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Sunday, January 25, 2009

Web 2.0 Reflections

There were many great posts this week about Web 2.0 and new Internet trends. Here are my thoughts about the week's exchange.

Each teacher or Internet user seems to have his/her own ideas as to what the most important technology trends are these days. Althought Web 2.0 is significant, the connect world we live in is larger than just read/write connectivity. Innovations such as:

  • Webcasts
  • Skype,
  • IP phones,
  • Other communication tools that use the Internet

These tools have made an important contribution to the way we communicate and who we communicate to as we share ideas electronically. Undoubtedly, our ideas of the most significant trends of the Internet will continue to evolve as the technology evolves. One important question teachers will ask is, "How are these advancements going to effect my teaching and student learning in the future?"

Thursday, January 22, 2009

What is Web2.0?

This is a compendium of early posts on my blog. I am re-posting them because it's one of my better posts. It has lots of helpful information for anyone wanting to know more about the "READ/WRITE" WEB.

Web 2.0 Privacy Issues
Web 2.0 promises to give consumers the next generation of internet utility. However, there are pitfalls that come with such fast-paced change-privacy being one of them.

Web 2.0 applications such as Flickr, MySpace, and Digg, are just a few of a growing number of Web-based companies who are mining for information about you. Bit-Tech writer Will Harris sites some examples, "Digg knows what stories you've submitted, what demographic you're in, how other people in your demographic react to what you post. MySpace can break its users down by almost any statistic imaginable" He also states, "Flickr is perhaps one of the most interesting ones. Search for 'cat', and Flickr will record the most popular photo clicked. By associating the colour and picture data within photos with keywords used to search, Yahoo is slowly building a database of human identification (Harris, 2006)."

After hearing this, I get a little more uneasy about using these sites. I wonder what Facebook knows about me...hmmm! It kind of makes me think I should unsubscribe to all Web 2.0 applications altogether.

I guess it comes down to the tolerances of the end user. Do you mind if Yahoo, Google, and MySpace know everything about you? Who knows, maybe by knowing consumers' likes and dislikes, companies will be able to meet our needs and desires better and more efficiently. It's still too early to tell how positive or negative these changes will be.

In The Classroom
Gmail, blogs, and wikis. My school district has recently given all students 4th grade and up access to their own email and google apps accounts. Already I am seeing students abusing these priveleges. For instance one of my students was caught emailing someone he doesn't even know. You can imagine the dangers this could present.

Another big issue I've found in the elementary classroom are students being tricked by "the pop-up phenomenon" and students logging on to membership sites to play games. Regarding the later these "gaming" membership sites are off limits during school hours. Sometimes students will try to log on in spite of this school rule. Teachers must be constantly vigilant in the supervision of students while they are online. I've seen advertising Websites with a gaming section. When a child does a search for games, the gaming page of these Websites turn up in the results and children are lured in. A little snooping around in the site and we find pages that ask for personal information. Teachers, be sure you approve and inspect all sites your students will be visiting during school hours. A good idea would be to go to one of these sites in the beginning of the year and show students the personal information trap.

My personal philosophy about giving personal information is as follows. If it's a membership I care about I give the minimum required by the site. If it's a site I'm just curious about, I never give factual information. In my years of surfing and signing up, this philosophy has served me well.

In closing, I'd like you to watch a 5 minute video from YouTube.com about privacy in the digital age called Privacy and the Network of You. There are some very important points discussed which relate to how businesses think about privacy issues (YouTube, 2007).



Web Privacy Links:
Help Safeguard Your Privacy on the Web
http://www.microsoft.com/windows/ie/ie6/using/howto/privacy/config.mspx

JUNKBUSTERS Alert on Web Privacy
http://www.junkbusters.com/cgi-bin/privacy

Privacy and Profiling on the Web
http://www.w3.org/TR/NOTE-Web-privacy

Google search results for "internet privacy"
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=internet+privacy"web privacy"


References
Harris, Will. Why Web 2.0 will end your privacy
http://www.bit-tech.net/columns/2006/06/03/web_2_privacy/1

YouTube.com. Privacy and the Network of You/Sun Microsystems.
http://youtube.com/watch?v=-vfXv5I_N-o
Posted by jdaniels at 12:52 AM 0 comments
Sunday, July 27, 2008
Web 2.0 Ethics
There are many ethical battle raging online about "user rights" when using Web 2.0 applications. Pramit Singh of mediavidea found a quote from a commenter on Slashdot who writes, "This is not about 'your rights online'. LiveJournal is a private company, not a govenrment agency.

Their web site is private property, and it is not a monopoly.

To speak of 'rights' on their web site is sort of speaking about rights at K-Mart. You don't have any. If you don't like what K-Mart does, you leave and go to their competitor." (mediavidea, 2008)

Copyright material is another complicated issue which falls under the umbrella of ethics. Online content is streaming into our lives at such a high rate speed, it's hard to know what is, what isn't, protected. Luckily there are resources out there that will help to clear the air about educational fair use agreements. Here is a link to a guide for teachers on fair use. http://jeffcoweb.jeffco.k12.co.us/isu/library/copyright.html (jeffco, 2008)

Creative Commons is adding a new dimension for sharing content for free. Here is a YouTube video which explains Creative commons link between copyrighted and public domain.

The bottom line for classroom teachers is having conversations with your students. When students are aware of ethical issues, they are more informed to make correct choices when using online content. Following is a link to a lesson plan for elementary students as students consider possible ways to copy others' works using the Internet and learn that many forms of copying are illegal or unethical.
http://www.cybersmartcurriculum.org/lesson_plans/68_09.asp



References
mediavidea, Retrieved on July 27, 2008 from http://mediavidea.blogspot.com/2007/08/whose-rights-online-20.html
Jeffco County Schools copyright guidlines, Retrieved on July 27, 2008 from http://jeffcoweb.jeffco.k12.co.us/isu/library/copyright.html
Posted by jdaniels at 8:12 PM 0 comments
Web 2.0 Security Issues
In the next 3 posts, I will discuss Web 2.0 issues regarding security, ethics, and privacy. We tend to think of these Web 2.0 utilities as safe and harmless, but as this new technology leaks it's way into our schools and educational institutions, parents and the educational community grow more concerned about online safety and security.

I'll start with security.

When using Web 2.0 utilities, the number one security concern may be the staff itself. Staff training is necessary for effectivve implementation of any technology. If teachers sign up for membership without regard to privacy, ethics, or security, districts are at risk and have a daunting task of keeping the district network infrastructure secure. Teachers need to know the liabilities and risks associated with using software and online resources in the classroom. Many of the Web 2.0 applications require each end user to give personal information in order to use them. Parents also need to be aware of the information exchange happening at school as well.

It's important to review pertinent sections of your organization's technology plan. My school district does not have a specific security plan written into its tech plan, but it does have an internet user agreement opt-out form that is offered each school year. If parents don't sign, the assumption is that they grant schools permission to allow their child to use the internet for educational purposes. When teachers conduct internet projects with their students, it's a good idea to send a note home explaining the project and to inform parents of educational purpose of such projects. Additionally, at the beginning of the year, it's a good idea to discuss any security issues the district software may have. Throughout the course of the year, if new software is introduced, a similar conversation should take place.

A second security concern using Web 2.0 applications is the ability for hackers to break into these web applications and using them to infiltrate your computer. For example,"the newer forms of attacks take advantage of Web sites with rich content and
features: AJAX-enabled applications, embedded JavaScript and so on. These aren't really new technologies, but they're more pervasive now^' says Fciul Ferguson, network architect at Trend Micro. "And with [components like] Google Maps, where the processing is done on the PC instead of on the Web page, criminals are exploiting that avenue of content delivery The ability for Web 2.0 applications to deliver
that content is a Catch-22, because it also can allow you to be exploited." (networkworld, 2007)

Another example comes from Pfizer's network security breach using P2P file sharing software. Peer 2 Peer file sharing software allows users to share files on their hard drive via the internet. In the case of Pfizer, an employee mistakenly allowed hackers access to 17,000 of the employee's social security numbers. P2P software is prone to security breaches. For example if a music file is placed into a folder with sensitive documents, the software will scan PCs and recommend folders with media files for download (Computer World, 2007).

Web 2.0 is a wonderful and powerful resource for the business and education communities. However, proper employee and student training and awareness of the security risks will be necessary to ensure these mistakes don't happen in the future.

Web 2.0 security links:

Top 10 Web 2.0 Attack Vectors
http://www.net-security.org/article.php?id=949

Web 2.0 Security
http://www.net-security.org/article.php?id=1108

The security risk in Web 2.0
http://news.cnet.com/The-security-risk-in-Web-2.0/2100-1002_3-6099228.html

Monday, January 12, 2009

ED 632 Internet Integration

This photo came from Nick J Adams on Flickr

Get ready for some more info on integrating the Internet into your classroom. My goal is to give you information you can actually use and would be helpful in the classroom. I will try to filter the best parts for you so this blog will be a useful resource for all comers. So go ahead and subscribe, don't be shy!