23 July 2008
Hi everyone,
Hopefull summer is going well and that it is all you want it to be. How are things going for you in the way of technology and information literacy? Tell me . . .blog.
This summer I decided that I really wanted to get my arms around iTunes and my ipod. This has led me to the the podcasting phenomena which we touched on in class! Now in a class that focuses on podcasting-I love it! I am learning how to use Garageband (Mac) and some of you may know Audacity (pc). Either are very cool! If and when I get my first podcast complete I will share it with you at this site (if possible) Stay relaxed! Take care!
Wednesday, July 23, 2008
Tuesday, May 20, 2008
Another word on blogs . . .
Here is an interesting article on Hillary Clinton and what she is doing in the way of blogging as the 2008 Democratic primary race comes to an end. Read this article I pulled from the New York Times:
May 20, 2008
As Primaries End, Clinton Appeals Directly to Blogs
By KATHARINE Q. SEELYE
As Hillary Rodham Clinton decries the mainstream media for diminishing her chances of capturing the Democratic nomination, she is turning more to the Internet to make her increasingly urgent case.
She held her first blogger-only conference call on Friday, phoning in to about 40 bloggers from the campaign trail in Oregon.
And the campaign has stepped up its use of Twitter, a social-networking service that sends short, text-based posts, to make real-time calls to arms.
The push on the Internet comes amid signs that Mrs. Clinton is getting less attention these days, both in the blogosphere and the mainstream media. Techpresident.com reports that according to the blog search tool Technorati, Mrs. Clinton is being mentioned less than half as often as Senator Barack Obama in the blogosphere and that mentions of her have even slipped below those of Senator John McCain.
And the Project for Excellence in Journalism, which tracks the weekly coverage of the candidates in various media, reports that Mrs. Clinton was a significant factor in 53 percent of the coverage last week, compared with 68 percent for Mr. Obama.
The purpose of the conference call was to thank bloggers for their support, deliver her talking points and have those talking points conveyed to the blogosphere — and ultimately to the superdelegates who may control the outcome of the race.
“Your voices make a real difference, and your engagement in these incredibly significant ways helps to set the ground for what we are trying to say in the campaign,” she told them, adding that they can “influence the rest of the blogosphere and beyond.”
Her campaign has been reaching out to bloggers for a couple of years now and has exploited the Internet, particularly for fundraising and rapid-response messaging. Her Democratic opponent, Mr. Obama, has been credited with using it better, especially for organizing and social networking. But Mr. Obama himself has yet to join a blogger-only conference call.
(Oddly, perhaps, Mr. McCain — the likely Republican nominee who, at 71, jokes about being older than the Internet itself — holds blogger conference calls regularly, though his online fund-raising lags behind his Democratic rivals. )
While Mrs. Clinton started her campaign with the netroots and many in the blogosphere against her, partly for her vote to authorize the Iraq war, several bloggers have become more sympathetic over the course of the long campaign.
On the call, she apologized to them for the bile they confront for defending her.
“I deeply regret the vitriol and the mean-spiritedness and terrible insults and rhetoric that has been thrown around at you, for supporting me, at women in general, at many of those who support my campaign because of who they are and their stand based on principle,” she said.
“But this too shall pass,” she reassured them. “I don’t have time for their insults. I’m impervious to them. I figure it’s a perverse form of flattery that they would spend so much time and energy trying to tear me down when what we need to be doing is figuring out how we’re going to swear in a Democrat next January 20.”
Peter Daou, Mrs. Clinton’s Internet director, said the call had been planned for a while but had to be postponed a couple of times.
So it was coincidental that her first blogger call came during the first week in which Mrs. Clinton had been edged out of the media’s campaign narrative. Many in the M.S.M .have concluded that mathematically, she can’t win. And on that particular day, most political coverage was devoted to the back-and-forth between Mr. Obama and Mr. McCain.
But the call seemed to signal a more aggressive use of the Internet as time runs out on her quest for the nomination.
All campaigns have been using Twitter, for example, to notify their supporters of campaign events.
Mrs. Clinton is also using it now to gather signatures on a petition urging the Democratic National Committee to count the votes and delegates from Florida and Michigan.
She used Twitter again on Monday to ask her supporters to make calls to voters in Kentucky and Oregon. That message linked them to “the Hillary Clinton volunteer calling tool,” which allows them to call voters through the Internet, read a script, record the answer and submit the answer to the Clinton campaign so it can get out the vote on Tuesday.
The idea is to drive up her popular vote in hopes of bolstering her argument to superdelegates that, as she put it during the blogger call, she will “end the elections on June 3 ahead in the popular vote” (by counting Michigan and Florida, of course) and that she is more electable than Mr. Obama.
The M.S.M. have heard those arguments before and have essentially stopped transmitting them. But on the conference call, Mrs. Clinton gave full voice to them (though she was hoarse).
Heralding the message she would make on the campaign trail on Monday, she elaborated on her electoral argument _ that she can win in the fall because she has won states with a total of 300 electoral votes, while Mr. Obama has won states with only 217 electoral votes.
“I have a cushion on the electoral vote majority, and he has a significant deficit,” she said.
She said it was “especially important that we try to get people to start focusing on this,” adding, “I think that is the appropriate criteria on which to base a decision. I believe that I have a very powerful case there.”
(She was so thrilled to learn on Monday that Karl Rove, President Bush’s erstwhile strategist, had reached a similar conclusion that she trumpeted the news on the campaign trail, even though Mr. Rove is not a credible source for many Democratic primary voters.)
Electoral votes, of course, are irrelevant to the primary process and when her campaign first proposed this metric in March, the MSM dismissed it.
The delegate math is what counts, and it’s against her. Mr. Obama leads by about 150 delegates and is closer to the final number needed.
To help bloggers counter that notion, Mrs. Clinton tried out a new slogan on the conference call: “It is the map, not the math.”
The “map/math” phrase quickly found its way to various blogs, including Talkleft and Riverdaughter. Some, like Jerome Armstrong on MyDD examined the “map/math” argument in detail.
This in turn prompted a wider discussion in the blogosphere. Many rejected it, to put it mildly. Some, like Outsidethebeltway.com were dubious of her logic but still put the phrase in its headline and in the end concluded that it may be a “defensible” point -- if the only one she has left.
Mrs. Clinton started her campaign as the candidate of the establishment. It may be a measure of how far she has come -- or fallen, in the eyes of her critics -- that she is now using the megaphone of insurgents.
I thought folks might find this interesting!
May 20, 2008
As Primaries End, Clinton Appeals Directly to Blogs
By KATHARINE Q. SEELYE
As Hillary Rodham Clinton decries the mainstream media for diminishing her chances of capturing the Democratic nomination, she is turning more to the Internet to make her increasingly urgent case.
She held her first blogger-only conference call on Friday, phoning in to about 40 bloggers from the campaign trail in Oregon.
And the campaign has stepped up its use of Twitter, a social-networking service that sends short, text-based posts, to make real-time calls to arms.
The push on the Internet comes amid signs that Mrs. Clinton is getting less attention these days, both in the blogosphere and the mainstream media. Techpresident.com reports that according to the blog search tool Technorati, Mrs. Clinton is being mentioned less than half as often as Senator Barack Obama in the blogosphere and that mentions of her have even slipped below those of Senator John McCain.
And the Project for Excellence in Journalism, which tracks the weekly coverage of the candidates in various media, reports that Mrs. Clinton was a significant factor in 53 percent of the coverage last week, compared with 68 percent for Mr. Obama.
The purpose of the conference call was to thank bloggers for their support, deliver her talking points and have those talking points conveyed to the blogosphere — and ultimately to the superdelegates who may control the outcome of the race.
“Your voices make a real difference, and your engagement in these incredibly significant ways helps to set the ground for what we are trying to say in the campaign,” she told them, adding that they can “influence the rest of the blogosphere and beyond.”
Her campaign has been reaching out to bloggers for a couple of years now and has exploited the Internet, particularly for fundraising and rapid-response messaging. Her Democratic opponent, Mr. Obama, has been credited with using it better, especially for organizing and social networking. But Mr. Obama himself has yet to join a blogger-only conference call.
(Oddly, perhaps, Mr. McCain — the likely Republican nominee who, at 71, jokes about being older than the Internet itself — holds blogger conference calls regularly, though his online fund-raising lags behind his Democratic rivals. )
While Mrs. Clinton started her campaign with the netroots and many in the blogosphere against her, partly for her vote to authorize the Iraq war, several bloggers have become more sympathetic over the course of the long campaign.
On the call, she apologized to them for the bile they confront for defending her.
“I deeply regret the vitriol and the mean-spiritedness and terrible insults and rhetoric that has been thrown around at you, for supporting me, at women in general, at many of those who support my campaign because of who they are and their stand based on principle,” she said.
“But this too shall pass,” she reassured them. “I don’t have time for their insults. I’m impervious to them. I figure it’s a perverse form of flattery that they would spend so much time and energy trying to tear me down when what we need to be doing is figuring out how we’re going to swear in a Democrat next January 20.”
Peter Daou, Mrs. Clinton’s Internet director, said the call had been planned for a while but had to be postponed a couple of times.
So it was coincidental that her first blogger call came during the first week in which Mrs. Clinton had been edged out of the media’s campaign narrative. Many in the M.S.M .have concluded that mathematically, she can’t win. And on that particular day, most political coverage was devoted to the back-and-forth between Mr. Obama and Mr. McCain.
But the call seemed to signal a more aggressive use of the Internet as time runs out on her quest for the nomination.
All campaigns have been using Twitter, for example, to notify their supporters of campaign events.
Mrs. Clinton is also using it now to gather signatures on a petition urging the Democratic National Committee to count the votes and delegates from Florida and Michigan.
She used Twitter again on Monday to ask her supporters to make calls to voters in Kentucky and Oregon. That message linked them to “the Hillary Clinton volunteer calling tool,” which allows them to call voters through the Internet, read a script, record the answer and submit the answer to the Clinton campaign so it can get out the vote on Tuesday.
The idea is to drive up her popular vote in hopes of bolstering her argument to superdelegates that, as she put it during the blogger call, she will “end the elections on June 3 ahead in the popular vote” (by counting Michigan and Florida, of course) and that she is more electable than Mr. Obama.
The M.S.M. have heard those arguments before and have essentially stopped transmitting them. But on the conference call, Mrs. Clinton gave full voice to them (though she was hoarse).
Heralding the message she would make on the campaign trail on Monday, she elaborated on her electoral argument _ that she can win in the fall because she has won states with a total of 300 electoral votes, while Mr. Obama has won states with only 217 electoral votes.
“I have a cushion on the electoral vote majority, and he has a significant deficit,” she said.
She said it was “especially important that we try to get people to start focusing on this,” adding, “I think that is the appropriate criteria on which to base a decision. I believe that I have a very powerful case there.”
(She was so thrilled to learn on Monday that Karl Rove, President Bush’s erstwhile strategist, had reached a similar conclusion that she trumpeted the news on the campaign trail, even though Mr. Rove is not a credible source for many Democratic primary voters.)
Electoral votes, of course, are irrelevant to the primary process and when her campaign first proposed this metric in March, the MSM dismissed it.
The delegate math is what counts, and it’s against her. Mr. Obama leads by about 150 delegates and is closer to the final number needed.
To help bloggers counter that notion, Mrs. Clinton tried out a new slogan on the conference call: “It is the map, not the math.”
The “map/math” phrase quickly found its way to various blogs, including Talkleft and Riverdaughter. Some, like Jerome Armstrong on MyDD examined the “map/math” argument in detail.
This in turn prompted a wider discussion in the blogosphere. Many rejected it, to put it mildly. Some, like Outsidethebeltway.com were dubious of her logic but still put the phrase in its headline and in the end concluded that it may be a “defensible” point -- if the only one she has left.
Mrs. Clinton started her campaign as the candidate of the establishment. It may be a measure of how far she has come -- or fallen, in the eyes of her critics -- that she is now using the megaphone of insurgents.
I thought folks might find this interesting!
Sunday, May 18, 2008
The VERY last rambling . . .a personal message to all!
Dear Information Literacy Colleagues,
On October 3, 2007 the executive council of the American Federation of Teachers proudly endorsed Hillary Clinton for the Democratic nomination for president, citing her proven albilities to advance our nation's key priorities, and her bold plans for a stronger America. Now Hillary needs our help! Millions of people in Florida and Michigan went to the polls to make their voices heard in the Democratic Presidential primary. They deserve to have their votes counted! The DNC's Rules and Bylaws Committee is meeting on May 31 to make a decision about Florida and Michigan. If you are interested in sending a message to the DNC telling them to count the votes and seat Florida and Michigan's delegates email Hillary at :
info@hillaryclinton. com
Also be sure to check out: www.hillaryclinton. com If for no other reason than to see how far along presidential candidates have come in terms of taking their campaign to the world of cyberspace! Very cool!
Thanks!
THANK YOU!
Again many thanks to all the stakeholders involved with putting together such a great program this year! What a great cohort of people.! Though times, overextended and stressed with the myriad of teacher duties . . .I am glad I got "on board". I have been pushed into technology and have become more information literate than I could ever describe! I need to shout out a special THANK YOU to LMC Lady aka Linda. Linda has prompted, supported, and acknowledged teacher efforts in the way of incorporating technology for a good long time. Linda shared the information about this program with me last spring. She did not have to! I am so lucky, indeed blessed, to have her has a colleague and friend! Especially since I have been known to get on her last nerve! lol I also want to thank the other dear colleagues at CPSHS who along with me . . . really took the technology plunge! Kristin, Kathy, Kita . . . you are all wonderful teachers, colleageus, and friends! It has been a good ride . . . and we have only just begun. I KNOW there is a good deal more for me to explore, discover and wonder about! I get that. Hopefully I will share more next year about the improvements on my webpage and my results with the use of the research calculator, etc. Until then . . . a good summer to all and thanks!
RSS
I have really enjoyed the web feed format of RSS. Each Saturday I check my RSS feeds for MSNBC.com to see what is going to be the topic of Tim Russert's Meet the Press. Is their somee discussion or special guest I should be recording to share a snip of with students come Monday? How about National Public Radio (my favorite station)?NPR's Election 2008 discussions can be RSS collected and the weeks topics in podcasts are stored nicely so that I can easily listen to and/or review at my leisure (while eating, casually reading, etc.) All the good topics of discussion I miss during the day are SAVED. Do others enjoy the RSS feature? Just curious!
Del.icio.us (aka yet another thing . . .)
I missed one class this year. It happened to be the one that addressed (among other things) the social bookmark manager Del.icio.us I was surprised at how easy it is to register with del.icio.us I know that I will find it useful. I must say that I was very impressed with the step by step instructions for how to sign up and get started. I think this is going to be very handy however I do have a question? Is this any better than using Foxmarks Bookmark Sycnchronizer? While I have not tried foxmark yet I thought that would have been fun to explore as well. In the meantime-I will do what I can to keep up with all the great changes in on the way of on-line technology.
Wednesday, May 14, 2008
GOOGLE Earth
Without geography . . . you're nowhere . . .man . . .! So goes the main point of a recent technology mini-workshop I took that focused on Google Earth. I learned that that I am able to visit many places in the U.S (as well as around the world) by simply using an address and zip code. It was interesting to visit a location (I visited my high school) and use the latitude/longitude pointer to get around. . . all the while seeing the pointer coordinates change. People can learn about the elevation (the feet above or below sea level)as well as get a cool "bird's eye view" (how high you are above the ground). View the places all around the earth. I went to Vietnam and enjoyed zooming in on places I know in Ho Chi Minh City aka Saigon for example. However, I mostly enjoyed viewing and navigating the streets of good ole' Saint Paul. If a person clicks on "Street View" roads with available street views appear with a blue border. Those are the streets you can follow as if you are right in the front seat of a car. This is all very fun and I certainly want to spend some time this summer determining how I might be able to use this tool in my U.S. history classes this next fall. One bummer is that NOT every street in our Saintly city has been digitly photographed yet however, it seems that this GoogleEarth technology will only improve over time.
Anyway: do check out GoogleMaps (aka GoogleEarth) at this address: http://maps.google.com/support/
Anyway: do check out GoogleMaps (aka GoogleEarth) at this address: http://maps.google.com/support/
Another new thing -My Portal
Another new thing to share-if you are a SPPS employee. Check out this website: https://myportal.spps.org
This is a new feature that allows SPPS employees to access lots and lots of things that in the past we spent time trying to get to via numerous SPPPS urls. Now everythink is cozy and organized at one site. To name a few things to now easily access:
Infinte Campus-from home AND school
Urban Planet-teachers' school webpage
Naviance-from home AND school-heck I don't even know what that is . . . yet!
The SCIP plan for the district (I assume) and maybe the individual school's too!
TECH HELP! Yeah!!! That would be for me!
United Streaming
Atomic learning
much much more . . . including the SPPS directory, the 10,000 steps program,SPPS news and more!
I'm impressed! I'm excited!
I should also share how impressed I have been with the wonderful, and fine Information Literacy initiative. It has given me an immense amount of confidence to navigate this new district website and more! THANK YOU to all involved at SPPS and Metronet for this great collaboration!
This is a new feature that allows SPPS employees to access lots and lots of things that in the past we spent time trying to get to via numerous SPPPS urls. Now everythink is cozy and organized at one site. To name a few things to now easily access:
Infinte Campus-from home AND school
Urban Planet-teachers' school webpage
Naviance-from home AND school-heck I don't even know what that is . . . yet!
The SCIP plan for the district (I assume) and maybe the individual school's too!
TECH HELP! Yeah!!! That would be for me!
United Streaming
Atomic learning
much much more . . . including the SPPS directory, the 10,000 steps program,SPPS news and more!
I'm impressed! I'm excited!
I should also share how impressed I have been with the wonderful, and fine Information Literacy initiative. It has given me an immense amount of confidence to navigate this new district website and more! THANK YOU to all involved at SPPS and Metronet for this great collaboration!
Public Library guest: Karen Kolb Peterson
Today we did a number of things at our May Metronet Info. Lit. meeting One of the most interesting was the special guest of the Youth Services Coordinator of the Saint Paul Public Libraries. Of course I am a big promoter of our libraries in St. Paul. I have been going to the libraries since I was a child and when the Arlington Branch was located in the current House of Clocks building. Currently I frequent the Rondo Library in Saint Paul. I really love this library.
Have you established your on-line account with the Saint Paul Public Libraries? It really is great and you can do the following:
My Account
Pay Fees Online
Card Pre-Registration
Library Locations
Popular Searches
Online Databases
Other Libraries
MnLINK
Using MnLINK
How are we doing?
What should we buy?
Circulation Policies
Their website is: http://www.stpaul.lib.mn.us/
Check it Out!!!!!
Have you established your on-line account with the Saint Paul Public Libraries? It really is great and you can do the following:
My Account
Pay Fees Online
Card Pre-Registration
Library Locations
Popular Searches
Online Databases
Other Libraries
MnLINK
Using MnLINK
How are we doing?
What should we buy?
Circulation Policies
Their website is: http://www.stpaul.lib.mn.us/
Check it Out!!!!!
Sunday, April 27, 2008
Computer Help? Check this out!!!
On Thursday I took a personal day. Like everyone, I had PLENTY of business to take care of. . . personal as well as professional. You can appreciate and imagine how panicked I was to wake up and find my Dell PC had seemingly ground to a halt! Much of what I needed to do required that the use of my computer. Certainly and without a doubt the MacBook (which is almost always locked away in a secure school spot each night at CPSHS) was a lifeline, as I had taken it home the night before to work with. What to do? Thank God for good friends! My dear friend Ted C. who knows more than a thing or two about computers (tons) suggested that I bring my Dell pc computer to a place I now highly recommend to you. It is General NanoSystems. You can find out more about this company on the web at: www.nanosys1.com
Long story short: A diagnostic test was run (30.00) and it turns out the computer was fine! Of course I was AMAZED when the service guy opened the computer (I have owned it three years) and I saw that it was loaded with dust, dust, and more dust! Suffice to say, when I brought the computer home I promptly and carefully used the right tools to remove the gobs of dust from the computer! The guy that worked with me suggested I add two new (new to me) computer protection software programs to my computer. One is AVG Free-an antivirus and antispyware software for Windows. The other is also free: Windows Defender is "a free program that helps you stay productive by protecting your computer against pop-ups, slow performance and securtiy threats caused by spyware and other potentially unwanted software".
So while I have not yet downloaded these two software programs-I plan to sometime soon! It seems to me that they are just as good as McAfee's. I think Dell and McAfee's must work together to make $$. Should any of you have thoughts on what is the best in terms of computer security-let me know.
But again . . . let me encourage you to check out General NanoSystems. They are located at 3014 University Avenue SE in Minneapolis. Just west of Hubbard Broadcasting/KSTP studios. Their number is 1-612-331-3690!
Long story short: A diagnostic test was run (30.00) and it turns out the computer was fine! Of course I was AMAZED when the service guy opened the computer (I have owned it three years) and I saw that it was loaded with dust, dust, and more dust! Suffice to say, when I brought the computer home I promptly and carefully used the right tools to remove the gobs of dust from the computer! The guy that worked with me suggested I add two new (new to me) computer protection software programs to my computer. One is AVG Free-an antivirus and antispyware software for Windows. The other is also free: Windows Defender is "a free program that helps you stay productive by protecting your computer against pop-ups, slow performance and securtiy threats caused by spyware and other potentially unwanted software".
So while I have not yet downloaded these two software programs-I plan to sometime soon! It seems to me that they are just as good as McAfee's. I think Dell and McAfee's must work together to make $$. Should any of you have thoughts on what is the best in terms of computer security-let me know.
But again . . . let me encourage you to check out General NanoSystems. They are located at 3014 University Avenue SE in Minneapolis. Just west of Hubbard Broadcasting/KSTP studios. Their number is 1-612-331-3690!
Sunday, April 20, 2008
More on podcasting . . .
NPR also has an npr podcast directory where you can obtain lots of podcasts and this can be found at:
http://www.npr.org/rss/podcast/podcast_directory.php
You can search for podcasts by topic, title, and even the NPR provider (ie MPR). Also there is a Help tab which is very cool in that it clear addresses the many questions people may have regarding podcasts. For example they answer questions such as: What is podcasting? What do I need to hear podcasts? etc.
Check this out if you want to learn more about podcasts . . . and include them in your curriculur content.
http://www.npr.org/rss/podcast/podcast_directory.php
You can search for podcasts by topic, title, and even the NPR provider (ie MPR). Also there is a Help tab which is very cool in that it clear addresses the many questions people may have regarding podcasts. For example they answer questions such as: What is podcasting? What do I need to hear podcasts? etc.
Check this out if you want to learn more about podcasts . . . and include them in your curriculur content.
Podcasts and politics
Hi all!
I am BLOGGING today! Anne take notice! I thoroughly enjoyed the last Info. Lit meeting regarding podcasts. I think that I even blogged about some time ago about them earlier. Whether the podcasts are audio or video (and audio)-they have been immensely helpful in sorting out, illuminating, underscoring-all things political -especially in what has been a long, exciting, dramatic-Democratic primary. I think that my students have been better able to analyze the Dem's race because of my involvement in the Information Literacy program and the capacity for all stakeholders involved to provide technology support and hardware. Tomorrow students will be listening to the New York Time's Adam Nagourney, Gerry Mullany, Michael Luo and Kate Phillips discuss the '08 presidential race. Check out Politics Points podcasts at http://www.nytimes.com/pages/politics/ It is abut nine minutes in length.
I cannot emphasize enough the doors that have opened in terms of the use of technology in our classrooms. For the first time-I have especially been surprised at how I can apply that technology to political campaigns every two and four years.
Lastly, Clinton, Obama Ad Wars Heat Up Ahead of Pa. Vote is another great podcast released yesterday by NPR (National Public Radio) which can be found at:
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=89779101 The length of that runs 4:35
Have fun!
I am BLOGGING today! Anne take notice! I thoroughly enjoyed the last Info. Lit meeting regarding podcasts. I think that I even blogged about some time ago about them earlier. Whether the podcasts are audio or video (and audio)-they have been immensely helpful in sorting out, illuminating, underscoring-all things political -especially in what has been a long, exciting, dramatic-Democratic primary. I think that my students have been better able to analyze the Dem's race because of my involvement in the Information Literacy program and the capacity for all stakeholders involved to provide technology support and hardware. Tomorrow students will be listening to the New York Time's Adam Nagourney, Gerry Mullany, Michael Luo and Kate Phillips discuss the '08 presidential race. Check out Politics Points podcasts at http://www.nytimes.com/pages/politics/ It is abut nine minutes in length.
I cannot emphasize enough the doors that have opened in terms of the use of technology in our classrooms. For the first time-I have especially been surprised at how I can apply that technology to political campaigns every two and four years.
Lastly, Clinton, Obama Ad Wars Heat Up Ahead of Pa. Vote is another great podcast released yesterday by NPR (National Public Radio) which can be found at:
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=89779101 The length of that runs 4:35
Have fun!
Tuesday, January 29, 2008
4 Woodbury students disciplined after drinking photos turn up on Facebook site
Reflecting back about the film I saw last week and the whole idea of "social networking" I am much more aware of information that relates to the internet and the vulnerability of young people. This issue frequently gets highlighted on MSNBC with Chris Hansen's To Catch a Predator shows. I suggest viewing them by checking your local listings or go to http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/10912603/ to view a show or two online. It is amazing to see how many people around the country and from all walks of life, are prowling the internet looking to meet minors with the goal of engaging in sex with them.
Additionally, check out this link:
http://www.twincities.com/washington/ci_8105195
It is regarding some teens in the Twin Cities that decided to do some posting on their facebook accounts.
Thats it for now!
Additionally, check out this link:
http://www.twincities.com/washington/ci_8105195
It is regarding some teens in the Twin Cities that decided to do some posting on their facebook accounts.
Thats it for now!
Tuesday, January 22, 2008
FRONTLINE:growing up online
Colleagues-
Just how radically is the Internet transforming the experience of childhood? This is the question posed by the producers of the latest Frontline special: Growing Up Online that aired tonight on PBS.
I found the show very scary, very dark, very disconcerting. Eating disorders, low self esteem, pain, cyber bullying, cheating, even suicide. How do we teach young people to responsibly interact online? It has been said that the Internet has created the greatest generation gap since rock and roll. It is all very unreal. Having just viewed (and recorded) the film, I need to view it again to truly absorb all I saw and comment further. Below is an article I found in the Boston Globe titled Frontline tackles Internet-driven generation gap by Joanna Weiss of the Globe Staff in the January 22, 2008 edition. It is a good summary in case you missed the show.
Just how radically is the Internet transforming the experience of childhood? This is the question posed by the producers of the latest Frontline special: Growing Up Online that aired tonight on PBS.
I found the show very scary, very dark, very disconcerting. Eating disorders, low self esteem, pain, cyber bullying, cheating, even suicide. How do we teach young people to responsibly interact online? It has been said that the Internet has created the greatest generation gap since rock and roll. It is all very unreal. Having just viewed (and recorded) the film, I need to view it again to truly absorb all I saw and comment further. Below is an article I found in the Boston Globe titled Frontline tackles Internet-driven generation gap by Joanna Weiss of the Globe Staff in the January 22, 2008 edition. It is a good summary in case you missed the show.
"Growing Up Online," the
The same gloomy tome is used to describe kids watching YouTube, a boy logging onto MySpace, a group of teens sending text messages. It's the sort of reaction adults probably had when kids first started playing video games, or talking on the phone.
Indeed, "Growing Up Online" takes a parental view, yet it isn't terribly generous to the parents. Yes, many grown-ups are unaware of their children's online doings. But according to Frontline, adults are also barely capable of understanding all of this technology. "My time is over," one teacher laments, and the voice-over later declares the war lost: "It's been said that the Internet has created the greatest generation gap since the advent of rock 'n' roll."
That's a bold statement, and "Growing Up Online" tries to support it with shock-the-parents fodder, much of it assembled from a single, middle-class suburb in New Jersey. There's the seemingly well-adjusted teen who secretly visits websites that encourage anorexia; the high school kids who film themselves drinking on a bus trip, then post the footage on YouTube.
And there are ample interviews with kids who are blasé about their online exhibitionism. At one point, several of them recount a fight in the school cafeteria, recorded on cellphones, and posted online.
"It was pretty good video," one teenage boy muses.
"It kind of made us famous," says one of the girls.
No, they aren't role models for American youth. But Frontline is hard-pressed to tell us how they're different from teenagers since time immemorial: rash, irresponsible, sometimes-belligerent, and excessively proud of their shiny new toys. (One boy boasts of a website called sparknotes.com, which provides condensed versions of the classics. Guess what? The guides are available on paper, too. And we had paper CliffsNotes way back when I was a high school kid.)
Even the most chilling story Frontline presents isn't merely an Internet cautionary tale. Yes, a boy who was bullied, both in person and online, wound up taking his life after researching suicide on the Web. But there's nothing new, alas, about teen suicide or bullying. Teenagers have always had a broad capacity for cruelty; there's a body of film and literature to prove it.
In its most useful moments, "Growing Up Online" tries to parse the differences between then and now, and actually does a fair amount of debunking: Despite widespread fears of sexual predators, we're told, most online sex solicitations come from teens themselves, and are routinely ignored. The film also shows us a few scattered examples of parents and teenagers bridging the gap. When one Goth girl starts posting provocative pictures online under a pseudonym, her white-bread parents flip out at first. But they eventually come to see her Web doings as a benign form of escapism. The relationship is saved.
That's a far more provocative, nuanced way to look at the Internet, and it rings more true: The chief trouble with the cyberspace is that the rules and safeguards have yet to be sorted out. Yes, the Web can amplify social behavior, good and bad, but teens are hardly the only antagonists or victims. And even Frontline has to know this, in the end.
"The computer has become a new weapon in the arsenal of adolescence," the voice-over says at one point. It's a true statement, but it leaves out the rub: Adolescence is the far more dangerous part.
Joanna Weiss can be reached at weiss@globe.com. For more on TV, go to viewerdiscretion.net.
Monday, January 21, 2008
All things current events-Campaign 2008
Colleagues-One subject that I find very interesting is American politics. It must be that it goes hand in hand with American History. Don't get me wrong, I can get sick of politics if not in moderation. However, this Presidential campaign cycle (as most of my fellow readers know) is anything but conventional-and hence lots of fun! I have thoroughly enjoyed sharing articles, podcasts, and all things current events -Campaign 2008 with SPPS students. Wednesday we begin a new semester and I will teach a new elective Semester Two on African American history. I intend to share this interesting article(and yes like the WCCO podcast it is news worth knowing) check it out at: http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/01/21/debate.preview/index.html
Additionally, I enjoy referring time and again to the 2008 Presidential Primary and Caucus map which is interactive and projects well onto the big screen. It really is a great map to share with students. Check it out at:
http://www.npr.org/templates/topics/topic.php?topicId=1102#/primaries/
And lastly, I wish everyone an enjoyable and relaxing MLK Holiday!
Additionally, I enjoy referring time and again to the 2008 Presidential Primary and Caucus map which is interactive and projects well onto the big screen. It really is a great map to share with students. Check it out at:
http://www.npr.org/templates/topics/topic.php?topicId=1102#/primaries/
And lastly, I wish everyone an enjoyable and relaxing MLK Holiday!
Saturday, January 12, 2008
More on Podcasts: Unveiling Minnesota History Some May Never See
I found some interesting podcasts regarding my favorite subject: U.S. History. In fact, the following link should lead you to a nice little tour of some unknown aspects of history at the Minnesota History Center that some may never see. Check it out at:
http://www.wcco.com/video/?id=34356@wcco.dayport.com
Let me know what you think? Did you ever know that so much of what we take for granted actually has . . . well a history.
http://www.wcco.com/video/?id=34356@wcco.dayport.com
Let me know what you think? Did you ever know that so much of what we take for granted actually has . . . well a history.
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