Category: Social Networks

break on through

On By Beyond DigitalIn Integration, School, Social NetworksLeave a comment

In my experience there is an odd side to international schools when it comes to the issue of making sure to teach the virtues of freedom of expression, studying great leaders, thinkers, philosophers, mathematical theories and ensure our students get a balance in the way we approach learning.  We believe generally that an open door philosophy towards different opinions, perspective and views is important. I would say we are quite passionate about this, and feel it is a critical element of many of our school’s missions.  The goal to ensure that our students get exposed to as many different perspectives as possible allowing them to construct their own knowledge. That is nice and of course something most parents and educators would find difficult to argue against. Then comes Web 2.0 Social Networking and/or some other technology and the general first reaction and approach is BLOCK IT! Now many will argue that social networking or blocking certain technologies is not the equivalent of teaching the virtues of freedom of expression. I disagree. Okay in my situation at my current school, we block facebook, twitter and others on our wireless network, a decision by the collective leadership team. On the two labs and one library lab we do not block it on the machine connected to our LAN network, the rational is that there generally is always someone there to supervise. This situation is flawed in my mind. In some ways I am to blame as IT Director for not pushing or developing a strong enough argument with my fellow administrators to have the conversation to unpack what we are doing, and exploring the pedagogic value of such blocking. Always easier to reflect in hindsight.

What happens then is when students sneak through our firewall via proxies, or have their own independent connection to the internet through a USB modem from the local cell phone company that they plug into their laptop, the blocking becomes useless. The times a teacher catches someone then the issue is brought up, and we the IT department have to again explain that however much we block the chance is that some student will find a hole. This is the flaw, we are focusing on the blocking and the events where students get around it and not on the more important issue what, how, why and when are they using this. We avoid the  opportunity to leverage this tool to engage both student and teacher into a conversation on the pros and cons of using this, and how and what might be responsible use of such tools in a school setting. This whole dialogue and dynamics is completely swept under the carpet.

Most educators would argue I assume that the issue of Facebook (Social Networks) as a teachable moment has no place in the classroom, and blocking it is good, as this allows us then to focus on the important task of teaching the lesson at hand. I challenge this perception and view. There are about 500 million plus folks on this planet involved on a regular basis in social networks in different shapes and forms. Attached to this is a huge industry developing to take advantage of this new form of communication. With this dynamic there are big economic opportunities for individuals, companies, organizations and institutions to generate incomes. This is something that will continue to develop and the reality is it will become more and more part of our own social communication fabric both on a personal and institutional level. Some would say it has already happened.

So……I think with this shift there is now a critical role for educators to start exploring how to integrate social networks into school curriculum.  We have a responsibility to share, educate and develop an understanding of the intricacies and options of using such communication mediums in our day to day lives. If Grade 2-3 students are setting up Facebook profile you cannot expect them to clearly understand the privacy setting tools on their own, you cannot expect them to read the fine print of an agreement. It has come to the point where instead of blocking this, and letting them work things out on their own undercover, we as educational institutions need to develop a robust set of learner outcomes for our students on the dynamics of social networks. It needs to be not the responsibility of some IT department technician or counselor but part of  the day to day fabric of each teachers tool kit: sharing, exploring, facilitating, and mentoring our students how to be responsible users of social networks. We need to let them explore these mediums with a critical mind unblocked, as we would expect them for the ~French Revolution, Plate-tectonics, a perspective on Macbeth or the Israeli- Palestinian situation.

The world changed yesterday! Today we need to engage ourselves in a clear understanding that social networks, youtube, chat, texting, virtual worlds, and the current digital landscape are now an integral part of our day to day fabric both socially and professionally. With this there are a whole host of issues, learning, understanding and perspectives that we need to equip our students with to be able to survive effectively with balance and as critical learners.  In today’s world, we as educators,  have an important ethical responsibility to take charge of this, and engage throughout our day within our own lessons what this all means, and how to develop a critical understanding of how best to use these: when, where, and appropriately….. if we do not, basically we are ignoring today’s world that we all live in. I would find it hard to believe that any of us would want this as part of our own educator’s philosophy.

find a place to hide……

On By Beyond DigitalIn Social Networks, Web 2.0Leave a comment

So this week Google launches it social network: Buzz , a interesting next step for Google. Already folks are asking will 350 million Facebook users start switching, or at least the 160 million plus Gmail users who might be on Facebook? Buzz as I am starting to understand creates the option of integrating the many tools already available with gmail  blogger , maps, chat, sites, videos and more gmail/gapps tools….into one seamless entity all interconnected and able to help heighten my profile, information and news to a social network I create using these tools . Today I log into my yahoo mail and I am told at all times I can find out about what my contacts are up to, send message etc…a similar interface in the making by Yahoo with a different flavor. In tandem  Facebook Connect is available for developers allowing users to bring their identity and connections everywhere… so by using Facebook as your entry point updates, photos, wall posts, etc… these can be integrated with your twitter, blogs, wetpaint, mobile phone, and more……….

Quickly in the last few months suddenly we are seeing a more aggressive shift of engaging users on a variety of social networks, and portals like Google and Yahoo, to expand their presence and information to a large audience in real time. The idea is if I do a profile update in Facebook then my twitter feed picks this up, as would my blog, and my cell phone or even maybe my own web site. A one stop shop update for all about me!

There is no doubt this is kind of cool, and cuts down on having to post multiple times information or updates on my various Web 2.0 tools. The more I reflect on this, and with the framework that social networks default to public and you have to go and tweek the settings and parameters to make them private, I am realizing that we are entering a new dynamic where there is a push to be public as much as possible to as many of people as possible with our own information, updates, musing and more….. I am not going to be a judge on this, because to be honest I am still trying to work out what are my various options in the settings with these different tools. I am definitely spending more time trying to understand this and getting better at understanding my options to be private, and move from some of the public default settings these mediums start you off with.

…….so it is clear Web 2.0 and social networks are eagerly aggregating all our information for us in one place, thus allowing to socialize at many different levels through different mediums through one single interface available on multiple devices.

With this the question in my mind is the dynamic of privacy and public changing to the point we are moving to  a world, culture and expectation that within my social network, I will want to be able to find out where folks are, what they are doing, with whom, and when, to the point this is available to me on my mobile phone, my console at home, my laptop or some other device still to come all at once. Will this become an expectation and the norm?

For someonee who grew up where you could still be stupid and do rideculous things with friends and have no video, pictures, social network feed, update or public medium to share this….the new aggregate public profile on all my web venues is something I will need to get used and restle in finding a balance…..

friend or unfriend

On By Beyond DigitalIn International School IT, Social Networks, Web 2.0Leave a comment

… just presented again a workshop as part of the Beyond Digital Workshop series today with a group of parents. The focus Digital Citizenship and the variables and technologies associated with both, and how this can and does play out in families. I have in the last couple years really taken an interest in this topic, and spent a lot of time researching and reading on the topic.  Mike Ribble’s work, blog and site have been a resource and inspiration. More importantly through my own two children and their interests in social networks and how they develop, manage and participate in socializing with these technology I have been pushed to reflect on the whole issue.

The one aspect that jumps out, is the issue of privacy, and how my concept of privacy and sharing information is based on complete different assumptions than my own children and many teenagers. What fascinates me is the concept of “friend” in the context of social networks. You might be like me of a generation where a “friend” is someone you have a long common experience together, someone who is comfortable witnessing your worst and best moments. It is a human relationship that gets better with time, and something that you have to work at. You tend to have a few but we are talking between maybe 5-10 at most. Then you have acquaintances people you know, you spend time with, socialize with in the context of work, or school, but in the long run maybe have no vested interest, and then maybe more guarded about sharing all aspects of yourself with them.

So let us look at today. Maybe you are 13. You hang on a social network, let us pick Facebook, and you are active and social.

This is what I find interesting the term “friend” in the context of Facebook in many ways has changed the physiology of the word. Now friend is actually a confirmation that yes you can come into my facebook, and sit there looking at my own private life with the label friend. I do this exercise with kids I teach Digital Citizenship, and ask them if we put all their Facebook “friends” in a room could they name them, and share one common experience they have had. The thing is often many of these kids have from 200- 500 friends and some even more, I have seen a case of over 1,000. Kids will claim they can, but actually the reality I think would be a little different.

When you post a lot of your private thoughts, reflections and musings, and open this to a few hundred folks there is so much potential for mis-interpretation, and potential abuse or sharing of information to a wider scope of people you quickly loose control of. The important thing to realize, is that many of the social networks and social web 2.0 tools default to public so often without your own knowledge. You are immediately in a very public setting with your information. Kids getting onto these social networks do not have a point of reference often, coach or mentor, or aware of the specific dynamics of their privacy settings, which is understandable. It is not like this is advertised or pushed as a key component of the joys of joining Facebook or many other social networks.

The shift, I think is as educators and parents we need to be that mentor, point of reference to high light the unique variables of social networks, and act as a resource to frame what lies ahead when kids begin their journey with Web 2.0 tools and social networks . Not a resource on social networks but a resource and mentor on the dynamics of privacy in social settings be it online or off line. Easier said than done… I will come back to this in another post, the issue of trust and children in the age of social networks and Web 2.0.

I enclose this excellent link which for me is something anyone and everyone on Facebook needs to go through and understand, as a parent, spending time on this was a wonderful way to connect and engage in conversations about what is a “friend” what is privacy, what do I want the world to know and what do I want to keep myself. 10 Privacy Settings Every Facebook User Should Know

We are doing our children, students and young generation a huge dis-service if we do not share and frame to them concretely the importance of private profile or public profile in a social network and/or the online/offline world, and what it means and implications it has long term in their digital context.