We all have (Cyber) Feelings...

Last week in class, Akiko mentioned a website called Formspring. Formspring is a forum that enables people to ask questions and answer questions anonymously. She mentioned that it has been used in a negative way by some to ask really embarrassing and inappropriate questions. So I decided to investigate. I haven't worked up the courage to try chat roulette yet, and after hearing Jeff's story in class last week, I don't think I ever will. But, I decided to check out Formspring to see what this website was all about. The first name I typed in was "Kelly" not for any particular reason other than I was wearing a kelly green shirt at the time. This is what came up:

Innocent enough. Cats or Dogs? Good question, one that surely we all have an opinion on (Dogs rule!). The questions that followed were all interesting (and appropriate) as well. What do you like to do on the weekend? What's your favorite color? Apparently, with Formspring you can choose which questions you would like to answer and it's not public until you answer it, so Kelly has chosen to answer the questions we see on her page. I wonder how many inappropriate questions she received and did not choose to answer? I wonder that because as I searched other people's questions and answers, it immediately became clear to me what Akiko meant when she said that she couldn't say aloud the things she had read on Formspring. I can't repeat or write them aloud either. Many of the profile pictures where I saw these disturbing Q & A's taking place were head shots of teenagers. I am an adult in my 30's (granted I may be a bit on the naive side) but I was horrified at the things I read. I couldn't believe people would ask these things or even think about these things! Even the milder exchanges showed that this forum has the potential to start gossip, hurt feelings, and reveal way too much information.

Here are a few that I saw:

If you could date any girl at our school who would it be?

Why did you break up with....?

What do you think of the math teacher?

Are you a virgin?

After leaving Formspring, I felt a little queasy and disappointed with our world. Why would people choose to spend their time this way? Then I read an article about Alexis Pilkington a high school athlete from Long Island who committed suicide. She was the target of cyberbullying and although her parents don't believe that's what ultimately caused her to take her own life, I'm sure being a victim of cyberbullying didn't do anything to deter her or ease the depression she clearly was suffering from. The sickest part of all is that friends made tribute pages to honor Alexis on both Facebook and Formspring. Both of these pages were then subsequently flooded with negative and lewd comments about Alex. A disgusting example of the dark side of social networking sites like Facebook and Formspring.

Cyberbullying is the most public and humiliating form of bullying, but on the other hand, it may be the most unnoticed by the adults in these kid's lives. I am willing to bet that most of the parents at our school have no idea what Formspring is, let alone if their kids are using it and how they are using it. If the kids who are using this forum are using it to ask and answer positive and uplifting questions in public, who knows what kind of questions they are being exposed to, filtering, and choosing not to answer in private? Parents and teachers need to be informed about the existence of these sites and they have to then have conversations with kids about them and the way that they are being used. These conversations are even more important with a student population which is wired in and using social networking on a daily (sometimes hourly) basis.

Aha!

This is why Jeff is so happy all the time!!

Need a Job? Google it.

I saw this story on the Laughing Squid website. Another example of creativity + the power of the internet.



I wonder if I should experiment with an ad under Gael Garcia Bernal's name....



Googling yourself is a lot of fun. Dating me is fun, too.

The Scattering Seeds of Social Networking

A diaspora (in Greek, διασπορά – "a scattering [of seeds]") is any movement of a population sharing common national and/or ethnic identity. While refugees may or may not ultimately settle in a new geographic location, the term diaspora refers to a permanently displaced and relocated collective.



The fact that after entering the three words "how to quit" in google search one sees "Facebook" in the number #4 position (right in between smoking and your job) gives a clear indication that there is a large majority of people ready to break up with their favorite social networking site. The recent privacy changes are at the heart of the confusion, panic, and possible exodus of thousands of users. I am one of those users. I am weary of my privacy being compromised and feel overwhelmed with trying to keep up with how to keep my profile private. Businessinsider.com recently showed users how to put a privacy lockdown on a facebook profile. Check this out:

If you look in the right hand corner of this picture you will notice "1/33". Yep, that's right... if you follow the directions on all 33 slides you too can have a Facebook profile with 'privacy lockdown'. I have to admit, I enjoy spending time on Facebook, but I enjoy spending time connecting with friends, not my profile settings. Although, I don't feel comfortable, I will stay with Facebook for now (I'm starting to sound like a woman in an abusive relationship) I clearly will go through all 33 slides and update my settings, because the connection to my family and friends is far more important to me than leaving Facebook (I'm staying with him for the kids!). However, if another platform were to come along that didn't require me to give up my data rights and privacy (R-E-S-P-E-C-T find out what it means to me!) I would jump on board.

Wait.. I think I may have just found my Prince Charming who will save me from the clutches of my controlling relationship with Facebook!! Four Prince Charmings to be exact. Four totally socially awkward and geeky Prince Charmings.

Meet lya, Dan, Max, and Raphael:


There are high hopes that these guys (kids) are going to reinvent social networking. There project is Diaspora. Diaspora is a social networking site that is attempting to decentralize networks and give users control of their data by letting users set up their own personal encrypted server. With $120,000 raised in just a couple of weeks on Kickstarter to support this project I would say there is definitely a demand for such a networking site. This is Diaspora's 100 word manifesto (I love it!):

“We believe that privacy and connectedness do not have to be mutually exclusive. With Diaspora, we are reclaiming our data, securing our social connections, and making it easy to share on your own terms. We think we can replace today’s centralized social web with a more secure and convenient decentralized network. Diaspora will be easy to use, and it will be centered on you instead of a faceless hub.”

I think Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg is in trouble if he doesn't change his possessive ways. People want control. People want privacy rights. People want to feel respected. People want to trust those that they reveal their personal information to. Facebook is losing on all accounts. Let the Diaspora begin...

Chief Seattle : Take only memories, leave nothing but footprints.

The words of Chief Seattle have always inspired me. I share his passion for protecting the environment and the beauty of our natural world for future generations. But, when I look at the above quote I can't help but wonder if this still applies to our world today. In the digital world, leaving nothing but footprints could and does have adverse impacts on our planet and posterity.

In the report put out by Greenpeace Make IT Green: Cloud Computing and it's Contribution to Climate Change I learned that the advent of cloud computing is not the panacea that many think it is if one takes into consideration the impact that cloud computing has on increased CO2 levels. While the cloud grows, so does the demand for electricity to power the data centres. In Oregon, Facebook announced in January plans for a data centre in Prineville, a timber community in Central Oregon. The criticism from Greenpeace is that Facebook's data centre is using electricity from Pacificorp, which primarily gets it's power from coal rather than renewable sources. When I lived in Oregon I was in the Pacificorp territory and signed up for their 'Blue Sky' option which costs more but uses renewable energy sources such as wind power. Facebook has yet to sign up for the Blue Sky option and has made the statement that the energy saved from putting the data centre in a cold climate outweighs the source of the power. Reading through this report it became clear to me that although there are clear benefits to business and individuals in regard to efficiency and ease in internet services offered by 'the cloud', there are still many challenges faced by the IT industry. Will huge companies like google, yahoo, and facebook have a brown cloud that puts the already fragile environment in more danger or will choose to respond and act responsibly and ethically by moving towards a more sustainable green cloud? The decisions that these mega companies will make will have far reaching implications for future generations. How will the IT industry take steps to make sure that they take only memories and DON'T leave dirty footprints?

Interestingly, there is a protest group that is calling for facebook to use 100% renewable energy in data centres. Ironically, this is the group:

Don't Put your Foot in your Mouth

We all know the feeling of putting our foot in our mouth. This is what makes us human. Another wonderful trait of being human is that we forget things. This trait really compliments the 'foot in the mouth' trait because it means that not every stupid thing we say will be remembered... Alright, I guess this is where I should talk about one of the most important characteristics of a computer. Computers are not human. For better or worse, they have a memory like a steel trap. A relationship between humans (with a knack for gnawing on feet) and a computer (who can remember everything from the exact size to the bunions on said foot) has the potential to be a recipe for disaster. So it seems the digital world needs to be handled with care. Us bumbling humans need to be aware of how we are representing ourselves to the world (wide web) because the world will not soon forget.

As I write this, I just received a post on my Facebook wall from friend back home. It said, "Melissa, this is without doubt the hottest video ever! :P :P :P" followed by a video of a woman clearly not dressed in her Sunday church clothes. When I clicked on the video, it took me to another page that wanted access to my FB friends. I quickly got out of this page before I sent this link to all of my friends. My friend clearly hit the wrong button and in turn forwarded this message and video on to others. The point is, what would I think of him based on that wall post and video if I didn't know him? What if I was an employer looking at him as a potential candidate? I'm sure my first impression wouldn't be that he is an amazing dad, a giving community member, and volunteers his time to kids with special needs (all of which is true). This is why being aware that we have a digital footprint and checking our footprint is important if we want to protect our online identity and make it a true representation of who we are.

Is the footprint one leaves behind going to have negative or positive consequences in the future? First impressions used to be more tactile, involving senses... smell, touch, sight, hearing. The possibility that a first impression is more of a research project, digging up information on someone using a simple google search is an increasing reality in our world. How will others view you? What values does your virtual representation imbue?

I believe as soon as kids start using computers (producing, contributing content online) we need to be responsible to teach them about this. There are a lot of ways you can start conversations about this with kids. I like this idea from Kidsmart for having beginning conversations. It's simply an outline of a foot and kids write down or draw pictures to represent all of the websites they have visited in the last 24 hours. They also write down any content that they added to the internet such as photos, blog posts, etc. This is a good way to introduce the concept for young kids. I think we need to have continuing conversations with kids about this for each stage of their digital lives, from emailing to blog posting to using FB and other social networking sites. It's a part of their world and knowing how to use it responsibly to ensure that they are represented for the people they are and the values that they hold are essential.