Google Buzz and the Naked Emperor

It takes a lot to make my head spin, but it is now officially spinning.  Google Buzz reminds me of "The Emperor's New Clothes." Bear with me.

(I am summarizing here.) The vain Emperor is tricked by a couple of traveling tailor's into buying the most expensive, fabulous clothes the world has ever seen. They work and sew and and mime that they are creating an outfit so stunning that only the most discerning eye can see it. Now, the Emperor can't see the clothes but plays along for fear of looking less than clever himself. On the big day he pays the tailors who quickly run off, and parades down Main Street buck naked. Everyone oohs and aahs so that they will seem fabulous, and it takes the sensible little boy to say "Hey - the Emperor is naked!" With me so far?

What does the Emperor have to do with Google's latest product, Google Buzz?

Google = Tailors

Privacy = Clothes

Us = Emperor

Intellectually I have recognized for a long time that our concept of privacy has become an illusion. We all have remarkable digital footprints that cover every aspect of our lives, generated from the multitudes of information streams we generate through credit cards, car transponders, cell phones - everything.

Google Buzz pulls back the royal robes, if you will, and shows the degree of connectivity our every online click can have with people we include in our personal network. But it also shows the volumes of data we generate. Combine Facebook, Twitter and any other social networking platform, aggregate it, toss in the jet propulsion of Google, and you have Google Buzz.

I am exhilarated as well as horrified. And I am standing here, buck naked, without any privacy.

My toolbar

These are my daily tools, and this is how I work. Every single day my iGoogle page acts as my portal for work, play, and socializing. So, let's break it down. (You can click on the image for a clear enlargement.)

The upper toolbar holds the bookmarks I use most often. Google Wave is still in beta, and I play here, seeing what it can do and how it might be used by students and teachers. Once it is opened for general use I can see it as an ideal collaborative space for group project work. My blogging tools are Blog This, Blogger Dashboard, Share on FaceBook and Flickr Creative Commons. I can grab interesting posts from my RSS feed and quickly add them to a post to blog about later, or even just to re-visit and think about and try. Of course, a picture tells a thousand words and Flickr Creative Commons is my one-stop shop for great images I can use with attribution.

The next bar is for Diigo, a FREE social networking site designed for researchers. The Diigo toolbar allows me to grab a website or blog post, annotate it on the live web, attach digital sticky notes, archive it for later use, save it to lists, and if I want I can share it with my Diigo network. Every morning I get an email from my Diigo groups with articles that have been shared by other educators and researchers. The generosity of the Diigo community is a large source of information, most recently from a guy in the U.K. who has been sharing wonderful European primary source sites. I follow lists for school librarians, Web 2.0 Educators, History and English Teachers and a couple of others. Each morning (at the ridiculous hour of 5:30am)  I have my tea, listen to the weather, ignore the dogs, and go through my Diigo updates. Right then I will pull out valuable resources and post them to the library wiki. This allows us to keep enriching our  portal to be a true 24/7 support and resource for students.

After Diigo comes the YoLink toolbar. Another FREE resource, this facilitates deep web searching in a very elegant, easy to use way. As a case study, if you look carefully you can see I accessed Google Scholar (academic sources - terrific resource!) to search "Brecht" and "anti-colonialism", used YoLink to help with the search, and annotated the site using Diigo. YoLink plays beautifully with other applications and also archives searches and sites for notation. If they would partner with NoodleTools life would be perfect in research land. (Why I was searching Brecht and anti-colonialism is another story that involves my college age daughter, a late hour call and a fast approaching deadline.)

Finally you can see the tabs I had open at the time, which are generally always the tabs I have open. Google Docs holds my library documentation, primarily the forms we created to track library data and lesson plans. These forms keep our data organized and churn out beautiful little graphs that I can share on a moment's notice. At this point Google has so much information about me they could create a clone and nobody would ever notice. I got over that reality awhile ago.

And Facebook. I check in quite a bit and use this for professional as as well as personal connections. Awhile ago a library colleague from central Massachusetts recommended a friend. I had never met this person but over Facebook we developed a lively friendship based on similar humor and a mutual (slightly manic) addiction to quizzes. This online friendship resulted in Anita (hi, Anita!) spending professional days observing in the CCHS Library and we will be attending the ALA Mid-Winter conference in Boston together.

There is always something new to try, to play with, to learn. I am connected to smart people who care passionately about learning and generously share this wealth. Our students and staff are the beneficiaries.

Now, about Brecht and anti-colonialism...

Keynote Kick-Off with Alan November - Notes

"What do you do with technology when you are not in school?"

Confirm what you are already doing.

I don't like technology. it breaks, especially in front of audiences.

Helps expand relationships with kids and access to information.


West Point 1985 act of Congress required every student to have a laptop. First university to make this requirement. They hire all of their graduates (6 years). Possible that a student will be a field commander later. They have data on results of learning that most schools don't.
Change in mission. Win the war > now the goal is to win the peace. (Should the mission of K-12 change?) New curriculum, new skills. Massive wrenching change for institution and faculty.

Teaching graduate program in info searching. Now have to teach students that there are different points of view. Example: impact of pope's speech in Turkey.Serious real-life problem with bad results.
Google results return Western results w/ no Muslim perspective. This does not support the mission to win the peace. West Point wants students to find alternate perspectives to find the truth, to win peace. Knowing the language of digital search addresses this problem. You don't know what you don't know, and it isn't your fault because you were never taught.

Caught in transition from paper to digital.

Should we teach American kids that there are other points of view?

Class of 2010 - demographers created working label "Boomerangs" > children of Boomers.

Alan's Advice on How to Get Kids Out of Your Parent's House:
critical thinking in the web (syntax, grammar)
"the medium is the message" - Marshall McLuahn

(Students didn't know how Google algorithm worked) students look at top page, don't change search engines.

What can YOU do?
1. Announce that you don't know everything
2. Hire the kid who breaks in
3. "Hire" the kids to teach you the tools you need - they want to be helpful

Peeling back the web to validate information
Google - link:www.marinlutherking.org

altavista - seach engine for finding links into a website link:www.marinlutherking.org
this search engine returns far more links to main site

How should teach this? Should it be embedded in what you teach?

High Tech High, San Diego - highest standardized test scores in CA, but they don't teach to the test. They ask the students to find solutions to teaching the most difficult concepts in your curriculum, Have them come back with examples in diverse media formats.

Assessment - assessing final product rather than process of getting to the final product. Assess how the kid got there.

SOCIAL WEB
Kids have a developmental need to connect socially with other people
YouTube phenomenal growth - show students the work of other students from around the world - this is cross-curricular.

The mission of education: Brain research shows that if a kid goes home and does homework and makes a mistake, the mistake is embedded in the brain. The longer the wait for the feedback the less relevant the learning and the most damaging the mistake.
Need to give different kinds of homework, like looking at vodcasts.
Bob Sprankle, Welles, ME - We have underestimated what young children can do. Children can watch a review of what was learned the week before, that they produced. No mistakes, they love to publish.

What's the difference between regular homework and producing/publishing for class? Homework is for self and doesn't matter. Publishing for authentic audience increases value, learning, enthusiasm in learning. When kids produce tutorials there is HUGE traffic. Students who take notes off a pod/screen cast do better than those who take notes live during class.

Change in culture of teaching/learning where kids take more responsibility for learning in the class. WHO should own the learning? US ed system designed for teachers to own the learning. Teachers work harder than the kids. These new tools can change this power nexus.

• Literacy more than reading paper. Internet is a core literacy.
• Global perspectives, alternate POV. Skype is a social connection, and kids thrive on social authenticity. Share/publish globally. Kids will listen and go back over it because it is their voice. This is FUN!
  

Robin's Ideas/ TO DO:

• prof development Google docs/forms (essential equity issue)
• Google workshop - basic search
• Deep web search tools - tricks and grammatical tools to validate web content
• Jing workshop
• IDEA - "Play in the Sandbox" workshops around themes/tools. Group exploration.
  

The Social Media Revolution

This is a great 4 min. 22 second video. It speaks to the power of social media, and the challenges in teaching our students critical thinking and evaluative skills. I look at this type of message as a provocative way to illustrate the sea change that has occurred in our society. Many educators have missed this shift, and are wondering why people are yammering on about 21st century skills. They really want to be left alone to prepare their lecture notes and make copies of their handouts. They don't want to add anything new to their practice because they don't have the time.

This isn't about "in addition to". This is about "instead of."

I posted the link to Facebook and got some interesting responses. This one in particular really summed up the issues really well.

From Ellen:
I completely agree with the point of the video-social media is a major cultural change, and not a fad-but some of the data is misleading, or just plain wrong. For example, the source listed on the website (www.socialnomics.net) for the claim that Wikipedia is more accurate than Encyclopedia Britannica is...Wikipedia. Hmm. Yes, *some* studies have ... Read Moreshown as many or more factual errors in EB as in Wikipedia. But it's crucial to look at the *nature* of the most damaging misinformation in Wikipedia: vandalism, pranks, corporations trashing their competitors' products, politicians defaming their opponents' character, etc. Wikipedia has stepped up their efforts to improve the credibility of their articles in the last couple of years, to their credit. But I want to look at this video (not just the Wikipedia vs. EB piece) critically. What are the larger implications of our getting our information through social media, and how should we be teaching our kids to think critically about that.

Source:
Socialnomics - Social Media Blog

Dude - Just Facebook It

"Dude, what's your project on?"

"My cousin has some weird disease. I'm doing that."

"What's he got?"

"My Mom said it once but I don't remember."

"Just Google what you remember and Facebook him."

Less than 30 seconds later, toggling multiple screens, the student had the name of the disease, a list of symptoms, and organizations promoting awareness about the disease.

Web 2.5? Students are already at Web 3.0, and they are not waiting for us to catch up. At best we, as adults, are irrelevant. At worst, we are in their way. The reality is that most of us are still trying to get over feeling stupid about using the phrase Web 2.0.

Teens are living transparently and seamlessly on the Web. Their terrain is different from ours. While we wring our hands and fret, they engage, create, and achieve a fluency and online confidence that we, as adults, can't seem to validate. Why?

What do we bring to the table? Wisdom. This student was awash with information, and struggling to develop the critical skills needed to assess, understand, and apply his new knowledge. Dude - That's what we help with in the library.

Photo credit:
Flickr Creative Commons

[54/365] Designing for the Social Web by Ben Dodson

Facebook Signs Agreement With GSA

Call me naive, but I was surprised by this one. The U.S. General Services Administration (GSA) has signed an agreement with Facebook and other social media networks laying "the ground work for government agencies to use Facebook for any purpose."
Facebook Signs Agreement With GSA

Martha Dorris, acting associate administrator, Office of Citizen Services and Communications stated that “USA.gov is breaking new ground by migrating to new media sites to provide a presence and to open up a dialog with the public. We know that many other agencies want to do the same, and having these agreements is an important first step.”

In a way, I applaud our government for being so forward thinking and utilizing the power of social media. At the same time, it feels a little creepy.

I Want My Social TV!

Take a look at this graph. If you are in any doubt that we are in the middle of an enormous transition, this is your wake up call. Social, collaborative engagement is upon us, so quit whining that you don't get Twitter (last comment aimed at myself).

Gen Y Says: "I Want My Social TV!" - ReadWriteWeb

Now, if I could only figure out how to work my cable remote...

I still don't really get Twitter

I've tried. I still don't get Twitter. I think it is one of those things where you need critical mass. I follow people who seem to have this critical mass, because they are twittering and tweeting back and forth with a vast group of people. In the morning before school I run on the treadmill and watch CNN. Don Lemon twitters, and asks people watching to tweet comments and he posts some of them. I also follow people who travel and present at conferences around the world. They tweet about getting stuck in airports, not being able to connect to the wireless at their conference, meeting up for coffee - mostly I feel like a creepy stalker. There are people out there who can pack a lot of content into 140 characters.

This video clip from the BBC is from Stephen Fry, who really embraces Twitter.
BBC NEWS | Entertainment | Stephen Fry on joys of Twitter

I'll hang in there, but it is starting to feel less and less click-worthy.

Social media - a military flow chart

Web Ink Now: The US Air Force: Armed with social media

Even the military is using social media!

"What was most interesting is that with Capt. Faggard leading the way, the Air Force employs 330,000 communicators! Their mission is to use current and developing Web 2.0 applications as a way to actively engage conversations between Airmen and the general public. Yes, that’s right, the goal of the program is that every single Airman is an on-line communicator."



photo credit:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/cambodia4kidsorg/3226367547/

Stop the reading madness!

This is getting ridiculous. How many reading applications does anyone really need? Every time a I finish a book I have to log it into three different sites. It's enough to make me turn on the television.

I joined LibraryThing first and really got into entering books I was reading, and drilling into the social network to read other people's reviews. It got discouraging when I realized how "into it" other people seemed to be, and I just couldn't compete. Also, people from all over would connect, and that sounds great, but I didn't want a LibraryThing penpal from New Zealand, or to join virtual book group recommended based on my profile. Who has the time? Now I just keep adding books, mostly because this site now has my reading history for the last few years,

Shelfari was cool because I could add it to my Facebook page. Then Facebook re-formatted their interface and it got relegated to a "box" and didn't appear on the main page anymore. I added it to this blog because it works so well with Blogger. I just update it whenever I finish a book and enjoy watching my virtual shelf fill up. Little bit of reader vanity there.

I just added Goodreads because some of my favorite teachers in the English Department are using it. The best part is that I get little feed alerts whenever someone posts a comment, a review, or even what page they are on at the moment. It really feels very dynamic in a way the other two haven't because it uses the social network of the people you know, and expands out from there. Very Facebook. Goodreads also embeds easily, so maybe I'll drop Shelfari.

In a way, this is the most authentic experience with social networking I have ever had.

Reflections on MassCue - the Gleam of Engagement

MassCue 2008





Saturated. Overwhelmed. Engaged. Challenged. Intimidated. Excited. Tired. Stressed. Euphoric!

This is amazing. Conferences like these charge my creative batteries and make me want to shout from the rooftop! I can't wait to play with all these new tools and ideas, and see which ones will gain traction and work with students. I have to be prepared to fail, be prepared for frustration, but what if it works? What if students have that gleam of engagement as a result of incorporating some of these strategies? Actually, strategies isn't really right. It is more a philosophy of presenting content and sharing control.

I need to process this experience with colleagues who are as jazzed as I am. My beloved RSS feed is good because it feeds me, but I need to interact and bounce ideas around. Twitter may be useful in creating a community of like-minded souls to more actively share thoughts and process.

As much as I love this, I am going to leave early. I am worried about the library, about the library staff, and about what I am missing. Short-sighted, perhaps, but is always a balancing act. I am just so grateful to be working in education, and for a school district that supports my professional development.

Twitter and Plurk

MassCue - All a' Twitter about Twitter
Beth Knittle - K12 IT Specialist, Barnstable
Handouts:
www.bethknittle.net
MassCue Conference Handouts





Twitter - What is Twitter? Twitter is a service for friends, family, and co–workers to communicate and stay connected through the exchange of quick, frequent answers to one simple question: What are you doing?

Micro-blogging in a professional networking tool. We network because we are social beings, and we need to connect. Twitter helps foster connections, and keep us networked to learn. There are many lurkers in a network, but everyone can contribute through sharing and collaboration. For the "older" getworking is still the best done face-to-face, with body language and tone of voice. These cues aren't as necessary for the next generation.

Wes Fryer contributes that these new tools need to be personally integrated by teachers, before they can successfully be integrated into classroom practice. These social networking tools also help us continue professional growth as educators. When we come to teach students about these connectivity tools we can do it with authentic voice. We are receivers as well as contributors on this type of network.

Following - let people know you are a teacher. Include blog link in your profile and let people follow you. It's up to you how much information you choose to disclose.

How do you find people to follow? When you create an account fill out your profile. When people search or link to you, they will see this page. There are privacy settings and you can protect your updates. Then people have to request for you to accept them as a follower. Getting started can be a challenge, and is best done at conferences when you meet people face-to-face. You can block and/or ban people.

A Twitter portal for teachers - twitter4teachers.pbwiki.com/
Tweeter Directory - Just Tweet It




Plurk - A Social Journal for Your Life
A variation of Twitter. Different feel.

Edmodo
A walled garden version of Twitter. A "sandbox" in which students can practice these tools. A safety net for educators as well. The world isn't looking here.

Blocked Bytes Week

Blocked Bytes�Week - Home - Doug Johnson's Blue Skunk BlogSeptember 27 - October 4, 2008 is officially Banned Book Week. Really though, we are well past the point of protecting just books. As library blogger Doug Johnson so wonderfully points out, "Americans need the freedom to read more than just books." People are publishing in so many formats, yet filters aggressively block much of this content. Not only are we denying people access to content, but also the experience of seeing how this content is being shared. Wordle, Twitter, Ning, even FaceBook, are all publishing formats. Incorporating social networking into our definition of publishing is now important. We need to redefine our interpretation of "banned".