Comments from the other side of the moon

I have just received a comment on my "Mash ups" posting from someone outside the course. (I received another one earlier on my "Cyber safety" posting and was thrilled but this time it has made me feel a bit creepy.) There is nothing particularly offensive or suggestive in the comment but because it is very general in nature, includes a photo and states that he will return, it actually makes me feel a tiny bit vulnerable and exposed. I now know first hand how easy it would be to make a "friend" online and how careful we need to be in educating our children/students about net safety.



I am aware that there is a function on Blogger to only accept comments from "real" friends and I am easily able to remove the comment but I will leave it there for you to look at.



Has anyone else received any unwanted comments on your Blogs?

Mashups

Due to a technical hitch I was unable to attend last week’s class on “mashups.”

To catch up on what I missed out on I went to wikipedia for a simple definition and found “A mashup is a website or application that combines content from more than one source into an integrated experience.” It sounded exciting with many potential educational applications.

However, my search hasn’t progressed very far, using del.icio.us I was able to find these two promising sites http://googlemapsmania.blogspot.com/2006/11/25-things-to-do-with-google-maps.html (25 things to do with google maps)

and

http://www.techlearning.com/story/showArticle.php?articleID=187002846 (using google maps mashup in K-12 education).

Most of the other links posted to del.icio.us also involved google maps with some others referring to flickr. There were also numerous links to software to create mash ups. Can anyone enlighten me on more educational applications for mash ups?

MySpace, My Corporation, My Friend?

I found this discussion on NPR (National Public Radio) to be particualary interesting. The comentator talks about how large companies are using social networking sites such as MySpace to market to young people. "But they're not just buying ads; the companies create their own profiles in the hope that they will prove popular." Young people (and possibly old) are befriending these advertising agency's creations online. You can become a friend to "Hashy", McDonalds hash brown, "Helga", the volvo girl or even the blue ipod - leave them a message and they will reply!

So we now really do need to be concerned about who are children are making friends with online.

Here is the link http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=10215577

Where the wild things are

As part of my Melbourne Uni course we are required to make up a learning task. My 7 year old daughter has attempted "Where the wild things are...." task.

Here are her responses to the questions after she listened to the podcast.


1. Max
2. Because he was mean to his mum.
3.It turned into a big world in front of him.
4.In his own private boat.
5.He felt excited and a bit nervous.
6.Frightened.
7. With a magic trick by looking at them and not blinking.
I don't know.
8.When I am playing sometimes.

(Thanks for your help Harriet!)

Safety on MySpace

Jon Faine from ABC Radio spoke with Rod Nockles, Director of Safety and Security of MySpace on Tuesday 8 May. They began talking about how MySpace is trying to combat identity fraud The conversation then moved to children's access to MySpace and what parents should know about MySpace. Some very interesting points were raised.

It appears that the interview is not available to podcast directly from ABC radio but I have copied it to my podomatic account. You can listen to it at http://joanned.podomatic.com/