Social Network Sites: Public, Private, or What? : The Knowledge Tree
- Quote: Today’s teenagers are being socialised into a society complicated by shifts in the public and private. New social technologies have altered the underlying architecture of social interaction and information distribution. They are embracing this change, albeit often with the clumsy candour of an elephant in a china shop. Meanwhile, most adults are panicking. They do not understand the shifts that are taking place and, regardless, they don’t like what they’re seeing.
This leaves educators in a peculiar bind. More conservative educators view social technologies as a product of the devil, bound to do nothing but corrupt and destroy today’s youth. Utterly confused, the vast majority of educators are playing ostrich, burying their heads in the sand and hoping that the moral panics and chaos that surround the social technologies will just disappear. Slowly, a third group of educators are emerging – those who believe that it is essential to understand and embrace the new social technologies so as to guide youth through the murky waters that they present. This path is tricky because it requires educators to let go of their pre-existing assumptions about how the world works. Furthermore, as youth are far more adept at navigating the technologies through which these changes are taking place, educators must learn from their students in order to help them work through the challenges that they face.Note: This 7-page essay by danah boyd is a pretty good primer for those just coming to the “public and private is changing” conversation specifically as it relates to youth and to educators. I can’t tell you the looks I get when I suggest we embrace and teach social networking…
– post by willrich
- Note: An extensive list of flickr plugins and tools, everything from games to browser plugins to mobile phone applications to whatever else you might want.
– post by willrich