I keep hearing from parents that the kids know so much more than they do about technology. Adults hand over the computer whenever they need something done because they feel inept in the fast paced world. So we've got kids setting up email accounts, uploading photos, and even paying bills because the adults are just too slow or too busy.

Maybe it's time to take some of these activities more slowly. Let me give you an example. I uploaded about 64 pictures into an online web album to show off to my family. Very typical kind of activity that parents allow kids to do. But even I noticed how easily it was to overlook some of the settings. I returned to the album a few days later to see that I had made the whole thing "public"; as in, the whole world could see pictures of my kids. To an adult, this is a scary thought that any creep might have downloaded photos of my children. However, to kids this is what the Internet is for.

Let me go even further to express my concern. I was teaching 4th graders how to shoot and transfer photos from digital cameras. I allowed them to take pictures of each other to ensure they could compose a shot, focus, and steady their hands. Although their lack of inherent knowledge about digital cameras did not stun me, their behavior did. Girls were posing within minutes as divas at a paparazzi shoot. Just the thought that these digital files were going to be put on a computer actually lowered their inhibitions rather than made them nervous. This is the lesson that I will address throughout the year. Digital means endless, forever, permanent, and in a freaky way, something that can be altered and used to your disadvantage.

Children today relish the opportunity to go online as another person, in another reality and let their hair down. But it is just this misconception about the web that is causing danger and trouble down the road for them. We teach children not to play with fire. Photos online should be the territory of adults and not kids too. It is fine to allow your child to take photos, even transfer them to the computer. But under no circumstances should kids be allowed to make decisions concerning online postings. There are too many options at each website, too many ways to make mistakes even for folks like myself that use these online tools everyday.

So you must make some adjustments to computer usage at home. If you child has an email account AND takes photos/videos, they are already in dangerous territory. If you load programs such as Picassa, Flickr or use any cell phone for photos, these are also available online with a single click and therefore not secure. Imagine sending a normal picture to a friend who within days is no longer a friend. It is like chain mail only worse. And don't forget, YouTube is vulnerability times ten.

I'm not advocating a locked down system, merely education and thoughtful execution by all parties. First as a parent you must educate yourself as to how digital photography is transferred from location to location and which software or accounts are used. Then discuss with your child the public and private aspects of your family's lives.

Oh, and giving the kids the credit card to pay bills online: I think not.

More about broadcasting online.

|

Not too many years ago a monopoly swept the nation. Every business rushed out to buy a set of tools known as Office. It was considered the standard, the perfect working environment for all tasks on the computer. By the year 2000, nearly every business produced documents, spreadsheets or presentations using either the 1995 or 1997 version. Even Mac users were in the game by 1998. But Microsoft continued to change their product, making those using an older version feel inferior. In fact, the “upgrade crusade” marched on in 2007 so that backward compatibility was more difficult than ever.

The home user has been left behind. With the price tag of a new version of Office hovering around $200, most PC owners would rather try to get by without a new version every 2-3 years. Not only that, but learning the new tools and interface is time consuming.

So what do we do? First of all, there are plenty of other options with all the basic productivity of the the big name. Listed below are some options for students, parents, and anyone else that will produce equally acceptable results. Maybe you’ll never buy software again!!!
Open Office: An open-source suite that has no license and therefore is free. It is open-source so that improvements are created continuously. It flows easily from any Microsoft version. Most people find it much easier to learn.
Google Aps: Highly successful at most everything on the web, Google is now setting a new standard for online productivity.  Although you will need to create a free account with Google, you will have access to your work wherever you can access the internet.  Many high schools require students to have gmail addresses and calendars.  By using the documents portion, you will have also spreadsheets, presentations and websites that are super easy to create.
Zoho: New online but similar to Google, the idea behind Zoho is to take our normal office suite and make it collabortive. You will need a log in but after that it is smooth sailing.
PowerPoint Alternatives: Sure there are many ways to write a simple report, but what about the big time, a presentation.  This link lists 13 online options for making the smoothest, coolest presentations without having PowerPoint.  One nice option is that these are available online for other people to view your presentation, making sharing a breeze. No more worries about version compatibility either.

|

I've been watching technology advancements over the summer and decided to write a quick overview - just in case you spent the whole summer at the beach. So in one quick read, you'll have the gist of what happened while you were relaxing in the sun. You'll also get my slant on it.

IPhone/ITouch upgrade. The latest 3.0 operating system brought out some new features that users had been aching for, cut and paste, voice recorder, landscape keyboard. But I must point out the new oil resistant screen is the best improvement yet. Now when you attempt to wipe those embarrassing oily fingerprints, they don't just smear all over the screen but actually wipe clean.

Cyber Command. You know that when something actually merits a White House appointment, it must finally be important. The new command will deal with digital terror and from what I've heard it could be worse than nuclear. If the electrical grid is compromised, we will all go through Twitter/Facebook withdrawal. That will be the end of civilization as we know it.

Bing. If you ever felt that Google just wasn't a good search engine (you would be wrong but that is another blog.) then you might as well give into Microsoft once again and try out Bing. It is very web 2.0 pretty and seems to come up with Wikipedia just as often as Google. At least now you have a choice, like Coke and Pepsi.

Netbooks. Just in time for the recession, cheaper, less useful, computers. Now you can purchase a mini version of a real laptop with a slower processor, less RAM and one that most likely won't be able to run MS office. Bandwagon effect aside, if you need to surf the internet with something lightweight and portable, you might look in your purse. I believe you'll find a cellphone.

Cellscope. I've been wondering how I can quickly analyze microscopic organisms on the go and now there is an answer. The cell phone microscope known as the Cellscope. Developed as part of a student project at California Berkeley and not really all that high tech, the microscope attaches to a cell phone and works phenomenally well. It is actually for diagnosing disease in rural areas where medical facilities are not available. I liked the idea that every kid in science class would have their own scope for dissections - and text those photos to friends.


URL Shortners: This summer has seen a boom for shorter URLs. Twitter has perpetuated this trend because no one can type a URL; it just isn't humanly possible. Most web addresses now look like http://tinyurl.whoa. Yes, everyone likes nicknames and these are just cuter. Sort of like down south everyone is named Bo.

|

Thanksgiving is a time to be with family and stay off the computer. And we all know this, but I think you may end up looking for a few activities after the feast. So here are some things to do that will keep your brain working too.
Thanksgiving Quiz - Do you know what really happened? Take the quiz and find out.
Virtual Mayflower - Why not visit the ship and see how it all began. Very well done tour by Scholastic.
You Are the Historian - Can’t get enough? Now follow the real ancestors as they recreate through a mystery what really happened there at the First Thanksgiving. Graphics here are too cool.
Macy’s Parade - My personal favorite. You can interact with all the floats. For the younger crowd, these games are cute.
Talk Like Pilgrim - these even have the audio file so you get the accent right. Impress everyone at the dinner table.
Jamestown Adventure – for those that like a game that makes you think, this one really is worth a try.
How to Draw a Cartoon Turkey - instructions so you can make the best turkey in the class.
Play Football - and what would Turkey Day be without the sport of football. In this game you play against the computer.
Find the Difference - My kids can’t get enough of these even if they are easy. Try these three.
Game Ideas - for you and your cousins, and aunts, and uncles, and all the neighbors – you know what I mean around this time of year.
Basic Online Coloring Page - simple but turns out nice.
Turkey Dressing - I’m not talking about the bready kind. Dress this guy with a huge array of outfits.

|

We begin in school learning to copy word for word what is in the text book. Remember how we wrote out dictionary definitions? What about rewriting a Shakespeare soliloquy. And of course these days, learning to copy and paste something from the Internet is just survival.

If you want to know what plagiarism is, just imagine that you are the victim. How would you feel if someone read something that was your writing, or idea and then claimed it as their own, after you worked hard? Usually, the victim test is the best test to determine if something is plagiarism.

I recommend two tutorials that are produced by universities. It is at the college level that a violation can get you kicked out of school, so the schools are doing their best to educate the students before the big mistake.Vaughn Memorial Library Tutorial on Plagiarism
Rutgers University Video on Plagiarism


So when is it OK to copy and when is it not? I think the question “when” refers to your age. It is fine to copy words up until you are old enough to understand that someone else wrote them. When that age is seems to vary from school to school. But certainly by the middle school years, you can see that a book has an author and it wasn’t YOU.

Crediting the source suddenly becomes this enormous burden using the proper formatting like commas, semicolons, and alphabetizing that would make any one’s head spin. And there are so many styles too: MLA, APA, Chicago and many more. No wonder students still opt to cut and paste – it is just easier. But that doesn’t make it right.

MS Word 2007 makes the whole process easier. Students can create a database of all their sources by simply

filling in a form for each book, magazine or electronic source. MS Word then stores the data. From that point, it is easy to create footnotes, citations within the body of the document and even a Works Cited page without placing a single comma.

If you don’t have the latest MS Office Suite, have no fear. Many websites offer citations ready made. Just look for a button that says CITE. Or, use a citation generator online. There are many. Most are free, some require a registration like NoodleTools (I recommend this one.) Either way, the dread of placing the page number before the title is just not there. Before entering high school, a student should become familiar with whatever tools they plan to use for citations. No one wants to learn this the night the term paper is due. Believe me!
NoodleTools
Son of Citation Machine
EasyBib

|

This is the newest, hippest buzz word that you can throw out in conversation. Web 2.0 (pronounced web two point ooah.) If you don’t know what it means, that doesn’t matter. All that really matters is that you have experienced what it is on the internet.
Nutshell: Any online collaboration. In other words, creating and talking with others to make something new. We are talking about wikis, blogs like this one, social bookmarks like Diigo, photo sharing like Flikr, and a whole lot more.
Phase one was the Facebook stuff and it is still probably the leader.  However, Facebook suffers because it is not safe. There are far too many backdoors to get personal data even though the user tries to eliminate them by making their page private. Therefore, what Facebook has is a great system but open to misuse.
Wikis are the best of a democratic society. Everyone contributes equally. Please check out last year’s six grades WeatherWiki. All of these pages were created as a group effort. And many edits were made before the final version.
But what else is there that is Web 2.0?   This is my list of the latest, and coolest stuff I’ve found.  Play around with it. But always remember SAFETY.  If it asks for you to sign up, please do not use your real name but instead a user name. If it requires an email address, ask your parents first. If you need a password, it is not good to use words from a dictionary. Mix numbers and letter to form a password.
www.voicethread.com
www.sketchcast.com

http://www.glogster.com/
http://www.blabberize.com/
http://www.ipopetz.tv/
http://www.kerpoof.com/
If these don’t give you enough to play around with, well there are some more advanced sites but maybe we will have to wait until class time.  See you then.

|