Sunday, September 9, 2007
Second Life and Twitter
Well I just signed up for twitter and Second Life. My name in twitter is Rad Techno and in Second Life it is Rad Sella. I am not sure what I am doing in either, but I am sure it will come to me. I have decided not to start a My Space page. In my staff meeting this past Wed., my boss was warning everyone that across the country there have been several teachers fired over their my space page content. She said that if there was a doubt about a my space page in our school, that we would be put on administrative leave until it was figured out if the content was appropriate or not. The administration brought up the fact that students have been known to put teachers' faces on the bodies of other people doing inappropriate things. I decided that I should not even take the risk. If I can say to my students I don't have a page, then hopefully the temptation for including me on one of theirs will be less.
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5 comments:
Sarah,
I can see your concern when it comes to the use of MySpace. I've had a page for almost a year now, and in the beginning it was a great way to reconnect with friends that I've lost touch with. Over time, the door for mischief from others and being associated with "friends" who have questionable content became very high. I've gotten to use it in moderation of about twice a month now and don't approve all request to my buddy list, I think keeping it simple and frank is the best approach.
It is true that teachers need to be careful about what they put on the web. My Space is not necessarily the only place where students can get your likeness. They can get it from your website, from your school's website, from your facebook page, or from an online photo center like Flickr or Picasa or whatever.
We MUST be vigilant in what we show to the world, but it doesn't mean that we should ignore the reality of the internet.
I have been warned several times about this type of thing with MySpace, but I feel that as long as none of the material on the site is horribly awful, there should be no problem. I have a few pictures up on my myspace that I'm sure some people have issues with, but that is because they choose to make assumptions about it. If people would just ask and not assume, there would be less problems.
I think I will join in on the commentary! It's amazing how easily social networking is affecting the hiring and firing of professionals in any industry. I would see it as particularly harmful for a teacher to open doors for children to get information about them. In my opinion, it's a personal line you wouldn't want to cross either way between child and teacher. I found a few links about the topic that may be of interest to you:
http://www.collegerecruiter.com/weblog/archives/2006/09/employers_using.php
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/career_and_jobs/article2351444.ece
http://www.employmentblawg.com/2006/employers-using-facebook-for-background-checking-part-i/
Awesome links, Sarah Dukes!!!! They really address the potential problems with posting the wrong stuff on MySpace.
Are you using any of the Twitter 3rd party software, Rad Techno? I haven't seen too many of your postings on Twitter and it might make it easier.
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