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Based on US situation but still applicable to Australian situation. "Despite the increasing emphasis on technology as a learning tool in the classroom, many school districts still aggressively filter the Internet that teachers and students can access. While the federal Children's Internet Protection Act (CIPA) requires that schools filter for pornographic images, many districts are over-filtering, blocking sites that can be used positively for education. There are a lot of myths about how tight these required filters must be."

"I've been reading snippets of Eli Pariser's book, The Filter Bubble: What the Internet Is Hiding From You. He leads off the book with a discussion of the effect of Google's "personalization" feature on the ranking of search results. This feature uses 54 signals (what browser version you're using, your prior searches, geographic location, and so on) to customize search results for each user. Pariser was concerned about this and tested it by asking two friends to run the same search at the same time and comparing the results. He found that the results were disturbingly different, and concluded that search engines are "increasingly biased to share our own views. More and more, your computer monitor is a kind of one-way mirror, reflecting your own interests while algorithmic observers watch what you click.""

"As web companies strive to tailor their services (including news and search results) to our personal tastes, there's a dangerous unintended consequence: We get trapped in a "filter bubble" and don't get exposed to information that could challenge or broaden our worldview. Eli Pariser argues powerfully that this will ultimately prove to be bad for us and bad for democracy."

"Online Photo Editing Made Simple & Powerful" Some fantastic effects, filters and tools, available online, on iOS & Android

via @eduTecher

Student blogging is not a project, but a process. We are continuously striving to refine, improve and re-evaluate. As I am meeting with teachers individually, I can't stress enough the importance of READING other blogs (professional, student, blogs about your hobby, blogs about other interests you have etc.). I am trying to filter and funnel quality blogs in education, their grade level and  areas of interest to them as I come across them, so they can build a quality RSS Reader. BUT.. we need their help in having a basic understanding of blogs, its pedagogical uses, as a platform of a new writing genre (digital writing) and how our blogfolios fit into your curriculum and the BIG PICTURE of LEARNING. The blogfolios are not a platform to use only for a particular subject, but should give evidence of learning for each student.

"After watching surgeons perform these experiments, it is chilling to watch the Google Glass promotional video showing a cyclist riding between cars in heavy New York City traffic, while being bombarded with head-up navigational data. Our attention is a resource that is extremely limited in supply and instinctively overestimated. Inevitably - as with mobile phone use while driving - accidents will occur and we will be left to legislate use after a string of tragedies. The biggest challenge with Google Glass and similar devices is us. When we divert our gaze to our smart phones, we do so consciously and alter our thoughts and actions, hopefully in a safe way, to compensate. If information is to be projected directly in front of your eyes, it needs to be filtered to avoid accidents."

"How will mobile phone technology such as Google Glass - the wearable gadget that searches for whatever we look at - and social networks like Facebook and Twitter influence our searches? Should we be concerned that sensitive personal information is being filtered through a small number of companies?"

The popularity of blogging and the incredible flood of content that came with it led to a new need, with services such as Twitter allowing people to filter information and share links that might not be so easily discoverable with search engines. In the past couple of years we have seen the rise of the 'curator' and an increase in the popularity of tools that allow people to collate links.

A Twitter pics search engine, Twicsy provides a handy 'in the last hour' search filter. You can even use pre-set widgets to access images from specific user accounts in real-time.

YouTube first introduced its editing tool for YouTube video around this time last year, and now editing videos on YouTube is even easier. Thursday, the company rolled out an updated and simplified interface for editing clips. The editor now has a quick-view for all of the available filters, and as you're editing your video you can check out a real-time interactive preview of any enhancements you've made.

"Google is making image search more convenient for those who are seeking pictures to use in their publications - it is letting you sort images by licensing rights under 'Search Tools.'"

This online tool is like a free Photoshop. it is also less complicated to use and so good for younger users. It has intuitive editing control panels that allow the user to do simple things such as using filters, creating effects, cropping and resizing photos. It is also very easy easy to undo anything that does not turn out as well as expected. If  a project requires a more sophisticated treatment, it also has layers that, like Photoshop, allow a user to create very professional final products. It is also easy to upload projects to Facebook, Twitter and other social networks. 

"Edit audio anywhere Copy. Snip. Pan. Record. Flexibly fade volume with envelopes. Apply and move effects (filters, compression, etc.) amongst tracks. And more."

I noticed a twit from Kim Cofino re: her setting up linked Gmail accounts from one account. This made me wonder how this was done. I'm not sure if this is what she meant, but if you follow this Jingcast, you will see how you can set up multiple student email address which can all be handled and filtered through one Gmail account.

Curate and Data Mine the Real Time Web with DataSift. Aggregate, filter, record, and analyse real-time data from a variety of social sources using Curation Stream Definition Language (CSDL). Particularly relevant to sorting Twitter data by allowing you to aggregate value with sentiment, authority thereby making Twitter data more useful and searchable.

"The AllSides Mission: Free people from filter bubbles so they can better understand the world - and each other."

Removing risky viruses, Trojans, Malware & Worms, Pop-Up. Able to block all spyware & ad-ware. Ability to make-available security for disk-space. Down to business uncovering identify unknown malware. Filtering out wicked links and unsuitable content. Anti-Spam, Protection of solitude, prevent…

DuckDuckGo illustrated guide is useful for class and staffroom discussion. Run some of the tests with your students and compare results - from home and from school, and from different search engines.