privacy – elissahalliday

Creative Commons

October 30, 2018elissahallidayLeave a comment

In today’s class, we learned about the non-profit organization called Creative Commons. This website gives users a large range of creative works that they can build upon legally and share. Creative Commons was founded in 2001 and is used by many different search engines such as Flickr and youtube.

To use Creative Commons you go to the CC Search part of it and type in what you are looking for. For example, if you wanted to search for sunflowers you would write that in the search bar and then choose the search engine you want to use. For my example I choose Flickr. You also have the choice of clicking off if you want it to use it for commercial purposes and/ or if you want to modify, adapt or build upon it (see picture below). Since I was not looking for an image I could use for commercial purposes, or a photo I could modify, adapt, or build upon, I did not click off either of these boxes.

Once you have decided what you are searching for and chose the categories you want, you can search for the image you are looking for. From here you get a large variety of photos from different authors. When you select a photo you can see who the publisher is, the views, when it was taken and the rights. The photo I chose has some rights reserved and with these rights, I can share and adapt the image, but cannot use it for commercial purposes. When you want to save the photo you can choose the size you want (square, small, medium, large, or original size). After I looked at how to properly save the image, I saved it by username@searchengine.copyrightcode. For my image, I saved it as Kristine@Flickr. CC BY-NC 2.0.

Flickr by Kristine licensed under CC BY-NC 2.0

Here is a link to the Creative Commons search – https://search.creativecommons.org/

Twitter

October 15, 2018elissahallidayLeave a comment

Twitter is a very popular social media platform used to interact with others via messages called “tweets”. It was created by Jack Dorsey in 2006 and fastly gained popularity among young adults. It has now become popular for a wide variety of people to communicate about news, important issues, and their daily lives.

If you create a twitter account you have a “handle” which is your username. You create your own username and it can be whatever you want to make it. This is how other members search for you by searching @ and then your handle. You can customize your profile as much or as little as you would like. You have the choice to add in a profile picture and a bio or to leave it blank. You also have the option to make your profile public or private depending on the level of privacy you wish. If you have a private profile, people have to request to follow you and you have the choice to accept or decline. If you have a public account, then other users can see your profile and tweets without requesting to follow you.

A tweet is a 140-word message that is sent out to one’s followers. If you hashtag (#) something on your tweet and you do not have a private account others who are searching up that hashtag can see your message. If you do not want people being able to see your message then you can make your account private. When you have a private account only those who you have allowed to follow you can view your tweets. If your account is public then anyone can view your tweets and they also have the option to retweet your post, favorite/like it, or reply to it and create a conversation.

The hashtag that I briefly touched on earlier is a way of finding something that interests you or a way for you to start a conversation. You can search up a topic you want to see what other people have been saying about it by searching for example #dailynews. Another way to use the hashtag is on your own tweet. You can add hashtags to start a conversation and for other people to find your tweet. If people want to reply to your tweet they can also hashtag the same thing and add to the discussion. Hashtags are also used to create twitter chats. Twitter chats are conversations on a certain topic (a hashtag). They are a good way to connect people who have similar interests, questions, and/or beliefs. Many people participate in Twitter chats including educators.

Many educators are on twitter to get new teaching ideas, to see what other teachers are doing, and to stay connected with fellow co-workers. It is a great way to start a discussion with other educators and to see their opinions on certain topics such as technology in the classroom. It can also be used by teachers for their students to see what is happening in class, when things are due, and other important notes. Since technology is becoming more and more prevalent in classrooms, twitter is a good resource for teachers to use to stay connected and to learn more about education.

All in all, Twitter has many great features and allows people to share their interests and to keep up to date with what is going on. It is a useful tool for businesses, educators, and individuals looking to stay connected with others and share their opinions. It is good to know the privacy settings of Twitter before creating an account and posting tweets.

Social Media Concerns/ Usage as an Aspiring Teacher

October 3, 2018October 4, 2018elissahallidayLeave a comment

With an increase in technology use over the past few years, social media has become more and more popular. Sites such as Instagram, Facebook, Youtube, Twitter, and Snapchat are all being used for creating and sharing ideas/content and for communication. With the popularity of these websites come many safety and privacy concerns, which many people are unaware of.

In our Technology Innovation class, we had guest speaker Jesse Miller come in to talk to us about the concerns of social media with kids, social media and the workplace, and the best practices for privacy online.

A few current concerns of social media with kids is how it is continuing to get younger and younger, it makes them feel special, and there is increased affirmations. There has been an increase in the presence of primary aged students on social media platforms. Without proper knowledge of privacy and safety online this can be a huge issue for kids. Another concern is how it makes them feel special, this makes them want to keep using it and keep adding friends etc. Lastly, children see a lot of the positives of social media such as there favorite Youtube stars making tons of money from creating these videos and they think “I can do that too”, which has its pros and cons but it could lead to a decrease in their academic involvement.

Social media use is also related to the workplace. Social media can be used to search up future employers. This is why your privacy and what you post on social media is a big issue. It is important to balance your personal life with your professional expectations. Especially being a teacher, many students will be searching you up so you want to be cautious of what they will find.

One major focus of social media privacy is digital rights. Before posting pictures, videos, etc. you need the consent of anyone who is featured in that photo. As a teacher, it is important to note that if you are taking a picture of your class you need three levels of consent: the students, the parents, and the school. If a student does not want to be featured in the photo you can use image editing to, for example, put an emoji over their face to keep their privacy respected. To keep your own privacy you should be making sure to read the privacy statements of the platforms you are reading so you know what you are signing into and be aware of how you can make your account more private. You need to have an understanding of what the consequences of using these platforms are.

One topic that Jesse talked a bit about was gaming and the world around that. I did not know a lot about gaming as I am not a gamer myself so this was very informative for me. We learned about a streaming service called Twitch where there are live videos of people playing video games that others can join into and watch. I also learned that there are tons of gaming tournaments that go on around the world where the winner can make up to millions of dollars. This is relevant for me as a teacher candidate as elementary children love video games and gaming is very prevalent in their lives.

Overall social media has a very large presence in many peoples lives and needs to be used with caution and understanding. We should be open about these platforms and have open dialogues with employees, co-workers, friends, and family.