Back to Blogging

Back from March Break and back to blogging mode. I hope that everyone had a nice and relaxing week. I stayed home and did absolutely nothing and it was wonderful.

The presentation Tuesday night on "Did You Know" was very interesting, by the way, the background music to that was from the soundtrack "Last of the Mohicans", I love that soundtrack. Anyway, technology is growing at such a rapid rate that it can get overwhelming if you dwell on it too much. I find myself constantly holding my breath and I am a bit scared of exhaling, my brain might explode.

I looked up virtual worlds online and I could not understand how people would find that appealing. I have trouble dealing with my own reality let alone a virtual one. On the negative aspect of virtual worlds, it opens the door for risky behaviour in otherwise "normal folk". I was watching Larry King Live last night and he had guests from Dateline to Catch a Predator, hosted by Chris Hansen, America's Most Wanted, hosted by John Walsh and the creator of the website pervertedjustice.com. They talked about just how many people that they had caught in chat rooms who were trying to lure kids. These people were seemingly normal folks that allowed themselves to practise such risky behaviour. They seem to think that they are anonymous online.

I was somewhat surprised to find my neices' little clip on youtube.com, it was filmed at night by her friends using a cell phone equipped with a video camera. She danced to a pop song that they had playing in the background. I never thought that she would put a video of herself on line.

Just finished the chapter on Read/Write Web (Web 2.0) and the impact it is going to have in today's society and the future as well. I wanted to make a quick comment on weblogs, RSS feeds, online photo galleries and audio/video casting. I can see how they can be used as a tool for educators. But, because teachers are so concerned about safety, especially with students from K-5, I do not think that they will be allowing their students to write in weblogs just yet. Teachers would probably let their students do weblogs if they knew they could control the students environment (somewhat) with filters, wiki-spaces and RSS feeds. But, correct me if I am wrong. Like it or not, this is something that is inevitable, kids are already on line.