We take off hats in church, watch our language when Grandma visits, and open the doors for strangers.These are things we are taught as young children because we live in a society where kindness and respect are still (if at least barely) a way of life and living. We have learned social norms for things that we understand to be respectful (as well as disrespectful). So now, as we enter into a new digital era, why are we not developing ways in which we are respectful on that realm?
It seems a norm to say horrible, cruel things online because we can hide behind our computers or fake profiles. Because the internet started wildly, exploding in girth far beyond our initial scope, we are now stuck with a monster of social disaster. Where are the handshakes and the tipping of hats? Why does it seem like we are constantly seeing "trolls" running the comment pages with horrible statements and cyber bullying a common place thing. Have we taken our school yard tendencies and brought them now to a place where the consequences are few, even though our words are written, encoded and documented electronically? Now instead of words that are called out from across the school yard, they are plastered over forums and social media sites for not just classmates to see, but families and strangers and the effects are far worse and maybe even far more devastating.
It seems, then, that now is the time to utilize our time as teachers who work extensively online and incorporate into our classrooms an understanding of what the web can do for us, as well as against us. Internet manners, so to speak. Just like bullies in the school yard, there will always be those who will use anything at their exposure to hurt others, but we can help teach other the importance of "being nice" and why it matters in all aspects of our lives.
How often do you feel teachers take the time to explain the importance and consequences of a student's online actions? Most time searching and working in the classroom is based wholly on working on the items at hand. It would seem "common knowledge" not to say mean things or berate others online, but we know that in the end, when not monitored or without proper knowledge, a child/person will easily go about their usual abusive ways. At what point do we start off by giving "online etiquette" and is there such a thing?
Recently a slew of extremely talented, very public and involved women in the digital scene have been victims of harassment, ridicule and even threatened! I usually would not use an exclamation point when just stating a fact, but how are we in such an age of wild technological advances, yet we still live in a barbaric age where intelligent, open women, willing to be vulnerable for the sake of education and openness become victims of such vile acts? How can we possibly call ourselves a society when we still act like animals? Have we just jumped back to the middle ages in regards to women's rights and respect? And at what point did those who were bullying and harassing ever think that what they were doing was just as horrible as saying to their face. Have we lost our sense of reality hiding behind keyboards, feeling this false sense of superiority, willing to send off any comment or wicked word because we can? I believe in free speech in all sense of the term, but free speech was not meant for you to break down the beautiful living souls who devote their entire lives for their freedoms, your education and the openness of the web. In the end, will these horrific statements and harassment be what brings down the openness of the free web we so easily take advantage of?
What happens when the web is no longer open and free? What would be the ultimate cause of the destruction of what we have grown to love and enjoy and use to every extent possible? The laws that we will have to make to prevent those from being devastatingly cruel? Do we have to go that far that we even have to make those laws? How can we educate the next generations about the need for "niceness" on the open web? How do we instill this sense of respect and understanding that comes with open forums and social media? How do we show them this when as of late, the horrific crimes are being committed just as much by adults (if not more so) as the kids who don't think twice when spewing out hateful words. Is it because the internet grew so fast, so wildly, and so free that "because we can we will" online and yet when it comes to etiquette, we don't even see that such a thing would be necessary? Like the open web is a dark alleyway where dark dealings go down and because there are no rules in that corner of the city, we can do as we please? Why do we accept that as a society and let it keep happening? Yet, what can we do to keep people from being horrible to other people? We have been this way from the day Adam and Eve crawled out of the ooze of the swamps. It will always be human nature to be cruel to feel superior.
So maybe, from much younger ages, we can instill in children the same respectable mannerisms we were taught when Grandma would visit, or when we would walk into church. At some point we need to begin a habit of teaching the respect that everyone, even the faceless names in forums and blogs, deserve because even though they are just electronic representations, behind those works and writings are still human beings who want to cherish the openness and crazy, beautiful, wild world of amazing possibilities that the web holds. Harassment and threats should not ever, ever be an acceptable part of the internet.
We take off hats in church, watch our language when Grandma visits, and open the doors for strangers.These are things we are taught as young children because we live in a society where kindness and respect are still (if at least barely) a way of life and living. We have learned social norms for things that we understand to be respectful (as well as disrespectful). So now, as we enter into a new digital era, why are we not developing ways in which we are respectful on that realm?
It seems a norm to say horrible, cruel things online because we can hide behind our computers or fake profiles. Because the internet started wildly, exploding in girth far beyond our initial scope, we are now stuck with a monster of social disaster. Where are the handshakes and the tipping of hats? Why does it seem like we are constantly seeing "trolls" running the comment pages with horrible statements and cyber bullying a common place thing. Have we taken our school yard tendencies and brought them now to a place where the consequences are few, even though our words are written, encoded and documented electronically? Now instead of words that are called out from across the school yard, they are plastered over forums and social media sites for not just classmates to see, but families and strangers and the effects are far worse and maybe even far more devastating.
It seems, then, that now is the time to utilize our time as teachers who work extensively online and incorporate into our classrooms an understanding of what the web can do for us, as well as against us. Internet manners, so to speak. Just like bullies in the school yard, there will always be those who will use anything at their exposure to hurt others, but we can help teach other the importance of "being nice" and why it matters in all aspects of our lives.
How often do you feel teachers take the time to explain the importance and consequences of a student's online actions? Most time searching and working in the classroom is based wholly on working on the items at hand. It would seem "common knowledge" not to say mean things or berate others online, but we know that in the end, when not monitored or without proper knowledge, a child/person will easily go about their usual abusive ways. At what point do we start off by giving "online etiquette" and is there such a thing?
Recently a slew of extremely talented, very public and involved women in the digital scene have been victims of harassment, ridicule and even threatened! I usually would not use an exclamation point when just stating a fact, but how are we in such an age of wild technological advances, yet we still live in a barbaric age where intelligent, open women, willing to be vulnerable for the sake of education and openness become victims of such vile acts? How can we possibly call ourselves a society when we still act like animals? Have we just jumped back to the middle ages in regards to women's rights and respect? And at what point did those who were bullying and harassing ever think that what they were doing was just as horrible as saying to their face. Have we lost our sense of reality hiding behind keyboards, feeling this false sense of superiority, willing to send off any comment or wicked word because we can? I believe in free speech in all sense of the term, but free speech was not meant for you to break down the beautiful living souls who devote their entire lives for their freedoms, your education and the openness of the web. In the end, will these horrific statements and harassment be what brings down the openness of the free web we so easily take advantage of?
What happens when the web is no longer open and free? What would be the ultimate cause of the destruction of what we have grown to love and enjoy and use to every extent possible? The laws that we will have to make to prevent those from being devastatingly cruel? Do we have to go that far that we even have to make those laws? How can we educate the next generations about the need for "niceness" on the open web? How do we instill this sense of respect and understanding that comes with open forums and social media? How do we show them this when as of late, the horrific crimes are being committed just as much by adults (if not more so) as the kids who don't think twice when spewing out hateful words. Is it because the internet grew so fast, so wildly, and so free that "because we can we will" online and yet when it comes to etiquette, we don't even see that such a thing would be necessary? Like the open web is a dark alleyway where dark dealings go down and because there are no rules in that corner of the city, we can do as we please? Why do we accept that as a society and let it keep happening? Yet, what can we do to keep people from being horrible to other people? We have been this way from the day Adam and Eve crawled out of the ooze of the swamps. It will always be human nature to be cruel to feel superior.
So maybe, from much younger ages, we can instill in children the same respectable mannerisms we were taught when Grandma would visit, or when we would walk into church. At some point we need to begin a habit of teaching the respect that everyone, even the faceless names in forums and blogs, deserve because even though they are just electronic representations, behind those works and writings are still human beings who want to cherish the openness and crazy, beautiful, wild world of amazing possibilities that the web holds. Harassment and threats should not ever, ever be an acceptable part of the internet.
We take off hats in church, watch our language when Grandma visits, and open the doors for strangers.These are things we are taught as young children because we live in a society where kindness and respect are still (if at least barely) a way of life and living. We have learned social norms for things that we understand to be respectful (as well as disrespectful). So now, as we enter into a new digital era, why are we not developing ways in which we are respectful on that realm?
It seems a norm to say horrible, cruel things online because we can hide behind our computers or fake profiles. Because the internet started wildly, exploding in girth far beyond our initial scope, we are now stuck with a monster of social disaster. Where are the handshakes and the tipping of hats? Why does it seem like we are constantly seeing "trolls" running the comment pages with horrible statements and cyber bullying a common place thing. Have we taken our school yard tendencies and brought them now to a place where the consequences are few, even though our words are written, encoded and documented electronically? Now instead of words that are called out from across the school yard, they are plastered over forums and social media sites for not just classmates to see, but families and strangers and the effects are far worse and maybe even far more devastating.
It seems, then, that now is the time to utilize our time as teachers who work extensively online and incorporate into our classrooms an understanding of what the web can do for us, as well as against us. Internet manners, so to speak. Just like bullies in the school yard, there will always be those who will use anything at their exposure to hurt others, but we can help teach other the importance of "being nice" and why it matters in all aspects of our lives.
How often do you feel teachers take the time to explain the importance and consequences of a student's online actions? Most time searching and working in the classroom is based wholly on working on the items at hand. It would seem "common knowledge" not to say mean things or berate others online, but we know that in the end, when not monitored or without proper knowledge, a child/person will easily go about their usual abusive ways. At what point do we start off by giving "online etiquette" and is there such a thing?
Recently a slew of extremely talented, very public and involved women in the digital scene have been victims of harassment, ridicule and even threatened! I usually would not use an exclamation point when just stating a fact, but how are we in such an age of wild technological advances, yet we still live in a barbaric age where intelligent, open women, willing to be vulnerable for the sake of education and openness become victims of such vile acts? How can we possibly call ourselves a society when we still act like animals? Have we just jumped back to the middle ages in regards to women's rights and respect? And at what point did those who were bullying and harassing ever think that what they were doing was just as horrible as saying to their face. Have we lost our sense of reality hiding behind keyboards, feeling this false sense of superiority, willing to send off any comment or wicked word because we can? I believe in free speech in all sense of the term, but free speech was not meant for you to break down the beautiful living souls who devote their entire lives for their freedoms, your education and the openness of the web. In the end, will these horrific statements and harassment be what brings down the openness of the free web we so easily take advantage of?
What happens when the web is no longer open and free? What would be the ultimate cause of the destruction of what we have grown to love and enjoy and use to every extent possible? The laws that we will have to make to prevent those from being devastatingly cruel? Do we have to go that far that we even have to make those laws? How can we educate the next generations about the need for "niceness" on the open web? How do we instill this sense of respect and understanding that comes with open forums and social media? How do we show them this when as of late, the horrific crimes are being committed just as much by adults (if not more so) as the kids who don't think twice when spewing out hateful words. Is it because the internet grew so fast, so wildly, and so free that "because we can we will" online and yet when it comes to etiquette, we don't even see that such a thing would be necessary? Like the open web is a dark alleyway where dark dealings go down and because there are no rules in that corner of the city, we can do as we please? Why do we accept that as a society and let it keep happening? Yet, what can we do to keep people from being horrible to other people? We have been this way from the day Adam and Eve crawled out of the ooze of the swamps. It will always be human nature to be cruel to feel superior.
So maybe, from much younger ages, we can instill in children the same respectable mannerisms we were taught when Grandma would visit, or when we would walk into church. At some point we need to begin a habit of teaching the respect that everyone, even the faceless names in forums and blogs, deserve because even though they are just electronic representations, behind those works and writings are still human beings who want to cherish the openness and crazy, beautiful, wild world of amazing possibilities that the web holds. Harassment and threats should not ever, ever be an acceptable part of the internet.
We take off hats in church, watch our language when Grandma visits, and open the doors for strangers.These are things we are taught as young children because we live in a society where kindness and respect are still (if at least barely) a way of life and living. We have learned social norms for things that we understand to be respectful (as well as disrespectful). So now, as we enter into a new digital era, why are we not developing ways in which we are respectful on that realm?
It seems a norm to say horrible, cruel things online because we can hide behind our computers or fake profiles. Because the internet started wildly, exploding in girth far beyond our initial scope, we are now stuck with a monster of social disaster. Where are the handshakes and the tipping of hats? Why does it seem like we are constantly seeing "trolls" running the comment pages with horrible statements and cyber bullying a common place thing. Have we taken our school yard tendencies and brought them now to a place where the consequences are few, even though our words are written, encoded and documented electronically? Now instead of words that are called out from across the school yard, they are plastered over forums and social media sites for not just classmates to see, but families and strangers and the effects are far worse and maybe even far more devastating.
It seems, then, that now is the time to utilize our time as teachers who work extensively online and incorporate into our classrooms an understanding of what the web can do for us, as well as against us. Internet manners, so to speak. Just like bullies in the school yard, there will always be those who will use anything at their exposure to hurt others, but we can help teach other the importance of "being nice" and why it matters in all aspects of our lives.
How often do you feel teachers take the time to explain the importance and consequences of a student's online actions? Most time searching and working in the classroom is based wholly on working on the items at hand. It would seem "common knowledge" not to say mean things or berate others online, but we know that in the end, when not monitored or without proper knowledge, a child/person will easily go about their usual abusive ways. At what point do we start off by giving "online etiquette" and is there such a thing?
Recently a slew of extremely talented, very public and involved women in the digital scene have been victims of harassment, ridicule and even threatened! I usually would not use an exclamation point when just stating a fact, but how are we in such an age of wild technological advances, yet we still live in a barbaric age where intelligent, open women, willing to be vulnerable for the sake of education and openness become victims of such vile acts? How can we possibly call ourselves a society when we still act like animals? Have we just jumped back to the middle ages in regards to women's rights and respect? And at what point did those who were bullying and harassing ever think that what they were doing was just as horrible as saying to their face. Have we lost our sense of reality hiding behind keyboards, feeling this false sense of superiority, willing to send off any comment or wicked word because we can? I believe in free speech in all sense of the term, but free speech was not meant for you to break down the beautiful living souls who devote their entire lives for their freedoms, your education and the openness of the web. In the end, will these horrific statements and harassment be what brings down the openness of the free web we so easily take advantage of?
What happens when the web is no longer open and free? What would be the ultimate cause of the destruction of what we have grown to love and enjoy and use to every extent possible? The laws that we will have to make to prevent those from being devastatingly cruel? Do we have to go that far that we even have to make those laws? How can we educate the next generations about the need for "niceness" on the open web? How do we instill this sense of respect and understanding that comes with open forums and social media? How do we show them this when as of late, the horrific crimes are being committed just as much by adults (if not more so) as the kids who don't think twice when spewing out hateful words. Is it because the internet grew so fast, so wildly, and so free that "because we can we will" online and yet when it comes to etiquette, we don't even see that such a thing would be necessary? Like the open web is a dark alleyway where dark dealings go down and because there are no rules in that corner of the city, we can do as we please? Why do we accept that as a society and let it keep happening? Yet, what can we do to keep people from being horrible to other people? We have been this way from the day Adam and Eve crawled out of the ooze of the swamps. It will always be human nature to be cruel to feel superior.
So maybe, from much younger ages, we can instill in children the same respectable mannerisms we were taught when Grandma would visit, or when we would walk into church. At some point we need to begin a habit of teaching the respect that everyone, even the faceless names in forums and blogs, deserve because even though they are just electronic representations, behind those works and writings are still human beings who want to cherish the openness and crazy, beautiful, wild world of amazing possibilities that the web holds. Harassment and threats should not ever, ever be an acceptable part of the internet.
This has been a provocative and challenging week for the hopes and dreams of an open and meaningful web. And while the provocations raised are by no means new, there is something in the air that feels more urgent, more in need of our attention. How timely that our Connected Courses work is focused on trust and network fluency in light of the very real, powerful, and material stories that have emerged in the past several weeks. The stories of Kathy Sierra, Anita Sarkeesian, and Julie Pagano have collided and created an opportunity to ask ourselves: what kind of world (virtual or analog) do we want to live in? And how do we protect these worlds and the people in them?
In case you have not been following these stories, all of the women have been harassed, threatened, and ridiculed. Sometimes they are not believed. Sometimes they have actual death threats levied against them. The powerful (and upsetting) stories from Kathy, Julie, and Anita (among countless others) in tech raise a hundred questions for me: How do we protect an open web and protect people who are vulnerable in an open web? Are the very “fixes” we might imagine for solving the human element of the open web antithetical to an open web? How do we move from this adolescent stage of the web to a grown up and healthy version of this space and of ourselves? And how will we ever get better at creating environments of trust and respect if the comment sections of our blogs and twitter accounts and other virtual spaces are the most vulnerable to attack? How do we honor dialogue when it has the potential to do such harm?
I have always been an advocate for open: open teaching, open web, open open open. I share resources, freely, ask my students to blog and tweet without fear, and ultimately gain even more from the generous sharing from colleagues. I’ve also carefully followed SOPA, PIPA, Net Neutrality debates, Aaron Swartz’ story, and tried to do my part to support causes dear to the open web movement. These things matter. Most of us truly believe that you must change structures and systems (institutional, platform or otherwise) if you want to effect real change. As Rafi Santo has argued, ideologies are built in to systems and we must hack them for the better.
But how do we make systems safer while still valuing an open web? How have we ever been able to account for the worst of human nature? How do we help people grow up with the web?
These issues have resonated with me even more than usual for a variety of reasons, both personally and professionally. Professionally, as I open up my classrooms to more vulnerable populations–like the amazing 8th graders my students and I are blogging with–I am hyper aware of the need to protect our students and colleagues and still create a space where their ideas matter and can be heard. I am carefully reading through the resources Mimi Ito recently shared in her blog post and considering the stories and ideas being shared by others in our Connected Course; recent posts by Kevin Hodgson and Jenny Mackness are incredibly insightful. And I am grateful to Kira and Jonathan for raising such important ideas in our work together.
I hope to take all these powerful cases and use them to imagine a world where trust and openness thrive on the web. As Sarkeesian asks at the end of her talk, when we tell our stories “trust and believe.”
For me the whys simply out number the the why nots. I want to teach so that I can learn more about everything but especially about how and why other people think the way they do. I want to teach for that AHA moment you see on your students faces. I want to teach cause I don’t want to be a lawyer and lastly I want to teach because I love seeing students opinion change and evolve with each new piece of information they learn.
Teaching is magical...and painful, and heart breaking, and stressful and exhausting and life-changing and in some moments, absolutely frustrating. But mostly magic.
There is a thing about teaching that keeps bringing you back. You can't put your fingers on it and you search for that reason while you are sitting at your desk, papers past your ears, way beyond the hours you should work for a healthy lifestyle.
The magic lies in the days with the kids who don't care, whom it seems you will never reach. The same kids who run into you years later and apologize for being that kid and tell you that they never forgot that you never gave up, even when they had. For the kid who refuses to do homework, or show up who you worry about even when they are not even your own child. For the day when they finally come in and ask for help. Even if it is for a few minutes, they came in and cared about something. The magic is in the student that stares at you blankly and questions you on everything and frustrates you because you feel disrespected. You go home at night, still furious when one night you realize, he was asking all the right questions, just in all the wrong ways.
And lastly, the magic is that end of the year moment when you all know it's your last day and you see the heartbreak in your students eyes when they realize they won't see you next year. It's that moment when you unexpectedly reached a kid everyone else had given up on. It's that magical moment that comes at least once a day when one of your students, if not the entire class, teaches you. And together you learn and together you grow and together you create why I teach: magic.
Teaching is magical...and painful, and heart breaking, and stressful and exhausting and life-changing and in some moments, absolutely frustrating. But mostly magic.
There is a thing about teaching that keeps bringing you back. You can't put your fingers on it and you search for that reason while you are sitting at your desk, papers past your ears, way beyond the hours you should work for a healthy lifestyle.
The magic lies in the days with the kids who don't care, whom it seems you will never reach. The same kids who run into you years later and apologize for being that kid and tell you that they never forgot that you never gave up, even when they had. For the kid who refuses to do homework, or show up who you worry about even when they are not even your own child. For the day when they finally come in and ask for help. Even if it is for a few minutes, they came in and cared about something. The magic is in the student that stares at you blankly and questions you on everything and frustrates you because you feel disrespected. You go home at night, still furious when one night you realize, he was asking all the right questions, just in all the wrong ways.
And lastly, the magic is that end of the year moment when you all know it's your last day and you see the heartbreak in your students eyes when they realize they won't see you next year. It's that moment when you unexpectedly reached a kid everyone else had given up on. It's that magical moment that comes at least once a day when one of your students, if not the entire class, teaches you. And together you learn and together you grow and together you create why I teach: magic.
