Archive for the ‘social networking’ Category
Posted by Marti Weston on May 14, 2012
Check out the May 13, 2012 post, Online Etiquette Lacking, Study Finds, over at the Techlicious blog.
Writer Christina DesMarais describes a study that identifies irritating digital world behaviors such as communicating at inappropriate times, sharing too much information, and highly negative commenting — all related to our increasing use of 21st Century social media.
This article is filled with digital world conversation starters that parents and teachers can use to begin discussions about ethics, privacy, and security.
Also, you can check out my related post, Conversations About Commenting.
Posted in 21st Century Learning, acceptable use, conversations on commenting, digital citizenship, electronic communication, interesting research, parents and technology, social media, social networking, teaching digital kids | Tagged: 21st century learning, digital kids, digital parenting, etiquette, Social media, social networking, Techlicious | Leave a Comment »
Posted by Marti Weston on April 6, 2012
The process of spell checking is a two-part endeavor, and it’s an important digital world lesson for everyone — kids and adults — to master.
Part one features the work of the computer or website, as the spell check program goes to work. But after the digital spell check process a bigger responsibility lies ahead.
Each time a person writes and rewrites, he or she must spell check the spell checker — an important 21st Century skill. And while a commitment to differentiated instruction requires teachers and parents to recognize that some writers will be better at this second step than others, all students need to understand that the digital editing process cannot identify every mistake.
This poem always makes the point effectively with my students. Use it as a great conversation piece (and also to review homonyms) — over 2012 Easter and Passover dinner tables or any other time.
And if you put the words of this poem into Google search, you’ll discover that there are many other versions.
Human Brain Not Yet Obsolete
I have a spelling checker.
It came with my PC:
Posted in 21st Century Learning, digital devices and gadgets, parents and technology, social networking, when kids make mistakes, when to give children email | Tagged: digital kids, digital parenting, editing, family conversations, spell check, spell checker, writing | 2 Comments »
Posted by Marti Weston on January 25, 2012
Politico, a Washington weekly newspaper that meticulously covers all things political, published this nifty Twitter graphic illustrating the tweeting environment during 2012 State of the Union (SOTU) speech. The data collection begins around 9:05 and continues until 10:40 eastern time. President Obama entered the chamber around 9:05 and and the Republican response ended around 10:40.
The infographic includes a huge amount of data, illustrating the times (and issues), when the frequency of #SOTU tweets went up, and other hashtag (#) topics that people included in their tweets.
Twitter’s infographic illustrates an enormous amount of social networking activity. Use it as a classroom or dinner table conversation topic. providing a glimpse into real-time civics and history.
Posted in digital parenting, electronic communication, family conversations, parents and technology, social media, social networking, teaching digital kids | Tagged: civics, digital parenting, digital world, Social media, SOTU, State of the Union address, Twitter | Leave a Comment »
Posted by Marti Weston on December 22, 2011
Common Sense Media recently posted Six Ways to be a Media Savvy Parent in 2012. The December 2011 report suggests all sorts of ideas that can help parents (and other adults) develop stronger media (and media literacy) skills.
Suggestions include downloading a game to play with the kids, trying out a social media site, investigating YouTube, and much more. Some these can ideas will provide great fun for kids and parents over the holiday vacation.
Visit Common Sense Media and try out some of these features.
Thanks to my colleague and friend Renee Hawkins for spotting a good media post (one that I had missed). Renee blogs with another friend and colleague, Susan Davis, at The Flying Trapeze.
Posted in answers to media questions, digital parenting, media literacy, parents and technology, social media, social networking | Tagged: Common Sense Media, digital kids, digital parenting, Flying Trapeze blog, media literacy, social networking | Leave a Comment »
Posted by Marti Weston on December 15, 2011
If you or your children or your aging parents are active Facebook users, take a look at these articles and continue to follow the news on the just introduced Timeline feature. Looks like, despite setting our privacy controls, that our information will be widely shared. We may have some decisions to make.
What to do? Google + is looking awfully good right now. Still, I’ve deleted a few things and set up my timeline.
Read these Articles (I’ll add others as I read them.)
Posted in digital citizenship, digital footprints, digital parenting, online learning, parents and technology, social media, social media friends, social networking, teens and technology | Tagged: Facebook, friends, history, personal history, privacy, Social media, tags, Timeline | 2 Comments »
Posted by Marti Weston on December 10, 2011
Pew infographic. Click and view larger version of this image.
Take a few minutes to read at least the main points of the November 2011 report on teens and social networking, published in November 2011 by the Pew Internet and American Life Project. The executive summary is a fairly quick read.
During the spring and summer of 2011 researchers made calls to 799 teens between the ages of 12 and 17, and they also spoke with a parent or guardian of each adolescent. Interestingly, a large number of the teens surveyed reported that their parents and teachers provided them with the best and most helpful advice on digital citizenship issues and other virtual concerns. The media were the third most significant influence.
Browse all of the infographics from this Pew Internet report.
A Few Other Interesting Points
Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in digital parenting, family conversations, media literacy, parents and technology, social media, social networking, teens and technology | Tagged: digital parenting, Pew Internet, Pew Internet and American Life Project, Social media, social networking, teens | 1 Comment »
Posted by Marti Weston on November 26, 2011
Check out this article about social media at Wikipedia.
If you wonder about the still-new world of social media, and are continually amazed when a few comments on a social media site affect prompt change (whether it’s a political movement, corporate policy, or an unsatisfied customer quieted down) this New York Times article, Redefining Public Relations in the Age of Social Media, provides helpful background. The article, by Stuart Elliott, describes the evolutionary and revolutionary changes in the digital public relations world.
A Few Interesting Thoughts from the Article
- Internet and social media like blogs, Facebook, and Twitter are transforming the relation between those of us in the general public and the people communicating with us. It’s no longer top down communication. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in digital parenting, parents and technology, social media, social media friends, social networking | Tagged: digital parenting, public relations, redefining public realtions, Social media, Stuart Elliott, Wikipedia | 3 Comments »
Posted by Marti Weston on November 17, 2011
Check out the full report at http://bit.ly/vNhmnw
The Pew Internet and American Life Project recently published new social media data, this time asking why American adults use social networks.
From my point of view, keeping in touch with people is a grand old American tradition, as traditional as apple pie. Over the years whether it’s over the backyard fence, via snail mail letter, postcard, telephone, or e-mail, Americans like to connect and communicate.
Interestingly, according to this new Pew data, adults become involved with social media — Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin and others — because of the ease of keeping in touch. People use a social medium if it makes communicating with friends and family easy and fun.
Moreover, users like that social media now offers faster and faster ways to reconnect with the people from the past — something that was far more difficult in the “olden days.”
Posted in parents and technology, research on the web, social media, social media friends, social networking | Tagged: adults, Americans, communicating, Pew Internet, Social media, social networking | 1 Comment »
The process of spell checking is a two-part endeavor, and it’s an important digital world lesson for everyone — kids and adults — to master.
Online Etiquette Not the Greatest
Posted by Marti Weston on May 14, 2012
Writer Christina DesMarais describes a study that identifies irritating digital world behaviors such as communicating at inappropriate times, sharing too much information, and highly negative commenting — all related to our increasing use of 21st Century social media.
This article is filled with digital world conversation starters that parents and teachers can use to begin discussions about ethics, privacy, and security.
Also, you can check out my related post, Conversations About Commenting.
Posted in 21st Century Learning, acceptable use, conversations on commenting, digital citizenship, electronic communication, interesting research, parents and technology, social media, social networking, teaching digital kids | Tagged: 21st century learning, digital kids, digital parenting, etiquette, Social media, social networking, Techlicious | Leave a Comment »