Topic Ideas

The cyberspace and the soul. I’m interested in the identities of users of cyberspace. It seems very interesting to me that the “soul” exists for many people, despite the fact that it has no physical manifestation. Cyberspace is exactly like the soul in that there is no physical space there, but nonetheless, cyberspace is, as Sterling writes, not real but it is genuine. This will be a review. I’d like to bring Foucault’s analysis of the soul into this as well, “The soul imprisons the body.” What happens when somebody “goes” to cyberspace? Is there any “body” in cyberspace? How does cyberspace relate to identity in terms of the public sphere?

News Online: Why do some newspapers make you pay for their online content and some don’t? How do “Hard Copy” newspapers like the NYTimes stack up against totally online news sources like Slate? Who goes to which more often? Does how much money you spend on your website make a difference? How about circulation? Does print circulation necessarily automatically translate into website traffic? And the money a newspaper spends on its online “presence,” does that necessarily translate to traffic?

Paul Medenwaldt