Privacy Online pt. 4: Shades of Gray

Some areas are not as clear cut as credit cards (obviously private) or complaining about your boss on your blog (obviously not). Here are just a few of the gray areas:

I used to consider my emails private. (At least from my private account - most people I know don't use their work account for sensitive business. Not a great idea if they do - one funny example is seen in an episode of NBC's the Office called Email Surveillance.)

Then I got a google account and noticed that all the ads were related to text in the body of my email. I even wrote back and forth with a friend to see if we could bring up ads about the Smurfs. (We could.) That convinced me that really, the contents of my emails are not fully private. If I have a private conversation with my husband, it's pretty unlikely that anyone would could possibly care would find that information, but we never send information that might be exploitable by a stranger.

Another alarming move was facebook's attempt to retain permanent rights to use, modify, etc. anything you post online (subject to your privacy settings). This change was reversed, and facebook argued that it was just trying to protect itself seeing that some of your posted information could end up "on servers out of its control." The language of the Terms of Service, as seen in this important consumerist.com post, is not unusual for social networking sites and reads like one of those waivers you have to sign before you bungee jump that basically says that anything that happens is your fault, or at least not the company's.

So, the ultimate lessons we need to convey to our students are 1) There is little privacy online, 2) how to keep things private and protected will continually change and you need take responsibility and keep up with those changes, and 3) that's no reason to avoid being online, it's just a reason to be educated and judicious. They're not easy lessons, but we'll do what we can.

Thanks for the photo of a google streetview car found through creative commons.

Privacy Online pt3: Unreasonable Expectations of Privacy

However, in more social and open setting, like facebook, there is not a reasonable expectation of privacy. Although you can limit who sees your profile, you are deliberately putting information into digital form for others to access. One way or another, you have to assume that information can travel.

In order to pretend that your facebook profile is private, you would need to have only "friends" who will always know and share your interests, who will never post materials offensive not only to you, but to anyone in your life, who would never make an error of judgment, who would never pass on your posted information, intentionally or not, to someone less scrupulous. Not likely.

One of the problems with facebook (or blogging or twitter, etc.) is simply that people don't consider their (whole) audience. You're usually writing with someone in mind, or venting a particular feeling without considering how it might appear to someone else. Something that makes sense to your friends might horrify your boss -- especially if it's a complaint about work!

I think our students need to be taught about the wider audience that may see their posts. It is sometimes difficult, especially as a young person, to see ahead to the time when you wouldn't want people to know about your high school antics, so explicit instruction is needed at home and at school. I, however, feel it comes down to this -- if you post it, assume anyone can see it.

Privacy Online pt. 2: Reasonable Expectations of Privacy

In commercial transactions, like buying something, there is justifiably a high expectation of privacy. You can reasonably assume that an established or trusted company (and here you must exercise your judgment) will want to be seen as "safe", and thus will share your interests in keeping your data secure.

I see two possible fundamental differences between trying to maintain some level of online privacy once you move your interactions to the web.

First, individuals and small businesses can be attacked from anywhere in the world. People increasingly transmit the most highly guarded information, like credit card numbers and social security numbers. As BBC points out in its controversial expose on botnets, many people are not even aware of the risks. Previously, if someone wanted to gather information to rob the corner store, there’s a good chance that whoever noticed the store would have been noticed in turn. Not anymore.

Still, there are solutions to this problem. For companies that are too small to have in-house help, there are consultants available to set up security. Cyber-crime insurance is a booming industry. Identity theft has become common, but so have strategies for avoiding it and tools for tracking offenders.

The second fundamental difference is of more significance for us as educators. Before, learning one technology for passing private information was likely to last your lifetime. The sealed envelope (with all its potential cheats, like steaming or switching envelopes) lasted from as least the Middle Ages to today.

Today, the nature of what is possible (or likely enough to cause concern) changes so rapidly that we can no longer simply learn how to be safe and stop at that. We must truly be life-long learners, continually informing ourselves and incorporating new strategies and ideas. As educators, we can’t just share information with our students. Instead we must help them develop a mindset of engagement and personal motivation for continual learning.

Privacy Online: Three can keep a secret...

I found this post difficult to write. There are so many aspects to our lives online and so many variations on each situation, and I’m no expert on the details of what companies or cyber-criminals can do. I’ve broken my thoughts into several sections.

This week’s essential question is, “Is there such a thing as privacy online?"

Not really, no.

To quote Ben Franklin, “Three can keep a secret when two are dead.” Whatever you communicate online has a concrete form that can be archived, phished, or forwarded. There are always three involved – you, your intended recipient, and the Internet. While you could argue that the Internet is dead (or at least, non-living), it is also your messenger, your secret-carrier. If your information is likely to arrive unlooked at, it is not because it’s so well protected, but because it passes unnoticed amidst the sheer volume of other, similar information.

What kind of privacy do we expect from our online lives? For the most part, people run into problems not because of the nature of the web, but because they misunderstand its nature. As educators, we can help our students understand the role of these new media and how to use them responsibly.

Thanks for the photo found through creative commons.

Digital Footprints

This week's essential question is: When and where should we be teaching students about their digital footprint?

Our face-to-face (f2f) meeting this week included Ms. Silvia Tolisano's fascinating presentation about the nature of one’s presence online presence, or "digital footprint". She emphasized that we have moved beyond the time where "digital invisibility" is a reasonable expectation for students... or even a desirable one.

Educators vary widely in their understanding of digital footprints and the emerging technologies that make them possible. Those "in-the-know" may offer advice or informal instruction, but these efforts can not be counted upon to reach all students. At my school there is little in the curriculum about online behavior other than plagiarism. Formal efforts to raise student awareness about digital footprints and cyberbullying include showing a video (see below) in which a hard copies of girl's picture are subsituted for the digital image, showing how it is impossible to remove.



This is a crucial lesson, especially for the younger grades, but is it, alone, the best approach? As with all social and global issues, we want children to understand the seriousness of our message, but we must not frighten or upset them so much that they shut the information out and ignore it. In this case, we must be careful not to engender a feeling of helplessness, especially in students whose social lives are inseparable from online media and who may not be willing to give up their online activites for safety. There is some evidence of this attitude. In his article on digital footprints and employment, Fields Mosley quotes a man who refuses to worry about his online footprint because, he says, it's beyond his control.

So, what about our students who have already made these indelible errors? What about those who, for whatever reason, are unwilling to curtail their online antics?

There are always steps one can take to improve one’s online image. In her online article, Kim Komando suggests (among other things) highlighting positive achievements online, encouraging links to these, and constructive blogging about one’s passions. This has the double benefit of showing off one's accomplishments and pushing any negative links out of the top search results.

How important is all of this to our students? A clearly written article in admissions.com cites Kaplan research showing that 10% of college admissions offices reported looking up applicants on facebook. Other social networking sites, googling, and so on are also commonly used by universities and prospective employers and the numbers seem likely to increase.

As educators, we should go beyond the teaching about the dangers of online life. Clearly, student safety is the first priority and these lessons have their place. However, we should augment our instruction with information about the benefits a digital footpring might have on college admissions or hiring. Imagine googling a young applicant to find not evidence of drinking and immature behaviors, but a blog ongoing involvement with a subject of interest like music, community service, or biology. One can easily imagine the extra boost such a result might give in the increasingly competitive admissions and hiring offices.

The place for these lessons is not as obvious to me. Some possible ideas include a few classes (perhaps in the freshman seminar my school offers) for early high schoolers on not just erasing or sanitizing, but estabilshing their digital footprint, along with all the safety instruction about identity protection, social networking behaviors, online predators and so on. The counselling office could work with all college-bound juniors and all seniors research and improves their digital footprints. Then the students would be empowered to make sure the image they're projecting (safely) to the world is the one they want their prospective schools and employers to see.

Thanks for the image found through creative commons.

What's in a Name?

I created this blog to go along with coursework I'm taking in Education Technology and Information Literacy.  As a classroom teacher of high school science, I hope to contribute to the discussion surrounding the evolving role of technology in learning.

I've noticed that blog names often involve some sort of fun wordplay -- something "punny".  "Science in Flower" is meant to evoke a positive image of science producing useful and helpful results (assuredly aiding and aided by technology) as well as refer to my favorite of the experimental sciences, biology.  It is also an homage to Richard Feynman, the Nobel Prize-winning physicist who said:

I have an artist friend and he sometimes takes a view which I don't agree with very well.  He'll hold up a flower and say, "Look how beautiful it is!" and I'll agree.  And he says, "I, as an artist, can see how beautiful this is, but you as a scientist take it all apart and it becomes a dull thing."  And I think he's kind of nutty.

First of all, the beauty he sees is available to me, too, I believe.  Although I may not be quite as refined aesthetically as he is, I can appreciate the beauty of a flower.

At the same time, I see much more about the flower than he sees.  I could imagine the cells in there, the complicated actions inside which also have a beauty.  I mean, it's not just beauty at this dimension of one centimeter: there is also beauty at a smaller dimension, the inner structure... also the processes.

The fact that the colors in the flower are evolved in order to attract insects to pollinate it is interesting -- it means that insects can see the color.  It adds a question -- does this aesthetic sense also exist in the lower forms... why is it aesthetic, all kinds of interesting questions which a science knowledge only adds to the excitement and mystery and beauty and awe of a flower.

It only adds.  I don't see how it subtracts.

This story has been very meaningful for me as someone who did not come directly to a career that deals daily with the rules and rigor of science.  As as student, I felt more aligned with the arts than the sciences.  It wasn't until college that I discovered my love for biology.  I cherish not only the deep satisfaction of understanding, but the excitement and joy I find continuously when studying the living world.

It is sometimes difficult to communicate this enthusiasm to students in a classroom setting. Some technological advances have helped -- the vivid colors of a projected image, the instant retrieval of details when students ask an illuminating question, the interactive animations of sub-microscopic processes.  I look forward to learning new tips and technologies to further aid my students' learning and encourage the growth of their academic passions.