memorable ad is that it makes the voter question his/her currently held assumptions about a particular candidate or issue.
30. Pinkleton, Um and Austin's findings departed from previous research in what way?
- [ ] a. negative ads did not produce greater cynicism among viewers
- [ ] b. negative ads were found to have lower utility than other types of ads
- [ ] c. comparative ads were just as likely as negative ads to increase voters' negativity toward campaigns
- [ ] d. all of the above
- [ ] e. none of the above
31. What two variables were not affected by negative advertising in Pinkleton, Um and Austin's experimental study?
- [ ] a. negativism and apathy
- [ ] b. self-efficacy and cynicism
- [ ] c. apathy and cynicism
- [ ] d. self-efficacy and apathy
32. What is the distinction drawn by Pinkleton, Um and Austin between negativism and cynicism?
- [ ] a. cynicism is tied to attitudes toward specific candidates and/or races
- [ ] b. negativism is more situationally based
- [ ] c. cynicism is a trait seen only in older voters
- [ ] d. negativism permeates multiple voting cycles
33. According to Lariscy and Tinkham's article, a voter ___________ a negative political advertisement in order for its message to be retained.
- [ ] a. has to like
- [ ] b. doesn't have to like
- [ ] c. has to like the attacking candidate in
- [ ] d. has to know little about either candidate in
34. What two actions occur in what psychologists call the "sleeper effect"?
- [ ] a. The source of the attack fades in memory, and the attack itself fades, too.
- [ ] b. The source of the attack remains in memory, while the attack itself fades.
- [ ] c. The source of the attack remains in memory, and the attack itself remains, too.
- [ ] d. The source of the attack fades in memory, while the attack itself remains.
35. A "bad" negative advertisement is one that is memorable to voters and makes them think but is dealing with an issue that doesn't resonate with them.
36. This and the following seven questions are taken from Issue 14, Are Legacy Media Systems Becoming Obsolete? Streisand and Newman argue that the Internet, unlike traditional forms of media, changed the relationship between the information broker and the information consumer.
37. Fisher praised traditional media during Hurricane Katrina for all of the following reasons EXCEPT
- [ ] a. holding the government accountable for its inaction
- [ ] b. leading the charge in introducing the race issue into the discussion
- [ ] c. providing first-hand observations of the devastation
- [ ] d. helping readers/viewers grasp the emotional impact of the crisis
38. Streisand and Newman note that the immersion of what technology into a majority of U.S. homes has led to the "new media elites"?
- [ ] a. cell phones
- [ ] b. high-speed lines
- [ ] c. digital cable
- [ ] d. laptop computers
39. According to Streisand and Newman, advertisers are able to target specific demographics of possible consumers with greater precision when using online advertising versus traditional media advertising.
40. How do Streisand and Newman propose old media companies can stay competitive in this new marketplace?
- [ ] a. They can provide content to others' portals.
- [ ] b. They can develop their own portals.
- [ ] c. They can advertise their products on the primary portals.
- [ ] d. both a & b
- [ ] e. both a & c
41. Fisher's discussion of Hurricane Katrina coverage noted that the Internet and its group of "citizen reporters" were effective support for the traditional reporters, who were relying on blogs, e-mails, and shared community sites like LiveJournal to provide them with eyewitness reports.
42. In addition to confronting government officials for the response efforts - or lack thereof - in New Orleans, what other reporting on the government took place following Hurricane Katrina?
- [ ] a. The concern for the oil refineries was greater than the concern for evacuees.
- [ ] b. The National Guard's inability to provide necessary troops in the wake of the war in Iraq.
- [ ] c. The role that federal flood insurance and congressional dollars played in development on vulnerable coastline property.
- [ ] d. The rivalry between Gulf Coast states to build casinos on flood-prone land.
43. Fisher's article applauds the media professionals from print, radio, and television who used their skills, experience, shared technology, and story-telling capability to unite and inform in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.