This study examines students' motives for use and perceptions of the web site http://www.ratemyprofessors.com, one of the main sites that allow students to post anonymous ratings of college professors in the United States and Canada. The contents of comments posted to the web site are examined for relationships to numerical ratings on the site and motivations expressed by students for participating in the rating process. Qualitative (focus group interviews) and quantitative (content analysis) investigations are presented. Students' motives for accessing Ratemyprofessors.com include information seeking, convenience, and interpersonal utility. As regards teacher ratings, the results indicate that students were primarily concerned with issues such as instructor competence and the classroom experience.

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The personal networks of listeners and nonlisteners to an entertainment-education radio soap opera in Tanzania are examined to determine the effects of interpersonal discussion of the soap opera's educational themes of family planning and HIV prevention. Listeners are more likely to discuss these two educational issues in their personal communication networks and are also more likely to have other listeners to the radio program in their personal communication networks. Respondents demonstrate a relatively high degree of homophily with their network partners and are more likely to discuss matters arising from the radio program with their network partners who are of similar tribal membership, religious af liation, and gender, and those who are equally or more highly educated than themselves.

The author analyzes the official national websites of small developing countries for content and function. The surveyed websites are found to emphasize geographical, tourism and identifying information about the small states but contain little in terms of investment information, suggesting that the web is seen as a tool of self-promotion but is not equally perceived as a tool for attracting investment. A positive relationship is observed between literacy and the range of national websites published for each surveyed state. The study considers the content of national websites of small developing nations in the context of the new technologies and traditional geopolitical and information flow issues facing small states.

The personal networks of listeners and nonlisteners to an entertainment-education radio soap opera in Tanzania are examined to determine the effects of interpersonal discussion of the soap opera's educational themes of family planning and HIV prevention. Listeners are more likely to discuss these two educational issues in their personal communication networks and are also more likely to have other listeners to the radio program in their personal communication networks. Respondents demonstrate a relatively high degree of homophily with their network partners and are more likely to discuss matters arising from the radio program with their network partners who are of similar tribal membership, religious affiliation, and gender, and those who are equally or more highly educated than themselves.