Sunday, March 29, 2009

Wiki World


Just the other day I was discussing wiki's with a teacher at my student teaching venue. He is beginning a unit on primary sources and wanted a place where the students could post ideas, articles and resources and be in conversation with one another for all to see. I explained how a wiki could work for him with this assignment and showed him some class wiki's that I have used in the past. He was pretty excited about being able to use this tool and introduce his students to it. He was sure that the only wiki they were familiar with was Wikipedia.

This is not the only time I have introduced someone to the idea of using a wiki for collaboration. I find myself promoting wiki's to teachers and students who are working on projects together and want to keep all of their information in one place. Most importantly they want to be able to add information or make changes to the information that is already there.

I have been using wiki's in graduate school for various tasks and assignments. Because of this I have become a huge fan of how wiki's can be used, and I know I'm probably not even using them to their full potential (this is quite common with most of the technology that we use).

More specifically, I love what Wikipedia has offered us as a society. I understand the concerns of educators of why Wikipedia should not be used, etc. However, I'm not addressing those issues in this blog. I am not a Wikipedia hater, there are just too many of them out there. Someone in this field has to be a supporter! Wikipedia has defined mass collaboration. In fact the definition from Wikipedia is: "Mass collaboration is a form of collective action that occurs when large numbers of people work independently on a single project, often modular in its nature". When I think about what actually happens to make Wikipedia exist, I admit, I get a little choked up. Mass amounts of people working together to provide information to others; It's like they are all librarians at heart.

As far as Wikipedia in schools are concerned I think there is a lot more we can do than just say "Don't use Wikipedia!". Perhaps explaining why Wikipedia is not a good source for certain information is a better way to approach this issue. An effective library lesson could be to have the students enter an article on Wikipedia to show how easy it is for others to post inaccurate, and accurate, information. This kind of lesson seems to be successful in driving home the message.

Sunday, March 22, 2009

Breaking up on Facebook

2 weeks ago my 15 year old cousin started her first tumultuous teenage relationship. 1 week after that, her boyfriend broke up with her on Facebook. She called me very upset wondering what to do. "Why would he break up with me on Facebook? Why doesn't he have the guts (although she used different words) to call me or do it in person?" The thing about my cousin is that she is a hard core Facebook-er. Every move she makes is posted on Facebook for all to see. But when it comes to someone else posting something private about her she becomes infuriated and upset. The teacher/adult in me wanted to ask her questions about privacy and control over privacy but I knew all I could do is help her figure out how to get through this public breakup. Since then I have been asking myself questions about privacy and how social networking sites are effecting us as a society. Most importantly I am curious about how these sites are effecting teens.

Dana Boyd's article entered my life at the perfect time. I feel that her article helped me work through some of my own thoughts and questions about SNS's.

I have watched my aunt and cousin work through rules about Facebook and social networking sites. My aunt warns my cousin constantly about the repercussions of doing something "stupid" and having it come back to haunt her. At 15 my cousin is struggling with the idea that when she goes to college or applies for a job someone will be able to access her Facebook page and see what kind of person she is. Fortunately she has a person in her life who is talking to her about this issue. If she was not getting this education at home, who else would be talking to her about it? From what I understand, there are not a lot of discussions at her school about SNS behavior. Boyd offers helpful advice to educators on how to talk to students about social networking without lecturing about the dangers.

Before I read the Boyd article I was thinking about how sites like Facebook are teaching teens about socializing and relationships. I have defended SNS's numerous times to teachers and parents about Facebook and it's benefits. I have said very similar words to Boyd in regards to this issue. Boyd says that there is a lot of "informal learning" that happens outside of school that is essential to teens. Facebook is where that learning is now happening. My cousin had to learn how to deal with a breakup over Facebook instead of in the hallway at school. This breakup ended up working in her favor because once her network of people found out about it, they joined together and posted comments about the situation. This group also posted many comments on his wall about his behavior. The FB breakup provided a space for friends to express themselves publicly about what happened. There was also no "he said she said" debate because the conversation was posted for everyone to see. So much for private conversations!

As far as my own Facebook experience, I have loved every minute of it. I have reconnected with old friends and am able to see what is happening in their lives. I also enjoy posting pictures of my life for my network of friends and family to view. I use Facebook as a tool to stay connected to people. Sometimes I use a more

voyeuristic approach although occasionally I will post a status update and new information about myself. Since I am a school librarian I always keep in mind that students might be able to see my profile at some point. My privacy settings are set so only Friends can see anything about me however I am searchable by anyone. I want to be found but I want to be in charge of who is able to view information about me. This is what works for me at this point in my life.







Monday, March 9, 2009

Flickr

http://www.flickr.com/photos/35667492@N06/