Aug 5, 2012

A Rose By Any Other Name

Malwebolence

One frequently reads about the wonders of Web 2.0. However, the web can also be an insidious medium. Or perhaps more accurately, insidious or unscrupulous individuals may employ it as their medium. Lives can be ruined, professional credibility damaged, self image shattered, sanity challenged. In this era of "the bully" it is the responsibility of educators to familiarise themselves and their students with the numerous Web 2.0 applications, to empower them to critically evaluate this volatile non linear medium.
I read a most disturbing article some years ago "The Rise Of Malwebolence" by Mattathias Schwartz, in Time magazine which resonates just as strongly with me today, as it did then. It makes for chilling reading.
In the late 1980s, Internet users adopted the word "troll" to denote someone who intentionally disrupts online communities. Early trolling was relatively innocuous, however as our emotional investment in the Internet has grown, trolling has evolved from ironic solo skit to vicious group hunt. Today the Internet is a mass medium for defining who we are. Teenagers groom their MySpace profiles as intensely as their hair, anyone seeking work or love can expect to be Googled. "Lulz" is how trolls keep score. A corruption of "LOL" or "laugh out loud," "lulz" means the joy of disrupting another's emotional equilibrium. "Lulz is watching someone lose their mind at their computer 2,000 miles away while you chat with friends and laugh," said one ex-troll. Technology, apparently, does more than harness the wisdom of the crowd. It can intensify its hatred as well....."   The rise of Malwebolence, New York Times, by Mattathias Schwartz Friday, August 1, 2008
We owe it to our children to provide them with the skills to protect themselves in the online world where the danger is both 'real' and 'virtual'.

Sep 3, 2010

Module 2 - Blogs in K-12 Learning Spaces

Blogs

Stephen Downes' article "Blogs In Education" provides a great summary of the advantages of blogging, however as with any single tool, Blogging should not be regarded as an educational panacaea. One hundred reasons why educators should blog makes for good interesting reading
  Some options for educators' blogs:

1.Use as a website (needs no knowledge of html)
2.Noticeboard - current items of interest
3.Promotional - school or classes
4.Instructional - Introduce new skills or software
5.Collaborative - professional discourse, teacher/student/parent
6.Personal Reflection - (closed blog)


Before embarking on blogging or resting at any signpost on the Web 2.0 path, a visit to Paul Stewart's Terms of Service blog should be a requisite. It was created:
.......to inform users of social networks and web services about the terms of use of such services. The blog assumes no legal authority in this area and merely attempts to collect extracts regarding terms of use as a precursor to users exploring such terms in greater depth e.g. considering their implications. It’s not meant to scare teachers, but rather to empower them. I have selected extracts relating to user age and to content, as these seem to be the two areas that cause the most confusion, as well as provide the greatest risk to privacy and intellectual property. It’s not the answer but it’s a start, and if it leads to a school or two pausing to discuss how they can use such sites, maybe it will be time well spent... Paul Stewart, Global Teacher, Aug 10, 2010

An article at Webupon cautions potential bloggers to be prepared before diving into blogging using the Google Blogger platform.An example is quoted by Puckett using "Dooced" as a term coined by Heather Armstrong in 2002 who lost her job due to the content published on her blog, Dooce.com. "....Although she ultimately went on to turn her demise into success..." her experience is indicative of the ugly side of Web 2.0.
.......There are approximately 500,000,000 blogs on the Internet today. As much as 15% of this estimation could easily be abandoned blogs that are not being maintained. These blogs serve no purpose other than taking up bandwidth. It is my personal opinion that many of these abandoned blogs are as such simply because the blogger did not take the things into consideration that we are about to discuss here. They went into their blogs with no direction and no understanding of what it takes to establish a successful blog so they simply walk away from it.......by R.E.Puckett Tue, Aug 17, 2010

Before becoming a blogger " Read, read, read, blog after blog after blog" to establish sound practice, and appreciate the difference between a vacuous set of ramblings best left for individual reflection or something worthy of a global audience.

Lastly but judiciously, accept the fact that if it walks like a duck and talks like a duck it may just be a turkey !

A blogging apprentice for some time, I've spent oodles of 'time devouring' moments experimenting with fonts, layouts, colour schemes, titles, blogging platforms such as edublogs, globalteacher etc. etc. It has been a most frustrating experience at times being held captive by the instability of some templates and gadgets amongst other things, however this time around the blogging software seems a lot more reliable. Perhaps the fact that Google now owns Blogger has something to do with that. Additionally, its not until my second enrolment in this course that I've really focused on a purpose that I've found motivating, with the opportunity to be both 'product' and 'process' driven, hopefully finding a pleasing balance. The beauty of Web 2.0 for me is that it has facilitated access to a smorgasbord of great creative minds who generously share their thoughts and discoveries, making this medium truly habit forming for self generative learners.

A multimodal form of literacy, blogs require much forethought and planning before being introduced into the primary arena. I admit to perceiving greater application for this form of publishing and communication in the senior school, however, in the hands of an enthusiastic and informed educator happy to devote personal time outside of working hours I believe it could work most effectively within the primary arena as well. Sadly, I've seen technological applications launched upon students with no prior skilling. I consider it both reprehensible and dangerous to presuppose an existing level of ability in our students, classifying them all beneath the umbrella of being "Digital Natives", digitally experienced and comfortable multi tasking within the application driven environment. It takes a while to become 'blog literate', to navigate the pages, the posts, the sidebars,the feed buttons etc. and it would be the rare primary student who would learn these skills through osmosis.


Great advice for professional bloggers is given by Corinne Weisburger in her Slideshare presentation Starting A Blog

Another serendipitous discovery as a result of revisiting old blogging haunts was Edublog's "Top Ten Ways To Use Edublogs " ( why reinvent the wheel ? ) Blogging is but one means of engaging students and teachers in digitally delivered teaching and learning experiences, however, with respect to delivering in our commitment to our students creating a functional blog should not be mandatory however teaching students the skills required for blogging, wikiing and facebooking should be.

Aug 27, 2010

Module 4: Flickr

 Why shouldn't I give Flickr the Flick ?
With respect to sharing photos with anyone other than personal friends, I can't understand the enthusiasm. How many times have we been bored by looking at relatives albums, let alone those of complete strangers. I guess it's symptomatic of the voyeuristic nature of the web and the yearning for some semblance of notoriety. Then again I did get distracted by looking at weimaraner photos myself. And I can see Flickr being a great forum for photographers, and a source of images for educational use.

Being cognisant of the fact that up until now I'd had many negative issues raised about previous modules, I thought the best way to address this task was to begin with the positive, However, when signing up for a second Yahoo account (there goes the digital footprint growing as my previous account is somewhere there in cyberspace with my username a dim dark mystery) I became annoyed with the invasive questions. Yahoo wanted my age, my birth date, and my postcode. Why ? So they could provide a wonderful service to me?

A. By knowing my postcode I can be provided with content that is relevant to where I live. Is the assumption that I'm not able to find this by myself?


B.By knowing my birthday I can be provided with a better experience (Is Brad Pitt going to send me a present ?)
C. By Importing my friends email addresses I can contact them easily ( why would I want to have friend's email addresses in yet another address book ?)
I don't think so.
Parents of children under the age of 13 who wish to allow their children access to the Yahoo! Services must create a Yahoo! Family Account. Having said this, there is no way that Yahoo can verify the D.O.B anyway so why have it ?
Thank goodness it's not necessary to provide a driver's licence or otherwise I would never have been able to sign up and then where would this module go ! Enough about Yahoo.

Finally joined up using my pseudonym and was feeeling impressed when reading the group guidelines. Some great advice on how to deal with trolls or unwelcome people, but was intrigued by their comment regarding porn.



Interestingly read a post today on Tech Crunch that Google has just purcased 'Picnik', Flickr's default photo editor. This may have ramifications for Flickr's (Yahoo's) future provision of this service.Then again, it's currently possible to upload photos to Flickr from Picasa which is owned by Google. It's all a bit confusing.

When you start adding photos to your Flickr page, a photostream is created by default. These images can be organised by user selected subject, location or label. Uploade photos are set as Public however you can alter this under 'organize', and also adjust whether your photos can be found by tags, image type or other criteria. Public Flickr photos show up in image search results. You can also set age restrictions and a suitability filterThe webupload seemed to work without a glitch, but I had a lot of trouble after creating a set when I wanted to upload more images. It was really difficult to find how to get back to the upload option.


I also found the 'Make Stuff' page difficult to navigate.  Bookr was the only app I would try. It was necessary to wade through copious apps with commercial and non commercial mixed.  I believe Big Huge Labs is a better site for photo fun.

One technique was to add captions, which would be great for character study.


Another was framing which could be used effectively with creating 'artworks' from student drawings

I knew from past experience it was possible to create a FLickr badge but needed to do a Google search to locate the link.(see example in sidebar) I learnt the hard way that it is necessary to create a storage folder with just the photos you want to include, or random shots are selected from your photostream.

Content filters are categorised according to both safety level and content type and can be flagged for both when uploading. It was reassuring to discover that the default setting for those not signed in to Flickr is 'Safe Search'. This feature allows you to control what turns up in your searches on Flickr.Apparently Flickr administrators can flag accounts which have been incorrectly assigned and if “This profile is unavailable to you” message displays, it means that the account has been flagged as "moderate" or "restricted." It is possible for anyone to flag a photo if they feel it is unsuitable and it is then reviewed by Flickr staff. The search options can be edited via the "Advanced Search" link, with both SafeSearch and Content Type options editable. If you aren't signed in, you can include different types of content in your search results, but SafeSearch is always on. I personally find the Flickr navigation lacking with many of the menu choices hidden.  It takes a bit of mouse hovering and clicking to unearth some of the options. I only located the advanced search option accidentally after locating the hidden drop down menu beneath the search bar on the home page. I neede to select one of these choices before the advance search was initiated. The entire navigation bar was designed using the same principles so it really is necessary to spend  a lot of time exploring using the arrow menu expanders.



Creative Commons Licences can be used to place limits on your photo usage via 'Organize, Permissions (or clicking Edit next to the copyright symbol) and specify whether other people can distribute or display your pics. Flickr is a good source for royaly free images, particularly nature. The Advanced search option in Flickr can be used to narrow down a search and find Creative Commons Content. Tagging is quite a skill, a method of applying a trigger word or category to a photo to classify it in some way and enable relocation, just like tagging favourite websites. The tag cloud on Flickr is an alternate measure for locating pics.


Creative Commons licenses enable people to apply a spectrum of possibilities between full copyright “all rights reserved” and the public domain ( free for everyone and for any reason). They are not an alternative to copyright but work alongside copyright and apply globally. I find it confusing that some people make their photos available for public view yet retain an "all rights reserved" full copyright. In the era of screenshots it seems somewhat useless to deactivate the right mouse click option anyway. Flickr provides 6 attribution levels

Creative Commons is a nonprofit organization

Geotagging was a new concept and the 'help' screencast explained it well.

They can also be tagged with a map location (geotagged) for holiday snaps.


Use the Advanced search option in Flickr to find Creative Commons Content.

Activity 3 Consider copyright by exploring these resources

Copyright and Acceptable Use


Web 2.0 has spawned some copyright nightmares. Although the Smart Copying website can be very helpful, there are still some grey areas which are continually debated on listservs like OZTL _NET. A component of every research cycle should be to credit sources.
The copyright page on my school library wiki has been used with my students for just over a year.


It was my intention to create something which would make the issue of copyright understandable. Hopefully they have learnt that copyright means 'only the person who created something is the person who can copy all of it'. It also addresses the concept of 'fair use'. 


Judy O'Connell on her Hey Jude blog lists a number of sources for free images online

Aug 18, 2010

Module 3: Creating and Sharing with Online Applications

Google Docs
Most positive aspect of Google Docs - no longer are we held hostage by our portable storage devices. Our files are accessible from anywhere (good thing) and by everybody if we don't configure privacy settings properly (bad thing).


Image credit: http://www.privcom.gc.ca

Before using Google Docs or entering into heated discourse on whether Google is a monopolising monster or the cyber solution to all problems watch the short video by Google CEO Eric Schmidt on privacy where he basically says not to publish on the internet if you want to maintain privacy, and warns users that data can be made available to official channels in the interests of security.


Additionally consider:
.....Especially for the users that do not read the Terms of Service of the software they install, please, read carefully the following lines and see how Google “cares” about our privacy:
11.1 You retain copyright and any other rights you already hold in Content which you submit, post or display on or through, the Services. By submitting, posting or displaying the content you give Google a perpetual, irrevocable, worldwide, royalty-free, and non-exclusive license to reproduce, adapt, modify, translate, publish, publicly perform, publicly display and distribute any Content which you submit, post or display on or through, the Services. This license is for the sole purpose of enabling Google to display, distribute and promote the Services and may be revoked for certain Services as defined in the Additional Terms of those Services.... How Google “Cares” About Our Privacy Tech Toggle, Bilal Bhatti, Jan 23, 2009  
Moving forward, Google Docs is a suite of Web-based applications offered beneath the Google Umbrella, a new ‘cloud computing system’. All it requires is a logon to the Web-based service. The applications aren't as complex or comprehensive as desktop counterparts, however their advantages are:
1. they aren't tied to a specific computer;
2. there's no need to download and install software on a specific machine;
3. it’s free (financially speaking);
4. it’s accessible by any user with an internet connection;
5. users don't have to worry about which version of a document is the most current;
6. because each user saves information to the cloud system, he or she can access the same file from anywhere. -- it will always be saved in the Google cloud. This means that remote machines owned by another company can run everything from e-mail to word processing to complex data analysis using information provided by the user. 

Herein lies the rub - remember the Golden Rule: 

Read an interesting post "How Google leaks Your Identity" which explains how Google Docs can easily be compromised. When I accessed the Google help forums there were a lot of challenges concerning privacy and very few of them answered by Google. A typical example:


I don't want to tie every facet of my life to the Google flagship, considering the data it collects about personal life. The video promoting the new Android platform for mobile phones demonstrates the possible invasive power of Google. 



However I can see it providing a valuable tool for collaboration as long as the data is not sensitive.  For example, I would not consider using it to store grades for students or reports of any kind.

I would not recommend storing personal documents using Google Docs. I use box for storing my own files online but even then use a form of coding for information I wish to keep private.


 Creating And Sharing A Document
I started to play around with templates but decided to use an existing slideshow I had previously created to share as I didn't anticipate using Google Docs a great deal in the future unless it is instigated by a colleague. Sharing is probably the easiest part of Docs, only a click and an email address away !

Using Docs In The Classroom
Generally any websites which promoted Google Docs for educators was only relevant for senior grades. Individual logons present an issue for primary students due to age restrictions, as users have to be 13 years of age. I did read a post on Kelly Jordan's "Teaching In The Early Years " blog where she explained how she had used it with her Year 2 class on a dinosaur unit, however it doesn't explain how they were able to access it. There may be a work around where editors don't have to have a gmail account or sign in.  While still wondering, a google forum user, Earle Mardle, stated:
 ....Click "People with Access"
At the bottom of the list of people with access  there is this text
Sign-in is required to view this item.  Change
Click "Change"
You have 3 options, leaving it as it is, allowing View or allowing edit rights without signing in.
In other words, you can set permissions at the document level.........
I'll have to investigate ( so much to do, so little time!) 

Another thing that concerned me was the option to view a document online, go to the File menu and have a choice of either opening it as my own copy or downloading it in a variety of formats. The "public on the web" feature obviously is open for abuse by having people download documents and save them as their own, all accessible through the file menu.  The option was also available to see collaborators details in the copy option which allows the copier to view the email addresses.




I believe it has value for teachers with respect to planning and programming or joint publications. Another great facility was the opportunity to 'format shift' a document.  What a wonderful and easy way to convert a spreadsheet or text file to PDF format ! When I experimented with the software it was a little like driving someone else's car. Althought the tools and functions are familiar the movements are specific. The service is free and does prevents loss of data due to auto saves(good thing). Some common shortcuts are transferrable like CTRL + S. However, my initial optimism with respect to the easy insertion of utube videos has been revised following troubles with viewing these videos after publishing ( bad thing). Videos and their vagaries represent a never ending source of frustration for me. Something else to consider when using Google applications is always keeping in mind the war between Microsoft and Google. On the TechCrunch website the article "Google Twists Knife In IE6, Pulls Support From Docs And Sites" posted in January this year states:

........While you’ll still be able to access Docs and Sites from IE6, you will have restricted functionality and many features won’t work, making the applications for the most part useless. We hear that Google will be phasing out IE6 support for the remainder of Google’s major products, including Gmail and Calendar, over the coming year.......by Leena Rao on Jan 29, 2010

This would have ramifications for collaborative uses. When I used IE7 and was trying to experiment with the drawing option in Docs a popup box warned me it was not compatible with my current browser. Google is also pushing the barrow of Google Chrome, its new web browser, which I've tried, then dispensed with initially as there were currently too many glitches. I'm now a convert to the new edition.

I wouldn't use Google Docs to create a document as it's not worth the time when I have other tools with which I'm far more familiar. I feel it would be more advantageous to upload an existing document and use Docs purely as an editing forum for a group of users.

A humorous offering on You Tube titled " The Google Toilet - Super News" would be funny if it were not so close to the truth.


The 'Atomic Learning' tutorials were of short duration and easy to follow. They're perfect for those with limited time.
FINAL WORD

Image credit: Mark Stivers at Saturday Cartoons  http://www.markstivers.com/wordpress/

Aug 17, 2010

Module 1 - Web 2.0 and Personalising Your Webspace

Web 2.0 Overview

The concept of a digital footprint beginning before birth and continuing after death is explored in the folllowing video


Encountered an interesting read on "O'Reilly" which attempts to distinguish between Web 1.0 and Web 2.0. The following diagram was just a beginning according to Tim O'Reilly.


.........But there's still a huge amount of disagreement about just what Web 2.0 means, with some people decrying it as a meaningless marketing buzzword, and others accepting it as the new conventional wisdom.........©2010, O'Reilly Media, Inc.
I enjoyed O'Reilly's concept of hyperlinking as the foundation of the web with users adding new content, and new sites, other users discovering the content and linking to it, then the connections developing into a collective output of many web users. The "dumbed down" version of the differences between the two webs mooted by O'Reilly appears to me to be an 'insular' versus a 'collaborative' experience


Web 2.0 and its tools
My favourite site for explaining the myriad of web 2.0 tools is Go2Web20
Being a visual learner I love the interface. Select a tool category from the tags e.g PHOTO

a visual inventory appears


Follow a link eg to "Image Chef" and a popup appears with a short decription and the option to continue to the site only a click away !

The only disadvantage I can see is that the tools are not in alphabetical order, however it's easy to forgive the author as it would be a ponderous, time wasting task and just how much should one have to spoonfeed people.  It's enough that the site has a search facility !!

Then again, it's not the tool but its functionality within an educational environment which is paramount to the educator .  So many tools - so much more time to squander with the hope of unearthing a true gem.

IGoogle
I’ve tried I Google before and while I don’t negate the practical applications of some of the gadgets, I’ve found that navigation speed and connectivity may be compromised and shut downs may become more than an occasional source of frustration. Browser quirks seem to affect iGoogle’s functionality and can cause frozen screens. However, this may have something to do with the amount of gadgets one needs to fuel one’s addiction so I’ve cut back on many of the mindless time wasting but cutesy gadgets I initially installed and have settled for some basics. Why have a bookmark gadget when one has a ‘delicious tab’ ? And why have the ‘YouTube gadget’ when the Google advertising takes up more space than the ‘YouTube search bar’.

Something new for me this time around was the option to view gadgets in a full-screen, or canvas, view. This would make a great improvement for the gmail gadget. Serendipitously I discovered that problem with this gadget loading is caused by the fact that gmail by default transmits using https, a secure connection (a good thing), and therefore will not open in gadget form which is insecure (a bad thing), however there’s a workaround – by clicking on the gmail link in the top left hand corner of the malfunctioning gadget, the gmail opens in a full screen, so functionality is preserved.

All things considered, for me iGoogle is still too 'bugsy' to keep it as my homepage.

IGoogle Gadget

I’m hoping this option was to create a theme rather than a gadget which seems to rely on a lot of coding. Creating the theme was easy. Only thing I balked at was using my real name. Call me a conspiracy freak, but I'm not convinced publishing my real name is necessary for something as innocuous as this......... It was somewhat counter productive of Google to provide no default image size which resulted in a ‘hit and miss’ process, however I’m pleased I took the trouble, for someone as addicted to graphic manipulation as I am it is frustating to have to accept generic themes.

Good news !
I noticed today that the google home page background image can be changed from the super stark, minimalist, conservative default.  For how long have I not noticed that little tweak ? Will give that a go and see if its free of glitches.