By George, I Think They've Got IT!

It's Christmas break here in ATL - a glorious and much needed time to rest, relax, and recharge. I have successfully finished grades and I even took a full day off of the computer to do the whole holiday hoopla thing with the family. Now, in the blissfully quiet mornings when my coffee and I can be together in peace, I am able to do a little dreaming and planning for next semester.

I am on the prowl for other schools out there doing what I'm wanting to do - or what I think I want to do. There are several resources hailing the philosophy of 21st Century Literacy (a new term I ran across yesterday for what it is this class is trying to be) but I am struggling to find examples of what that actually looks like. Until now. I saw this video from Coral Reef High School and I can't stop smiling. Finally, a point of view from the students themselves as to what the possibilities are for a new kind of learning:

Check it out.

Food for Thought

Viral Videos - Guest Blogger - Phoebe Thiraveja

What’s that new video everyone’s been talking about? You’ve seen people in class watching them, and they’re telling you that you HAVE to watch it. People have posted it on your facebook wall or sent you links to it. When you clicked it, there were already hundreds of thousands (and sometimes millions) of views. What makes these YouTube videos so popular? Is it its entertainment value with something weird like unusual talents? Is it because it’s really funny or relatable? Or is it the hottest new song with an awesome music video? Whatever its significance, its addictive to watch and instantly “viral”.
Marketing companies have seen the appeal in this, and have made it their source of promotion. Some PR companies like The Commotion Group specialize in viral video marketing. They take the product of their clients, and try to make a viral video with it. If the video does not reach at least 100,00 views, they won’t charge for it. The co-founder of The Commotion Group, Dan Ackerman Greenberg, gave tips for making a video viral. First off, content is not necessarily king. It’s great if your video has excellent content, that’s what will bring people back to watch it; but if you want to get it “out there” first it’s good to “keep it short, design for remixing, don’t make an outright ad, make it shocking, and use fake headlines.” Secondly, you need to get your blog on the “Most Viewed” page. That’s particularly difficult if you just post a video, and let it sit on the Internet gradually collecting views. You need to advertise. Advertising is becoming less of a challenge in the modern world with help from social networking sites. You today have countless resources; by posting your YouTube video to your facebook or twitter page, linking it on your blog, or sending out e-mail lists or just showing it to your friends in person. Lastly, make what the viewers see before they click, interesting. You need a catchy title; something that will bait people into wondering what your video is about. Also, put up an tempting thumbnail. If your title doesn’t cut it, the picture just might.
Let me leave you with this thought. How do you personally hear about viral videos? What sort of ideas do you have we could use for promotions and advertising? (i.e. Events at school or products at school)The idea of viral YouTube videos has caught the attention Saturday Night Live. Watch the video below as they make fun of all of its “viral” aspects.
SNL-I Didn't Ask for This


Source:
Secrets for Viral Videos

Linking Your Blog to Social Media - Guest Blogger - Taylor Tucker

Taylor Tucker


Connecting your blog to social medias
To get your blog noticed, it helps to connect it with facebook, twitter, and other social medias. It is always a good idea to have your blog connected with services like these, because of the popularity and huge member database. Comment Integration is the main purpose why everyone does this. Its so visitors can easily put a comment on your blog using their facebook or even their twitter. Visitors will no longer have to use many different accounts; this way they can use one account to link to many others. Some services that allow for this to happen are, WP Facebook Connect (Word Press), Intense Debate, the one that we use, Blogger, and Disquis. These are all services that help you to connect your blog to other social medias very easily. There are other ways you can do this but these are strongly recommended.
Connecting your blog to facebook isn’t just for teens either. This is also very common I the business world. Many companies or self owned business do this so they can be noticed more than they are. Other reasons for using this is because its simplicity, Pro-effect, meaning this leaves your blog looking “professional”. This is not only telling people how to connect your blog to facebook, but also its introducing people to facebook and twitter who have yet to discover it yet. There are many different social medias out there and connecting them all together makes them even better.

Getting Your Blog Noticed: Guest Blogger - Katie Hayes

Blogs have become increasingly more popular over the last few years. Blogging has been the greatest break through in popular journalism in the past few years as well. I myself have never had a blog until this year. When I first created one I had no idea what to write or how to manage a blog.
Since I have done research for this project on how to get your blog noticed, I have learned some many new things on how to write a blog and how it works. The book that I used for my research was, “ The Huffington Post: a complete guide to blogging.” This book had many great ideas and useful tools on blogging.
The first thing I came across in this book was what to write about. There are three main things one should keep in mine when you are writing on your blogs. First, write about what you love. You need to “Blog your Passion” and figure out what you really love. Second, you need to be specific enough to create a community. You need to have a good idea of who will be following and reading your blog. And third, you need to choose something broad enough to sustain your interest. If your write things worth reading and you are consistent about posting, overtime your readership will evolve and expand with you.
I then learned how to make a blog memorable. There are five main ways to make it more memorable than others. First, to be “sticky”, a message has to relate directly. Next is, a message is more memorable if it makes the reader react emotionally. Third, memorable messages often include an element of surprise. The next way to make your blog memorable is to steer clear of confusion because it then causes distraction. The final way is to blog often on topics you are interested in. I really like these five tips because they are short and easy to incorporate into your own blog.
Serious bloggers ask themselves two very important questions: Who is visiting my blog and how can I attract more visitors. The best way to attract visitors is to create a convincing content. There are three ways you can go about this. The first being, write on top of the news. If big news breaks out people will be interested in finding posts about this topic. The second way is to offer facts, not just opinions. A blogger should get facts, quotes, or statistics to support their opinion. The third way to create a convincing content is to give something a new spin. Specific opinions have most likely been repeated so much that they have become a cultural wallpaper.
The last thing I read about getting your blog noticed were the tools. When you create persuasive content, other activities will increase the chance that other people see. Some tools that would help with this would be to alert your own networks, optimize your search engines, comment on interesting posts on other people’s blogs. A major key thing you need to keep in mind when writing is moderation.
I really think that blogs are a great source of technology. I believe that it will be a great use for businesses and major companies. However, to have a successful blog I believe that you will need these tips to get your blog noticed and memorable.


Happy Blogging Everyone!

Guest Blogger - Lindsey Shirley

Facebook has swept through and changed the social networking world like a wave washing over the seashore. It has washed up on everyone from the bored student in class trying to talk to friends, to the overactive status positing adult trying to reconnect with high school friends, to the grandmother in Massachusetts trying to keep in contact with her grandkids down south. Attention to all current facebook users: a new kind of wave has just swept up on shore. Facebook is now going beyond the social networkers and is spreading to new group of people: businesses and non-profit causes. Facebook is now being called a “highly effective business tool” and it is even being said that asking for followers on Facebook is taking the place of running commercials on television. The features that attracted millions of people to the fun aspect of facebook are now being used to attract customers to an organization’s page and spread important information. The accessibility of Facebook to the everyday person is the strongest aspect of being able to use Facebook as a new floor for marketing and connecting with customers.

Facebook should be given more respect than being called to old time-waster and an outlet for nosey busybodies. Facebook can be utilized in a more productive, business like matter. Facebook is now being welcomed into the business world as a more influential, people-reaching, attention-getting site

Facebook is creating a positive influence on adults and teens as they are trying to attract the innumerable customers and advocates that are said to be crawling on the Facebook network daily. The new use of Facebook is encouraging people to speak out as open supporters of their favorite charity or promoters of their own business because they feel that through a wildly popular site such as Facebook, they are reaching more people. Businesses and organizations are required to have a topnotch page that makes you want to click on their name and see what they are up to. As a result of the new business Facebook trend washing through, most of us are newbies to becoming an online humanitarian, entrepreneur or club leader; we are reassured by the fact that we are spreading our message and cause to literally hundreds of people on a daily basis!

Essentially, Facebook is a way to expand an organization’s or our own personal digital footprint. The ability to use Facebook outside the social realm should be welcomed with open arms into the business and marketing society. What could be a better way to reach someone than to use a site on which almost everyone you know has a page?

Guest Blogger - Mavin Gunter

Robotic surgery is making its way into hospitals! They call it the Da Vinci Robotic Surgery System. This new technology only requires one surgeon to move the robotic arms in the room during surgery, and uses a high-resolution camera to help find where to place incisions. The camera works better than a human’s naked eye. The four small robotic arms help make surgery less invasive. With this new technology taking off people are trying to take it to the next step. They want to start using these new computer consoles all over the world to perform operations from miles and miles away. This new step towards the future can be described as Telesurgery. Imagine your doctor all the way in Washington while you are in Georgia, and him performing a surgery on you from so far away. This technology has its many advantages for people. Some advantages would be finding the best surgeries for you and not having to leave your hometown for it, possibly cheaper health care, and the surgery itself from the robotic arms is less traumatizing. For the actual robotic surgery, the robot only needs about a three-centimeter incision to work. This can mean less scarring and faster recovery. While robotic surgery has its advantages there are a few set backs that come along with the robotic surgery. These set backs are time, cost of equipment, and if people are willing to put their lives in the hands of a robot. The timing is nearly twice the amount a normal surgery done by a doctor would take, and newer technology means millions of dollars spent on parts. The most important part to getting the robotic surgery throughout the hospitals is having the people’s trust that the machine can perform surgery, without life-threatening mistakes occurring. Therefore my question is, would you put your life in the hands of a robot?
http://www.howstuffworks.com/robotic-surgery1.htm
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0NZLpWrJGgk

Because Cats are Always Funny

When people ask me why I like teaching high school, my answer varies depending on the day. Sometimes I love it because I get to stretch young minds, introduce difficult concepts, or be a mentor through a difficult crisis. Most days, it's because I get to laugh every single day.

Kids are so creative and funny. Don't believe me? Check out this video and tell me you didn't at least crack a smile:

Guest Blogger - Danielle Moss

Everyone knows about it and most everyone has it, I’m talking about Bieber Fever. He was only 13 when he first came to Atlanta to meet recording artist Usher and now he is in the running for having the most views on YouTube. It all started after his first talent show appearance when his mother, Pattie Mallette, posted his second place worthy performance on YouTube. She only posted it so that distant family members could see how good he actually is. Well, by chance, music producer Scooter Braun, who works with Usher’s recording label, was searching for another singer but accidentally clicked on Bieber’s video and was very impressed by what he saw. He then contacted the place where Justin was performing, who contacted his school, which contacted his mother and from there it was history. He signed with Raymond Braun media group, which helped him sign with Island Records in 2008, and by July 2008 his single “One Time” was number 12 on Canada’s Hot 100. He’s not the only artist that was a YouTube sensation. He is in company with other artists like Soulja Boy, Mia Rose, and Arnel Pineda the lead singer from Journey.
If only it was that simple for every artist that put their video on YouTube hoping to be successful, but its not! Justin’s career happened by chance and now he is one of the most viewed artists on YouTube next to Lady Gaga. There are millions of artists that post to YouTube everyday but not that many are as lucky as Bieber was. Artist such as Grayson Chance, who inspired Ellen Degeneres to start her own label and sign Grayson herself, and Meghan Tonjes who uses household objects as instruments are on the rise as the next Justin Bieber’s. Solo artists are not the only ones who are doing big things with their talent. Groups like Pomplamousse, who started out as two separate solo artists joined together to make one amazing group, and apparently the new power couple of YouTube and the R&B group Ahmir, who record their own music and then make their own music videos, are both taking YouTube by storm. All of these artists, who have at least 1 million views, are making themselves known and wanting to be the next Justin Bieber. Do you know who will be the next great artist?

Digital Storytelling

This week, we're starting to look into a new art form: digital storytelling. It's just what it sounds like - the use of digital mediums to tell meaningful stories. Here's just about the best example I've come across. It's called "Grand Canyon". Double click on the post if you are having trouble opening it.

Twitter Time: Azim Damani

Today's guest post is from Azim Damani -

For my Communications project, I want to help the class learn how to use Twitter effectively. Almost everybody in class has a Facebook but Twitter is a little more rare. I have been using Twitter for a year now, and I have found it extremely useful. There are so many people to follow from celebrities to companies that provide coupons and nice deals. I follow a musical artist named Jay Electronica and he tweets every time he has a secret concert so his fans can attend. Without Twitter, it would be difficult for somebody to find out about such concerts.

There are also Twitter accounts that update sports scores for certain teams and anything that happens in relation to that team. Sports reporters and news outlets use Twitter to reach the fans and find out what the fans want to hear about. They tweet out breaking news and everything newsworthy. Many celebrities also retweet some of their fans resulting in increased traffic on the fans’ accounts and sometimes even more followers.

I think Twitter is a great tool to use when you know how to use it well. The activity for my presentation is for you to go home and make a Twitter account if you don’t have one already. After that, find 5 people that you want to follow(if you already have an account, find 5 new people) and follow them. You must follow at least 1 celebrity and 1 news outlet.

Tools of the Trade: Auto-Tune Your Voice by Celine Talley

This year, GACs decided to join the digital age. The use of technology in the school skyrocketed, and our technology knowledge had to grow as well. Creativity is key in school, and the more you can do with your Macbook, the more successful and creative you can be. Every year at least one teacher assigns a project where you have to sing and create a song. You always get the bland talk singing, because no one is truly comfortable with his or her singing voice, but with Garageband’s auto tune you can be. When you learn how to auto tune your voice, your creativity can show through, and suddenly your generic project turned into something a little more high quality. Auto-tuning your voice with Garageband is simple, just follow the screencast, and you should be a pro in no time. Also, once you learn it, you can apply it to other projects, like keynote presentation or anything else you want to take from boring to entertaining. So take this newly learned information, and get creative. 

Here is a link to one of the best auto-tuning groups. They took the average everyday news, added auto-tuning, and made it funny. They are also the creators of the Antoine Dodson "Bed Intruder Song."

http://www.youtube.com/show/autotunethenews?pl=77D122FA6AE9B04D

Tools of the Trade: Google Docs by Haley Hodoval

Ever wonder if it was possible for two people to edit something simultaneously or get feedback about a presentation within minutes? Congrats, Google has now solved your problems. Google has created a program that can do all of that and much more called Google Docs. Google Docs is a very useful "Tool of the Trade," especially when it comes to school work.

For example, if one uploads a document to Google Docs they can edit it from any computer that has access to Google Docs (Basically any computer that has internet access.) This means that one doesn't have to waste space on their computer and can store all sorts of work on Google Docs. However, the best part is that one can share it with other people by either giving them the option to edit it or to view it. In fact, without Google Docs, we could not have completed a series of activites in our class, including signing up for this project. Google Docs can allow multiple people at a time to edit a document, presentation, or spreadsheet.

Another useful part of Google Docs is creating a "form" or in other words a questionnaire or a survey. One can give or receive feedback about a presentation or class activity within minutes. Let me refresh your memory. Do you remember when we filled out the surveys earlier this year critiquing our fellow group members for our Made to Stick projects? That my friend is a form. To learn how to create a form, refer to the above blog post. As you can see Google Docs have played an important role in our class and can be very useful for many different school or work related activities.

Resources/Links:

http://insertcreativeblognamehereblog.blogspot.com/

Guest Blogger - Will Parker: Military Training and Technology

Today's trending topic is brought to you by Will Parker...

“Military Training Hollywood Style”

This kind of training that our military is receiving is as good and real as it gets. There are car bombs, bullets flying by, RPG’S, wounded soldiers screaming, broken glass and metal pieces everywhere, and you would think this is only in the movies. The new training for the military these days is called Strategic Operations, which is a small program, developed to make a scenario for the soldiers as if they were in a real battle. Hollywood-influenced military trainers use video, 3-D and mechanical simulations. But Strategic Operations brings advanced special effects, actors, and sets that can be moved quickly if needed, to create training grounds so real that troops feel stress and can come up with ways to get by it. The main goal for this program is so that the soldiers aren’t shocked by anything and feel as if they were just in another simulation.
Strategic Operations prides itself on hyper-realism to perfect what it calls "stress inoculation," the process of preparing troops for the horrors and surprises of wartime. The company creates incredibly life-like training environments, from objective-based scenarios such as boarding a cargo ship via helicopter, to environments like "Mojave Viper," Strategic Operations' massive desert grounds, which replicates an entire Middle Eastern city with a population of 50,000 or more. Strategic Operations has dozens of locations like these throughout the country, and has 80 full-time employees. In 2009, its revenues doubled due to strong military demand for its products and services ( Carr). This advance training has had outstanding results from our soldiers In the field and they mention how they feel a lot more safe and ready for battle than they have ever been before. This kind of training is relatively small but because of the impact its having, its starting to grow.

Here’s some links with videos and information.
http://www.fastcompany.com/1696703/how-the-military-trains-soldiers-using-hollywood-effects-amputated-actors-robots-laser-explo
http://www.okcteaparty.org/support-our-military/hollywood-magic-helps-military-training/

Guest Teacher: Sydney Smartt - How to use the MyHomework App on a Mac.

Ever had trouble keeping track of a paper agenda or just see it as a hassle? Well there is now a solution to your problem! The MyHomework app on the Macbook is just like an agenda but it's digital. This way  you'll never lose track of it! It's simple, easy to use, and it is also available on your iphone! You simply put in your classes and each time you're given a new homework assignment, you enter it into MyHomework. This app notifys you when assignments are due and let's you know if you have a late assignment. This app is great for staying organized!

I made a screencast to show you just how easy and helpful it can be.
Learn how to use the MyHomework app!

If you would like to read a review on this app then, click here!

Let me know what you think.

Guest Blogger - Erin Anderson: Crowdsourcing

Erin will be leading the class in a "Trending Topic" discussion about crowdsourcing. Below is her blog post review of the subject.

Crowdsourcing: to outsource work to an unspecified group of people, typically by making an appeal to the general public on the internet.
In my opinion, crowdsourcing is a clever advancement in advertising. It allows consumers to become involved in choices the company will make. Allowing consumers to become involved in a company's process creates interest in the company.

Crowdsourcing also creates an increased revenue. Generally, when people are involved in something, they become interested. For example, when Mountain Dew introduced the Dewmocracy campaign increased sales of the product. This result is very common after a crowdsourcing campaign. Dewmocracy

American Idol was also discussed in crowdsourcing. Thirty-three million people watch American Idol every week and three-forths of those viewers contribute to the voting. How many of those viewers do you think would still stay true to the show if they weren't able to vote? A lot of the viewers watch that show are intrigued by the fact that they are allowed to participate in the decision making.

A huge topic in the blogging community is how to use crowdsourcing effectively. Effective Crowdsourcing is a website I found on how use crowdsourcing to benefit your company or cause most.
The first thing it says to ask is will the crowd care. This means, if you are selling a toy for children, you should not ask adults to participate in your voting process. This crowd will not care about a child's toy. The second and third things to consider are crowdsourcing requires time and needs structure. People must be hired and plans must be made for the way you will get your ideas out. People want to know what they are contributing to or voting on. The forth and most important when you have started your campaign would be to enforce the rules. In 2007, Pepsi became overwhelmed with votes from the same people. They needed to enforce the rule of one vote per person.

Guest Blog: Recommendation Engines by Katherine Hamil

Today's trending topic workshop is brought to you by Katherine Hamil. Said topic? Recommendation Engines and us.

"You might like this..." - a common sight for all of us using Facebook, Amazon, Pandora, or Netflix. Many of us are so used to these recommendations that we look right past them. Or do we? Here's an interesting article detailing the different types of recommendation engines and discussing the possible ramifications of their usage on our near future.

I myself am torn about their ubiquitous nature. While they are helpful in many ways, especially when it comes to helping us wade through the vast amounts of information available to us, they are also a bit limiting (literally). The free spirit in me bristles against anyone suggesting what I might like...especially a computer.

Guest Blogger: Hannah Kelly - Technology in Society Today

Hannah Kelly brought us today's "Trending Topic". Below is her blog post about the subject.

Initially I was intrigued when I saw the article: “How Steve Jobs Stole Christmas
- -Apple Products Top Of Every Kid’s Wish List”. I automatically assumed the article would be referring to the increase of Apple products on children’s wish lists. While this may be the case, as I read closer I soon discovered that the amount of children surveyed for this article was a very small number of people out of a very large population. This made me think about how attracted we are as a society, to the title of things---the big headlines that grab our attention. And hey! If they are catchy we tend to “read on.” The way the information was portrayed was definitely tilted, due to the fact that when I read this article, it felt like I was reading an article based on a survey of a larger amount of people. And did you notice that the headline stated that Apple products were att the top of every kid’s wish list? This is misleading advertising!


Even though this article surveyed a small sample size, it did raise the question of the influence of technology on our daily lives. Younger and younger children are utilizing the technology that was not even conceived of a few years ago. Connections across time and space are made regularly now through texting, video conferencing, virtual chat rooms and support groups. It occurs to me that while technology can certainly cause many problems such as increased incidence of motor vehicle accidents while texting during driving, it is not the technology itself that is the problem. Technology is not inherently bad, rather our relationship with the technology poses the problem. After reading this article I began to examine my own relationship with technology and I realized the huge impact it has had. My cell phone is always, and I mean always easily accessed when I want it to be. And I am spending more and more time communicating via facebook and texting than I am with one on one in person conversations. Take a second and evaluate the impact technology has had on your life, it might surprise you. http://passioncomputing.com.au/articles/the-social-impact-of-technology.aspx

Your Shortcut to Shortcuts

Our school just began a new era - DLE. The Digital Learning Environment. Instead of carrying bookbags loaded with heavy binders and cumbersome textbooks, all junior high and high school students on our campus are now fully armed and loaded with their own Macbooks and itouches. It's a move in the right direction, for sure, but it's not been without its challenges. (One being the fact that they still carry around their bookbags loaded with stuff!)

Moving from a PC to a Mac takes a bit of an adjustment, even for the most savvy of computer users. I know that I've been guilty of assuming that all of the kids know way more than they do when it comes to simple usage.

So, I thought it might be helpful to post the simple tips and techniques that I'm learning on the off chance that some of my students could use a tutorial as well. First order of business? Shortcuts. A must have for any self-respecting computer user.

If you are a Mac newbie or just in need of a refresher, this is a wonderful reference to get you flying around in no time. Check out Dan Rodney's List of Shortcuts.

Calling All Screencasters!

We're embarking on a project to learn about screencasts for the next couple of weeks. Step one is to figure out just what they are.

Screencasts are (usually) short videos which record whatever is happening on the computer screen, alongside a voice narration of that action. They are wonderful teaching tools and can be pretty darn entertaining when done well.

Here's a nice example from Tom at the Rapid eLearner Blog - a great resource for all things digital.



Face it - we all learn better when we can SEE how to do something rather than simply read about it. (Case in point).

I plan on showing this to the kids as an example of how a complicated process can be taught to even the most novice of novices via a screencast. We'll learn how to create images in Powerpoint while introducing ourselves to the screencasting tool. Then I'll turn them loose to see what they can come up with. I'll post the best ones here before we move on to Step Two: The Good, the Bad and the Ugly.

Creativity + Internet = 1.2 Million Views

I am fascinated with the notion of creativity. What is it that makes some people seek out the new, the different, the unusual? What is it about their upbringing and their education that pushes them to push the envelope? Elizabeth Gilbert has some interesting things to say about the notion of creating - of tapping into the "genius" that is not only all around us, but within us as well.

Creating is a uniquely enriching experience. It fills us as it empties us. At its heart, it is an endeavor of curiosity where we seek to not only figure out what we think, but how we fit within the world. It saddens me that our educational system is not structured to encourage such thought. When we do make the time for our students to think in such a capacity, they look like deer caught in the headlights. They want to know how they will be graded and exactly what they can do to please us and earn a high mark. Ah, we've trained them well.

Well, there is good news in all of this. Some of our bright young ones are somehow able to maintain a sense of curiosity and ingenuity. They are not hampered by the new technologies and advances that we are making as a society - they are using them to propel their own, unique, creative messages. Check out this story about what an unknown New York band, a subway, and a few iphones can teach us about thinking outside the box.

Blogging Tips: Shooting it Straight

Ran across this post today about why some blogs just don't get much traffic. I love the candor and simplicity to it. Got me thinking about how to implement better content and teach my students how to do the same.

The First Shall Be Last

I have to admit that while I have been thinking and praying about the Chilean miners, I haven't been watching the story 24/7 like much of the world. But on this momentous night when all 33 miners were rescued, this CNN headline grabbed my attention:

"Last miner scheduled to emerge is group's captain."

Luiz Urzua thought that he was leading his crew into the mine for a 12 hour shift. He ended up leading them for 69 days. He was the first into the mine and the last one out. This is an incredible story about true leadership. Too often, kids think that power equates to freedom and leverage. They crave it because they don't feel like they have much say over their lives. And many times, all of that is true. But leadership is different than power. Leadership - servant leadership - is about being the first to go into a dangerous situation and the last one out.

This man kept his team sane and healthy by keeping his cool. Plain and simple. We as teachers and parents could learn a thing or two from Mr. Urzua. Here's hoping that he gets paid all of that overtime that he most certainly deserves.

"Bring Out Your Dead"

Last week, our media specialist visited the English department and all of our classes to give us the lowdown on new copyright laws. She did a fantastic job because I sort of understand what I can and can't do online now.

The students were pretty surprised and overwhelmed by the information. They are the cut-and-paste generation, after all. From what I can tell, their belief is that if you find it on the internet, then:

1. it must be credible.
2. it must be free for me to use without giving any credit at all.
3. it must be posted onto facebook in some form or fashion.

So, after much discussion about what is and what isn't intellectual property, they had one question for me:

What CAN we put on our blogs?

I was happy to show them a site that a fellow teacher introduced me to last week.

World, meet MORGUEFILE.COM. It's where good pictures go after they die - to be resurrected elsewhere.

Maybe I'm late to the party, but this site is amazing. It's filled with beautiful artistic photos that people are no longer actively using -hence the name. Now, my students and I can enjoy some real pics without the real law-breaking that might otherwise occur.

The Web Whisperer

I've been skimming one of my favorite books tonight - The World is Flat by Thomas Friedman -  with the hopes that it would spark some inspiration for an article I'm supposed to write concerning this class. It didn't disappoint. The book is genius. Check out this excerpt that I just now stumbled upon:

The very technologies that are uniting us are also clearly dividing us. The same technologies that allow us to connect with each other as never before also allow us to interrupt each other as never before. The technologies that are empowering individuals to upload their own content...and to inscribe themselves on the world also contribute to a coarsening of our language and the dumbing down of our discourse. And most troubling, but still not yet fully understood, is what happens when we can all not only author our own content and upload it globally, but, thanks to improved connectivity and search engines, read all the content people are authoring about us. What happens when the Internet becomes so ubiquitous and search engines so refined that we can all suddenly hear everything whispered about us? What happens when we all have dog's hearing?

This was written five years ago. Well before Facebook and Twitter even existed. Yikes. Don't get me wrong. All of the tools available to us are indeed a marvel. But they alone do not enable us to truly connect with one another. They do not - they cannot - take the place of true character and thoughtfulness. In many ways, the connectivity that teens enjoy in a superficial way leads to their disconnection from others and from themselves. Just ask Tyler Clementi's parents. 

So it is my sincere hope and prayer that in this class we can explore the new forms of writing and connecting while also honing our relational skills to the fullest. According to Friedman, that is the only true path to success in a flat world.