2. Answer the following questions using the information from the texts:

1. Why was Jane dissatisfied with the conference? How did she express her feelings?

2. Why was her identity revealed?

3. What reaction did her post cause?

4. Were the police of any help for her?

5. What kind of fears did she had regarding her future career?

6. What was Eileen’s reaction to her photos and comments on the site?

7. Did she turn to the help of the police?

8. Did Eileen seek to punish Jane in some way?

9. What kind of article did she write?

3. Questions for general discussion:

1. Express your attitude to trolling. How do you feel about it?

2. Have you ever trolled anybody or have been a victim yourself?

3. Do you think there should be any specific laws concerning trolling?

4. Render the following texts into English:

Троллинг и кибербуллинг – подрывная (undermining) деятельность интернете, заключающаяся в размещении в виртуальном пространстве провокационных (damaging) сообщений, целью которых может быть разжигание конфликтов в сети, психологическое подавление (suppression) интернет-пользователей. Как правило, троллинг постепенно превращается в кибербуллинг. Эти явления взаимосвязаны, так как из одного явления проистекает другое, и по этой причине эти два явления можно рассматривать как одно.

Кибербуллинг - это виртуальный террор, чаще всего подростковый.

Мы много слышали о негативном явлении троллинга и кибербуллинга в интернете, но не каждому приходило в голову, что это явление в своем самом агрессивном проявлении ( its most aggressive expression) может иметь что-то общее с таким явлением как фашизм. Является ли агрессивный троллинг и кибербуллинг формой фашизма? По моему мнению, в какой-то мере (in some ways) является , потому что, как и фашизм, несут ща собой цель разжигания конфликтов и унижения человеческого достоинства ( dignity) .

Если троллинг представляет собой локальную проблему той или иной дискуссионной площадки, то кибербуллинг вызывает серьезные опасения психологов и экспертов по личной безопасности в интернете. Примеров в интернете полным-полно.

13-летний Райан Патрик Галаган убил себя после нападок (attacks) бывших друзей, целью которых было доказать, что парень- гей. После смерти сына отец нашел переписку с девушкой, которая встречалась с Райаном, но разорвала с ним отношения и обнародовала его частные письма.

Кайли Кении была вынуждена несколько раз менять школу из-за сайта «Корпорация «Убей Кайли», на котором были опубликованы ее координаты (data) вместе с компрометирующей (compromising) информацией, в итоге девушка была вынуждена перейти на домашнее обучение.

Киберзапугивание (cyberbullying) является серьезной проблемой особенно в среде подростков и взрослым не следует пренебрегать этим фактом психического воздействия на их детей.

Как правило, используются различные методы для травли (bullying) своих потенциальных жертв. Это может быть использование личной информации, анонимные угрозы, преследование (pursuit), флейминг и хеппислепинг. Часто в преследовании жертв в социальных сетях, форумах и порталах выступает не отдельный человек, а целая группа людей или даже сообщество (community). Часто тролли в качестве жертв выбирают психологически неустойчивых (psychologically unstable) подростков, чтобы получить максимальное удовольствие от страдания человека. Флейминг – это ведение упорной полемики (disputes) между троллем и его жертвой, где тролль пытается посадить собеседника в лужу (get into a mess), тем самым получая удовольствие от диалога. Хеппислепинг отличается тем, что злоумышленники (abusers) как бы в шутку снимают настоящее избиение жертвы на камеру мобильника, а потом крутят этот ролик в интернете без согласия ( consent) потенциальной жертвы.

В США ведется статистика киберпреступлений, и с каждым днем увеличивается процент самоубийств среди подростков, которые не сумели справиться с хулиганами и долгое время жили под прессом негативного психического воздействия.

В настоящее время в мире ведется широкая борьба с интернет-троллингом. Во многих странах блоггеры, уличенные в троллинге, подвергались уголовной ответственности (to be subjected to criminal sanctions). «Омский студент получил реальный тюремный срок за взлом (сracking) электронной почты, сообщает РИА «Новости». Суд приговорил (to sentence) 19-летнего хакера к 7 месяцам заключения. Еще два россиянина были привлечены к уголовной ответственности за свои высказывания в интернете.

(В. Валевский. По материалам статьи «Интернет-троллинг и кибербуллинг. Что это?)

Class 3. Attracting the customers

1. Read the following text:

The way the brain buys

It may have occurred to you, during your visit to your local supermarket, indistinguishable from every other supermarket you have been, why they are all the same. It ‘s not because the companies, which operate them lack imagination. It is because they are all versed in the science of persuading people to buy things – a science that thanks to technological advances, is beginning to unlock the innermost secrets of consumer minds.

In Sainsbury’s , South-West of London, it takes a while for the mind to get into shopping mode. This is why the area immediately inside the entrance is known as the “decompression zone”. People need to slow down and take a look at surroundings, even if they are regulars. In sales term, this area is a bit of a loss, so it tends to be used more for promotion. Even the multi-packs of beer piled up here are designed more to hint at bargains. Wal-Mart, the world’s biggest retailer, famously employs “greeters” at the entrance to its stores. Whether or not they boost sales, a friendly welcome is said to cut shoplifters. It is harder to steal from nice people.

Immediately to the left in Sainsbury is another familiar sight: a “chill zone” for browsing magazines, books and DVDs, tempting sudden purchases and slowing customers down. But those on a serious mission will keep walking ahead – and the first thing they come to is the fresh fruit and vegetables section.

For shoppers, this makes no sense. Fruit and vegetables can be easily damaged, so they should be bought at the end, not the beginning, of a shopping trip. But psychology is at work here: selecting good wholesome food is an uplifting way to start shopping, and it makes people feel less guilty about reaching for junk foods later on.

Shoppers already know that everyday items, like milk, are invariably placed towards the back of a store to provide more opportunity to tempt customers. This is why pharmacies are generally in the rear, even in “convenience” stores. But supermarkets know shoppers know this, so they use other tricks, like placing popular items halfway along a section so that people have to walk all along the aisle looking for them. The idea is to “boost” dwell time: the length of time people spend at the store.

Having walked to the end of the fruit and vegetables aisle, Basingstoke’s hardcore shoppers arrive at counters of prepared food, the fishmonger, the butcher and the deli. Then there is the in-store bakery, which can be smelt before it is seen. Even small supermarkets now use in-store bakeries. Mostly they bake pre-prepared items and frozen dough, and they have boomed even though central bakeries that provide delivery to a number of stores are more efficient. They do it for the smell of freshly baked bread, which makes people hungry and thus encourages people to buy not just bread, but also other food, including frozen stuff.

Most of the information shoppers are bombarded with is visual: labels, price stickers and advertising. But bread aroma shows smell can usefully be stimulating too, says Simon Harrop, chief executive of Brand sense agency, a British specialist in multi-sensory marketing. In the aisle by the laundry section he suggests introducing the smell of freshly laundered sheets. Even the sound of sheets being folded could be reproduced here and contained within the area using the latest audio technology. The Aroma company, which Mr. Harrop founded, has put the smell of coconut into the shops of Thompson, a British travel agent. Some suntan oils smell of coconut, so the scent is supposed to remind people of past holidays. The company even infuses the fresh smell of citrus into a range of clothing made by Odeur, a Swedish company. It can last for up to 13 weeks.

Such techniques are increasingly popular because of a deepening understanding how shoppers make choices. People tell market researchers and “focus groups” that they make rational decisions about what to buy, considering things like price, selection or convenience. But subconscious forces, involving emotion and memories are clearly also at work.

Scientists used to assume that emotion and rationality were opposed to each other, but Antonio Damasio , now professor of neuroscience at the University of Southern California, has found that people who lose the ability to perceive or experience emotions as the result of a brain injury find it hard or impossible to make any decision at all. They can’t shop.

Researchers are now exploring these mechanisms by observing the brain at work. One of the most promising techniques is functional magnetic resonance imaging (FMRI), which uses a large scanner to detect changes in the blood flow in parts of the brain that corresponds to increases or decreases in mental activity. People lying inside the scanners are shown different products or brands and then asked questions about them. What they say is compared to what they are thinking by looking at cognitive or emotional activity. The idea is that if, say, part of the brain, that is associated with pleasure lights up, then the product could be a winner. This is immensely valuable information, because 8 out of 10 new consumer products usually fail, despite test marketing on people who say they would buy the item – but whose subconscious may have been thinking something different.

Retailers and producers talk a lot about the “moment of truth”. This is not a philosophical notion, but the point when people standing in the aisle decide what to buy and reach to get it. The Basingstoke store illustrates some of the ways used to get shoppers to wobble in the direction of a particular product. At the instant coffee selection, for example, branded products from the big producers are arranged at eye-level, while cheaper ones are lower down , along with supermarket own –label products.

Often head offices will send out elaborate plans of where everything has to be placed; Albertons, a big American supermarket chain, calls these a “plan-a-gram”. Spot-checks are carried out to make sure instructions are followed to the letter. The reason for this strictness is that big retailers demand “slotting fees” to put suppliers’ goods on their shelves, and these vary according to which positions are considered to be prime space.

But shelf-positioning is fiercely fought over, not just by those trying to sell goods, but also by those arguing over how best to manipulate shoppers. Never mind all the academic papers written on how best to stack shelves, retailers have their own views. While many stores reckon eye-level is the top spot, some think a little higher is better. Others charge more for goods placed on “end caps” – displays at the end of the aisles, which they reckon to have the greatest visibility (although some experts say it all depends on the direction in which people move around the store – and opinion on that is also divided). To be on the right-hand side of an eye-level selection is often considered to be the best place because most people are right-handed and most people’s eyes drift rightwards. Some supermarkets reserve that for their own-label premium goods. And supermarkets may categorize things in different ways. So even though some suppliers could be paying around 50 000 $ per year for a few feet of shelf space, many customers still can’t find what they are looking for.

Technology is making the process of monitoring shopper behavior easier- which is why the security cameras in a store may be doing a lot more than simply watching out for theft. Nowadays cameras are capable of measuring, how many customers went straight to bread, and at the same time sorting shoppers by age, gender and ethnicity.

Despite all the new technology, simply talking to consumers remains one of the most effective ways to improve the “customer experience”. Scott Bearse, a retail expert with Deloitte Consulting in Boston, has led projects observing and quizzing tens of thousands of customers about how they feel about shopping. It began when a client complained that he knew a lot about those who bought something, but knew nothing about those who left without making a purchase. People say that they leave stores empty-handed more often because they are ‘unable to decide’ than because prices are too high, says Mr. Bearse. Working out what turns customers off is not difficult, yet stores still struggle with these issues: goods out of stock, long lines at the checkouts, poor levels of service.

But scientists believe that shopping science still has its limits. They don’t think retailers will be able to make somebody buy a car or a computer that they do not need. But at the same time they might be capable of persuading them to choose one model instead of another. And most importantly, customers would not know about it.

(The Economist, February 2009).

Answer the following questions:

1. Why are foods in majority of supermarkets placed on shelves in a similar way?

2. Is entrance zone to the supermarket of any importance for future purchases?

3. What is meant by a “chill zone” at the supermarket?

4. Why is fresh fruit & vegetables department always organized near the entrance?

5. What tricks do sellers use trying to extend the customers’ time spent in the store?

6. Why almost all supermarkets nowadays have bakeries? How can smell influence customers’ choice?

7. Does arrangement of goods on the shelves matter?

8. How can latest technologies help to observe customers behavior?

9. Are there any limits to influencing customers conduct?

Discuss the following points

• Have you ever been a “victim” of the above mentioned techniques?

• When you go shopping, do you always buy what you need, or sometimes you return with something you did not plan to buy? Are you an impulsive shopper?

• Can you think of some new technique to make people buy something?