Group items tagged

In addition to bugging, we now need to think about geolocation. There are advantages and disadvantages to having a phone with geolocation. For example, it's helpful to traffic studies to be able to access data about people on the road during certain times. Geolocation contributes to accuracy of some gps mapping systems. When I first got my DROID, I had google lattitude turned on. I was going through a divorce and realized I probably didn't need to be stalked like that. (I was also testing foursquare at the time, and deleted that account.) However, I've used google latitude in a good way. If I go out on a date with someone I meed online, I can turn on latitude and my friends can track where I am. (I tell the date!)

Date rape stats: http://web.mit.edu/stop/www/statistics.htm

Nothing is private. I actually made a huge mistake last week. I was testing to see if we could import the content of one of our courses from one site to another. The course site is set to private right now, and we've had guest presenters visit the class. The new site was public. I imported the content and it worked so I forgot about it. I got an email from one of the guests upset that I had put his content in a public place without telling him. He was rightfully upset. However, I started thinking about how any of the students could have cut and pasted his content or gotten screenshots of it and put it out there.

I hear that one loud and clear Jen!

That gives me a lot of food for thought. While I escape into my virtual world it is not NOT, like second life. I simply go web surfing and find things that need researching when reality becomes so bad, I simply need to get away. I do not have to buy an island or new virtual clothes. I simply have to apply the skills I learned in the university on research, only through a computer rather than a library. That article has me worried for our children. I want more like this to balance what we know on the positive side.

Regarding Turkle's recent article... Back in 1909 the British author, E.M. Forster wrote a short novel called The Machine Stops. The story is quite extraordinary in its early description of the Internet (called the Machine), and a global society that has migrated to to it while the natural world is neglected. Here are some short excerpts... Imagine, if you can, a small room, hexagonal in shape, like the cell of a bee. It is lighted neither by window nor by lamp, yet it is filled with a soft radiance. There are no apertures for ventilation, yet the air is fresh. There are no musical instruments, and yet, at the moment that my meditation opens, this room is throbbing with melodious sounds. An armchair is in the centre, by its side a reading-desk-that is all the furniture. And in the armchair there sits a swaddled lump of flesh-a woman, about five feet high, with a face as white as a fungus. It is to her that the little room belongs. ... it was fully fifteen seconds before the round plate that she held in her hands began to glow. A faint blue light shot across it, darkening to purple, and presently she could see the image of her son, who lived on the other side of the earth, and he could see her. ... She made the room dark and slept; she awoke and made the room light; she ate and exchanged ideas with her friends, and listened to music and attended lectures; she made the room dark and slept. Above her, beneath her, and around her, the Machine hummed eternally; she did not notice the noise, for she had been born with it in her ears.

Totally relate to the "studio takes". I liked your beginning "hook" of having some introduction youtubes and the clear explanations of the tools and modules for your course and the idea of a "group" project was a wrap-up is an effective close.

Thanks for your comments Ann. I still made a mistake when I stated Elluminate was asychronous instead of synchronous...I was not going to do it over again! I keep doing takes for several hours until I liked the tone of my voice and was so tired it had to be a "wrap!" I chose Jing and and have Jing Pro which allows me to seamlessly upload to You Tube and make video. I hope to use this tool in class for short instructive videos per module. The student can reach me by email, Skype, Elluminate or by cell ( whihc I hope to discourage a bit). I want to make certain they feel I am there and connected to them at all times. During our next class meeting on the 22nd, I want to make a camcordering of the class and upload it to jing and make a You Tube video for us to review and enjoy. I hope your willing!