Web Quest: Security, Ethic and Privacy Concerns of Web 2.0

Because Internet safety is part of the curriculum I teach, I am quite familiar with many of the concerns related to the Internet. One of the concerns that everyone has to deal with is security. Security risks include viruses, worms, and hacking to name a few. Ethical concerns such as; plagiarism and copyright infringements, are a constant issue within and outside the education world. Privacy is always a concern especially with minors. As stated earlier in my blog, the Mat-Su Borough School District has an extremely strict filtering system. This truly limits the amount of resources available for student and teacher use, and in class I do not allow students to fill out information request from outside parties. The biggest issue I face is that of privacy. I have been in charge of my school's website for two years, and there have been request to post images of students at school events. Before the images are posted the students files are checked for media consent forms. If they have the consent form, their images may be posted. However, their names are never posted on the website. This provides an adequate level of privacy.

The Internet brings many new ethical considerations with the ability to copy materials like never before and the ability to communicate anonymously. In the past few years the ability to copy digital materials such as music, video, and software has become a common practice. Perfect copies are available online through both legally licensed websites and non-licensed file sharing sites. People are also able to copy and share these documents individually without paying for the rights. This accessibility to copyrighted materials takes away from the creators profits and control of the use of their materials. Another ethical consideration of the Internet is plagiarism. Plagiarism is not a new problem. However, the Internet has made it much easier for people to find and copy the work of others. Students are able to copy and paste text quickly and easily and often do not give credit to the author. The Internet has opened new methods of communicating. E-mail, chatting, and Instant messaging (IM) are some of the common ways in which we communicate with one another now. These can be done with almost complete animosity. Messaging can be sent to one another without concern for consequence. The sender also can not see the reaction of the recipient. So something sent as a joke, may not be taken that way by the recipient.

In my classroom I use the I-Safe curriculum for Internet Safety (www.isafe.org) combined with my own lessons. I-Safe is a government funded program and covers issue such as: Piracy, Cyber Harassment, Malicious Code, Online Predators, and Identity Theft. In addition to the I-Safe program I incorporate activities and additional information to increase the students' awareness of these issues. Students frequently download music from the Internet and copy CDs and MP3 files for each other, so we review laws related to piracy, and how they could effect them. We also discuss plagiarism and the consequences if caught committing it. Malicious Code includes viruses, worms, Trojan Horses, and spy ware. Most students are familiar with a portion of these but not all of them. We discuss what each of these codes are and how to avoid getting them on their computers. One of the concerns I spend the most class time on is protection against online predators. We watch videos related to online predators, and I encourage parents to watch programs like the Dateline NBC: To Catch a Predators series with their children. I also have sample chat discussions that students examine to try to find out as much information about the participants as possible. Many of the same practices used to avoid online predators also work to avoid Identity Theft. I discuss the issue of Identity Theft with my students and explain why it is such an unfortunate thing to have happen. We also discuss why it is so difficult to catch the persons committing Identity Theft.

If the safety of students on the Internet were up to me, I would use filtering software to block sites with adult content. Not only is this a requirement by law, but it is also a responsibility to students and parents. Occasionally students navigate to adult sites accidentally, and therefore there is a need to block these sites. However, I take a different approach to students using the Internet than the school district I work for. I believe that teaching students to be responsible about using the Internet and having consequences for inappropriate use, is more effective than trying to block everything that the district feels is not appropriate. Almost all of are students today have access to the Internet at home without any filtering software or with moderate filtering. By using strict filtering in the schools, it takes the responsibility from the students, and therefore they don't learn how to make good choices for themselves.

In regards to my information on the web, this class has pushed me past my comfort zone. I avoid putting any information about myself on the Internet unless necessary. I also run all updates on my computer when they are available, and only purchase items through reputable businesses. In addition to this I also have a Identity Theft Protection service through my bank that tracks changes in my credit and notifies me right away.

Web 2.0 offers many great benefits for students. It allows students to work collaboratively with students from all over the world. Privacy, security, and ethical considerations must be taken into consideration before utilizing many of the benefits of Web 2.0 resources. These considerations can be addressed through the use of secure and monitored websites. Many resources can be protected by not allowing the general public access to the information. Also, student privacy can be protected by using resources that don't require the students to give out personal information to register. There are also resources available that can be monitored by the teacher or moderator for content before it's posted. Finally, educating our students on the proper and ethical use of these resources is the key their most beneficial use.

Current Topic: Integrate Web Applications

Google Earth (earth.google.com) is a web application that I use in my classes.  Google Earth is a collection of satellite photos around the entire earth.  It includes features for locating roads, geographic formations, and points of interest to name a few.  My students complete a multimedia project on Endangered Species.  I plan on incorporating Google Earth into that project by using satellite images of the regions the species are located into their project.  This will allow the students to use Google Earth as a specific research tool.  

The use of Google Earth will be demonstrated for the students.  They will research their chosen species, and where it's located.  The students will take a screenshot of the image and incorporate it into their multimedia project.  This will allow for the students to be actively engaged in the use of Google Earth as a research tool.

Currently Google Earth is available through the Mat-Su Borough School District, however the Mat-Su District has an extremely strict Internet filtering policy.  This is a major complication I have faced in my classes.  After discussing filtering policies with staff members from other school districts within the state, it has become clear that the Mat-Su District takes an extreme stance on the amount of information and programs that are inaccessible.  The school district requires that all request to unblock websites/web applications are made through a building administrator via email or letter.  You must give them the URL or application needed and the reason, and they submit it to the Management Information Services Department (MIS).  I have gone through this process before with very limited success.  One example is a program that I was using for my school's website (Personal Webkit).  I needed to install the program on my new computer at work and discovered the site was blocked under the category of pornography.  I submitted the request to my building administrator and she looked over the website and application, and then submitted the request to MIS.  MIS also looked over the site and application and found nothing outside of the school district's Internet policies.  However, they still refused to unblock the site because the filtering program they use put it under pornography.  This is just one of several failed attempts I have had attempting to gain access to blocked material on the Internet.

Web Quest: Survey Purposeful Web Application, Widgets, and Mashups

Web Applications:

There are countless web applications available today.  Many of these applications are free and some you must pay for.  I was surpised to see how many of these application I already use.  Paypal is one of the applications that I use for making online purchases.  I also use .Mac for email, online storage, and photo albums.  Photobucket is another one that I recently started using so I can post images to advrider.com, a motorcycle forum I use.  Google provides many free web applications and continues to impress me by the amount of free applications available. Professionally there are some web applications I have been using as well.  In my classroom, I use Google Maps and Google Earth.  Both of these applications provide students easy access to search and view our world.  Google Reader and Google Calendar are two applications that I recently started using on my I-Google page.  Google Reader allows for easy access to postings, and google Calendar provides an easy way to organize important dates, meetings, etc... 

Adobe Air:

Mashups:

Mashups are different than web applications because they are a combination of two or more applications working together.  On my I-Google page I added two mashups.  One of the mashups is called Day Counter (http://stanfish.​googlepages.com/), and it is a counter for counting down days to an event.  I chose the start of the school year as the date.  The other mashup I chose isn't technically a mashup, but it is a search tool for finding mashups using Google Maps.  It is availble directly from Google.  Mashups can be a very helpful resource and very using while doing research.

Widgets/Gadgets:

Widgets and gadgets are very helpful.  They enable quick access to information.  I was already familiar with widgets because my computer came with widgets installed.  For this assignment I added several gadgets to my I-Google page.  Date and Time, Weather, Doppler Radar, and National Geographic Pictures are some of the gadgets on my I-Google page.  These gagets were chosen for convenience with the exception of the National Geographic pictures, which was just for aesthetic purposes.  On my blog I added two widgets.  The first was the History Channel (http://www.widgetbox.com/widget/history-channel-widget-electricartists). This was chosen for personal interest and a resource for project ideas in my classroom.  The second widget I chose was What's Shaking (ttp://www.widgetbox.com/widget/whats-shaking).   This widget displays earthquake recent activity and is also a resource for classroom projects.  I will probably continue to use these gadgets and widgets in the future.