Wednesday, October 15, 2008
Wednesday, October 8, 2008
Journey to Technology
Technology, for all of its benefits, can be incredibly infuriating.
That being said, creating a story-video was a fun adventure. Time-consuming, certainly, but it was a fun adventure. Animoto I found, you could do the most with. However, because you have to pay, it's limiting. It's also frustrating because you're confined to a time-limit.
With Scrapblog, you're pretty limited as to what you can do. It's kind of like an online scrap-book/power-point program. So it's pretty limited.
Voicethread is also fairly limiting. There's not a whole lot you can do to adjust the images and again, to make any sort of real editing, you need to pay to have an account.
Essentially, all of the programs, while potentially useful, do not have a full range of options that would satisfy the user's wishes. They were fun--if frustrating--to play around with, however.
That being said, creating a story-video was a fun adventure. Time-consuming, certainly, but it was a fun adventure. Animoto I found, you could do the most with. However, because you have to pay, it's limiting. It's also frustrating because you're confined to a time-limit.
With Scrapblog, you're pretty limited as to what you can do. It's kind of like an online scrap-book/power-point program. So it's pretty limited.
Voicethread is also fairly limiting. There's not a whole lot you can do to adjust the images and again, to make any sort of real editing, you need to pay to have an account.
Essentially, all of the programs, while potentially useful, do not have a full range of options that would satisfy the user's wishes. They were fun--if frustrating--to play around with, however.
Thursday, October 2, 2008
Not-So-Secret Lives
It's true that there is a ton of information online. It is also true that anyone can access it. One of the things that Brittany said, "As far as the stories that spoke about kids falling into internet traps, using the internet as a forum to encourage their eating disorder or desired suicide, and taking pornographic pictures of themselves to post online, they all had one thing in common. The child involved had outside factors contributing to their individual issues, and in those cases, often something deeper is necessary to help them." It's true. The things that children got involved with all stemmed from outside issues. Like one of parents said on the video said, if they have an interest, they're going to find it online. There is a plethora of information available to any who search, and if not, then there are ways for people to create that place and people will end up flocking to it.
Parents on the video were often surprised by their children's secret lives. Would my parents be surprised? Would your's? I guess that's one of the questions that you have to ask when you go online. Would your parents be worried with the activity in which you got yourself involved? Because I somewhat agree with the fact that the children and teenagers choose in what the get involved. From a parent's perspective, I can see the temptation of paranoia. (Paranoia is also quite common on the child's side--There are things that I don't want my parents to see online. However, the fact that they want me safe has rubbed off on me, leading me to be more cautious online.) If you know your child is doing things that they don't want you to see, then, natural tendencies lead you to want to know what that is. It's frustrating. When I'm at home, I'll walk by my brother on the computer, and for even me he minimises any window that he has open that might have compromising information on it. However, I then only want to know more what it is that he's doing. He's my baby brother, and as much as he drives me nuts, I don't want him getting into anything questionable.
In Ryan's blog, he mentioned that "I think that online talk is almost as liberating as fiction." It's true. When you're online, behind a screen name, behind a myspace profile, behind a livejournal or xanga profile, you can be anyone. It's like a Savage Garden song, Santa Monica. The lyrics are, "But on the telephone line I am anyone
I am anything I want to be
I could be a super model or Norman Mailer
And you wouldn't know the difference
On the telephone line, I am any height
I am any age I want to be
I could be a caped crusader,
or space invader
And you wouldn't know the difference"
If you replace 'telephone' and 'telephone line' with 'internet,' then how applicable is this to our modern life? Who really knows you online?
The temptation to be someone you can't be in real life and do things you normally wouldn't in real life is extremely seductive. That anonymity pulls you in and allows you to do things you wouldn't normally do because you can't see people make fun of you. Granted, harsh words helped lead to Ryan Halligan's death, but it's that same sense of unguided freedom and intoxicating ability to do what you want that leads to some of that secrecy. I always hated (and still do) lectures from my parents. They repeated themselves a lot, and goodness knows I sure got sick of hearing it as much as I'm sure they got sick of saying it. But, it also let me know that they love me and are only looking out for me and my safety.
As Kelsey was detailing on her blog, her parents encouraged openness when dealing with the web. Her parents talked to her about internet safety. This is important. This is a talk that needs to be added to that list of "Talks That Parents Need to Have With Their Kids But Don't Want to." Parents need to encourage that level of openness with their children so they won't be surprised if they were to immerse themselves in their child's internet life. I believe that's very important, and as a teacher, we can encourage that same sort of openness in the classroom. Be encouraging of a student's self and he or she will be more willing to open up and share.
Another big issue, I think, is that we, as parents, will have grown up with the internet. Our generation of parents have not grown up with that luxury. I believe it is for this reason that parents who try to set up password blocks on the internet often fail. Their children have the familiarity with the internet that they do not. As the one kid said, he just switched the screen that his father saw, leading him to believe that he was doing something else. Let me tell you, I would do something similar when I was on AIM in high school and supposed to be working on homework. It will be interesting to see what happens with our children. We grew up in the time of the internet and all of this technology, so I imagine we'll all keep on track with it and keep learning as we grow older, so our children probably won't be able to pull over some of these sorts of tricks on us. By then, though, there will be new tricks for them to pull to get away with doing other things.
What I think it boils down to is caring for our children, watching over them within limits, and encouraging that level of openness to where we will not be surprised by what we see in our children's online lives.
Parents on the video were often surprised by their children's secret lives. Would my parents be surprised? Would your's? I guess that's one of the questions that you have to ask when you go online. Would your parents be worried with the activity in which you got yourself involved? Because I somewhat agree with the fact that the children and teenagers choose in what the get involved. From a parent's perspective, I can see the temptation of paranoia. (Paranoia is also quite common on the child's side--There are things that I don't want my parents to see online. However, the fact that they want me safe has rubbed off on me, leading me to be more cautious online.) If you know your child is doing things that they don't want you to see, then, natural tendencies lead you to want to know what that is. It's frustrating. When I'm at home, I'll walk by my brother on the computer, and for even me he minimises any window that he has open that might have compromising information on it. However, I then only want to know more what it is that he's doing. He's my baby brother, and as much as he drives me nuts, I don't want him getting into anything questionable.
In Ryan's blog, he mentioned that "I think that online talk is almost as liberating as fiction." It's true. When you're online, behind a screen name, behind a myspace profile, behind a livejournal or xanga profile, you can be anyone. It's like a Savage Garden song, Santa Monica. The lyrics are, "But on the telephone line I am anyone
I am anything I want to be
I could be a super model or Norman Mailer
And you wouldn't know the difference
On the telephone line, I am any height
I am any age I want to be
I could be a caped crusader,
or space invader
And you wouldn't know the difference"
If you replace 'telephone' and 'telephone line' with 'internet,' then how applicable is this to our modern life? Who really knows you online?
The temptation to be someone you can't be in real life and do things you normally wouldn't in real life is extremely seductive. That anonymity pulls you in and allows you to do things you wouldn't normally do because you can't see people make fun of you. Granted, harsh words helped lead to Ryan Halligan's death, but it's that same sense of unguided freedom and intoxicating ability to do what you want that leads to some of that secrecy. I always hated (and still do) lectures from my parents. They repeated themselves a lot, and goodness knows I sure got sick of hearing it as much as I'm sure they got sick of saying it. But, it also let me know that they love me and are only looking out for me and my safety.
As Kelsey was detailing on her blog, her parents encouraged openness when dealing with the web. Her parents talked to her about internet safety. This is important. This is a talk that needs to be added to that list of "Talks That Parents Need to Have With Their Kids But Don't Want to." Parents need to encourage that level of openness with their children so they won't be surprised if they were to immerse themselves in their child's internet life. I believe that's very important, and as a teacher, we can encourage that same sort of openness in the classroom. Be encouraging of a student's self and he or she will be more willing to open up and share.
Another big issue, I think, is that we, as parents, will have grown up with the internet. Our generation of parents have not grown up with that luxury. I believe it is for this reason that parents who try to set up password blocks on the internet often fail. Their children have the familiarity with the internet that they do not. As the one kid said, he just switched the screen that his father saw, leading him to believe that he was doing something else. Let me tell you, I would do something similar when I was on AIM in high school and supposed to be working on homework. It will be interesting to see what happens with our children. We grew up in the time of the internet and all of this technology, so I imagine we'll all keep on track with it and keep learning as we grow older, so our children probably won't be able to pull over some of these sorts of tricks on us. By then, though, there will be new tricks for them to pull to get away with doing other things.
What I think it boils down to is caring for our children, watching over them within limits, and encouraging that level of openness to where we will not be surprised by what we see in our children's online lives.
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