Digital Identity/Footprint (Tech Task #8)

I wouldn't say that I cast a particularly big shadow on the Internet. The first thing that pops up in a search that is definitely 'me' under 'Kris Keen' is a Prezi I did for Cam's Exceptionalities class, and for "Kristopher Keen", it's usually my online portfolio (which needs more updating, I've done some, but it needs more of that). I have had considerable online activity through various pseudonyms on different boards related to my personal interests (history, gaming, etc) but much of that is not going to be particularly easy to find via a mere Google search.

I would suspect that my online presence probably mirrors an older version of online citizenship, in which most interactions were carried on under pseudonyms and you were, in fact, much freer to act differently than you are today. Increasingly, people seem comfortable with using their real names and presenting their online selves as being the same as their offline selves. The Internet is more of an extension of their social lives than some sort of parallel and different world.

I think that the concepts of digital identity and digital footprints are essential to teach to young people. They often have a very unclear idea of how their digital identity connects or does not connect to themselves, even when they are not using a pseudonym. A lot of young people are not only comfortable with giving their names, but personal information such as location, school and other things, which presents considerable security risks.

Aside from the obvious safety concerns, there is also the issue of reputation. We live in a world where reputation is easily ruined and hard to gain. All it takes, sadly, is one mistake. It used to be that very often, such things only spread to one circle of friends, or one school. Now, it can be shared with the whole world. It can have serious consequences for their lives, both in terms of their futures (employers are searching through social media) and even legally.

The fact is that a 17-year old girl can be prosecuted for child pornography for sending a nude picture of herself to her 18-year old boyfriend. Very often, such cases are not prosecuted, but they sometimes are and a conviction will almost certainly torpedo any serious hope of having a good career. Unfortunately, on the Registry, no distinction is made between a single nude selfie and being the proprietor of a vast commercial network. Such a thing is almost certainly unfair to the extreme- I think there probably needs to be a serious review of laws relating to social media, but that is the world as it exists.

A reasonable goal for me in the next while is to build up a stronger internet presence in a positive way and a serious consideration of what I want to present or take down as I move into becoming a service teacher.

Tweet Tweet [Tech Task #6]

Twitter.

For me, it's one of those things that seems like a good idea, but kind of annoys me to tell the truth. I'm sure that some people find the arbitary 140 character limit to be a marvellous way of increasing conciseness and getting directly to the point of communication. I can't really say that I do. If I have thoughts that are worth sharing, I'm not likely to be able to contain them within 140 characters.

I will admit that hashtags are kind of fun and the feature is potentially useful, but it doesn't obliviate the fact that, for me, Twitter is not a service I particularly enjoy. I don't hate it. I think it could certainly have uses in the classroom, particularly if you are encouraging students to use social media itself or simply make very direct and concise commentary on something, but aside from immediate practical purposes, I suspect I wouldn't use Twitter that much.

There probably should be some form of social media that I keep up with on a regular basis, other than the slowly sinking Facebook, but I'm more likely to succeed with a blog (perhaps this one, or one of another topic) where I can let my freak flag fly and be as verbiose as I want.

140 characters may be freedom for some, but I find it imprisoning.

Bored Shorts (Video Tech Task)

Sometimes your kids need a brain break or a conversation starter. It's pretty easy to forget that we're severely trying the concentration and attention spans of our students just about every day. It's easy to forget that the attention span of even an adult is rarely more than about twenty minutes. Kids can work for longer than that on an interesting task, but often need a moment to breath, relax and maybe even let out a chuckle or two.

Another problem that we sometimes inflict upon ourselves is an incredible, overweening self-seriousness in every moment of the school day. We believe in our work, and that's a good thing, but if we approach every day like a great crusade, we are going to find ourselves disappointed, frustrated and burned out. We need to laugh, our students need to laugh. School should be fun and sometimes it's good to make fun of it.

When you think about it, school is a weird thing. Learning was, for most of human history, given by parents and the community and largely had to do with basic survival skills, along with some cultural knowledge. The cruel fact is, that much of what students learn in school, at least the nuts and bolts facts, will have relatively little import in their lives. If they do not know when Jacques Cartier landed on Canadian soil, they will be little disadvantaged.

So sometimes you need to take a step back, relax and laugh a little. Bored Shorts provides a perfect example of something that can be used for a laugh or to start a conversation about something.

If nothing else, you can be that 'cool' teacher for a few minutes.

Doing A Holocaust Wiki (And Other Interesting Tasks)

Over the last little while, I have been working on establishing a Wiki for my Multiage classroom on the non-Jewish victims of the Holocaust. As you know well if you're familiar with this blog, I have had many adventures with wikis, some positive, some not so much. This shall be my final post regarding the topic of wikis.

I feel that wikis are extremely useful when it comes to creating an open and public framework for an informational topic. The wiki we have created is already a useful potential resource for classrooms and it has certainly given me the desire to use wikis for my classroom when I get a teaching job. They have several of the appealing features of social media, with greater security than is the case for some other forms of social media.

One advantage of the wiki format is that it is very easy and intuitive to make an attractive page that contains as much or as little media as is desired. One thing I enjoy about wikis is that absolutely no coding skills are done. 

The issue about simultaneous editing is an issue, yes, but one simply has to ensure that students are not all attempting to work on it at the same time. I feel that many of the weaknesses of the wiki could be easily resolved through smart management.

Wiki link: http://victimsoftheholocaust.wikispaces.com/

About.Me (Tech Task)

About.Me: http://about.me/kriskeen

I've had my about.me page up for nearly six weeks now, and actually, I've been having quite a number of views on there. It pops up on Google searches of my name periodically (the first pingback that relates to me personally is usually my online portfolio on Weebly), so it's clearly out there and people are looking at it.

How do I feel about about.me in general? I think it could potentially be a useful source, but in general, I find that all manner of short-form media commentaries are a little frustrating. I'm sure I would have embraced Twitter a bit more if it allowed more characters. I enjoy blogging, though I have trouble keeping up with blogs in civilian life (I have a music review and a D&D blog that have gone down to death and delay).

One of the limiting factors with these things, oddly enough, is my aversion towards posting any pictures of myself online, which stems from my aversion to having my picture taken. I suppose I'll have to do something about this at some point ...

Ideas and Thoughts.org (Edublogger Tech Task)

It shouldn't come as a surprise that someone in this class has a pretty high opinion of the thoughts of Dean Shareski, after his Skype presentation to the class. I found some of the content in his blog to be even more illuminating, however.

I'd particularly like to point readers to this post: http://ideasandthoughts.org/2014/02/01/2690/

The fact is, that it isn't particularly valuable, except to one's own ego to get comments that simply express agreement with one's ideas. Sometimes of course, that's simply true, but it's far preferable to engage with someone on a more serious level. There is something to be said for the art of constructive criticism.

This is not to suggest of course, that one needs to be recklessly contrarian. Certainly, the Internet is filled with all manner of bile (examine the average YouTube comment page for proof). The idea is to encourage actual engagement and debate. There is an unfortunate tendency amongst Internet users to create a 'bubble' of websites that largely support and affirm their points of view.

I have to admit, I'm not innocent of it. Where do I get online news? The Guardian, the Independent, BBC World Service and sometimes the Huffington Post. I'm not suggesting that one has to equally value all content services of course, but it couldn't hurt to occasionally look at a source of information presented from a view different from, even contrary to, your own.

As Dean makes a note of, it's about your own learning as well as that of the people making the comments.

Web 3.0?

For many years now, the idea of "Web 2.0" has been an widely established one, with social media being among the forefront aspects, along with increased participation and interactivity with 'ordinary' users, as opposed to a small 'Web Elite' which previously made up the majority of online content creation.

So what will Web 3.0 look like?

This is significant for us in education, because I feel like we've only begun to get to grips with Web 2.0. And some school divisions still seem to be trying the best they can to ignore the existence of social media entirely. Most likely, just as educators are coming to grips with the current model of the Internet, the paradigm will shift again. But what will it shift into?

I think we've started to move towards the model already, with Internet access being freed form the constraints of traditional computer equipment and put into increasingly portable forms. Google is experimenting with glasses that can surf the Internet. Many people rely largely on their phones as their primary source of Internet browsing. This trend towards micro-sizing and ubiquity will likely only continue.

The user-driven model of 2.0 will likely continue to grow and thrive, moving out from simple formats such as sharing text, images and videos and into more complex fields such as software and game design. Powerful tools to make online content already exist and many of them are free. The tyranny of paid software has started to crack to a huge extent, with free models such as Google Drive and OpenOffice rapidly supplanting traditional software.

I don't know what exactly Web 3.0 will look like, but some of the trends are already forming. I think another change will be more social, as people become more and more invested into their online selves. Already, the 'Wild West' elements of the Internet are fading rapidly and are being replaced with more regulated models, by various agencies certainly, but also by users themselves.

In any case, it's going to be interesting to see what happens, and how we cope with it.