The Journal Assignment is an opportunity for you to reflect on the ways the course is related to everyday experiences or current events by making connections to assigned readings and personal experience from your everyday life.
Journal One
Topic 1: Impact of Smart Phones on Social Interaction. 
Smart phones are responsible for the decrease in social interaction in public spaces. Do you agree or disagree with this statement? Be sure to cite specific references from the readings to support your response. 
https://journals.uic.edu/ojs/index.php/fm/article/view/3036/2567
Journal Three
Please post your responses to BOTH Topics in a single submission and Label as Topic 1 and 2.
Topic 1: Warning Signs of Misleading Information
Of the warning signs of trickery listed in of UnSpun, which do you think has the most potential to misinform or harm the audience and why? Be sure to cite the reading and give an example to support your statement. 

Read the following chapters from UnSpun 

UnSpun (Chapter 2): A Bridesmaids Bad Breath: Warning Signs of Trickery; AND/OR

UnSpun (Chapter 3): “Tall Coffees and Assault Weapons” AND/OR 

Topic 2: Evaluating Information
Read the following article on studies examining health risks from pavement solvent: Study sees parking lot dust as a cancer risk (nbcnews.com). Select one claim or argument that the article makes. Evaluate its information: Where are they getting their information from (what are their sources? Are they trustworthy?). Is this opinion or fact? Look at the studies they refer to. What makes them credible or not? Is this article effective in fulfilling your information needs? Why or why not? 

Journal Four
Please respond to BOTH prompts in a single entry an label your responses.
Topic 1: Positions on Privacy
What is your biggest privacy concern when going online? Think about the websites and online services you most often use. Do you feel they are ethical and transparent in their use and disclosure of your data?
Topic 2: Information Ethics
Think about how the issues of information ethics, brought up in the readings, relate to your own experience using digital technology. Give an example of when you have had to consider ethics or values when making decisions about how to act online. In what ways might information professionals (such as journalists, librarians, archivists, etc.) be held to different ethical standards?  
Journal Five
Topic: Information as a Commodity
In what ways does information differ from other types of commodities? Do you think it most closely resembles a private, public or merit good? Why is it important to distinguish between information and information good? Give an example from your everyday life in which information can be understood as a commodity.  Connect your analysis of information as a commodity to the concept of surveillance capitalism? How does each concept help us to understand the other?