Will We do Anything for Money?

Even though it is clear that China practices censorship of its citizens and denies basic freedoms for dissidents, the Western World is falling over itself to do business with China. As we all know, it is difficult to buy items that are not made in China or some other country that ignores human rights. Do we really need cheap shirts and microwave ovens that badly? Pocha's article reminded me about hearing that both Google and Yahoo recently complied with China's practice of censorship in order to do business in that country. How can we compromise our own belief in political freedom and human rights just to gain access to a big market?

Check out these articles:
"Google has offered a Chinese-language version of its search engine for years but users have been frustrated by government blocks on the site.
The company is setting up a new site - Google.cn - which it will censor itself to satisfy the authorities in Beijing." Full Text at http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/4645596.stm

"Internet giant Yahoo has been accused of supplying information to China which led to the jailing of a journalist for 'divulging state secrets'."
Full text at: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/4221538.stm

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Copyright, The Web, and Cut and Paste

While attending a social studies network meeting this week, I was involved in an interesting copyright discussion. One of our activities was a demonstration of the Landscape Change Program Website. If you have never seen the website before it is definitely worth checking out. The URL is http://www.uvm.edu/perkins/landscape/. Although this website generously permits many types of use for the photographs other websites often do not.

The Landscape Change Program wasn’t really the topic of conversation, but rather the starting point. The web is full of pictures, diagrams, charts, graphs, ideas, theories, etc. While most people post their ideas to the web because they want to share, most do not envision their work being cut and pasted into reports and PowerPoint presentations in schools around the country and world. Often this cut and paste work is done without citing a source correctly.

A few years ago I attended a workshop with the creator of Americas Historic Lakes http://www.historiclakes.org/. Although he wanted his website to be an educational resource, he expressed concern about those that do not properly respect copyright. The website features a section addressed to students specifically on this issue. In addition, the author has disabled the right click feature for most of the images on the site. When someone right clicks an image, they instantly get a copyright reminder and invitation to contact the author.

Schools have addressed the copyright issue in many different ways. In one school, students were not permitted to use a work included within a website unless the author or created has specifically granted permission. In others, a citation of the sources was considered appropriate. For many others, there was no consistency within the school. One teacher might accept work that was pasted from a website while another may not.

This conversation came up among a group of social studies teachers, I am sure other content areas see the issue as well. There are complex lessons that need to be addressed consistently in every classroom. When is it is appropriate to use work created by someone else? How do we respect the work of others? Copyright issues definitely exist in all other media, but speed and access make the web an interesting focus.

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A Cultural Connection to iPods

by michael
Years ago, kids would go to their rooms and listen to rock and roll. Now with an iPod, they do it in your face, making it more psychologically difficult to deal with. Regarding this particular issue, I don't think the real issue is more, its just more in your face. My preference is generally to not engage socially, so I understand this is not a disinterested point of view.

I believe much of what we communicate in all its various forms to be lacking in purpose. I am not so sure the reduction of social engagement is such a bad thing. Just because we can talk, does not make it a good thing to do.

I wrote last time about points in history and how many of them are about negative events. This also holds true for daily conversation. If we looked at it from a distance, we might agree expressing negativity is not how we would prefer to carry out our daily life. Yet, from the first moment we were born, we expressed and often continue to focus our communication around the wants in our lives that aren't being met.

Another form of communication I find difficult in that I understand its purpose, but it is its shear continued repetition, year after year, that makes this one lack purpose for me. These are the historical stories shared amongst friends and family members, especially during the holidays. Yes, they may be positive and provide a bonding moment, but this is one of my difficulties with the holidays; I can only talk about those same things for so many years.

I believe it is not technology itself, but the pace of change and the amount of information and choices, that has contributed to some of these forms of social isolation. They are coping mechanism for over-stimulation. I liken it to being in a dark room with only a strobe light. The frequency, multiplicity and randomness with which these inputs come, make it very difficult for one to cope. I understand the iPod response, what concerns me is our ability to incorporate rapid change over a sustained period of time.

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Can One Size Fit All?

-post for SMM

Can the “one size fits all” mentality work in a public school system? This is a question that has plagued education almost from the beginning, and it has been especially challenging since the inception of compulsory education. One recent challenge to public schooling has been the push to privatize failing schools with the professed goal of efficiently increasing student performance. According to Ogbu (1992), students approach education from a myriad of perspectives due to vast differences in their ethnic, economic, and historical backgrounds, and these ultimately influence their level of success in school (p. 287-288). When attempting to address the issue of student performance, it is tempting to try to find one solution and assess its success in one way. But perhaps we should first examine the question of, “What exactly is success?” Are there core facts or ideas that all students should know, and, if so, how do we determine whether or not a student has learned that core content in a fair and equitable way? If students are not succeeding to the accepted level, then what do we do? I don’t know the answers to all of these questions, but, at the risk of reiterating an earlier essay, I believe that the ultimate goal of education is not to fill our students with specific facts and data, but rather to prepare our students to become effective citizens.

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To celebrate the good things we do.

by michael

I wrote this to the teachers at my school. Just thought someone else might like to read it: When I think of various historical points, many of them have a negative context, demonstrating an inherent negative focus in our human nature. For whatever reason, my journey has taken me to many different parts of the world and many different careers. I have watched people come and go, become rich and poor, and those for whom life has not change much.

And as I have watched, I have wondered, why don't we celebrate a marriage, or the birth of a baby, with the same duration and depth of emotion, as we do, the death of a loved one? Certainly there are times to weep and to grieve; yet I would suggest this is not our purpose in life.

Life begets life; it is the essence of what we do.

Unrequited love is very difficult to sustain and I will never understand why some feel it is ok to lash out at those who love unconditionally. We chose to beget life because it answers what our soul cries out for; despite its adversities, life finds a way to survive.

Certainly, there are times for righting wrongs, but as I get older, I find that time is better spent on finding new life, keeping it simple, to love and be loved in return.

I know I cannot save the world, or even make a noticeable difference. Regardless, I do a few little things, like parking further away so others have less of a walk to the building. I try to ease the frustrations technology brings. And when I look into the eyes of our students, I want them to know their life matters.

We all make these little contributions, but we don't celebrate them. It may not change the world, but it does affect the world of those it touches. For as long as I can remember, this idea of giving meaningful gifts has been important to me, I call it a gift well given.

I want to celebrate, and talk about the good things we do. So in the spirit of building community, I would like to solicit entries of celebration, opportunities, reflections, hopes and dreams to our Courtyard conference.

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Citizen Participation Through Technology

Recently I completed my random assignment for the course by visiting a municipal office to learn how government is reaching out to the community in this age of diminished citizen participation. I was able to find some meaningful ways the town was accomplishing this through the use of technology.

The town website is up to date and contains almost everything a citizen might be looking for as far as town information. Permit applications, regulations, meeting agendas and minutes, and contact information are all available to anyone with access.

With an estimated 400 seasonal residents, the town is able to use the website and e-mail to maintain a connection with these citizens as members of the community. The planning and zoning office recently launched a blog to solicit community input regarding the future of growth within the town. Since it was featured in the regional daily newspaper, there have been several thoughtful postings. The town employees who set up the blog believe they are tapping into a new segment of the community. Most of the citizens that are posting to the blog do not attend public meetings. As this method of expression catches on, it will be important to remember that these postings are not necessarily the opinions of the community as a whole.

As I mentioned above, these services and others are available to anyone with access. This issue of access has been an ongoing theme of our study of technology in society. The town is very fragmented with several distinct town centers, and numerous dirt roads that lead to dead ends. The companies operating in Vermont will likely never bring broadband Internet to every home in Colchester, even if it is in the most developed region of the State. The town has recognized this fact and has partnered with a telecom company to design and implement a wireless network that will be accessible anywhere in the community. Other nearby towns are also currently taking similar steps to get on board with launching municipal telecom services.

An extra benefit of communities taking this step is the additional connections to national networks. Previously, a network running along a major transportation corridor brought all Internet data into adjacent counties. New connections to other areas will greatly benefit all users regardless of the provider.

If the future holds new roles within democracy involving the Internet, the issue of access for all citizens will become increasingly critical.

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