Edging Ahead…

Essential question: “When and where should we be teaching students about their digital footprint?”

Let’s get this out right up front. The whole concept of a digital “footprint” is a misnomer. Like the footprints left behind on a beach, a trail of digital cookies can show where you’ve been – but more often, they may be used to determine who you are rather than where – and this, it seems to me, is the real question. It’s more the case of leaving digital fingerprints than digital footprints.

For an overview of some of the ways you may never have considered that you’re developing a digital fingerprint, watch the first video link in Jen & Bob Farr’s “Farr-Out Links to Learning”.

Of course, where you’ve been speaks volumes about who you are, but by promoting this simple shift in thinking, we might help kids to maintain their sense of personal privacy for just a bit longer. Although kids often want to advertise where they are, so they can hook up, either virtually or in reality, most kids try to protect who they are much more vigorously. Unfortunately, they often don’t stop to consider that every bit of data they give up without a thought is etching yet another whorl into their digital fingerprint.

It’s never too young. As soon as kids begin to establish a presence online  – that probably is, as soon as they learn to access the internet under their own logon, it’s time to begin teaching them what this really means. And in the end, if  they’re going to be out there anyway, then why not help them put their best foot forward as soon as possible.

Some options?

• Help kids- at just about any level – find out more about digital footprints at the Discovery Channel’s “Your Digital Footprint“.
• Introduce older kids to the suggestions at “Marketing Monday” on improving one’s digital footprint.
• As a parent, consider signing up for one of the emerging “sanitizer” sites like “Reputation Defender“, on behalf of your child. This is a paid service, which claims that it, “scours the Internet for all references to your child or teen – by name, photography, screen name, or social network profiles – and packages it to you in an easy-to-understand report. Worried about bullies? Concerned that your teens’ friends and peers are posting inappropriate materials online? MyChild searches every corner of the Internet for traces of your kids. If you want to help your teen manage their online reputation, but have felt powerless to do so, ReputationDefender is your answer!”

BUT – beware of EVERYTHING online that offers to protect privacy. As with your own “digital footprint”, everything ever put out there is still there. A site with the billing  “Consumer Protection:Step Carefully: Covering Digital Footprint Is Key to Web Privacy“,  hosted by the Credit Union National Association, Inc., which certainly sounds legitimate, and which shows a copyright date of 2009, still makes the following recommendation;

• Try “Browzar.” A new Web search engine called Browzar might be a Web visitor’s best friend. The site acts as an online vacuum cleaner that removes Internet caches, histories, cookies, and online autoforms (the online tool that anticipates the Web address or search engine term based on data you’ve previously entered online and is stored on the browser).

Unfortunately, a bit of online digging turns up the following disturbing reports.

• ZD-Net.co.uk – Sept. 2006 – the dateline on this should be a giveway, but if you miss it, ZD-Net initially posts a quite positive review of Browzar, which might encourage you to try it. The post ends with a later update, though,  which says, “…Browzar is not reliably secure and it does not perform as advertised. Alternatives include Firefox and Safari, both of which have privacy functions. Even Microsoft’s own Internet Explorer can optionally erase files it creates during surfing”
• the Australian PC Authority, in a 2009 posting, says, “…Browzar protects your privacy from everyone except anyone who knows a bit about computers and can access index.dat. If someone wants to know where you’ve been online, you must assume they’re serious enough to do just that…If you’re determined to be private online, you’ll want something that does a lot more than Browzar, such as NetCaptor. If you’re really serious, Torpark, which uses Portable Firefox, adds privacy extensions and a distributed anonymous proxy server, where everyone gets pages for everyone else, leaving no easily followed click-trail
• A further check turns up the following note on NetCaptor. “NetCaptor is Dead. Long Live Tabbed Browsing“.

Nothing on the web is forever, it seems – except, perhaps, the “digital fingerprints” you’d really not leave behind..

The sooner kids learn that message, the better. It’s never too young to learn good habits.

I stepped off the merry-go-round for a month, to spend time with family, reconnect with my “roots” in Canada – and to just savor introducing my eighteen-month old son to family and Christmas traditions I hope he’ll come to value. It wasn’t entirely intentional, but the dial-up account  at my parents’ home in Canada was just no longer up to the task. Even webmail was painfully slow, and web pages poured in at glacial speed, while video was basically inaccessible.  And then I got back and found that two weeks had slipped by without my getting back online. Now I’m really playing catch-up…

I spent much of the fall semester exploring  new technologies encountered at Learning2.0 in Shanghai and had striven to bring new interactivity to our work in ISB’s Main Library.  Returning from Shanghai in September, I had;

• tinkered with our library blog (adding a couple of social networking options – Flickr feed, promotional title carousel, etc.)
• launched a Student Writers’ Ning and tried to establish a Skype-video collaboration with student writers in Shanghai. Weekly f2f sessions between student writers at ISB and Shekou were to present students with new opportunities for personal expression, to promote interest in personal writing projects and to provide writers with external feedback from outside our closed community.
• added a “Gamers” section to my HS Library Club (”Gutenberg’s Intent”) and invited MMORPGers to help me learn about Halo, WOW and the other games they’d rather play than work…
• worked through an entry-level launch of our new online catalog (Follett’s Destiny, complete with Webpath Express and OneSearch, with one-stop access to 6 research databases)
• helped prep our “Library Review” committee with background reading to our Main Library review, with key readings from Johnson, Stephens, Todd, Valenza and others currently leading the field.
• worked at enhancing student interest in library research by buttressing sessions on subscription research tools with Delicious tagging and YouTube Videos (“Guybrarian” – listed 2004, actually 2005, & due for an update)
• Joined Twitter to connect to like-minded librarians. My Twitter name’s rubisr – the same that I use for most public log-ons.
• Updated my Second Life account, tweaked my avatar (he still looks like a ’60s dropout, but he’s all mine! – “Sonof Smadga”, if you’re in SL), and joined Chris Smith in a virtual round-table discussion on the state – and the future – of libraries, with Doug Johnson and Diane McKenzie.

In spite of best intentions, though, I was feeling, at semester’s end, farther than ever from achieving a balance between what’s possible and what’s practical in a real-world school library setting. I was less than enthralled with the real change brought about by any of my fall efforts. Specifically;

• we haven’t really moved our blog forward in terms of functionality, and apparently not really captured student interest with it. A library walkthrough reveals continued prevalence of Google, Wikipedia, games and and social networking sites.
• the challenges of flaky bandwidth, grainy webcams, and, frankly, sketchy goals have brought the Skype-video project to an indefinite hiatus. The Ning has garnered no new postings since November. Several of my student writers claim they’re working on material – but the Ning’s not what they need at this point, and the Skype sessions just seemed to have no purpose.
• In spite of enhanced catalog functionality (TitlePeek adds a Google look; WebPath Express links to focused websites), we haven’t seen a change in student propensity for Googling through assignments.
• Although the social tagging power of Delicious and YouTube is seductive, the research “course of least resistance” is still prevalent in both students – and in teachers. Truth is that a simple Google search still points researchers to adequate resources to meet most assignment needs.
• My Twitter account has languished – no, it’s truly moribund. I haven’t posted since November. I still have 13 “followers” – but they just haven’t gotten around to dumping me yet.
• Since stumbling through a virtual seminar on SL, where bandwidth limitations reduced my avatar to a shambling caricature, I haven’t been back. I’m intrigued with Second Life, and all virtual worlds – but realistically, at least from my vantage point in the rice-paddies outside Bangkok, it’s not really there yet.

And so, it’s time to rethink where I’m going with both my efforts to infuse new approaches into our library program, and whether I’m still obsessing over “stuff” (a la Ross Todd, 2008) rather than truly introducing transformational ideas that will connect with kids’ interests and needs.

In the month I was away from RSS feeds and daily blogs, the world has continued to climb that ever-steepening curve of technological evolution tied to educational innovation. Glancing over the Blue Skunk blog, the Never-ending Search, and Tame the Web, to name just a few, suggests that if I had my work cut out for my last semester, I’m now faced with a task of Herculean proportions.  My first inclination, honestly, was too simply say, “There’s no way. It’s just too much.”  But hey, what’s that saying about a journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step?

As part of our efforts at ISB to institutionalize (dangerous word, but I think it fits in the purest sense) thinking about learning, we’ve launched a new series of graduate courses leading to either a Masters Degree or a Certificate on Educational Technology and Informational Literacy. One of our first assignments was to develop a blog, and to link it to the online course framework. This is going to be it.

Michael Stephens’ post on “Ten Trends and Technologies for 2009″ looks like a great place to start, particularly with the nuggets he’s embedded in the “What does this mean for libraries?” notes. A few of these include:

• Investigate what it means to offer a space that feels like “home” where access and information is unimpeded (the Value of the Commons)
• It’s not the library blog or wiki, or Bookspace, or GoodReads, or Meebo embedded librarian on the results page, it’s people…and connections…it’s about meeting people where they live and providing them with the services they need or want. It’s about encouraging them (The Care and Nurturing of the Tribe)
• people want to feel connected and welcome. The want to feel that a space – physical or virtual – that they spend time in – belongs to them (The Importance of Personalization)
• make things easy and useful…Use failures as learning moments to influence the next plan or service. Failure is cool if it doesn’t prevent you from moving forward (The Shift toward Open Thinking)

And so – with those exhortation to guide me, it’s back to the fray!

A little belatedly – Welcome to 2009! (or Gung Hoy Fat Choi, for the internationally inclined)

Rob

…Life

My internet connection was flakey, my avatar could barely move, and I spent ten minutes getting my microphone turned on and adjusted, but in the end, it was a successful first foray in “virtual” networking. About a dozen intrepid “Second Lifers” met Doug Johnson (Blue Skunk) and Dianne McKenzie (HK) to chat about our current library situations, review and redesign thoughts, and the future in general.

There are really deep implications for the future of libraries, and of learning in general, here. As soon as I get my head around some of them, I’ll write a post about it. For now, I’m guessing that Doug will write something about the experience, and I’ll look to him for the words of wisdom.

But it IS the wave of the future – for those of us in the “wired” world, at least. It can only get better….

Well! My first effort at developing a Blog to reel in the HS non-readers was something of a bust. I presented my first posting to my library club – named “Gutenberg’s Intent” (work it out!) and was met with – a non-response. Back to the drawing board on that one

Not only did my students not diss me for my choice of a first topic (my summer reading). They didn’t find the idea of spending time at a teacher’s blog even remotely worth the time to Comment. So – Actions Speak Louder than Words, they say.

The blog languished for four months. I’m going to try to put this out there “in the world” again, as yet another forum for those of us looking at libraries and technology through “New” eyes. I’ve just tweaked the original blog (new title and profile detail) to keep everything else so I maintain the full online archive of my electronic musings.

I’ve been following the hype and the debate about Web 2.0 and Libraries2.0. I’m tinkering with this Blog, and I’m shuffling about like a newly animated Frankenstein monster in Second Life. As I wade through all of these new interfaces, try to absorb the new jargon, and desperately try to maintain the technical skillset needed to regularly tweak the setup of my wireless laptop and my problematic DSL line at home, I keep asking myself, “Can everyone that sets out to get up to speed with this stuff have as many problems as I do?

Love to hear from you if you’ve been where I’m at. Where do we go from here?