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Cyberbullying grows bigger and meaner with photos, video

Sun, 21 Sep 2008 20:59:45 GMT

All Ricky, 16, knows is the fuzzy yet distinguishable portrait of him in English class showed up on MySpace, on a page that claimed to be his. And the fake profile, titled "The Rictionary," not only identified his school but also said Ricky loved dictionaries — a swipe at his school smarts — and was gay (he's not), one of the most common schoolyard taunts.

As younger and more kids get their hands on cellphone and digital cameras and nearly ubiquitous high-speed Internet connections, cyberbullying is ramping up and taking new forms.

Online harassment of American young people ages 10 to 17 increased 50% (from 6% to 9%) from 2000 to 2005,

And the number of young people who said they had "made rude or nasty comments to someone on the Internet" increased from 14% to 28% in the same period.

"It's not that bullying is any worse today," she says. "The impulse for cruelty is the same impulse. The only difference is that the tools to achieve that have become more sophisticated."

The Media Equation - All of Us, the Arbiters of News

Tue, 12 Aug 2008 16:04:07 GMT

clipped by: edtechnnorris
clipper's remarks: The impact of the Internet on news media isn't all bad.

Clip Source: www.nytimes.com

Emerging technologies that threaten to destroy the current paradigm can have precisely the opposite effect.

The Web leaks of entertainment that NBC bought and paid for served as a kind of trailer for the real thing.

How much more powerful is that networked intelligence than a reporter with a phone, a Rolodex and the space between his or her ears?

For the last few years, the locus of control has been shifting and consumers not only expect to customize their media experience, they demand it as a condition of engagement.

Consumers have no issue with time-shifting content — in some younger demographics, at least half the programming is consumed on a time-shifted basis — they just want to be the ones doing the programming

NBC’s game of “whack-a-mole”

was doomed to failure because information not only wants to be free, its consumers are cunning, connected and will find a workaround on any defense that can be conceived.

Technology Moral Panic: But Think of the Children!

Mon, 28 Jul 2008 15:00:01 GMT

clipped by: edtechnnorris
clipper's remarks: Hype about online predators based on completely bogus figures

Clip Source: techdirt.com

Recently I wrote about a dreadful article in USA Today hyping up the "oh-no-think-of-the-children problem" of predators using console games to seek out kids. This followed similarly bogus news articles hyping up the threats of predators on social networks. Yet, all the "panic" raised by those articles has politicians practically shoving each other aside to introduce legislation against those social networks, or just various Attorneys General threatening those social networks without any evidence that there's a significant problem, other than a few totally hyped up news articles.

Alice Marwick has recently published a paper discussing exactly this type of "moral panic," focusing on the situation in 1996 in which Time Magazine famously published a scare mongering article about porn online, now known as the Rimm Report.

Marwick's paper has a good analysis of the Rimm Report's ripple effects as well

It was almost entirely wrong.

Are You Turning Your Child into a Wimp?

Tue, 24 Jun 2008 13:57:44 GMT

clipped by: edtechnnorris
clipper's remarks: Overparenting is a bad thing.

Clip Source: www.time.com

A Nation of Wimps: The High Cost of Invasive Parenting

these kids lack coping skills because they've not been allowed to fully function. They are the products of parental anxiety and all the lumps and bumps have been taken out of life for them, so they have no idea how to manage the normal vicissitudes of life.

The world has changed on our watch. I didn't grow up knowing how to use a computer. So that instrument alone is highly symbolic that the world has changed. It's very fast, very dynamic, very fluid. A kid in Bangalore can come up with a program that could make Microsoft obsolete in two years. This is scary. This makes for great uncertainty. So what we're really worried about is the success of our kids. That's why we push them to achieve. And that's why we're focused on the Harvard, Yale, Princeton brand name education. In a world of uncertainty, a brand name carries some cachet and it's the closest thing you can get to a guarantee of some kind of success or achievement.

Unboxed - If You're Open to Growth, You Tend to Grow

Thu, 10 Jul 2008 18:37:03 GMT

clipped by: edtechnnorris
clipper's remarks: Relates to the article about over-praising your children. People who think success is based on talent, and not the willingness to grow, learn, make mistakes are not as successful.

Clip Source: www.nytimes.com

After three decades of painstaking research, the Stanford psychologist Carol Dweck believes that the answer to the puzzle lies in how people think about intelligence and talent. Those who believe they were born with all the smarts and gifts they’re ever going to have approach life with what she calls a “fixed mind-set.” Those who believe that their own abilities can expand over time, however, live with a “growth mind-set.”

“People who believe in the power of talent tend not to fulfill their potential because they’re so concerned with looking smart and not making mistakes. But people who believe that talent can be developed are the ones who really push, stretch, confront their own mistakes and learn from them.”

But Ms. Dweck does not suggest that recruiters ignore innate talent. Instead, she suggests looking for both talent and a growth mind-set in prospective hires — people with a passion for learning who thrive on challenge and change.

Educational Benefits of Social Networking Sites Uncovered

Mon, 23 Jun 2008 01:02:33 GMT

clipped by: edtechnnorris

Clip Source: www.sciencedaily.com

esearchers at the University of Minnesota have discovered the educational benefits of social networking sites such as MySpace and Facebook. The same study found that low-income students are in many ways just as technologically proficient as their counterparts, going against what results from previous studies have suggested.

What we found was that students using social networking sites are actually practicing the kinds of 21st century skills we want them to develop to be successful today,"

educators can help students realize even more benefits from their social network site use by working to deepen students' still emerging ideas about what it means to be a good digital citizen and leader online.

"Students are developing a positive attitude towards using technology systems, editing and customizing content and thinking about online design and layout. They're also sharing creative original work like poetry and film and practicing safe and responsible use of information and technology.

Britannica Goes Wiki

Tue, 10 Jun 2008 03:07:01 GMT

clipped by: edtechnnorris

Clip Source: chronicle.com

But it’s not a complete free-for-all. The voice of Britannica adds that the core encyclopedia itself “will continue to be edited according to the most rigorous standards and will bear the imprimatur ‘Britannica Checked’ to distinguish it from material on the site for which Britannica editors are not responsible.”

Long a standard reference source for scholarship, largely because of its tightly controlled editing, the Encyclopaedia Britannica announced this week it was throwing open its elegantly-bound covers to the masses. It will allow the “user community” (in the words of the encyclopedia’s blog) to contribute their own articles, which will be clearly marked and run alongside the edited reference pieces.

Instant Messaging Proves Useful in Reducing Workplace Interruption

Thu, 05 Jun 2008 00:56:56 GMT

clipped by: edtechnnorris

Clip Source: www.sciencedaily.com

research showed that instant messaging was often used as a substitute for other, more disruptive forms of communication such as the telephone, e-mail, and face-to-face conversations. Using instant messaging led to more conversations on the computer, but the conversations were briefer,

“We found that the effect of instant messaging is actually positive. People who used instant messaging reported that they felt they were being interrupted less frequently.”

Instead of dropping in unexpectedly, many are using the technology to check in with coworkers to see when they are available. Many also use the technology to get quick answers to general questions or to inquire about current work tasks instead of engaging in longer face-to-face conversations.

Ease of use and similarities to e-mail could foster greater acceptance of instant messaging in the workplace.

Clifford Stroll: Why Web Won't Be Nirvana

Wed, 21 May 2008 18:24:17 GMT

clipped by: edtechnnorris
clipper's remarks: interesting perspective

Clip Source: www.newsweek.com

The Usenet, a worldwide bulletin board, allows anyone to post messages across the nation. Your word gets out, leapfrogging editors and publishers. Every voice can be heard cheaply and instantly. The result? Every voice is heard. The cacophany more closely resembles citizens band radio, complete with handles, harrasment, and anonymous threats. When most everyone shouts, few listen.

Internet is one big ocean of unedited data, without any pretense of completeness. Lacking editors, reviewers or critics, the Internet has become a wasteland of unfiltered data. You don't know what to ignore and what's worth reading. Logged onto the World Wide Web, I hunt for the date of the Battle of Trafalgar. Hundreds of files show up, and it takes 15 minutes to unravel them--one's a biography written by an eighth grader, the second is a computer game that doesn't work and the third is an image of a monument. None answers my question,

My Virtual Summer Job

Mon, 19 May 2008 21:11:52 GMT

clipped by: edtechnnorris
clipper's remarks: Kids working in Second Life making a boatload of money!

Clip Source: online.wsj.com

Mr. Everest, of Durango, Colo., is among a new breed of young entrepreneurs seeking their fortune online in imaginary worlds. As the pool of traditional summer jobs shrinks, tech-savvy young gamers are honing their computer skills to capitalize on growing demand for virtual goods and services. Some work as fashion designers, architects and real-estate developers in Second Life, a fantasy world populated by digital representations of real people. These so-called avatars shop in malls, buy property, hang out with friends or sit "home" watching TV, all manipulated by their real-life counterparts with computer key strokes and a mouse.

The Mac in the Gray Flannel Suit

Fri, 02 May 2008 15:58:14 GMT

clipped by: edtechnnorris
clipper's remarks: More corporate America turning to Macs

Clip Source: www.businessweek.com

While thousands of other companies scratch and claw for the tiniest sliver of the corporate computing market, Apple treats this vast market with utter indifference. After a series of failed offensives by the company in the 1980s and 1990s, Chief Executive Steve Jobs decided to focus squarely on consumers and education customers when he returned to Apple in 1997. As a result, the company doesn't have ranks of corporate salespeople or armies of repairmen waiting to respond every time a hard drive fails. Nothing that could divert his minions from staying focused on Apple's core calling: creating the next cool thing for the world's consumers.

Millions of consumers are seeing the Mac in a new light. Once an object of devotion for students and artists, the Mac is becoming the first choice of many. Surging demand for the machines led Apple to predict revenues will rise 33% in the second quarter, to $7.2 billion, even in the face of an economic slowdown.

A Q&A With the Author of the Future of Reputation

Tue, 29 Apr 2008 19:49:24 GMT

clipped by: edtechnnorris
clipper's remarks: All kinds of reasons to teach children to be responsible and ethical users of the internet. Even those who have no digital footprint can be impacted. A societal shift is necessary.

Clip Source: freakonomics.blogs.nytimes.com

Section 230 does not establish a good balance between protecting reputation and preserving free speech.

It’s allowed websites like JuicyCampus.com, which facilitate the spread of gossip and rumor on college campuses, to flourish without consequences.

Many social network websites are set up with a default setting that makes information fully available to the public. This is the easiest setting, and many people just go with the default.

If you find information about yourself online that is libelous or invasive of privacy, you should contact the person who put it up and request it be taken down. In many cases … this will solve the problem.

On the Internet, however, shaming can become a digital scarlet letter that can be affixed to a person’s identity for life. Wherever that person might go, their shameful acts will readily pull up in a Google search.

Daniel Solove

The Future of Reputation,

The goal is for a set of norms to develop about responsible blogging — for a kind of ethical code

Why Gen Y Is Going to Change the Web

Fri, 16 May 2008 15:04:05 GMT

clipped by: edtechnnorris

Clip Source: www.readwriteweb.com

Gen Y is taking over. The generation of young adults that's compromised of the children of Boomers, Generation Jones, and even some Gen X'ers, is the biggest generation since the Baby Boomers and three times the size of Gen X. As the Boomers fade into retirement and Gen Y takes root in the workplace, we're going to see some big changes ahead, not just at work, but on the web as a whole.

They're Plugged In

TV Isn't King

They Don't Care About Your Ad, They Care What Their Friends Think

Work Isn't Their Whole World

They're Socially Conscious

Since Gen Y grew up on the web, they're going to be the driving force behind the way the web of the future is shaped. What Gen Y wants from the web will be the web.

Internet TV

Socializing Rules...But They Want to Control It

Marketing Has To Change

Work Tools Need to Mirror Web Tools

Web Sites Will Need to Cater to Shorter Attention Spans

Mobile Web? Yes Please!

Ignoring the voices of Gen Y is something you should do at your own peril,

Clueless in America

Wed, 30 Apr 2008 17:42:02 GMT

clipped by: edtechnnorris
clipper's remarks: drop out rates and sub standard education a real issue in this country

Clip Source: www.nytimes.com

The nation’s future may depend on how well we educate the current and future generations, but (like the renovation of the nation’s infrastructure, or a serious search for better sources of energy) that can wait. At the moment, no one seems to have the will to engage any of the most serious challenges facing the U.S.

An American kid drops out of high school every 26 seconds. That’s more than a million every year, a sign of big trouble for these largely clueless youngsters in an era in which a college education is crucial to maintaining a middle-class quality of life — and for the country as a whole in a world that is becoming more hotly competitive every day.

Ignorance in the United States is not just bliss, it’s widespread.

We have one of the highest dropout rates in the industrialized world,

When two-thirds of all teenagers old enough to graduate from high school are incapable of mastering college-level work, the nation is doing something awfully wrong.

Are Wired Kids Well Served by Schools?

Mon, 28 Apr 2008 14:25:59 GMT

clipped by: edtechnnorris
clipper's remarks: Probably not.

Clip Source: www.news.com

"Kids associate one word with school--'boring,'" said Deborah Stipek, dean and professor of education at Stanford, who was part of a panel discussion with the group of researchers. But kids' levels of engagement with the Internet and games could give educators new ideas for upping school's status.

The Stanford event, which was sponsored by MacArthur and Common Sense Media, raised more questions than it answered. But one of the more interesting findings in the research showed that many kids are drawn to create media online because their work can be immediately recognized or judged among their peer group or a larger audience, according to Mimi Ito, a cultural anthropologist of technology use and a principal investigator on MacArthur's project. That, she said, can be immediately gratifying.

Among the generation of kids growing up wired, many teens are hyper-motivated to learn a special skill like how to create a podcast, direct a YouTube video, publish an anime site, or hack an iPhone.