Derek E. Baird :: Barking Robot

2009 Qwest Foundation Learning Technologies Grant

Derek Baird — Tue, 18 Nov 2008 19:03:04 PST

Washington State K-12 educators are invited to apply for a 2009 Qwest Foundation Learning Technologies grant. This grant application is the first step in a competitive process that will award $10,000 grants to individual public school teachers or teacher teams.

These grants reward learning projects that integrate technology into standards-based curricula. The grant is managed by Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction (OSPI) Educational Technology unit.

Completed grant applications are due at OSPI no later than 3:00 p.m., Wednesday, January 21, 2009. For more information or to download the application materials, click here.

Thanks to Julia Fallon for the scoop!

RIAA to Tennessee Schools: Show Us the Money

Derek Baird — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 12:38:13 PST

Wired Magazine is reporting that the State of Tennessee, despite huge budget shortfalls in their public university system, will spend over 9 million dollars of public money to help the RIAA fight music piracy.

"Combating music piracy at Tennessee's public university system is more important than hiring teachers and keeping down tuition costs. Just-signed legislation requires the 222,000-student system to spend an estimated $9.5 million (.pdf) for file sharing "monitoring software," "monitoring hardware" and an additional "recurring cost of $1,575,000 for 21 staff positions and benefits (@75,000 each) to monitor network traffic" of its students...

The law, similar versions of which the Recording Industry Association of America wants throughout the United States, comes as the Tennessee public university system is increasing tuition, laying off teachers and leaving unfilled vacant instructor positions to battle a $43.7 million shortfall."

Earlier this year a UK survey conducted at the University Of Hertfordshire that looked at the music consumption behavior of young people (aged 14-24) found that 63% of students admitted that they download music using P2P file-sharing networks. However, the study also found that:

The CD is not dead. Even if a legal file-sharing service existed, over 60% say they would continue to buy CDs;

80% of current P2P users would be interested in a legal file-sharing service - and they would pay for it too;

Money spent on live music exceeds that spent on recorded music.

What I find most appalling about this story is that the State of Tennessee is using public money that should be used for faculty, scholarships and other education related expenses to support the bottom line of the music industry. According to Wired Magazine "Using conservative estimates, the piracy measure is equal to the price of about 100 Tennessee professors' wages and benefits."

If the RIAA wants to go after students who download music, they should pay for it--not the people of Tennessee. The RIAA has been suing students for almost 10 years and by and large the strategy has not worked.

The Internet is not going away. It's time for the music industry and RIAA to figure out a way to work with consumers, especially college students, instead of against them.

Related Resources

CyberSurvey: What Kids, Parents and Teachers Are Doing Online

Derek Baird — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 10:19:02 PST

In the spring of 2007 The Cyber Safety and Ethics Initiative (CSEI) and the Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT) initiated the world’s largest cyber research project, which by January of 2008 involved surveying 40,000+ K-12th grade students along with hundreds of parents and teachers.

Here are some of the key findings among students, parents and educators:

Key student findings:

Children have unsupervised access to a computer and the internet at home as early as age 5, and that by age 7, 15% report that someone was mean to them online, while 7% admit they have been mean to someone online;

Contrary to public perception, the majority of cyber offenses involving children, t/weens, teens and young adults are perpetuated by their peers, not strangers;

The onset of cyber bullying beginning in the second grade and it’s not always the adult predator. Reports show that 45% of the cases are friends victimizing friends.

23.2% admit to lying about their age online;

1 in 4 children between the ages 9-18 report that they have been victimized online by one or more forms of abuse within the past school year that was not reported to a grown up.

Key parent survey findings:

90% of surveyed parents report supervising the home computing activities of their children;

14% report they have caught their children visiting inappropriate websites;

61% parents report that their children access the web from a private place in the home;

A majority of parents report that their children use the web to do research for school (78%), play video games (61%) and listening to music or watching movies (50%);

Key Teacher Survey Findings:

Teachers report that they feel confident that their schools are well prepared to use technology to facilitate student learning;

However, few teachers feel prepared or feel they are prepared to teach students about Internet safety, social computing ethics or digital literacy;

Teachers report that there is a lack of or inconsistent professional development and/or training on information security, social computing and web safety;

Educators are divided on the issue of using technology in the classroom and whether or not students know more about information technology than they do.

Overall, it looks like parents are doing a good job of keeping an eye on their kids and what they are doing on the Internet. That said, most safety experts recommend that kids use the computer and surf the web from public areas of their home.

While the good news is that the stereotype of the Dateline NBC-esque sexual predator is far from reality, the bad news is that students are being bullied online by their peers. This is a topic that should be addressed both at school by teachers and at home by parents.

In summer 2008, as part of the Yahoo! Teachers Tour, I had the opportunity with my colleague Karon Weber to lead workshops across the country and teach educators how to use web and social computing technologies in their classroom. Time and time again we heard from teachers that this was exactly the type of professional development that was sorely needed.

Moreover, they reported that they were lacking hands-on, practical training on how web and social computing can be used in the classroom to prepare educators for the influx of digital learners filling their classrooms.

You can review the entire findings of the RIT CyberSafety report, including results broken down by grade level, by clicking here (pdf).

Related Resources

Truth and Consequences: Teens, Naked Photos & Mobile Phones

Derek Baird — Tue, 25 Nov 2008 12:24:00 PST

Anyone involved with Gen Y knows three things: they love their mobile phones, they are hyper-connected and they have no reservations about broadcasting their life across the social web. Very often they are lifestreaming without thinking about the consequences of their actions.

Take, for example, the mobile phone. They text, play games, take photos and oh yeah--they also occasionally use them to make a phone call. However, a recent investigative report by Emmett Miller and KTLA News found "a growing number of teens are messaging naked photos of themselves to their friends. Not only could it ruin their reputation, but it could land them in legal trouble."

One girl talked about how a guy at her school had a fight with his girlfriend and, in an act of revenge, blasted out nude photos he had taken of her to their classmates. The photos were forwarded on to more and more students, effectively making life at the high school unbearable to the point that she had to change schools.

Another student, commenting on the trend, said:

“I know in my high school that there was a a girl who took naked photos of herself and it went all through our school and it ruined her, 'cause everyone looks at her like a slut.”

But there are serious consequences beyond just being embarrassed or having to change schools. In his report, Miller interviews Detective Dan Morgan from the LA County Sheriff's Department who talked about the LEGAL implications:

"The detective says anytime a photograph is taken of a minor, a person under the age of eighteen, of their genital area involved in a simulated or an actual sex act, it is against the law, and considered child pornography. Detective Morgan says pictures and video clips of teens involved in sexual situations are becoming more and more frequent.

He believes the cases are under-reported, but has still dealt with quite a few of them. Sometimes the cases involve teens who have sent pictures or video to other teens, but other times it's adults who are enticing teens to take photos of sexual situations. And that is where the law is clear. "

Most teens interviewed for this report had no idea that there were legal implications for sending or forwarding nude photos via mobile phone or the Internet. In fact, while most told Emmett that they "would only send nude photo's to their friends," they were completely oblivious that their friends might pass these photos along to other people.

This is an important topic that both parents and school officials should be talking about with teens. The stakes are even higher for a high school student who turns 18 and forwards a nude photograph of a boyfriend/girlfriend who is still a minor.

By doing so, they risk being charged for distribution of child pornography. Not to mention, if they are convicted, they face the loss of attending college, scholarships, and employment opportunities.

The important thing is for parents and school officials not to overreact. Banning mobile phones won't make these types of incidents go away. Teens will simply use another phone. Or have a friend take the pictures for them. The best approach is to sit down with your kids and calmly discuss the appropriate ways to use technology.

Think about it. You don't hand your kids the keys to the car without having them first go through a drivers education program where they learn the rules of the road. So why do we just hand them a mobile phone, computer or, for that matter, a social networking site and expect them to understand what behavior is and isn't acceptable?

As adults we need to also sit them down and outline how their so-called "personal information" can be sold to data brokers or passed around school by friends. We need to educate them on the consequences of lifestreaming and sharing too much information may have on their future.

Most importantly, we need to educate them that just because they delete that photo on their mobile phone doesn't mean that it isn't archived somewhere. Forever. After all, when it comes to the social web, your privacy is an illusion.

You can watch a video of Emmett Miller's entire report, The Naked Truth of a New Cell Phone Trend, by clicking here.

Related Resources

Demographic Research on Texters: Young, Multicultural and Ready to Spend

Derek Baird — Tue, 25 Nov 2008 13:24:14 PST

A new report from Scarborough Research found that El Paso, Texas is the top texting city in America with 57% of adults reporting that they use the texting feature on their mobile phone. In comparison, the national average of adults who text is 48%.

Rounding out the top five texting cities are Salt Lake City (UT), Dallas (TX), Memphis (TN), and Cincinatti (OH).

What makes these cities so text-centric? The study found that among adults who use texting features on their mobile phone, 49% are more likely to be young (18-24), 14% more likely to be Hispanic and 24% more likely to be African-American.

According to Scarborough, the youthful, multicultural texting demographics are a likely reason why El Paso, Salt Lake City, Dallas and Memphis are the top text messaging markets. Moreover, Salt Lake and El Paso lead the nation in 18-24 year olds.

Other key findings of Texters:

They use a wide variety of phone features - such as picture messaging, streaming video and email -at a rate higher than that of the average cell user;

Best Buy is their preferred retailer for audio-video purchases: 39% of Texters live in a household that shopped at Best Buy during the past year vs. 27% of all consumers nationally. Target (20%) and Wal-Mart (35%) are other important stores for Texter tech purchases;

One-fifth (20%) of Texters spend more than $1,000 online annually, vs, 17% of all cellular users;

Web-based services are a core part of their daily lives, from household tasks (such as bill paying) to entertainment (such as downloading movies or TV programs) to interaction (such as blogging and downloading a wide variety of content);

They are 46% more likely than all cellular subscribers to typically spend $150 or more on cellular service monthly and are 12% more likely to plan to switch services;

On average, they spend $87 on their monthly cellular bill. In contrast, all cellular subscribers spend an average of $75 monthly. This demographic are the highest spenders on cellular services.

One common stereotype is that Gen Y are too wired to leave their computer screen or video games to participate in other activities. While they are wired and hyper-connected, due to the ubiquity of the mobile phone and the mobile web, they are able to remain on the go and wired.

Scarborough Research found that:

Texters are active, on-the-go consumers. They are 37% more likely than all cellular subscribers to have played basketball (as a leisure activity) during the past year; 29% more likely to have gone jogging/running; 29% more likely to have played tennis, and 23% more likely to have practiced yoga;

Texters are 12% more likely to have attended a professional sports event, and 57% more likely to have gone to an R&B, rap or hip-hop concert during the past year.

If you're interested in the mobile boom (and you should be!), be sure to check out Mobile Persuasion by my friend, Dr. BJ Fogg. This is a must read for anyone involved with digital media and education technology. BJ also is the founder of the Stanford University Persuasive Technology Lab.

You can see the Scarborough Research report, by clicking here (pdf).

Related Resources

Join Xerox and Support the Troops Overseas

Derek Baird — Tue, 25 Nov 2008 14:43:24 PST

Let's Say Thanks is a cool pro-social project from the folks over at Xerox that allows you to easily create and send a thank you note to the troops stationed overseas. Pretty slick.

This would be a good activity for the kids to work on while the rest of the adults fix Thanksgiving dinner!

Instant Messaging: The Secret Language of Teens

Derek Baird — Sun, 30 Nov 2008 16:23:15 PST

"Instant Messaging is a constant silent communique among kids about their feelings about the world, a bit like a Greek chorus always commenting in the background while kids are living in the world."
-- Peter Lyman

Related Resources

Youth Vote 2008: How Obama Hooked Gen Y

Derek Baird — Mon, 01 Dec 2008 16:20:30 PST

Since the election, there has been lots of attention focused on how the Obama campaign was able to leverage many types of new and social media to engage Gen Y to get out and vote.

At the 2008 Ypulse Youth Marketing Mashup East, held at Boston College just days after the election, several of the panelists talked about Obama's use of social media. Some of the most interesting and detailed election research at the conference was presented by Dan Coates, co-founder of SurveyU.

Dan's presentation, What Every Brand Could Learn from The Obama Campaign's Marketing to College Students, outlined some of the key demographic and media consumption trends among college students that the Obama campaign leveraged to get youth more involved in the political process. Dan also explained how marketers (or educators!) can use these same strategies to engage with this increasingly influential generation.

In this video, taken at a Harvard Kennedy School Institute of Politics panel, YES We Can producer Wes Hill and The Nation's Ari Melber discuss Youth, Politics, and Civic Engagement in the 2008 election year.

Also worth noting, and somewhat lost in the post-election euphoria, is the election of Aaron Schock (R-Illinois) to the U.S. House of Representatives. Congressman-elect Schock is the first member of Congress born in the 1980s and he will be the first millennial to serve in Congress.

Related Resources

Mind the Gap: American Teens Falling into the Digital Divide

Derek Baird — Tue, 02 Dec 2008 09:25:37 PST

The Center for the Digital Future has released the results their international survey of 25,000 people in Asia, Australia, North and South America and Europe on Internet usage.

Among 18-24 year olds, the top countries with Internet usage:

100% of British youth
98% of Israeli
Czech Republic and Macao at 96%
Canada at 95%

By contrast, only 88% of American teens of the same age had access, trailed by Hungary and Singapore, where more than seven in 10 young people use the Internet.

The big takeaway? According to the study:

"Fewer young Americans have Internet access than their peers in the Czech Republic, Canada, Macao and Britain, a survey of 13 countries around the world showed."

While we talk a lot about youth being wired and connected to technology, the reality is that there are also a lot of teens who can't afford computers, mobile phones/devices or Internet access.

For the last five years I've volunteered with a youth organization in San Diego. We've maintained a website, blog, Flickr and Facebook page for the last four years. At a recent awards dinner for the teens, one of the leaders mentioned that they would post the photos from the dinner on Flickr and our website. One of the kids raised his hand and asked, "What if we don't have a computer?"

During a quick survey of the 100 youth attending the banquet, we were shocked to find that only a couple had mobile phones, even less had access to a computer and/or Internet access at home. And while they had access at school, most reported that school computers blocked and filtered so much content, it made it an exercise in frustration.

We had been working on the assumption that because they are teens, they are "wired." The reality is, while they wanted to be totally wired, their economic status prevented them from fully participating in the information and social web revolution.

While I was at Yahoo! working on the youth and education project, I had the opportunity to collaborate with school districts both large and small. Time and time again, I heard from school administrators that their students (and many teachers for that matter) didn't have access to a computer and/or web access from home.

So while we talk about all the really great ways that technology can support learning, get youth involved in the political process or how Gen Y is totally wired, it's important to remember that there are still big chunks of this generation who are unable to participate in the shared experiences taking place in Facebook, MySpace and other virtual environments.

In terms of the digital divide, we've made leaps and bounds, but there's still a long way to go.

Related Resources

Boy Collapses Playing World of Warcraft

Derek Baird — Tue, 02 Dec 2008 15:06:38 PST

The Local, an English language news site based in Sweden, reports that a 15-year old boy collapsed after playing World of Warcraft for nearly 20-hours. The boy's father, after seeing his son collapse and suffer a seizure, called and ambulance and the boy was rushed to the hospital.

The diagnosis?

According to doctors "the boy’s bodily systems had been thrown off by a combination of sleep deprivation, lack of food, and too long a stretch of concentrated game playing." The boy has since recovered and is doing well.

My question? Where were this boy's parents? 20 hours is a long time to do anything. This is an extraordinarily long time to play a video game. When he cracked the 6 or 12 hour mark, they should have made him stop and take a break.

When it comes to teens and technology, it's up to parents to sit down with their kids and set some boundaries. And I'm not just talking about video games. Or just teens.

Technology is wonderful and has made our lives better in so many ways. But it's important that we also strike a balance between our online and offline worlds.

So put down that Wii remote. And that Blackberry. Time to connect with your First Life.

Related Resources