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The word ‘blog’ is shorthand for ‘web log,’ a website frequently updated with journal entries, photos, links, videos, audio files; the variations are endless as the net itself. The blogs can be hosted on individual websites using programs like WordPress or Blogger protocols, or be part of virtual blog communities, like LiveJournal or Xanga. These websites provide hosting services, design templates, and other web-publishing services for free, though premium services can often be purchased with a credit card. Members of these communities can ‘friend’ other users and comment on each other’s blogs.
Nearly all blog communities require users to be at least 13 years old. Yet even teenagers often don’t know the dangers that exist online. They are eager to reveal information to their ‘new friends’ that is often dangerously detailed and specific.
Technorati reports there are nearly 60 million blogs online.
Vocab!
1.) a web log comprised primarily of text entries;
any web log, no matter the content.
2.) to maintain a blog
“video blog”;
a blog comprised mostly of homemade video entries, posted on video hosting sites like YouTube or Revver.
1) a web log
comprised primarily of photos
2) To maintain a photoblog
homemade audio files that can be automatically downloaded to a personal computer or mp3 player
subscribing to a blog to receive
“friend list”; a webpage with feeds of your ‘friends’ most recent entries
a connected series of blogs with the same focus or theme
someone who comments on journals and communities with no other purpose than to insult and harass.
to post comments or messages on a journal or community that are deliberately hostile and insulting. A flame war is a back-and-forth of such messages, which are usually emotionally intense and can be very upsetting to those involved.
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Social Networking
Most schools do not allow their students access to social networking sites like MySpace on school computers. But many students frequent these sites after school, or even sneak on during school hours.
On any social networking site, you can set up a personal profile, a blog, and a list of your friends with links to their profiles. You can send private messages to users, organize events, post photos, and more.
Teenagers and tweens have adopted social networking as their banner of individuality. The ultra-customization and the ease of communication between friends have attracted millions of adolescents to these sites. And though most adolescents are old hands at navigating the internet, they are still naïve about the repercussions of posting personal information in such a public medium.
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IMing/Txting
IMing is short for Instant Messaging, programs that allow users to have real time conversations through short typed messages. Some of these programs come bundled with web browsers like the popular AOL’s AIM or MSN’s Messenger. Others are third party programs you can dowload and are often compatible with a larger number of programs, like Adium or Mac’s iChat.
This type of informal communication is wildly popular. AIM alone as more than 54 million registered users. Cell phones with the ability to send text messages have become part of the IM network.
Instant messages and cell phone text messages are often written in a curious abbreviated language called txtspeak or chatspeak. The purpose of this language is to say as much as possible in as few letters as possible. For instance, ‘you’ becomes ‘u’, ‘forget’ becomes ‘4gt’, and so on. Also common are acronyms like ‘LOL’ (laugh out loud), “POS” (parents over shoulder), and “TTYL” (talk to you later), and emoticons, or faces illustrating emotions and actions created from keyboard characters.
Chatrooms are IM conversations between groups of people. They are often themed by location or interest, and open, meaning any user can join and leave at will. Chatrooms are popular among those internet users looking to meet new people. If your students use IM and frequent chatrooms, be sure they only chat with with people they know personally or have met through age-appropriate sites and chats.
Vocab!
A list of contacts’s screennames and their current status (online, offline, etc)
A setting that prevents the blocked user from contacting you, or even knowing that you are online.
A text file created of IM conversations that contains the screennames of the users involved, all the messages that were exchanged, and the times those messages were sent.
a automatic reply message used when an user is away from the computer for a period of time, but does not wish to sign off.
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P2P
P2P is internet shorthand for Peer to Peer networks, computer networks that connect individual users to others directly without going through third party servers. Such networks are most commonly used to swap files, the most notorious examples being Napster and Kazaa.
Most P2P networks have been shut down because of their propensity to be used as black markets for unauthorized copies of copyrighted material. But some clients, such as BitTorrent and LimeWire are still operational.
Using these networks is risky for a couple of reasons. Downloading copyrighted material is illegal, and leaves you open to lawsuits from the copyright owners. Such open networks are lousy with malware and viruses. Downloading files from people you don’t know is a good way to stuff your system full of bugs pretty fast.
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MMORPG
The letters stand for Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game. Think Dungeons and Dragons with a high speed connection and a much bigger table. Players in these games play a character or avatar, and control that character’s action in a shared setting with other players. Often these games are fantasy or science fiction based, like World of Warcraft, Everquest or Eve Online. But recently games have been released which are more reality based like Second Life. At least 15 million people play MMORPGs.
MMORPGs are generally available on a subscription basis. Items within the game are bought with in-game currency, and it is against the rules to buy such things outside the game with real world money.
Vocab!
a new player
someone who uses an advanced understanding of game code to change aspects of the game world and harass other users.
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Wiki’s
A wiki is a website that allows users to add, delete, and alter content. The most well known of these is Wikipedia, the online encyclopedia. The word comes from the Hawaiian term meaning “fast”. Alternatively, it is also used as a backwards acronym for the phrase “what I know is”.
The main concern regarding wikis is vandalism. However, the same system that allows the vandals to change the website in the first place also allows for quick rectification of their actions. This type of repair-after-the-fact is know as ‘soft security’.
Wiki’s are generally considered to be on par with main stream publications in terms of their accuracy, though because the writership is non-professional, they are more prone to spelling and grammar mistakes and leading language. Wikis are most useful when researching subjects which are too esoteric or too recent to have caught the mainstream media’s attention.
It is not uncommon for students to use Wikipedia and other wikis when researching topics for school. Remind your students that while these sources are good broad background, they should double check the sources cited by the writers and bolster their findings with real world research.
Wiki’s can be set up by schools or school organizations very easily. This type of online resource is especially useful for a drama club, computing club, debate team, or student newpaper. More advanced students can set up class wikis with updateable study guides for younger students. All wiki’s should be under the close supervision of a teacher advisor, because of the possibility of abuse. |
