Derek E. Baird :: Barking Robot

Twitter Cheat Sheet

Twitter Cheat Sheet

2010 Social Media Matters Report: Majority of Top Media Destinations Are Social

According to research conducted by BlogHer and iVillage “2010 Social Media Matters Study,” co-sponsored by The Nielsen Company and Ketchum, social sites are now a frequent destination for nearly three-quarters of Internet users.

Social Media Matters 2010

Respondents’ top daily media activities were social as well. Watching television is still on top, but Facebook was the next most common media destination visited every day.

The study found similar rates of usage among men and women, and pegged the percentage of weekly social media users at 73% of the online population.

via www.emarketer.com

Here are some of the other key findings in the 2010 Social Media Matters Study:

• Blogs trail only search engines as the preferred media source for product-purchasing information for BlogHer users.

• Among BlogHer users, 96 percent read blogs weekly or more often.

• BlogHer users are more active than average women across the board on blogs, Facebook, and Twitter.

• As for iVillage users, message boards and forums were second only to conversations with friends and family as the preferred source of product-purchasing information.

• 73 percent of respondents from the iVillage community said they share topics on message boards and forums that they would not share on social networks. Of those, relationships (61 percent), health (45 percent), and work-related issues (39 percent) were the top topics they would not share on social networks.

• 31% higher than the total online population for Gen X generation

• 3.6 percent of iVillage community members post on message boards or forums every day.

Related: Millennials, Men Watch Most Online TV

Global Youth: Africa is the Future

The youth and branding Africa

View more presentations from G. Kofi Annan. (@G. Kofi Annan)

This presentation looks at Africa not as a place, but as a brand and calls on African youth to make a change. With 60% of the population under 25, the role of young people in the developing a new Africa is immense.

Thanks to Three Billion for the heads up on this excellent presentation!

Admongo: FTC Launches Advertising Literacy Program for Kids, Parents & Teachers

Advertising to American kids is nothing new.

But the Internet and other technologies have taken kids’ exposure to advertising to new levels: ads are virtually everywhere.

 That's why the nation’s consumer protection agency has launched Admongo, a campaign to raise advertising literacy among the nation’s tweens. Admongo is designed to equip kids ages 8 to 12 with critical thinking skills they can use to understand advertising messages. 

Through Admongo.gov – a game-based website – as well as a free in-school curriculum, a packet of sample ads, and several family activities, the Admongo campaign aims to teach kids to recognize commercial messages and prompts them to ask some key questions when they see them. 

Check out Admongo.gov and help others get aducated!  Share the game, video, and other resources – like the curriculum and the sample ads. Admongo is free and in the public domain.

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Science | Media Literacy Lesson Plan

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Science (AMPAS), in cooperation with Young Minds Inspired, produces a series of teacher’s guides that explore the art and science of motion pictures.

The activities are designed to capitalize on students’ natural interest in current films and the excitement generated by the Academy Awards to teach valuable lessons in critical thinking and creative writing, and to develop visual literacy skills.

This lesson plan, Reading Between the Frames focuses on Media Literacy. The lesson contains four activities, a teacher guide and a handout in both English and Spanish.

Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences | Media Literacy Teacher Guide

Youth Strategy: Four Things the Oscars Can Do to Connect with Youth

The folks over at The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) made it pretty clear that 2010 was the year that they were going to pull out all the stops to try and woo younger viewers to watch the 2010 Oscars.

The 2010 Oscar youth strategy included a revamped and more social media friendly website, the inclusion of teen friendly stars like Miley Cyrus, Zac Effron and Taylor Lautner as presenters, two original Oscars web series (Behind the Dress & The Road to the Oscars), extra video features and live streaming of the Red Carpet arrivals.

And while the strategy paid off with a 14% boost to Oscar TV ratings among 18-49 year olds, I believe there are additional measures they can take to reach out to younger viewers. Big kudos to Adam Shankman (the youth guru and creative powerhouse behind 17 Again, The Last Song, Step Up and So You Think You Can Dance), producer of the Oscars, for creating a more youth friendly and inclusive show.

Adopt a 365 Strategy

Remember when you were a kid and how awkward it was when that relative showed up at Thanksgiving and you had no idea who the hell he was? That's how Millennials feel when their 82 year old "Uncle Oscar" shows up once a year and suddenly wants to be their BFF. It's creepy. Stop.

If the AMPAS wants to develop a long term relationship with younger generations and ensure the ongoing legacy of the Oscars, they need to build a relationship of trust and make their outreach efforts a year round event, not just on Oscar night.

If you want to use social media, you have to actually use it. There isn't any excuse for not leveraging your Facebook presence to stir up buzz before, during and after the Oscars telecast. And if you're going to use Twitter, you need to actually Tweet. You've just alienated 2,900 viewers by ignoring them and shown them that Uncle Oscar isn't that hip after all.

Your social media strategy, like your youth strategy, should be a year round endeavor. The worst thing you can do is set up outposts on the social web and then not use them.

Youth Outreach

The Academy has an amazing set of lesson plans and "how to" guides on all aspects of student filmmaking available on their website. The downside is that right now, they live in their own little silo.

You need to get these into the hands of more educators by slapping a Creative Commons license on each one of these guides and then distribute them through social publishing platforms (like Scribd), Open Education Repositories (like LearnHub), social networking sites (Facebook) and attendance at education technology conferences (like ISTE).

In addition, it's vital that you enter strategic partnerships with technology companies and youth filmmaking programs, like Apple, BAYCAT and Adobe Youth Voices, who work in the trenches with youth filmmakers. And why not hold a student film contest and show the top films on the Oscar.com website?

Media Literacy Program

The AMPAS has a bi-annual Media Literacy Program that is designed to "help students become aware of media messages encountered daily, improve analytical skills to evaluate those messages, and encourage provocative and thoughtful interaction with the media."

This is a great way to reach out to students and deliver a pro-social message. The problem is that it's only open to students who live in Los Angeles.

Why not broaden your impact by live streaming the event via Ustream, Livestream or Facebook to schools around the world? Find new avenues to distribute the Media Literacy curriculum so that it can be used by teachers and non-profits working with kids. Film the proceedings and distribute it in smaller video segments that can be used in the classroom, Girl Scout or PTA meetings.

Open Film Repository & Oscarpedia

Help young filmmakers by providing them with a repository of open copyright audio, video clips, images and sound effects. Provide students with listing of free and open source filmmaking technologies, film editing tools and software needed to help them create their own films.

Get the studios to pitch in and donate to this repository. Throw a couple contests a year and give away Flip cams from Cisco and/or Kodak. The key is to find ways to get young people excited about being active participants in the filmmaking process. 

Help younger generations feel more connected to the rich history of Hollywood by creating an online encyclopedia and repository of film history. This "Oscarpedia" would become the place for students and movie fans alike to come to learn more about the history of cinema. Build a repository of images using Flickr and Creative Commons that students can use in school reports, sideshows and other creative ways.

Relationships, Like Filmmaking, Are a Collaborative Process

So back to Uncle Oscar. At first, he's that weird old guy at the Thanksgiving table. But here's the thing, once you get to know him better you find out that he really isn't that weird. He has some really interesting stories.

Like how Hollywood helped fight WWII. You're amazed to find out that he was at the Academy Awards when Hattie McDaniel became the first African-American to receive an Oscar. And who knew he was an expert on the origins of animation?

My point is that if the Oscars want to woo younger viewers they don't need tween stars on the Red Carpet or handing out awards. That's nice on Oscar night, but it's not a long term strategy that will keep them engaged.

Right now the Oscars are something their parents and grandparents watch. You know. Old people. Millennials don't have a seat at the grown up table with Uncle Oscar. They are still at the little kids table.

A better approach is to provide as many ways as possible for them learn more about the many disciplines of filmmaking. In doing so you are empowering them with the skills to use film as the medium to share their own stories, engage in authentic practice of digital storytelling and creating an inclusive environment that allows them to feel like they are part of a community of practice.

'No Phone Zone' Lesson Plan: Teaching Teens the Dangers of Texting & Driving

The "No Phone Zone" lesson plan will educate students on the dangers associated with distracted driving (texting while driving, talking on the phone while driving).

The creation of this lesson plan was inspired by an episode of The Oprah Winfrey Show that focused on the dangers of distracted driving. According to a 2009 Pew Internet Study:

• One in three (34%) texting teens ages 16-17 say they have texted while driving. That translates into 26% of all American teens ages 16-17;

• Half (52%) of cell-owning teens ages 16-17 say they have talked on a cell phone while driving. That translates into 43% of all American teens ages 16-17;

• 48% of all teens ages 12-17 say they have been in a car when the driver was texting;

• 40% say they have been in a car when the driver used a cell phone in a way that put themselves or others in danger.

No Phone Zone Lesson Plan

The Oprah Winfrey Show has provided teens with a myriad of digital resources--including an easy online editor--needed to make a 60-second PSA.

Students can create their own media, and mash it together with Oprah's voiceover, footage, music from The Oprah Winfrey Show and the No Phone Zone logo.

Best of all? It's all free!

This lesson plan was created by Derek E. Baird and has been released under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 2.5 License. This lesson plan is not endorsed or affiliated with Oprah, OWN or Harpo, Inc.

Update: Education World has selected my 'No Phone Zone' lesson plan as the "Tech Lesson of the Week!"

Update: Scribd, the social publishing network, has chosen my 'No Phone Zone' lesson plan as a featured document of the week! Thanks Scribd!

Global Youth: For Kenyan children, a small act has a huge impact

Jennifer Arnold's highly acclaimed documentary, A Small Act, tells the story of Chris Mburu, a Kenyan man whose early education was sponsored by Hilde Back--a woman from Sweden whom he had never met. 

via festival.sundance.org

By donating roughly $15 a month to an education fund, her small contribution paid off: Chris made it all the way to Harvard Law School and then started his own scholarship program, which now sponsors new generations of Kenyan students who would otherwise not have the opportunity to go to school.

In a recent Sundance Film newsletter, Jennifer shared how her film motivated people get involved and do what they could to help Chris provide an education for Kenyan children.

"After Festival screenings, I kept hearing from people how the film empowered them to make a difference. Audience members started handing us unsolicited donations—from twenty dollar bills to thousand dollar checks.

By the time the Festival was finished, $90,000 had been donated to an education fund, which means that more Kenyan children will go to school."

Sometimes we look at all the problems in the world and think that we can't do anything about it. We think that the problems are too complex, too far away, the problems unsolvable. But as Jennifer and Chris demonstrate, sometimes all it takes is a small act to change the course of a child's life.

Update: Jennifer Arnold's documentary film "A Small Act" is now showing on HBO!

Hanging Out, Messing Around, and Geeking Out: Kids Living and Learning with New Media

Hanging Out, Messing Around, and Geeking Out was written as a collaborative effort by members of the Digital Youth Project, a three-year research effort funded by the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation and conducted at the University of California, Berkeley, and the University of Southern California.

Conventional wisdom about young people’s use of digital technology often equates generational identity with technology identity: today’s teens seem constantly plugged in to video games, social networks sites, and text messaging. Yet there is little actual research that investigates the intricate dynamics of youth’s social and recreational use of digital media.

Hanging Out, Messing Around, and Geeking Out: Kids Living and Learning with New Media

Hanging Out, Messing Around, and Geeking Out fills this gap, reporting on an ambitious three-year ethnographic investigation into how young people are living and learning with new media in varied settings-at home, in after school programs, and in online spaces.

This project was one of many funded by the MacArthur Foundation to explore digital media and learning. New projects in this area are being aggregated through the Digital Media and Learning Hub.

Weekly Wrap: Slacktivism, Open Source Social Innovation, Boomers & Social Media, Helping Google Get Social, Sundance 2010 Round-Up, Texting Party in the USA, Steve Jobs' Wardrobe & More!

A Time and Place for 'Slacktivism': Slacktivism; (v.) action 4 social change w/o much effort beyond a click/text. Known causes: social media, cellphones. [Ypulse]

Baby Boomers Get Connected with Social Media: Boomers are turning to social media, where they keep up their offline social connections and make new ones. Online marketing messages that help them build on their connections—and foster other online relationships—will get their interest. [eMarketer]

Lady GaGa's Lessons for the Music Business: Underneath Gaga's haystack wigs is a case study of what it takes to succeed in the music business today. Gaga, 23 years old, has made shrewd use of new digital platforms, while still leveraging the clout of a major label, an institution deemed obsolete by many proponents of DIY culture (Thanks Ypulse!). [WSJ]

Conan O'Brien's Fate a Sign of the Times: While the "Tonight Show" ratings fell under O'Brien's tenure as a whole, ratings amongst the younger demographics were better than those of Jay Leno's "Tonight Show." According to the New York Times, the median age of "Tonight Show" viewers fell by 10 years, from 55 to 45, in O'Brien's first month alone. [Colorado Daily]

Social Media Marketing, How Pepsi Got it Right: Social media marketing campaigns are proving to be goldmines rich with customer engagement and insight that companies wouldn’t likely have otherwise. Companies like PepsiCo are going to extensive lengths to foster this type of collaboration with fans, and the payoff has been big. [Mashable]

Will Creating a SWAT Team Help Google Get Social?: As successful as Google has been with plenty of other things — including a little thing called search-related advertising — it has struck out big-time in virtually every attempt at the social side of the web. [GigaOM]

Reflections from the Sundance Film Festival: Lois Vossen, ITVS vice president and Independent Lens series producer, shares her reflections on this year’s festival, which wraps up this weekend. [Beyond the Box]

College Students Hate Email: In fact, the student joked that she only uses her email to “communicate with her boss and adults.” She uses Facebook as her preferred method of peer-to-peer communication – she has had a Facebook thread running between the three of them for three years now. [Off Campus Media]

Tweet O' the Week: Can someone please buy Steve Jobs a new outfit! The man has more money than God and Oprah! A simple button down will do!" (via Scott Nevins) [Twitter]

Americans Sending 4 Times as Many Texts as Brits:There was a turning point a couple of years ago when it was suddenly undeniable: It was either text message or be left behind. If you were paying for it by the message, you suddenly had to find a plan, because you started having more and more friends that wouldn't talk any other way. Well, we're wondering if it has finally reached that point in the U.K. - or if it's yet to come. [ReadWriteWeb]

Teen Drinking May Cause Irreversible Brain Damage: For teenagers, the effects of a drunken night out may linger long after the hangover wears off. A recent study led by neuroscientist Susan Tapert of the University of California, San Diego compared the brain scans of teens who drink heavily with the scans of teens who don't. [NPR]

Open Source Social Innovation: Last week Bill Gates entered the digital publishing world by establishing the Gates Notes - an online evolution of his now annual January letter sharing his thoughts on the progress of the issues central to the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. It’s interesting and symbolic that the next chapter of his life story would include an “open source” platform for sharing IP on social innovation. [Cheskin]

Introduction to Using Creative Commons

Creative Commons is a nonprofit corporation dedicated to making it easier for people to share and build upon the work of others, consistent with the rules of copyright.

The Commons provides free licenses and other legal tools to mark creative work with the freedom the creator wants it to carry, so others can share, remix, use commercially, or any combination thereof.

This printable guide provides an overview of how to use Creative Commons along with additional information regarding technical implementation on the Web. Introduction to Using Creative Commons

Additional Resources

• Creative Commons
• Flickr + Creative Commons
• Yahoo! Search + Creative Commons 
• Support Creative Commons

A Kindle in Every Backpack: A Proposal for eTextbooks in American Schools

A concept paper published in July by former members of the Obama-Biden transition team, titled A Kindle in Every Backpack: A Proposal for eTextbooks in American Schools, suggests we consider an innovative plan to spread eTextbooks around the country, rapidly scaling up employment of the technology so that we can learn, adapt, and perfect its use quickly. It describes the case for an eTextbook system in three parts.

In Part One, the report discusses the multiple reasons why eTextbooks like Amazon's Kindle are a much better approach for our nation’s students. The reasons they are superior include the ability to update eBooks relatively cheaply and easily, environmental and health benefits (such as reducing loads on young backs and shoulders), and the enormous opportunity to make texts more exciting and interactive—like the other tools children use today and that compete for their attention.

In Part Two, this paper discusses the economics of this approach. Cost estimates in the education world are notoriously sketchy and often self-serving, but it seems clear that over time an investment in these tools would produce big savings.

Finally, in Part Three, this paper outlines how we could implement such a plan, and why there could be broad-based support for it.

Also of interest is an article in the September/October 2009 issue of Scholastic Administrator Magazine titled, "Will the Kindle Change Education?" The article does a really good job of weighing in on both the pros and cons of using the Kindle in the classroom.

A lot of education folks have focused on using the mobile phone as the primary device to usher in the age of mlearning (mobile learning).

But perhaps we should be paying more attention to e-book devices like the Kindle, Sony Reader, Nook or the (rumoured) Apple tablet as the more viable mlearning option to delivering media rich and digital content to kids at school.

A lot the current research shows that when kids go to school they are disconnected from how they live outside the classroom. Either way, what's important is that we take a look at and try using any resource or tool--including e-books--that gets kids' more engaged and invested in their education.

Related: Amazon's Jeff Bezos Gives Away Kindles To His Alma Mater, Asks For Feedback

Hey Josh for Grown-ups: Learn How to Communicate with Teens

"Humor is a delivery mechanism for truth"

    - Biz Stone, Co-Founder of Twitter

Josh Shipp, the popular youth speaker and dispenser of wisdom to teens, has launched a new project called Hey Josh for Grown-ups (uhm, yeah. That's YOU! The grown-up!)!

Josh has put together a really good, high quality curriculum for parents, teachers, scout leaders, youth pastors---just about anyone who works with teens. Oh, and it's free.

Here's the scoop from Josh:

Maybe you’re a parent of a teen, maybe you're a teacher, a coach, a boy scout leader, or guidance counselor. Maybe you volunteer at a summer camp, or maybe you're the grandparent of a teenager. Regardless of your specific role, I believe you want to see the best in that teenager.

You want to help them reach their full potential. That’s what I want, too.

So, welcome to Hey Josh for Grown-ups. I’m laying out all my strategies, secrets, and techniques--all of the stuff I use to effectively reach and communicate with teenagers--for you to use with the teenagers in your life.

Now Josh likes to joke around and be that funny kid in the class (just ignore the hair. no really, ignore it and nobody gets hurt), but make no mistake--he knows a lot about teens and what their going through.

Josh has talked to literally thousands of kids and wants to share what he learned with you--the grown-up.

myGuide: Helping to Close the Generational Digital Divide

The Department for Children Schools and Families (DCSF) in the UK has launched an innovative and free e-learning course for adults and those who work with children to help them beef-up their digital web skills.

The easy to navigate site has a self-directed "interactive guidance course and quiz to help families manage the risks while enjoying the benefits of the web."

The primary goals of the myGuide initiative is to address many of the top parental concerns about the web, including phishing and spam, as well as chat rooms, music file-sharing, and safety filters.

The site stresses the importance of open family discussions and where to go for additional information and help. At the public launch of the new resource, Children’s Minister Delyth Morgan said:

“Today’s generation of children and young people are often much more computer savvy than their parents, something that can be of great concern as mums, dads and carers look to keep their children safe online without restricting their enthusiasm for and exploration of the Internet.

The free myguide service is designed specifically for people in this situation. The new Family Internet Safety guide will help people become more knowledgeable about the risks and how to manage them.

Thanks to DK, over at MediaSnackers, for the heads-up on the myGuide program.

Related Links

• Emotion, Reason & The Web Makes Me Feel
• Building Parents' and Carers' Confidence Online
• Girl Scouts of America & Microsoft Launch Online Safety Program

Teacher Encourages Students to Twitter in Class

"Cole W. Camplese, director of education-technology services at Pennsylvania State University at University Park, prefers to teach in classrooms with two screens — one to project his slides, and another to project a Twitter stream of notes from students.

He knows he is inviting distraction — after all, he’s essentially asking students to pass notes during class. But he argues that the additional layer of communication will make for richer class discussions.”

— Wired Campus: Professor Encourages Students to Pass Notes During Class — via Twitter | Chronicle.com


Related Resources

• Twitter College Directory
• Twitter Handbook for Teachers
• UK Students May Be Required to Master Twitter
• Directory of Learning Professionals on Twitter
• Yahoo! Partners with Universities to Advance Cloud Computing Research
• Using Facebook in the Elementary Classroom