May 2, 2008

A Sociologist Says Students Aren't So Web-Wise After All

By CATHERINE RAMPELL

Eszter Hargittai, who has discovered that students aren't nearly as Web-savvy as they, or their elders, assume.

Ms. Hargittai, an assistant professor in Northwestern University's sociology department, studies the technological fluency of college freshmen. She found that they lack a basic understanding of such terms as BCC (blind copy on e-mail), podcasting, and phishing. This spring she will start a national poster-and-video contest to promote Web-related