Reflection on Fourth Reading Assignment

Flickr- Chapter 7

Who cares?  I do not, generally.  I have always been a non photographer.  I realize that lots of people like taking pictures.  And, I see a lot of youth, especially girls, sharing photos with their friends either by e-mails or on face book.  Many of their photos are taken with their cell phones.  I remember wanting to take a photo of the Sure/Dummer wedding sign to send to Jay Leno.  I had forgotten that my cell was also a camera.  I have never usedit for that.  I feel that it’s a waste of time, for me.  And, I feel that photos are often personal and I don’t want to share them. You go right ahead.  On the other hand, our Vuvox was OK and might be a great way to get to know the students and get a feel for their home lives.

However, I was attracted to the page 106 description of interacting with Google Earth.  Not so long ago I was looking at my mother-in-law’s ex-house in Boulder Colorado and discovered that it is now a bicycle shop.  That’s not surprising since it is on Broadway and only a few blocks from University of Colorado.  So, geotagging is sort of nifty.

The other aspect I am thinking about is the use of a flip cam (or similar) to publish short videos on the web.  So what?  What advantages are there here as opposed to posting a video on You Tube as a podcast?  I really don’t know at this point.  I also still find my attitude about social media somewhat negative.  Why do I want to share anything personal with strangers, out-of-control secret police, or criminal elements?  I don’t.  I think of it more like, “I’ll pull my pants down after you pull yours down, OK?”

So, other than my positive attitudes for using Flickr and Google Earth for mapping and teaching what places look like, my attitude about sharing photos has not changed.  But, if you want to post a lot of photos showing your home or property and what is around it, and maybe include photos of your valuables and pretty children, go ahead.  If they disappear some night or day when you aren’t home, don’t blame me.

Social Networks- Chapter 9

If you believe that Pakistan did not help the United States military find Osama Bin Laden, let me know where you live, what you have and when you won’t be home.  Also, please post your ID, Soc Sec, passwords and bank statements on your Facebook.  I met a young kid from New Orleans who said that a person (######) couldn’t live in NO on an income less than 60K per year.  He showed no remorse for stealing credit card account numbers from clients in the restaurant.  They take them to the back and swipe them in a black box that they later sell to a fence who sells it to another bad guy.  At the federal law enforcement school we were also taught how to steal your cell phone by walking or driving past when you are talking on the phone.  This is so that undercover officers can have cell phone access that the bad guys can’t trace.  We need to have deep covers sometimes for protection.  And, we need to get untraceable income also sometimes.  Sorry.

 FBI Internet Crime Complaint Center

 FBI Internet Fraud Report

Social networks are great places to get information, to share information and to find information for illicit purposes.  They are certainly good places to network for jobs and to find out what your competition is doing.  Suppose the competition tells the world about a great job opportunity on Facebook, I might beat that competition to the job.  Hey, anybody naïve enough to tell his competition about his opportunities deserves to loose them.  It’s OK to steal from people for government purposes too.  At least that’s what your government tells its agents.  Or, maybe they tell themselves that.

Private social networks might be very useful to educators.  But, how do they differ from a class Wiki or a BlogSpot?  When information is published for public viewing, kids can live their fantasies.  Is this good or bad?  It does open up the possibility that a person can be inappropriate with impunity.  The FBI agent who visited the middle school in Portage made a strong case for being real careful with the information a person puts on Facebook.  Parents can’t control their children and children might jeopardize the whole family.  Who Likes You?

I am being facetious because of the hazards and because they are real.  As a teacher, I would put a priority on teaching kids about the dangers of using social media.  School districts are banning teachers for Liking students on Facebook to protect the teachers.  Ask yourselves why. 

I don't feel that the reading impacted my thinking much but it did remind me of the Google Earth application that I like.  It might have opened up my mind a little.  But, I think the earlier chapters hooked me in positive ways.  I don't mean to be negative relative to chapter 9 but I recently saw a news show about the negatives and that has certainly colored my thinking.  In the show a young girl posted provocative photos of herself under an alias so that she could act out fantasies in front of the world.  In front of the morror is OK but not through a portal to the world. 

I could use social networks in positive ways to share sites and resources with students, to monitor their progress and to set up class communications that might even be anonymous.  I would find those useful for assessing my teaching performance and to identify content that I need to either re-each or reinforce.

I could keep my thinking and writing going on this for hours.  Stop, already!