Vicki Davis's Public Library

26 Nov 09

YouTube - Lego Matrix Trinity Help

For those who love the Matrix, for the 10th anniversary of the Matrix, someone has reenacted the rooftop scene with legos! ;-) Great for a laugh if you like the movie.

www.youtube.com/watch - Preview

education video entertainment matrix movies.

24 Nov 09

Third Annual Educator Gift Exchange on Elfster

This is really so much fun and one of the highlights of last season. Join in the PLN madness and sign up on the Third Annual Holiday gift exchange - you sign up on this page and elfster "draws names" the end of this week - you send something to your person - usually things local to your area. It is a lot of fun. Thanks to Steve Dembo for doing this!

www.elfster.com/...ExcOccParticipate.aspx - Preview

education holiday

The Edublog Awards

Edublog award nominations are now open - you write about the blog and link to it and share it with them. Pretty simple.

Nominations close Tuesday December 8
Voting Ends Wednesday December 16
Awards Ceremony is Friday December 18

Get a blog and nominate some good ones!

edublogawards.com - Preview

education blogging edublog learning

19 Nov 09

Organize Your Windows Desktop Icons in a New Way Using Stardock Fences - Tweaking with Vishal

I just love this handy tool for organizing your desktop - it is GREAT!

www.askvg.com/-new-way-using-stardock-fences - Preview

education learning desktop productivity

Facebook Causes Barrow Teacher's Firing 111009 | myfoxatlanta.com

To me, this example is over the line but anything that takes away from your ability to teach is considered a problem and reason to fire you. I think this is no acceptable when the teacher had everything marked as private and did not allow parents nor admins on her facebook page - again, facebook is not secure.

ow.ly/BmGt - Preview

education learning facebook digital_law digital_communications freedom digital_access

Flickr Photo Download: Layered Desktop Dark

A dark version of the icons.

www.flickr.com/...set-72157594188036656 - Preview

education wallpapers

Free Desktop Organizer, Screen Saver, Desktop Background, Wallpaper.

Lots of other wallpapers that let you organize your icons - this can make your desktop "prettier" and help you be more organized.

www.claybutler.com/cb_desktop_organizer.html - Preview

education desktop

Productivity on your wall: GTD wallpaper v3 | Anabubula.com *

For those who like the getting things done method and would like to have it in front of them, here is GTD Wallpaper.

anabubula.com/ity-your-wall-GTD-wallpaper-v3 - Preview

education learning gtd productivity invention edu_news

18 Nov 09

Can the law keep up with technology? - CNN.com

An excellent article to make the case for digital citizenship education, I love the quote at the end that the law "can't take the place of good manners, social norms, and etiquette." Do we think that students just develop good manners on their own? Perhaps manners, norms, and etiquette would much better evolve with multiple generations and ages working together as we discuss and grapple with such issues.

This is another excellent article about the changing state of the law and the Internet and includes the precedent that anonymous doesn't really mean anonymous any more - particularly if the anonymous person breaks the law.

www.cnn.com/...index.html - Preview

education digitalcitizenship digital_law digital_responsibilities netiquette integrity

Love posted allegedly derogatory and false comments about the designer -- among them that she had a "history of dealing cocaine" -- on her now-discontinued Twitter feed.
it's typically difficult to predict or anticipate technology innovations.
8 more annotations...
- Is the Web a unique, separate space or is it really an extension of real space?
- "We really haven't thought about this much because there haven't been many generations of users with copious digital assets to even trigger the need to think about what happens if they pass away," Matwyshyn said.
- Cohen sued Google to learn the name of the anonymous blogger on the grounds that the post was defamatory and libelous. A New York Supreme Court judge ordered Google to reveal the anonymous blogger's name, and Google complied.
- The case provided insight into the debate between the competing values of privacy and free speech, said Jeffrey Toobin, CNN's senior legal analyst.
- In 2006, Stacy Snyder was a 25-year-old single mother hoping to begin a career as an educator. She had finished her coursework and was a student teacher. Yet Millersville University, located in Pennsylvania, wouldn't give her a degree.
- the school provided alternative reasons for denying Snyder a degree
- "It can't take the place of good manners, social norms and etiquette -- the kind of thing that has always governed negotiations about face-to-face behavior.
- "We should never expect that the judges are going to save us from our own worst impulses."

seymourhigh - track

Yes, you can use wikis to organize your sports teams like my friend Brandt Schneider from Seymour High School does on this wiki.

seymourhigh.wikispaces.com/track - Preview

education pe physicaleducation sports coaching

17 Nov 09

UK Team is focusing on online comment defamation

While this article starts out about a lawfirm in Birmingham UK that is going to "track down people who make anonymous comments about companies online" it becomes an amazingly poignant article on the very nature of the Internet today and the push pull between anonymous commenting and accountability of the commenter. Push pull between free speech and online identity and brand protection.

One person in this article claims that this sort of thing is the sign that the "wild west" of the INternet is coming to an end. Oh dear, I hope someone invents a new one if somehow anonymous commenters are now going to risk such!

Also love the article's discussion of the Streisand effect wherein Barbara protested the sharing of some photos of her eroding beachfront which caused a stir and more people looking at the photos than if she had left it alone.

This article is going to be a must read for Flat Classroom students and would be great for college-level discussions as well.

www.birminghampost.net/...ment-defamation-65233-25030203 - Preview

education digitalcitizenship edu_news govt_business web2.0 worldonline www_world prediction

a new team to track down people who make anonymous comments about companies online.
a new team to track down people who make anonymous comments about companies online.
16 more annotations...
- a new team to track down people who make anonymous comments about companies online.
- a rising problem with people making anonymous statements that defamed companies, and people sharing confidential information online.
- the new team would ensure there was “nowhere to hide in cyberspace”.
- the numbers of disgruntled employees looking to get their own back on employers or former employers was also on the rise.
- rogue employees
  - Uhm, how about rogue companies? - on 2009-11-17
  Add Sticky Note
- trying to get Internet Service Providers to give out details of customers who had made comments online
- shares in American firm United Airlines fell by 99 per cent in just 15 minutes after an outdated story that the firm had filed for bankruptcy was forced back onto the headlines.
- a story from six years earlier about United Airlines going bankrupt was voted up on a newspaper website. This was later picked up by Google News and eventually the Bloomberg news wire, which published it automatically as if it were a news story.
  - Could this be considered the new "insider trading" - hmmm. Surely there are issues if it is done maliciously but isn't there a line here? - on 2009-11-17
  Add Sticky Note
- could stifle free speech, and the ability of people to act as whistle-blowers to expose actions by their employers.
- an outlet for anonymous reporting.
  - Is it possible to have accountability AND anonymity? Must these be mutually exclusive? - on 2009-11-17
  Add Sticky Note
- This is known as the ‘Streisand effect’ online, after a case where singer Barbara Streisand tried to suppress photos of her California beachside home from a publicly-available archive of photos taken to document coastal erosion.
- Nightjack. This was the guy who was blogging on the front line about police work and he was forced to stop this story because he was unmasked by The Times
- If you allow a lot of anonymous debate by people who are not regulated, you can get it descending to the common denominator. If you allow people to register with an identity, even if it’s not their real one, you bring the level of debate up.”
- There was one case a couple of years ago that we just keep referring back to where a defamatory comment was made and it wasn’t taken down for a period of time. Because of that the host of the website was held to be liable.”
- the ‘Wild West’ era of the internet was in some ways coming to an end, with firms starting to crack down
- I think companies are still grappling with whether it’s better to take it on the chin and hope people don’t see the comments, or on the other hand cracking down on everything that’s particularly damaging that’s said online. Maybe this is set to change.”

Corporate law firm targets whistle-blowers and anonymous commenters - Boing Boing

www.boingboing.net/...corporate-law-firm-t.html - Preview

easily offended corporate giants track down and sue anonymous Internet forum posters
will also target whistle-blowers. They specialize in figuring out how to get ISPs to turn over their subscribers' personal information.
1 more annotations...
- One growth area is identifying individuals involved in leaking confidential information, such as client or financial details, to competitor companies.

Legal Experts on How Murdoch's Threats May Impact "Fair Use" Doctrine | BNET Media Blog | BNET

Excellent overview of Rupert Murdoch's taking on of Google and that they should not index his sites, even though he can easily opt out of indexing, that they are somehow demonetizing his work by searching since he wants to "reduce his audience to those who will pay" not "increase his audience." This is a fascinating read and case study for those following Fair Use.

industry.bnet.com/...s-may-impact-fair-use-doctrine - Preview

education law edu_news

Media industry titan Rupert Murdoch’s explicit threats this week to block Google from searching his content sites, and to sue the BBC for its use of content he says is “stolen” from his sites got me to wondering whether the head of News Corp. has, in fact, any basis in the law for launching these calculated attacks at this time and in this manner.
Murdoch perhaps does have at least a narrow legal perch to stand on.
10 more annotations...
- four factors in determining whether the reproduction of any copyrighted work qualifies as Fair Use
- is for nonprofit educational purposes;
- the effect of the use upon the potential market for or value of the copyrighted work.
- he says he is re-tuning his business model around monetizing his content.
- he is not trying to grow his audience any longer, he says.
- he’s trying to shrink his audience back to the people who will pay for his content
- Therefore Google’s caching of his content would make it free even as he’s trying to charge for it
  - So basically, Google is taking something he wants to charge for and making it free. But my question is, if he wants to charge for it, shouldn't it be bedhind some sort of firewall or is it Google's job to see which sites it is allowed to index? Aren't there certain protocols that make the Net what it is? Certain standards? Isn't one of those the open indexing or crawling of unprotected sites? I'm not sure but hoping someone will respond. - on 2009-11-17
  Add Sticky Note
- Google allows Murdoch, or any publisher, to “opt out” of allowing its pages to be indexed?
- know how to use the Robots Exclusion Protocol
- he wants a closer relationship with Google.

What Makes Finnish Kids So Smart? - WSJ.com

online.wsj.com/...SB120425355065601997.html - Preview

A typical subject: Discuss the artistic value of graffiti.

dailymile | Vicki Davis is a runner from Camilla, GA

OK, so as many of you who follow me on Twitter know, I took up running for my 40th birthday and now, lo and behold - what is wrong with me? -- I LOVE IT! So, many of you have suggested that I join you on daily mile and I invite any of you to come and join me!! Would love to see you on daily mile so we can encourage each other - it is really a cool site for anyone who wants to try to work out whether you run, walk, or just lift the book off the shelf a few times! So, join me! ;-)

I'm going to encourage my students to join!

www.dailymile.com/...coolcatteacher - Preview

education fitness athletics

13 Nov 09

Citizen Journalism: when the audience becomes the reporter

Citizen journalism begins to get mainstream recognition. You never know who the best reporter in the crowd is - -it might just be the person without a press pass!

www.theontarion.ca/viewarticle.php - Preview

education citizenjournalism

Citizen journalism made headlines two weeks ago when arguably the best-known Canadian example of the craft was honoured. On Oct. 27, Canadian Journalists for Freedom of Expression honored British Columbia native Paul Pritchard with a citizen journalism award for videotaping RCMP officers tasering to death Robert Dziekanski at Vancouver International Airport. The footage was eventually released to major media outlets and an investigation into the RCMP ensued.

iPhone Apps Take Root as Cottage Industry - WSJ.com

Wall Street Journal reports how the Bay Area is experiencing some positive vibes from iPhone app development. Wonder if the next wave is the app boom?

online.wsj.com/...SB125796886127143907.html - Preview

education learning trends

10 ways to become an inspirational teacher - Articles - Educational Technology - ICT in Education

I would add "LOve your students." Students can see if you care!

www.ictineducation.org/...-an-inspirational-teacher.html - Preview

education learning

12 Nov 09

Magid: Treating kids on the Web in a new way - San Jose Mercury News

If you are working with technology in schools, educational Internet pioneer Larry Magid's new article in the San Jose Mercury News is a MUST READ. Excellent

www.mercurynews.com/...ci_13723472 - Preview

education digiteen digital_responsibilities digital_safety customization collaboration

a watershed moment in the 16-year history of online safety education.
in that young people were viewed less as potential victims of online crimes and more as participants in a global online community.
8 more annotations...
- the "predator panic" that was rampant a few years ago has largely been put to rest as safety experts and law enforcement studies from the Crimes Against Children Research Center and elsewhere show that, statistically, the odds of a prepubescent child being sexually molested by an
- online stranger is virtually zero and the odds of it happening to a teenager are very low, especially when compared with children who are harmed by family members and others they know from the real world.
- the culprit is far more likely to be a fellow young person.
- Kids are affected by their own behavior ranging from posting pictures or comments online that could come to haunt them later to "sexting," sending nude or nearly nude pictures of themselves to others.
- a few misguided ones have used these laws against children.
- others continue to perpetuate myths about Internet dangers.
- "one size doesn't fit all.
- There was a lot of discussion about the lack of interactive social media in schools.

Sip to Support Schools - Jamba's School Appreciation Card

If you're looking for ways to raise money for your PTA, just got this in from the national USA PTA - a way to make 10% for those of you who have access to jamba juice this might be a good deal.

Here is an excerpt of the press release:

"Kicking off during National PTA’s Healthy Lifestyles Month, the partnership builds upon Jamba’s longtime commitment to supporting local schools through fundraising efforts at the store level and furthers National PTA’s mission to increase family engagement in their children’s school by providing additional funding for local PTA’s to create and execute programs that promote physical activity and encourage healthier eating. Launching the partnership, Jamba has created a School Appreciation swipe card that offers 12% give-backs on all sales (10% to Local PTA and 2% to National PTA). Local PTAs can simply visit: www.jambajuice.com/PTA to register for the swipe cards—then the fun-draising begins! Jamba Juice will also be announcing a PTA smoothie flavor later this year.

You can find video footage of the announcement as well as the press release here: http://multivu.prnewswire.com/mnr/jambajuice/41115/"

www.jambajuice.com/PTA - Preview

education fundraising pta