Air-B-N-Me

     I had never heard of a netprov before this class, and I wasn't sure what to expect, but I'm really glad it was part of the class. As confusing as the project seemed to be at first, it turned out to be one of the most enjoyable things I've done in a while. I had grand ideas for what I wanted to do for my character profile, but had to tone them back a bit when I realized they wouldn't fit in with the project requirements.

     Since it was a learning experience for all of us, there was a lot of uncertainty about how to begin creating a profile. We were reliant on the creators of the project to share with us what the ground rules were. This led to a lot of back and forth about what we thought was expected. Add to this the fact that I had to use a new technology (Periscope) on top of the written portion which employed a website I wasn't familiar with, there was some discomfort.

     Once I realized Periscope was not the route I wanted to take, it made things a little easier. Filming my swappertunities and posting them to youtube made things much better. I was then able to just post the link to the video the comments section of each swappertunity for lurfers to view at their leisure. By the way, Periscope is full of four types of people:

1. Churchgoers
2. Pot smokers
3. People who are bored
4. People looking for boobs

     I really wanted to do a redneck character for my profile, but I wasn't sure if that would be considered offensive. Then it hit me. My wife has a co-worker who is just awful at his job. He literally stumbles through life. He was perfect to parody. Thus, UnremarkableCarl was born. 

     Once I decided on using him, the swappertunities wrote themselves. All three (eating a lot of pizza, wearing only one outfit, and cleaning while his overbearing wife looks on) were ripped directly from his life. Jessica and Dave replied to a couple of them which led to some riffing between these fictional characters. I didn't respond to anyone's swappertunities because I'm such a lurker in real life. Looking back, I think I would have really enjoyed engaging more with the profiles. 

      The great thing that stood out to me was that most people used a tremendous humor when posting on the site. Had it been completely serious, I think it would have been too boring and it would have read like a classified section. Since some of these things were so outrageous, it made for an enjoyable read. Even though I didn't participate, I did look around at different profiles because I found it so entertaining.

     This was a fun activity to be a part of and I'm glad that I didn't give up on it. It allowed everyone's humor to shine through in an otherwise stressful point in the semester.

Participatory Culture in a Networked Era: Chapters 6 & 7

     The DREAM Act was something that I wasn't too familiar with until a student asked me to write a letter of recommendation. I don't know what became of it and to be honest, I wasn't sure what it was at the time. I was so used to writing letters of recommendation for my seniors that it was just another one. Around the same time, my school formed a club for students who were fighting on behalf of their undocumented peers. I never attended a meeting but I remember thinking how ballsy the advisor of the club was for taking on such an issue. My district is primarily hispanic, so there wasn't a shortage of students who volunteered to be a part of it, but the staff is mostly caucasian. Older caucasians.

     Many of my co-workers did not view this as a student run organization with any validity. Instead they just saw young people protesting just to make noise, even though it directly impacted most of them. This is exactly the type of activism that Jenkins mentioned youth getting involved in, and it was not taken seriously by the adults who were supposed to encourage them.

     Mimi mentions World of Warcraft as a way to get youth involved politically and civically. I used to play the game, not to a great degree, but I joined a guild and tried my best to participate. I din't understand at first that a regular player was in charge of the guild; I always just assumed it was someone who worked at Blizzard. So in that sense, if a younger person were to become a guild master, they could learn quite a bit about running an organization. boyd mentions that World of Warcraft is a good place to develop agency. It is true that there are numerous choices for a player to make in regards to his or her character and game style, and false steps could have serious consequences. Don't participate regularly and contribute to the guild? You can be booted and replaced in favor of another player who isn't seen as a moocher.

     On the subject of fandom and activism, Jenkins mentions a letter-writing campaign to get an LGBT character on Star Trek: The Next Generation. I found it odd since the original Star Trek was praised as having a diverse cast and really breaking ground in that area. Now we have groups who are lobbying for representation. Imagine, creatively, being forced to introduce a character because a group, who don't really have to watch the show, want it. You couldn't have an LGBT character come out and then not address his/her sexuality. It would have to be a plot point, otherwise why make the character gay? I would say that if someone wants to see a space opera with specific characters, maybe  he or she should create it. Produce something new instead of making everything change for your benefit.

     The sense of entitlement goes a bit further when Jenkins mentions the Wizarding World of Harry Potter, and how some fans can't ride the rides because they are too big. Jenkins refers to these people as being "locked out" because of their size. Seriously? There are safety precautions to consider. Also, financially the rides need to be a certain size to accommodate enough people to make it a worthwhile attraction. If they could only fit two seats in a row as opposed to four because of seat size, you just doubled everyone's time in line. How can you design a seat that will fit both a four hundred pound person and a one hundred pound person? There have been complaints about heavier people needing to buy two seats on an airplane because of what we'll call "spill over". Think of it in terms of physical space. I paid x amount for the space around my seat. If you "spill over" into someone else's space, you need to purchase more space. Sorry for the rant, but Jenkins made it sound as if the park was purposely shaming bigger people. Not everything is a cause for protest.

Participatory Culture in a Networked Era: Chapters 4 & 5

     I think it's excellent the number of "positive deviants" we have thanks to the Internet. One of my students mentioned what school in Korea was like, and it turned into a huge conversation involving most of the class. This particular student absolutely refuses to participate (I assigned him a tiny role in Romeo and Juliet and he suddenly came down with a stomach ache, requiring a class-long trip to the nurse.) But he was suddenly an authority on something and was spewing forth incredible details about what the school day is like compared to ours. When someone asked him why he knows this, he just replied that it interested him. Like Ito points out, had he been assigned such a topic he may have dreaded it.

     I also worry that if students become used to only studying what they are interested in, they won't become as well-rounded as they should. I understand that the authors are discussing interests outside of school, but I see firsthand how kids will refuse to do something that they don't like. Much of this stems from schools catering to the students' interests instead of forcing (I realize that sounds terrible) the students to study general items. I had a liberal supervisor one time who told us that if kids didn't like the novel we were teaching, just pick another one. If that sounds ridiculous to you, it should.

     Managing media consumption is a growing problem in the classroom. When we use technology in class, the students are always given what our intention is supposed to be. The problem is maintaining their focus. Students will rush through a diagnostic test so they can watch Youtube videos of basketball. Or they want to listen to music as they type up a final draft of a paper, then spend a majority of the time choosing what songs they want to hear.

     The cell phones, which should be a valuable tool, aren't used appropriately. If a student encounters a word unknown to them, they don't use a free dictionary app or even google it to determine the meaning. And if they try to type a paper on their phones (which sounds like torture) they are distracted by the barrage of texts or status updates, leaving the work unfinished.

     I know what you may be saying, confiscate the phones. Students are very rarely willing to hand their phones over, leading to a power struggle. Security gets called, class is disrupted, and the student hates you and can only take it out on you by not doing any work. Then he or she will get the phone back the next period anyway. Sorry to make it sound like I think phones are the devil, but I think it illustrates the fact that students need guidance on how to control their impulses when it comes to 24/7 connectivity.

     Commercial culture reminds me of Uber drivers. Sure it's an established business model, as taxi drivers will tell you, but it utilizes technology to improve the process. If anything, it makes the market more competitive and should help the consumer. It seems more reliable (and cleaner) than most taxis. But I confess, I have never used either Uber or a taxi.

     I think Twitter is irresponsible for allowing such anonymity among its members. I realize that makes me sound old and out of touch, but if you can anonymously act like a fool and post nonsense without fear of people knowing who you are, I find that to be dangerous. I also realize that the majority are responsible and cordial, but my gut reaction is what Ito condemned- take it all away. And I know that's unreasonable.

     But when we hear about the case of the girl who used Periscope to broadcast her friend's rape, I seriously wonder if more regulations are needed. What is to stop underage girls from posing nude? If you rely on someone reporting any offenses, just remember that way more people "liked" the rape than reported it. I don't like those chances. To be clear, I'm not calling for a ban on these tools, just more safeguards.

"Participatory Culture in a Networked Era" Chapters 2 & 3

     While reading through the chapters, I couldn't help but compare the youth the authors were discussing with the youth that I interact with everyday. The authors maintain a very positive outlook on how the youth utilize technology, but I have a harder time seeing things the same way they do. I'm aware that some teenagers are using the latest technology in a positive way, but I have a hard time remembering that after what I see in school.

     boyd points out that "adults scapegoat technology" (44), but who is giving the teenagers access to the technology? The kids are not the ones who are purchasing iPads or smart phones for themselves, and they aren't going to Verizon and opening up a line for themselves with unlimited text and data. A lack of moderation has led many of the students in my school to believe constant use of technology is acceptable. Students will come to school with their phones and chargers, but without a pen or pencil. Priorities.

     I, much like the authors, dislike the idea of referring to teens as "digital natives." Not because of the connotations of the word native, but simply because most teens don't know how a computer functions. Outside of messaging, social media, and youtube, teens don't understand the inner workings of a computer that the image of a "digital native" conjures in my head. I don't mean to sound negative about the youth and technology, I just don't feel we're at the point yet to consider them accomplished.

     Consider that the PARCC is a computer based test. I have already used three class periods guiding my classes through the mock test. It's pretty rudimentary as far as features go. For these students to be considered fluent in the technology, I would have expected them to pick it up by the second run-through (especially since they took the test last year).

     I enjoyed the walk down memory lane that Ito provided in the form of the edutainment games I remember playing in grade school (61). Oregon Trail and Carmen Sandiego were nice diversions from the rigorous work set forth by our third grade overseers. I was vaguely aware at the time that they were educational, but for the life of me I couldn't tell you why. It's fairly obvious now and I admire how informative they were while being so fun at the same time. The enjoyment I received from moving up from Gumshoe in Carmen Sandiego was the same feeling I would get from unlocking an achievement on Xbox 20 years later.

     T-Mobile's Sidekick also brings back memories because that was the device of choice during my first few years of teaching. The sound of the screen rotating up so that students could text in class was unmistakeable. It was also so cumbersome to use with a tiny screen; it's quite amazing it took off the way it did. The students thought it was so great. They couldn't imagine phones getting any better.

     I hope that someday it levels out and the technology doesn't act as a distraction for a majority of the students. After introducing sonnets today, I made the comment that Shakespeare was able to write them all without the Internet. With all the resources available to the them, I would hope they could at least attempt one. Here's hoping.

Chapters 2 & 3 of Jill Walker Rettberg’s Seeing Ourselves Through Technology

     I really enjoyed reading about "Filtered Reality" since it's something I had never really thought of before. I don't ever apply filters to anything because I always view it as cheesy and an attempt to be artsy, but I am guilty of taking multiple pictures because I wasn't happy with how the first one (or six) turned out. Whenever someone complains about a picture of themselves (driver's license, school id, etc.) I always say, "But it's a picture of you. If it looks bad, well..."

     I work with a woman who also sells a brand of magic cream (which I shall not name) that rejuvenates the skin and takes years off your face. Allegedly. She posts before and after pictures to her social media accounts all the time and I can't help but compare her to a snake oil salesman. The conditions and lighting are never the same for either picture, so it is fairly obvious to the naked eye that there is some camera trickery at play. If the before picture is trying to highlight crow's feet, you can tell by the shape of the cheek that the person is smiling. But in the after shot, the subject is stone faced. This is a clear indication of someone filtering out information for her own benefit.

     In terms of photo albums only consisting of the good times, I have to say that depends on the person. My wife has been a shutterbug since high school. For each year since we've been married, she has created a photo album using Picaboo or Snapfish. When we had kids, she started creating them for each child, every year. That means we have three yearbooks (plus any special occasion books she decides to make) each year, each consisting of close to 100 pages of photos and text. She's insane.

     But she also captures all the little moments in our lives. Part of that is recording the ugly parts. The trials we've been through. We don't have the puked on onesies discussed in the chapter, but we do have tantrums and boo-boos. For us, it's fun to look back on those moments and appreciate how they've contributed to us becoming who we are. Below is one of our favorites from a year ago. We call it "Dueling Timeouts".

Note the dog longing for quieter days.

     The chapter entitled "Serial Selfies" blew my mind. The organization and dedication it took for these people to take pictures of themselves on such a schedule is beyond my ability. I realize that most people take a number of selfies each day, that's not what is impressive. What is astounding is how the artists in the chapter did it for a purpose beyond "Look what I'm wearing."

     Tehching Hsieh's year-long piece was beyond ridiculous. To take a photo every hour for an entire year requires dedication and discipline, along with a little bit of crazy mixed in. Just the interruption to the sleeping pattern alone. It reminded me a bit of the Seinfeld episode where Kramer decided he was going to take little naps throughout the day, rather than sleep all night. 

     If you had to take a selfie every hour with your cell phone, that's one thing. This guy had a time card he had to punch and a uniform he had to wear. You have to plan everything in your life around 50-55 minute chunks.

     I watched a video on Youtube about his project. I was a little upset to find out that there are about 150 pictures missing. Some are due to mechanical error, some user error. I felt sorry that he might view it as a failure not to record every hour. But with 8,760 hours in a year, he only missed about 2% of the pictures. I think a 98% success rate for such a monumental feat is impressive.

     I'll end this selfie segment with one of me that embarrasses my wife. For some unknown reason I realized just how practical a fanny pack can be and would not stop in my quest to find one. Since we don't live in the early 90's anymore, they're pretty hard to come by. My wife was able to get one for me (in an attempt to get me to shut up about the stupid thing). This is the result.

Not only is the fanny pack itself out of the 90's, but the color scheme is as well.

   

danah boyd & Robert P. Jones

*Sorry guys. I posted this under the wrong class earlier this week because apparently I can't read. 

Colin Worthley

ENG 5085

3/23/16

            There has never been a point in our world’s history when people who are so physically separated have been so connected as right now. Unfortunately, this connectedness has not been able to reinforce what makes us all the same; rather, it seems to have highlighted our differences more than ever. danah boyd and Robert P. Jones discuss one reason for this: people who belong to certain racial groups, primarily whites, maintain social networks consisting of members of the same racial group. By having such homogeneity, whites find it difficult to understand minority perspectives.

            Looking at the social networks of whites supports this claim of self-segregation. In “Self-Segregation: Why It’s So Hard for Whites to Understand Ferguson”, Jones finds that “[o]verall, the social networks of whites are a remarkable 91 percent white.” No other race accounts for more than 1 percent of the remaining network. More surprising still, Jones also states that 75 percent of whites have social networks made up entirely of whites. Such figures make it apparent that the lack of a relationship with minorities would prohibit whites from identifying with another race.

            Jones discusses this to identify why there is such a disparity between how white and non-white Americans viewed the shooting of Michael Brown, a black teenager who was unarmed in Ferguson, Missouri in 2014. Prior to the shooting, 44 percent of whites felt that minorities received equal treatment in the criminal justice system. On the other hand, only 29 percent of non-whites felt the same. After the shooting, the gap widened. The number of whites responding positively to the same question had grown to 48 percent, and the number of non-whites dropped to 16 percent. Since whites have limited contact with minorities through social media, they then have a limited view into life as a minority, which possibly contributes to the disparity.

Another interesting statistic that Jones examines is a 2012 survey that found 75 percent of African Americans are more likely to choose “obedience” over “self-reliance” when given a choice of the two traits. When given the same choice, only 41 percent of white Americans chose “obedience.” This statistic does not provide proof that white Americans don’t understand the experience of many African Americans, but it does relate how the two view the world, and their place in it, differently. 

boyd’s “White Flight in Networked Publics? How Race and Class Shaped American Teen Engagement with MySpace and Facebook” reviews the history of MySpace and Facebook, and how teen preference reveals “[j]ust as physical spaces and tastes are organized around and shaped by race and class, so too are digital environments.” Thousands of profiles were analyzed and over 100 teens from 17 states were interviewed and observed over the course of six years to determine that social media is a reflection of American society.

Some adults were frightened by the potential dangers that MySpace posed. It was the first major social media site and teens now had access to strangers. Additionally, users were followers of indie-rock or hip-hop and the site spread through word-of-mouth. Suddenly teens had access to new people and experiences, scaring parents. When Facebook launched, it was “intentionally limited” to Ivy Leaguers and by the time it was available to the masses in 2006, it had achieved an “elite” status. It was trusted by more parents and viewed as “safe.”

boyd examines how, with both sites available, backgrounds affected which site was preferred by teens. MySpace was the preference of subculture teens while the mainstream gravitated to Facebook. Deeper than that, however, it was found that “black and Latino teens appeared to preference MySpace while white and Asian teens seemed to privilege Facebook.” boyd cites Moody (2001) and Thorne (2008) when pointing out that in diverse schools teens “often self-segregate by race”, mirroring what was happening online. 

boyd provides many examples of teenagers explaining what their preferences are and why. While some, like Anastasia and Craig, sounded extremely elitist as to why they prefer Facebook (for “honors kids”, “higher castes”), most students had valid reasons for preferring one site to the other. Whether it was due to the user interface or just simply that it was the site their friends had chosen, a majority of the teens interviewed did not seem to indicate race as a reason for choosing or moving from one site to another.

Because MySpace was “a cultural center for youth culture”, involved parents did not like the wide range of backgrounds and moral codes their children now had access to. This, coupled with MySpace’s failure to stop “spammers and scammers” and the security attacks they presented, led many teens to leave MySpace for Facebook, which was considered a safer, less public platform.

boyd ends with an extended metaphor that compares MySpace to a ghetto and Facebook to the suburbs. She parallels white flight to the students who leave MySpace in favor of Facebook. In the end, it seems that there is more than just race that goes into preference of social media. As boyd herself puts it, “teens…self-segregate along the same lines that shape their social relations more broadly: race and ethnicity, socio-economic status, education goals, lifestyle, subcultural affiliation, social categories, etc.”

Discussion questions

1.     How has technology affected the way the public views police treatment of minorities? Can technology be used to ensure equal treatment?

2.     Does the racial make up of our social network say anything about how we as individuals view race, or are the two not as connected as the articles make it seem?

3.     Is boyd correct in her theory, or is the nature of social media that teenagers will always flock to the newest site, especially one that parents aren’t using?

4.     Haven’t the hierarchies described in boyd’s article always existed in high school, just in different forms?

Selfie Pedagogy I-IV

     When I first saw that Miriam Posner had a class that looked to be dedicated to selfies, I was a bit skeptical. How could an entire semester be devoted to taking pictures of yourself? But Posner uses it as an entry point into discussing "the experience of being a young adult in the digital age." Unfortunately, many of us who consider ourselves separate from this generation see it as a culture of vanity. That's not always the case, as Elizabeth Losh aims to reveal.

     Something that struck me about the first blog was the seeming negative connotation of the term "millennial." Posner and her students don't wish for a generic term to lump the entire generation together. This indicates a distinct difference between the youth who value the ways in which the digital age can help to develop a meaningful depiction of themselves, versus those who just love to take pictures of themselves. Perhaps the one of the main indicators of the millennial generation, pervasive use of the internet and social media, has perpetuated the notion that they are all the same, more so than any other generation.

www.dohiyimir.org

     Terri Senft's work is very intriguing to me because it touches on the permanence of what is posted on the internet. It's unfortunate that stories like that of Amanda Todd, a young girl who committed suicide after relentless cyber-bullying, are a reality. The danger of the internet is that spontaneous actions, such as Amanda flashing a stranger, live on and can be used for nefarious purposes. That the boy whose sexual involvement with Amanda, leading to more ridicule, was not seen negatively is incredibly deplorable and highlights the double standard that still exists.

     This slut-shaming accentuates the importance of educating our youth on how to treat one another, as well as showing young girls how to maneuver social media in a safe way. The anonymity of the internet makes it incredibly easy to get away with malicious acts that might not otherwise occur. It can be simple, and possibly even inviting, to dump on a kid when everyone else is already doing it.

     The odd thing about this is that one of the alluring aspects of the internet is how it joins people together. Whenever I hear of someone being bullied to the point of taking his or her own life, I wonder if they had a support system they could reach out to online. The sheer number of students who are being bullied should be enough to build a community to ensure they always have a safe place to turn.

     Sandra Bland's situation was highly unfortunate. Her presence on social media makes it difficult to see her as the kind of person who should be placed in such a situation. As the link further explains, she had many things going for her professionally and it seems unlikely someone in her situation should want to commit suicide.

     I watched the video of her arrest when it was first made available. I've always told my students that if you get stopped by the cops, just comply, even if you think they are in the wrong. In fact, experts say the best thing to do is to let them bring you in and let it play out. No one was ever dragged out of his or her car and handcuffed, only to be let go after they put up enough of a fuss. Also, you might be in the right, but that won't do you much good if you get shot or killed. That does not mean what happened to Sandra Bland was justified. For many people, the lasting image of her is from her arrest. Her digital identity helped others see her a person and allow her loved ones to remember her as more than someone face down and handcuffed.

     Our ability to choose how we are represented on online allows us to determine how others view us. Look back at your last few selfies. Were they posed? Were they taken because you thought others would be impressed? Or were they sneak peeks into the honest you? Do you agree with Calvin's idea of what an ideal picture is?

www.pinterest.com

Howard Rheingold's Net Smart (Chapter 5 & 6)

     Rheingold introduces the idea of networked individualism by explaining how a parent complained of not knowing who his/her friends were anymore. Plans are made through text message and friends don't have to come to the door anymore. This thought scares me as a parent. I can't wrap my head around not knowing who has 24/7 access to my child.

     One of the weirdest experiences I had recently was to be the class parent in my daughter's preschool class. It was the first time I observed my daughter as a member of a group. I saw who she chose to play with and what her role within each interaction was. I was extremely proud to see that she didn't interact with the "bad kids" (those of the create-a-mess-and-don't-clean-it-up ilk).

     I started to think about my own social interactions. Anyone who has spent more than just our class time with me will tell you that I'm socially awkward. I could be in the middle of a conversation with someone and then I will have a moment where I think to myself, "You're doing it. You're having an adult conversation!" Then that's all I can think about and I look for an exit strategy.

     But this oddness has helped me to build quite a diverse network. I don't have many close friendships but I have many people who kinda-sorta know me. What they know of me, they like. At work, I'm generally regarded as a hard-working, dependable guy with a good sense of humor. Because of this, I have good relationships with my vice principal, instructional leader, and several colleagues who served various committees in the district. Their opinion of me (which is right, by the way) is why I get a lot of inside information about what's going on in my school. It's also why Michael Quan used to hook me up with extra cheese on my McDonald's in high school.

www.mcmcapital.com

     Managing my boundaries at work have helped to build this trust and therefore my social capital.  
I remember the first time I hun gout with co-workers outside of work. It was like I was shedding the old me, who had certain friends because that's who I had gone to school with. Now I was choosing adult friends, some of whom were 10-20 years older than me. Seven of us were hired in the English department at the same time, so we have deep relationships that continue to this day.

     I had seen examples of close-knit co-workers in the past. When one of my math teachers in high school was diagnosed with cancer, other faculty members helped her out by donating days off when she ran out of her own or by driving her to doctor appointments when necessary. Such banding together of co-workers is a beautiful thing, and makes me think about those I work with. Would we do that for one another? Would I?

     Just this past Saturday one colleague lost her mother-in-law suddenly to a heart attack. Within an hour of finding out, another co-worker was at her house, watching over the kids so she could take care of arrangements. Perhaps Johanek would argue that it's merely a natural response from a female humanities teacher.

     I almost forgot to add meaningful outcomes that I would like to see from the course. I know this isn't something everyone is necessarily interested in, but I want more tools that I can use in the classroom. What can I use to engage the students that will also help with the learning outcomes that have been established for them? Also, since I teach a lot of writing, what can help students discover their own style while building confidence? This is very vague, but it's what is floating around in my head.

Web Literacy- Mozilla Learning

     I grew up with a very poor understanding of what the Internet was. My pop-pop (dad's dad) was really into computers and technology for as long as I could remember. I had to go to his house to experience computers, Betamax, and VCR's. I have fond memories of booting up his computer and playing B.C.'s Quest for Tires. It's a far cry from the stereotype of today's older generation knowing nothing about technology.

                            

                               en.wikipedia.org

www.iretron.com

     Fast forward to high school, when I still didn't have a computer at my house. Any report that needed to be typed up had to be done on our stylish Brother WP-80 word processor. I had the fantastic options of using the behemoth as a typewriter (fat chance) or typing it out on the screen to be printed. Please note the high-tech A drive, used exclusively for the (hard) floppy disks that kids today know as the save icon. So my pop-pop, who had been deceased for a decade by that point, was more technologically advanced than I was.

     This all helped form my understanding (or lack thereof) of computers and the Internet. My friend Brian asked me if I had America Online one day. I responded that I didn't even have a computer, but left confused. If you weren't using America Online, what were you using? I had no idea that there were multiple service providers. I thought it was AOL that developed the Internet, not Al Gore's initiative.

     So my limited understanding led me to think there were only two players in the game: Windows and Mac OS. Forget about Linux or even Linux kernel-based operating systems. The full access to the source code that Linux provides makes it customizable, and a better option for users who don't like how Windows and Mac keep the source code hidden and therefore dictate and limit use. Only users with experience with open-source software can get full use of such an operating system. This customization is what Mozilla is looking to teach students how to do.

writinpixels.wordpress.com

     Looking through some of the activities took me back to a class I took at Kean during my undergraduate studies. It was the early 2000s and my first exposure to Macs. We had to create very basic websites by writing code. Let's just say I have quite an appreciation for website developers.

     I've often complained that too many kids use technology, but don't really acknowledge how it works. I have a vague understanding of it that has been slightly reinforced by playing around on Mozilla's site, but I feel like students don't fully appreciate what goes into every status they post. The ideas found on the website do a great job of explaining and showing kids how these magical devices really work.

     Activities such as "Ping Kong" show students exactly how information goes from one place to another by having them role play as packets of information. I know a couple of kids who would benefit from this activity, thinking that information just falls from the sky. Other activities introduce students to coding, allowing them to create a customized site or cartoon.

     I would agree that schools need to offer a class in web literacy that covers writing code, just so that students get a deeper understanding and appreciation for how to do it. If faced with two mechanics, I would prefer the one who not only knows what is wrong with my car, but can diagnose it himself. I would be hesitant to pick the mechanic who only fixes what a computer tells him to.

     Until next time, behold my newest creation...

Made using Mozilla Thimble

Howard Rheingold's Net Smart (Chapter 4)

     I've always been told that using Wikipedia for research is a big no-no. Anyone can alter the information on the page so therefore it can't be trusted. As I've come to realize, it's not the evil I've been led to believe. Some even claim that Wikipedia works just as well as Encyclopedia Britannica. Cooperation Theory enforces punishment for cheaters; in this case, resulting in deletion of incorrect information. If you post nonsense and someone notices, your contribution goes bye-bye. Those people trying to troll others by purposefully posting false information would be rooted out by triangulation anyway.

     Collective intelligence is great when people contribute. Like most group work, there is always someone who is going to sit back while others do all of the work. When it comes to using the Internet, that's the group I was a part of. I had no twitter account or blogs, and the Facebook account I had was really only used "lurk". Not until this past September did I have a viable online presence that contributed in a positive way. I used the information that was freely given to me without any reciprocity. I consumed.

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     I still don't initiate much by way of social media. I won't really reach out to someone and friend request them. I guess I fear them rejecting me, effectively telling me they don't have time for new friends like Matthew Broderick in Cable Guy. I find "Dunbar's number" to be quite accurate for me. He claims 147.8 people to be the mean for a socially stable group of people. My friends list on Facebook consists of 151 people. Looks like my anti-social habits have finally placed me in the norm for something.

     The Internet has made it possible for niche groups to come together and accomplish a common goal. The crowdfunding site Kickstarter helps to showcase just how collaborative people can be. People can actually fund projects they want to take part in, assuming an active role in the creation of something they want. If you and your on-line community raise enough money to fund a movie version of your script for Showgirls 2, I guess dreams do come true.

    Gofundme.com is another crowdfunding site that allows users to contribute to specific causes. Recently, in my district, a middle-school teacher lost her home due to a fire. This particular teacher housed rescue cats. Because of the fire, it was determined that she had upwards of fifty cats under her care (yikes!). A gofundme page was started, not to help the teacher recover from the fire, but to provide supplies for the cats who have now been twice displaced.

     I was an avid player of World of Warcraft, a game that Rheingold refers to frequently. Oddly enough, I was never interested in the social aspect of it, which is one of the key features that sets it apart from most other games. When it came time to rely on other players for a group challenge, I either did so grudgingly, or I skipped it altogether. And the same goes for Xbox Live. The system comes with a headset which enables the player to communicate with others, but I rarely use them. One of the reasons for this is the community I encounter on games such as Call of Duty are rarely as kind or forgiving as the members of Rheingold's online community. (You wouldn't believe the number of prepubescent boys who have had sexual encounters with my mother.)

www.siliconbeat.com

     Other communities are extremely helpful. There is a subreddit on reddit.com in which the users try to explain difficult concepts to another user who has posed a specific question. ELI5's (Explain Like I'm 5) comment sections are almost always filled with reasonably accessible explanations to questions like: "How do we know that Earth's closest galaxy is 2.5 million lightyears away?" Each additional user who comments lends more to the discussion or clarifies certain elements of the answer that were confusing.

     The Internet has enabled us to communicate people with common interests from all over the globe. In looking at the reports for my last blog, I noticed people from Mexico and Germany accessed it. While I haven't collaborated on anything with them, it's still pretty amazing to think that something I wrote was seen by someone half a world away.

Howard Rheingold’s Net Smart (Chapters 2 & 3)

     I can't ever seem to understand how students in today's classrooms have a hard time finding information. The majority have barely scratched the surface of their cell phone's capabilities; opting instead to play games or check Instagram. As a rational owner of a smart phone, I know that this is the allure of the devices. But as an educator, I see missed opportunities. I'm starting to realize, however, that students are given access to cutting edge technology, but have no direct instruction on how to properly use it.

     Triangulating is a great way to determine the credibility of a source. In all honesty, how long should it take to verify information when connected to the Internet? Unless it's breaking news (which Rheingold says news networks could be an hour behind Twitter in reporting), students should be able to quickly check vetted sources for anything they need. Rosenberg provides a pretty comprehensive list of ways to ensure the site you are using is credible. These methods require some modeling in order to be practiced by students, and therefore effective.

     When left on their own, many students lack the ability to determine what sources are credible. The example Rheingold provides involving his daughter and Stormfront's Martin Luther King Jr. website is one that was used during one of my district's in-service days a few years ago. To combat this, the freshman teachers started providing the students with approved websites for research topics. When researching the Holocaust to prepare for Night, students were given links to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum's website. Many bellyached about wanting to use Google, but I had to explain the concerns about validity. Perhaps a unit on crap detection is in order for the first asking period next year.

www.searchinfluence.com

     One roadblock in the way of most students is the idea of infotention. Lack of intention when browsing the Internet leads to wandering attention. Many people (a group which students belong to, I'm told) go on their phones with the intention of vegging out and not being productive. That's actually a fine, healthy thing to do; as long as nothing more important needs to get done.

     Full disclosure: my wife and I had an argument the other day. It stemmed from someone's use of a cell phone at an inopportune time. I would come right out and tell you who the offending party was, but I get the sense you already know it was me. To make the situation worse, I had just finished chapter one and resolved to be more mentally present. Easier said than done.

     It was like a scene from a propaganda piece about how chaotic life with kids can be. Toys were spread everywhere, dishes lay dirty in the sink, a pre-schooler and a toddler wrestled on the floor- crying and possibly bleeding. My wife came downstairs from putting laundry away only to find me oblivious to the chaos around me, on my phone. I can't even tell you what I was doing since it wasn't important enough to remember- but it almost started World War 3.

     I had no intention when I checked my phone. I was using it to escape my reality (which is really great and doesn't require escaping) at a really bad time. As a result, my attention ran roughshod and in turn led to a pretty unenjoyable day or two at my house (don't worry guys, I made amends).

     I mention this to highlight the fact that if I can get distracted so easily, then students must definitely find it challenging. Not to sound too much like an old man sitting on his front porch, but back when I was in school, I didn't have the constant distraction that smart phones provide. If I did, based on my story above, I probably wouldn't have graduated.

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