Monday, September 17, 2007
Digital Natives
Sounds as though the Seattle school district "gets it." According to an editorial in the September, 2007, issue of District Administrator, Seattle Public Schools are launching an in-district social networking service called Medley. As Lindell Anderson, one of the lead developers for the project wrote, "Incorporating Web 2.0 for education isn't 'sugar to help the medicine go down,' it's speaking the native language and honoring the digital world-view of a technologically fluent generation." http://www.districtadministration.com/viewarticle.aspx?articleid=1270
Friday, September 14, 2007
A Whole New World
On the front page of the Medford Mail Tribune on Thursday, September 13, there is a story about a local person who has been accepted by the the Wikipedia community as a high-level editor. What's unusual about this is that the person is a 16-year-old, and was voted into this position by the consensus of his peers--in an international, multi-age community. His age and lack of educational degree are less important in this online community than his reputation and past behavior, which is seen by his online peers as exemplary: http://www.mailtribune.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070913/NEWS/709130312
In this fascinating story of 21st Century community building, a couple new vocabulary words popped up:
- trolls: people who try to bait others and disrupt online civility
- sock puppets: people who create alternate usernames and masquerade as someone they are not
Next, I was browsing through the October 2 issue of PC Magazine there is an article using the "sock puppet" terminology describing the behavior of some corporate administrators who post derogatory comments about rival companies on public discussion boards to influence consumer behavior. While this is not specifically illegal, the question is posed regarding whether or not this unfairly influences stock prices. In question at present are the postings of John Mackey, CEO of Whole Foods, who, as a sock puppeteer, has been posting derogatory comments about Wild Oats--whom Whole Foods is planning to buy out.
It would seem that understanding something about online culture would be necessary for those who will soon take over the reins of drafting laws and passing legislation--a job for which I hope we are preparing our students.
In this fascinating story of 21st Century community building, a couple new vocabulary words popped up:
- trolls: people who try to bait others and disrupt online civility
- sock puppets: people who create alternate usernames and masquerade as someone they are not
Next, I was browsing through the October 2 issue of PC Magazine there is an article using the "sock puppet" terminology describing the behavior of some corporate administrators who post derogatory comments about rival companies on public discussion boards to influence consumer behavior. While this is not specifically illegal, the question is posed regarding whether or not this unfairly influences stock prices. In question at present are the postings of John Mackey, CEO of Whole Foods, who, as a sock puppeteer, has been posting derogatory comments about Wild Oats--whom Whole Foods is planning to buy out.
It would seem that understanding something about online culture would be necessary for those who will soon take over the reins of drafting laws and passing legislation--a job for which I hope we are preparing our students.
Thursday, September 13, 2007
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)