(PUC-RIO) A virtual community
Orkut is a virtual community designed to help users meet new friends and maintain existing relationships. Today, "virtual community" is loosely used and interpreted to indicate a variety of social groups connected in some ways by the Internet. It does not necessarily mean that there is a strong bond among the members. An email distribution list on Star Trek may have close to one hundred members, and the communication which takes place there could be either one-way (the list owner making announcements) or merely informational (questions and answers are posted, but members stay relatively strangers and uninterested to each other). The membership turnover rate could be high. This is in line with the liberal use of the term community.
Similar to Friendster, Orkut goes a step further by permitting "communities" of users. It is also invitation-only: Users must be invited to join the community by someone already there.
Orkut was quietly launched on January 22, 2004 by Google, the search engine company. The service was created by Google employee Orkut Büyükkökten, who had developed a similar system, InCircle, for his previous employer, Affinity Engines. InCircle was intended for use by former university students.
With regard to copyrights, their terms of service state: "By submitting, posting or displaying any Materials on or through the Orkut.com service, you automatically grant to us a worldwide, non-exclusive, transferable, royalty-free, perpetual, irrevocable right to copy, distribute, create derivative works of, publicly perform and display such Materials".
Originally, the Orkut community was felt to be elite, because its membership is by invitation only. However, at the end of July 2004 Orkut surpassed the 1,000,000 member mark, and at the end of September it surpassed the 2,000,000 mark. As of September 2004, 57% of Orkuts members were from Brazil, followed by 14% from the United States and 6% from Iran. Brazilians were below 50% from August 9 to August 20, 2004. It is believed that this happened because a lot of them changed their nationality to something else due to a rumor that users with their countries set to Brazil got slower speeds and a greater chance of getting an error page.
Invitations to Orkut are obtainable, with a few minutes (or days) worth of diligence, via the web.
(From http://www.whatis.tv/Orkut.html 2005 with slight adaptations)
Vocabulary
loosely livremente
turnover rotatividade
search engine dispositivo de busca
get along with fazer amizade, relacionar-se
get through examinar
01. The passage is primarily concerned with:
a) Comparing and contrasting Orkut and InCircle systems.
b) Complaining about the strict copyright laws imposed by Orkut.
c) Justifying why the Orkut community has been decreasing quickly lately.
d) Reporting on the most common subjects discussed by Orkut members.
e) Informing people about the main characteristics of the Orkut community.
02. Mark the only correct statement according to the text.
a) Only people from higher social classes are allowed to join the Orkut community.
b) Anyone can join Orkut as long as he gets an invitation from a current member.
c) Most Brazilian Orkut members must lie about their identities online.
d) The vast majority of Orkut users consists of university students.
e) All members of the large Orkut community are close friends.
03. According to the third paragraph, it is true that:
a) In January 2004, Orkut was launched with a lot of media coverage.
b) The search engine Google has been developed by Affinity Engines.
c) Orkut and InCircle are virtual communities created by the same person.
d) Orkut Büyükkökten was working for Google when Affinity Engines hired him.
e) Both Orkut and InCircle were developed for a company named Affinity Engines.
04. Check the correct statement about Orkuts growth (paragraph 5).
a) Last year the number of Orkuts members doubled in only two months.
b) Orkuts communities have almost as many members from Brazil as from the U.S.
c) Since September 2004 there have been fewer members from the U.S. than from Iran.
d) Before September 2004 more than half of Orkuts members were Brazilian.
e) In the year 2004 the number of Brazilian Orkut members fell by 50%.
05. The only option in which the underlined expression transmits an idea of obligation/necessity is:
a) "An email distribution list on Star Trek may have close to one hundred members..."
b) "...and the communication which takes place there could be either one-way... or merely informational..."
c) "Users must be invited to join the community by someone already there."
d) "Similar to Friendster, Orkut goes a step further by permitting communities of users."
e) "InCircle was intended for use by former university students."
06. In the sentence "... a lot of them changed their nationality to something else due to a rumor that users with their countries set to Brazil ... an error page.", "due to" can be best substituted by:
a) in addition to.
b) because of.
c) instead of.
d) such as.
e) despite.
07. Mark the only correct statement.
a) "It" em "It does not necessarily mean that there is a strong bond among the members." refers to "Internet".
b) "Which" em "An email distribution list on Star Trek may have close to one hundred members, and the communication which takes place there could be either one-way..." refers to "members".
c) "Who" em "The service was created by Google employee Orkut Büyükkökten, who had developed a similar system, InCircle " refers to "Google".
d) "His" em "The service was created by Google employee Orkut Büyükkökten, who had developed a similar system, InCircle, for his previous employer, Affinity Engines." refers to "employer".
e) "Its" em "Originally, the Orkut community was felt to be elite, because its membership is by invitation only." refers to "community".
08. Mark the only option in which the two words are not synonymous in the text.
a) former past.
b) state declare.
c) worldwide continental.
d) irrevocable irreversible.
e) via through.
09. The verb to get, used in the sentence "because a lot of them changed their nationality to something else due to a rumor that users with their countries set to Brazil got slower speeds and a greater chance of getting an error page.", is also found in several idiomatic expressions. Check the item in which the meaning of the expression is correctly described.
a) Peter just wanted to get back to the computer to chat with his friends. (start)
b) How am I supposed to get along with members of virtual communities? (meet)
c) It is difficult to get through this amount of work in such a short time. (analyze)
d) They used Orkut to get away from their daily routine. (escape)
e) Melissa still did not get over the shock of splitting with her boyfriend. (win)
10. The passive voice is used in "Orkut was quietly launched on January 22, 2004". Find the sentence that is also in the passive voice.
a) Communities have never rejected new members.
b) Good ideas took shape at the end of the session.
c) Some communities have been able to control their growth.
d) Several social groups could be connected by the Internet.
e) Young students are never tired of chatting with friends on email.
* * * * * * *
As questões foram selecionadas pelo professor Jomar das Chagas Lima, do Curso Decisivo
