As someone that works for a college this type of action concerns me. Lately college employees are encouraged to use Facebook and Myspace to interact with students. But is seems to used to spy on each other instead. I think its time to encourage people on college campuses to get off these virtual social networks and start real social networks. And if colleges continue to use these sites clear guidelines need to be set up for the faculty and staff.
I think this group on facebook is a good start.
Faculty Ethics on Facebook
Type: Internet & Technology - Cyberculture
Description: A discussion forum for Facebook participants to suggest activity guidelines for faculty.
Proposed guidelines include:
1. Keeping official course activities in official online tools and not on Facebook.
2. Never requiring students to participate in Facebook or having Facebook participation influence a course grade. (An exception is for class projects that might use Facebook for research purposes [such as a statistical analysis of how Facebook groups grow and fade] and make their connection to a course explicit.)
3. Not friending students unless they request the connection. Not poking students. Never pressuring students to friend the professor (such as repeated mention of a faculty profile in class).
4. Accepting friend requests from all students (unless the instructor makes the decision not to friend students at all).
5. Not looking at student profiles unless the faculty member has been friended by the student and even then using Facebook information judiciously and for educational purposes. In short, not spying on students, but getting to know them better when invited to do so.
6. Faculty members should avoid association with Facebook groups with explicit sexual content or views that might offend or compromise the student / teacher relationship. This guideline must be applied sensitively within the context of a diverse educational environment in which both students and faculty practice tolerance and accept competing views.
7. Taking extreme care with privacy settings and faculty profile content to limit profiles to information relevant to educational purposes. A broad variety of information may be appropriate, however, given the area of expertise / subject, the local customs of an instructor's school, and the personal dynamics of his or her classroom. Content should be placed thoughtfully and periodically reconsidered to maintain this educational standard.
8. Exercising appropriate discretion when using Facebook for personal communications (with friends, colleagues, other students, etc.) with the knowledge that faculty behavior on Facebook may be used as a model by our students.
9. Never misrepresenting oneself by using a false name or persona on Facebook, unless that characterization is connected explicitly with the real identity of the instructor.
10. Considering that the uneven power dynamics of the academy in which professors have authority over students, continue to shape the online relationship, even when the network tool (such as Facebook) is apparently democratic.
11. Keeping wall posts and other Facebook communication in concord with standard ethical practices of the educational relationship.
12. Never posting official course communication (feedback on an assignment, for example) in a public area of Facebook. Feedback might be given through private Facebook messaging when the student has asked a question via Facebook or a previous friend connection exists.
These guidelines are intended to be points for consideration and not hard and fast rules or laws of faculty behavior. Individual faculty must make individual decisions about the best practices in specific classrooms and educational contexts, always following the principle of nurturing student learning.
Frankly, I want to hear more from college IT people than just the home users who have no problems. I mean when you have multi-floor setups using the 3 non-overlapping channels and over 200 Xbox's You will see a more realistic example of problems. We have seen a few problems here lately and have suspected the Xboxs but have yet to prove it. So how about it? I want to hear from other colleges on what they have seen.
As a republican (a fed-up one at that)I decided to look at Hillary's and Obama's list of issues. I noticed that Hillary didn't even mention the internet or privacy issues. Obama listed it, and once during an interview he said he would have one of his advisors go through every bill/law that Bush has been pushing to determine if they are constitutional or not.
I was encouraged by some of this. But I would prefer a President who would just state that some of these new "powers" of the goverment have gone too far. Right now I'm leaning towards Obama. And truthfully I just can't imagine Hillary looking out for my freedoms. (too much of a control freak)
I too work at a college. And we will be resisting Vista until the performance is better. What is funny is how the students are continually downgrading to XP. (they will find a way) And with gaming consoles students are less likely to switch to Vista. Macs have made a surge with our students but so has Linux. (which I'm happier about) Oh and before I forget. We also offer free computer support to the students. With all the machines we touch, we have yet see a Vista machine perform better than an XP machine, even brand new out of the box.
Oh come on.... this doesn't prove they are evil. And I think people missing a possibilty. Instead of hearing ring tones while you are waiting for someone to pick-up you you might hear 2-3 second Ad. you know... " This call brought to you by so and so" then boom the callee picks up. And the same when someone calls you. Plus this would not interfere with 911 calls. It is possible to do Ads without being invasive. If done right I think this would be a great phone to have. Plus even if someone linux hacked it... the ring tone Ads might still be under Googles control making Google happy and giving the hackers some fun. =)
Slashdot Mirror
All my Mac using friends are going to hate this.... Oh wait my friends don't use Macs! =)
As someone that works for a college this type of action concerns me. Lately college employees are encouraged to use Facebook and Myspace to interact with students. But is seems to used to spy on each other instead. I think its time to encourage people on college campuses to get off these virtual social networks and start real social networks. And if colleges continue to use these sites clear guidelines need to be set up for the faculty and staff.
I think this group on facebook is a good start.
Faculty Ethics on Facebook
Type: Internet & Technology - Cyberculture
Description: A discussion forum for Facebook participants to suggest activity guidelines for faculty. Proposed guidelines include: 1. Keeping official course activities in official online tools and not on Facebook. 2. Never requiring students to participate in Facebook or having Facebook participation influence a course grade. (An exception is for class projects that might use Facebook for research purposes [such as a statistical analysis of how Facebook groups grow and fade] and make their connection to a course explicit.) 3. Not friending students unless they request the connection. Not poking students. Never pressuring students to friend the professor (such as repeated mention of a faculty profile in class). 4. Accepting friend requests from all students (unless the instructor makes the decision not to friend students at all). 5. Not looking at student profiles unless the faculty member has been friended by the student and even then using Facebook information judiciously and for educational purposes. In short, not spying on students, but getting to know them better when invited to do so. 6. Faculty members should avoid association with Facebook groups with explicit sexual content or views that might offend or compromise the student / teacher relationship. This guideline must be applied sensitively within the context of a diverse educational environment in which both students and faculty practice tolerance and accept competing views. 7. Taking extreme care with privacy settings and faculty profile content to limit profiles to information relevant to educational purposes. A broad variety of information may be appropriate, however, given the area of expertise / subject, the local customs of an instructor's school, and the personal dynamics of his or her classroom. Content should be placed thoughtfully and periodically reconsidered to maintain this educational standard. 8. Exercising appropriate discretion when using Facebook for personal communications (with friends, colleagues, other students, etc.) with the knowledge that faculty behavior on Facebook may be used as a model by our students. 9. Never misrepresenting oneself by using a false name or persona on Facebook, unless that characterization is connected explicitly with the real identity of the instructor. 10. Considering that the uneven power dynamics of the academy in which professors have authority over students, continue to shape the online relationship, even when the network tool (such as Facebook) is apparently democratic. 11. Keeping wall posts and other Facebook communication in concord with standard ethical practices of the educational relationship. 12. Never posting official course communication (feedback on an assignment, for example) in a public area of Facebook. Feedback might be given through private Facebook messaging when the student has asked a question via Facebook or a previous friend connection exists. These guidelines are intended to be points for consideration and not hard and fast rules or laws of faculty behavior. Individual faculty must make individual decisions about the best practices in specific classrooms and educational contexts, always following the principle of nurturing student learning.
Frankly, I want to hear more from college IT people than just the home users who have no problems. I mean when you have multi-floor setups using the 3 non-overlapping channels and over 200 Xbox's You will see a more realistic example of problems. We have seen a few problems here lately and have suspected the Xboxs but have yet to prove it. So how about it? I want to hear from other colleges on what they have seen.
As a republican (a fed-up one at that)I decided to look at Hillary's and Obama's list of issues. I noticed that Hillary didn't even mention the internet or privacy issues. Obama listed it, and once during an interview he said he would have one of his advisors go through every bill/law that Bush has been pushing to determine if they are constitutional or not. I was encouraged by some of this. But I would prefer a President who would just state that some of these new "powers" of the goverment have gone too far. Right now I'm leaning towards Obama. And truthfully I just can't imagine Hillary looking out for my freedoms. (too much of a control freak)
I too work at a college. And we will be resisting Vista until the performance is better. What is funny is how the students are continually downgrading to XP. (they will find a way) And with gaming consoles students are less likely to switch to Vista. Macs have made a surge with our students but so has Linux. (which I'm happier about) Oh and before I forget. We also offer free computer support to the students. With all the machines we touch, we have yet see a Vista machine perform better than an XP machine, even brand new out of the box.
Why do you have to turn it on to show a broken hinge. And who requested the repairs to be rejected?
Oh come on.... this doesn't prove they are evil. And I think people missing a possibilty. Instead of hearing ring tones while you are waiting for someone to pick-up you you might hear 2-3 second Ad. you know... " This call brought to you by so and so" then boom the callee picks up. And the same when someone calls you. Plus this would not interfere with 911 calls. It is possible to do Ads without being invasive. If done right I think this would be a great phone to have. Plus even if someone linux hacked it... the ring tone Ads might still be under Googles control making Google happy and giving the hackers some fun. =)