Thursday - Apr 22, 2010
Joining the growing list of top-level Internet domain suffixes like .com, .net, and .org may be a new one, .eco. The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers or ICANN, the organization that administers domain endings, will soon begin the process to add this green-friendly suffix. Environmental organizations and concerned citizens may soon be able to display their earth-loving credentials by sporting the suffix on websites, blogs and email.
But as you might expect, there’s controversy in paradise–I mean on the Net. First of all, can anyone register a .eco domain or do you have to prove your green cred? If registration is open to all, it could dilute the value of the .eco “brand.” Read a letter of concern to ICANN from The Dot Eco Stakeholder Council.
Second, some environmentalists argue that having the .eco domain marginalizes green groups, identifying them as out of the mainstream and on the fringe of society. The controversy has pitted the biggest names in environmentalism against one another. Try Al Gore and the Sierra Club vs. the World Wildlife Federation and the Green Cross. For a discussion of this, read “Why .Eco Is a Bad Idea”.
Personally, I think it’s a point well-taken. Environmental practices have to be thoroughly integrated into our lives if there’s any chance of success. And does the online world really need yet another domain suffix? What do you think?
Wednesday - Apr 21, 2010
That’s a comment made at a recent developer’s conference by Twitter CEO Evan Williams in reference to the micro-blogging service’s attempt to crack the Chinese market. China has been in the news lately for its heavy-handed attempts to block search engine results and other Internet content from reaching the general population. If information is power, then withholding it is one way to keep citizens’ power in check.
According to the Great Firewall of China website, “It is estimated that some 30,000 Chinese civil servants are monitoring Internet traffic and blocking content that is deemed undesirable. Typing in sensitive keywords such as ‘democracy’, ‘Falun Gong’ or ‘porno’ in a search engine results in an error message. Websites of a sensitive nature are being blocked.”
At one point, I discovered that Learn the Net was blocked in China. although I’m unsure why, as the site content is certainly not controversial. But a recent check revealed that it’s now accessible in Hong Kong–which has an open Internet policy–as well in Beijing, the seat of Chinese government. (If you publish online, you can use this tool to check the status of your site.)
Unfortunately China isn’t the only country engaged in online censorship. As you might suspect, repressive governments, including North Korea, Burma, Cuba, Saudi Arabia, Iran, Syria, Egypt, Tunisia, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and Vietnam routinely censor the Net. According to Reporters Without Borders, an international organization that monitors freedom of the press, other countries are under surveillance, like Australia, for the government’s efforts to have Internet service providers block sites deemed “inappropriate.”
And China isn’t the only country that requires search engines to filter results. The European Union, including France and Germany, bans sites promoting Nazism.
Other countries have gotten into the act. An alert posted by the International Freedom of Expression eXchange claims that the Thai government blocks “more than 50,000 websites and web pages.”
The Berkman Center for Internet & Society at Harvard University tracks inaccessible websites in real time by relying on reports from people around the world. Browse the latest reports at HerdictWeb.
As the Internet becomes the world’s prime source of information, expect to see more governments cracking down on free speech. But even as censorship techniques become more sophisticated, citizens seeking information are pioneering new ways to communicate. A prime example is the use of Twitter during the post-election protests in Iran.
Have you experienced online censorship? Share your story.
Monday - Apr 19, 2010
More schools across America are adapting their curriculum to include safe use of Web 2.0 and the Internet. But it’s proving to not be an easy task for educators.
Take Kevin Jenkins for example. Jenkins, who teaches fourth graders at Spangler Elementary, created a well-intentioned online space where his students could post class projects and other information. But he noticed that some of them started posting popularity polls, something he didn’t intend.
“They’re not thinking that everyone’s going to see it,” Jenkins told The New York Times.
This is only one of the many challenges that Jenkins and other educators must overcome when helping students learn healthy Internet habits. However, as schools continue to integrate technology and the Internet into the classroom, it only seems natural to include additional instruction and safe use policies in classroom curriculum.
One of the major barriers to teaching Internet safety and responsible use is the lack of material on the subject. “Unfortunately, lack of an effective Web 2.0 Internet safety curriculum is a concern,” said Nancy Willard, director of the Center for Safe and Responsible Internet Use, in an article on EducationWorld.com.
“Much of the current available material is Web 1.0 based and incomplete. A coordinated approach to provide that information through appropriate classes is necessary.”
Willard elaborated on this in a paper she recently wrote (note: link leads to PDF file) about modern education. She noted that many of the approaches used in the past have been fear-based, providing a counter-intuitive approach to helping teens and ‘tweeners.
“Over the last decade, much of the Internet safety material — information still present on many state attorneys general web sites and in instruction material they provide — contains disinformation which creates the fear that young people are at high risk of online sexual predation, when the actual research and arrest data indicates the opposite.”
“If guidance related to Internet risk continues to misinform and transmit fear, it is highly likely that fears will continue to interfere with the transformation of schools into 21st-century learning environments, enriched with interactive Web 2.0 technologies,” she added.
Not-for-profit Common Sense Media is trying to fill that curriculum gap with a media program aimed towards both educators and parents. The program is based on research by Harvard psychology and education professor Howard Gardner, encouraging kids to consider the consequences of their online behavior.
Common Sense Media is offering its curriculum for free to schools, with more than 2,300 schools taking up the offer since its release in October in 2008. “Our programs go beyond Internet safety by addressing broader issues kids face in the digital world,” Common Sense says, “guiding them on how to make responsible and respectful choices about how they live and treat others in this fast-paced digital world.”
It remains to be seen just how much the modern increase in children’s media consumption and Internet usage will effect their development. However, it’s obvious that new Web 2.0 technologies are making their way into the classroom as well as outside it. With its increasing prevalence comes the need for a greater awareness from parents and teachers about its safe and effective use, without using scare tactics and flawed statistics.
