China to India 2012

Just last night I was writing about how easy it is to add widgets to my blog and then today while reading for Course 2, Week 5 I read the Curator’s Code website, which is a request to users of digital work to start adding symbols-the Via and/or the Hat Tip- into their work as another form of “attribution”. These symbols are explained here and they were created by Maria Popova ”with input from Trina Roth Eisenberg.” (sorry Trina, but your link is broken) Also, Maria is interviewed on NPR: she is extremely articulate and has a great argument.

Maria’s NPR interview convinced me to further investigate her request. I looked at her blog Brain Pickings to see if she is adding the Via and the Hat Tip into her blog and I did not see the symbols. I thought, well how would I use these symbols within my actual writing instead of simply linking words, like I’m doing right here in this blog? Popova as the creator will have to model… To be fair, perhaps she has other blogs were she is using her Via and Hat Tip.

Now there is a third symbol involved in the Curator’s Code and that is the infinity symbol, which we are supposed to add to our blogs and link to the Curator’s Code website: get the message out. Popova does have this modeled on her Brain Pickings blog.

Alright, so let me just say that I am open minded to Popova’s ideas, but at this point I will not worry about wrapping my head around these two symbols because my digital productivity does not yet require anything more than using CC licensed pictures and linking lots…

Let’s see some modeling of these symbols because perhaps we need to get our students on board.

Are any of you Coetailers using the Via or the Hat Tip?

Okay, so I have finally visited http://creativecommons.org and selected a license. I’m still amazed by the ease of cutting and pasting widgets. (I’m totally into my Flag Counter and my WeeMe avatar) That’s probably why so many blogs are chock full of widgets. There is something to keeping the clutter down though. I had a choice between the size of the cc icon and I chose the small icon. Then I thought about an article by Dana Watts were she spoke of all teachers having a voice that matters. Does my choice mean something about my tech integration self-esteem? Absolutely! I am only adding a Creative Commons license because Jeff assigned this task. I still need more time to learn and grow and perhaps once I make it to course four or five, I will feel that this license is actually deserved. *I’ve just put the CC icon back on my blog as I accidentally deleted it a few weeks ago. This time I chose the large icon because it has symbols instead of text.

License Some rights reserved by e³°°°

As I was casually cruising through week four’s readings, somewhat distracted by an incident that happened with my students last week (I’ll get to that later), I read Debbe Geiger’s article “When Dad Banned Text Messaging” . While looking at the heading of this article, I noticed that 495 comments had been posted. This woman Geiger must be extremely provocative: I thought to self… Before getting to the article, I felt compelled to read a few of the comments.

I was/am absolutely shocked by the seriously wicked, immature comments that show zero empathy for a mother who is sharing something that is clearly difficult and confusing for her and her husband. Her daughter is out of control and there are clearly deep, deep social issues going on with her daughter who is receiving text messages saying “We All Hate You”. Honestly, all girls go through this crap when they are kids/teens and sometimes even young adults. Before we learn to set boundaries, we females use our verbal skills the way boys use their biceps. We hurt and get hurt with words, but grow up already… Reading the comments to Debbe’s article brings clarity to the teenage issues of limited text etiquette. Teens don’t have too many role models around from the looks of those comments…

Here is a snippet of the Debbe’s response to the comments left about her article:

I do have one observation that has surprised me about this experience. It seems that cyber-bullying is not just a problem for teens sending text messages, but also for people who write on newspaper blogs! I’m surprised by the number of anonymous posters who threw rocks at my family. While I understand you may not have liked my use of words like “hip” or you may have disagreed with my opinion in general, I don’t think that warrants some of the insults spewed here. I am, however, appreciative of the many readers who shared thoughtful insights about this issue and parenting in general. Thanks for taking the time to join the discussion. (posted 4/1/09)

I could not agree with Debbe more!

Now, as for the issue that I mentioned early. Last week, three of my students came in during recess to tell me about an incident that happened a few weeks ago. My three students said that they had recently watched a grade 5 student take the cell phone of her friend, another grade 5 student, to crank call a grade 7 student. The cell phone owner did not take her cell phone from her friend who was making the calls nor did my three students leave to get an adult or leave to simply walk away from the situation. As my three guilt riddled grade four students confessed the error of their ways, I was overcome with the uncanny fact that just minutes before my students arrived with their tale, I had been reading through a lesson plan from Common Sense Media. org about cyber bullying and teaching kids about being a “bystander” vs. an “upstander”. I’m not kidding! It was minutes earlier that I’d been reading through this lesson.

What responsibility do I have as a teacher when it comes to children and digital citizenship? Like all things children, I feel that parents and teachers need to work as a team at all times. In grade 4, we read There’s a Boy in The Girls’ Bathroom by Louis Sachar and we have a character education program around the book from Steps to Respect. How clear it is that this new world of children having email accounts and cell phones has led to another form of communication and hence another form of possibly using that communication to hurt. Classroom teachers must absolutely address digital citizenship issues and make it extremely clear to kids that bullying is bullying no matter the media used. Yet, I close with thoughts about Danah Boyd’s article, which my fellow Coetailer Matt Kelsey articulately addresses. Both the Boyd article and Kelsey’s blog about it have left me feeling that I need so much more than a lesson plan, but I also need a place to begin…

As some other Coetailers have admitted, I too was getting bored reading about the importance of abiding by copyright law. In all honesty, I think it’s because what I create is very basic. I’m not linked into global programs yet nor am I truly a producer nor am I Allison Stokke who has no privacy because of her looks. My copyright needs are about sorting out how to credit the cover of a book when I create a Voice Thread or posting a picture here on my blog. (By the way, Voice Thread is very cool, but you’ve got to have a rubric for the kids and they must know that it’s a graded activity or they won’t even up your invitation to comment. And, it’s very difficult to record decent sound even with a headphone with a microphone. I welcome any comments about how to successfully use VT.) Back to topic: so while growing bored, I ran across Karen Robb’s blog http://www.coetail.com/karenrobb/2012/04/18/just-because-you-can-does-it-mean-you-shoul/ and this blog led me to watch Larry Lessig’s Ted video about copyright law and our youth’s creativity. Karen’s blog does a great job explaining Larry’s points; however, she doesn’t mention how hysterical the clips that Larry shares truly are… After watching this video, it finally hit me that before Creative Commons, copyright law covered two categories: public domain or “you better get yourself explicit/legal permission” or else… CC is absolutely brilliant. Who thought of it? How did they get their funding in the first place? I want to know more. As Larry points out: our youth are truly criminals and the more we restrict copyright, the more they move underground. How can they not lift what is so easily lifted and play with it in creative ways; that is human nature! As I wrote in one of my recent blogs, I have high school friends who’ve spent hours scanning and posting silly high school photos on FaceBook. How can they not? They have time: they’re not teachers or Coetailers! In wanting to know more about CC, I read 7 things you should know about Creative Commons. I am growing closer to becoming inspired to understand the types of CC that I can post to my blog and how cool it is that this non-profit organization exists. The youth of today truly need to understand CC so that they can use art to create art, which they will do regardless of CC, but with understanding of CC perhaps they will do it legally. There are very few people on this planet who create purely original art; I think most of them have passed away. The amateur art that is being created is such fun. As a mother of a three-year-old and teacher living in “Blocked” China, I don’t often experience funny U Tube videos, but on the rare occasion that a friend shows me something when I visit the states, I am literally rolling on the floor. I love that today’s youth has Apple software that allows them to create music or remix music and videos. There is certainly a problem with pirating music and videos for profit: this to address Jeff’s performance task for week 3. When I lived in the states, I did not once illegally download a movie, but living in China, I walk over to the DVD share cabinet and watch those videos, which are all surely illegal. I was happy with Netflix in the states, but now I have no access. I even tried for the Amazon.com movie rental program, but they would not rent to me because my computer is located outside of the USA. I wish I could find a way to legally download movies for 50 USD a month, unlimited of course, but legal, but I don’t think this exists. Does it? I think music through I tunes and Amazon should be 5 USD for an entire album to encourage people to buy instead of steal. Just like a 50 USD per month unlimited video rental program would probably sell. In closing, I’d like to wrap up by linking back to my first comments and encourage all of you to watch the Lessig video.

Some rights reserved by courosa

I have been riveted by the recent blogs of my fellow Coetailers over the last few days. From the woman with the friend who is still dealing with a Digital Shadow to the Coetailer who experienced a complete lack of respect for her family’s privacy. When I look at the diagram above, I am overwhelmed by the tasks ahead of me: primarily, to attempt to create only a positive digital footprint for myself and secondarily, to guide my students toward this digital world knowing that they still have a long haul toward maturity. Regarding my personal privacy, my immature days during the 80s were quite benign. If you look at my FaceBook, my name is now attached to heaps of pictures posted by my high school friends and yes I wore my bangs too high and my nails too long. That was my crime! I was the girl in the group with the nickname IB (Intellectual Britt) because my concern was for my grades and I opted out of the Happy Camper drinking parties, so instead of being the girl holding the beer I was the girl holding the books. But, what if I had opted in? What if I had deep regrets for my high school days? The fact that photos from the mid-80s have been scanned and posted to FaceBook is a testament to our flawed nature as humans. That was the past; that was long ago. Do we have a right to post photos to the world of other people who we once knew in another life? I have not once thought to pull out a box of old photos and start scanning (yes pre-digital era) and posting them to FaceBook. But, that is what people do. I will never post pictures of other people unless I am asked to post them. And, I am so grateful that I stumbled into this Coetail program and that I now have the opportunity to understand Creative Commons. Now, I need to pay it forward and do what I can to share the true power of the our digitally connected world with my students. While avoiding lectures, somehow I need to say “Do not be Michael Phelps!” Do not do anything that you might regret in front of a camera. Do use the web wisely and do create a positive digital footprint. I really like all the banter about teaching kids how to use the web to do good. I recently watched the movie Machine Gun Preacher and then went to learn more about Sam Childers. What a way to use our connectivity for good: I’ll let you check it out for yourself. The more we get our students involved in creating a positive digital footprint, perhaps the less likely they’ll have time for mistakes.

In closing, for those of us who have had a privacy incident gone bad, we all know that we’ve all done things that we regret  and we all need to be extremely understanding and forgiving to people who have grown up in the digital age with no understanding of the power of connectivity.