There was an article in the New York Times today about how MIT and the University of Southampton in Britain announced today that they are starting a joint Web science program at their schools. The gist of the article is that the web is becoming more important these days, and that an academic understanding of the web and technology doesn't merely involve knowledge in computer science but also study of social behavior and networks online.

This seems pretty relevant to our class and this blog. There were a few blog posts here and there and others that have talked about privacy online and in blogs, with references to access of information and the very public nature of very personal information. We usually talk about privacy in terms of creepiness and stumbling upon information that we feel like we should not be seeing even if it's public domain. It's appropriate that when Web Science becomes an actual field of academic study, that will be one of the main areas of research, since it is such a huge and controversial topic. I just think it's pretty cool that this new field will be so interdisciplinary. It's a step in the right direction, since I feel like when most people think about web-science they're thinking strictly in terms of the computer technology aspects of it but now, with such programs in place, people will be more aware of the sociological aspects of the web.