I was talking with my boss Stefan about his 5-year old daughter and her use of the Web. To her everything is simply a (in his house, Bing) search away and so she is often looking to these magic machines to give her the answer. He was worried that this level of unquestioning trust would harm her long term, that she would simply think of the search box as the definitive authority on a topic.
It got me thinking about what Bing can do to support “Internet literacy” and critical thinking skills education. We’d like to think that our product does a good job of not deciding for you, but rather presenting the best information we can, organized and marked as clearly as possible, in a way that allows you to get tasks done. *You* make the decision.
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One great example of the need for critical thinking skills is the recent twitter meme about American Airlines flying medical personnel to Haiti, coupled with a phone number which turned out to be the Haiti Consulate in NYC. Neatly chronicled and debunked by University of Washington professor Kathy Gill, she showed how applied skepticism coupled with searches and cybertools could lead researchers to the truth and allow them to find the actual place where American Airlines wanted folks to direct their giving. Twitter is a social medium where misinformation can flow quickly, or good information can be garbled by the retweeting process and the limits of the 140 character format.
Although I agree that digital literacy should be a major educational initiative — across all age groups, I might add — Betsy’s anecdote brought to mind discussions with my dad. He, too, was worried about his daughter’s propensity to seek answers … even though the source turned to was books. I can hear him right now: “Kathy, you can’t find an answer to every question in a book.”
I mention my anecdote in order to suggest that the need for critical thinking — the ability and willingness to analyze any source — didn’t simply materialize with the advent of the web. It’s always been with us.
Unfortunately, there are systems in place in the home, in the church, in our schools (K-12 and higher ed) that squash natural skepticism and privilege “authority.” Thus I think there is a more significant cultural component to “digital literacy” than we may be willing to acknowledge.
If you’re like me and prefer the commercials over the game, YouTube’s “adblitz” channel may be your savior today. YouTube promises to publish Super Bowl commercials “the minute they air on Feb 7th.” And to entice you to visit the channel, after the game is over you can vote for your favorite(s) — until Valentine’s Day. Then on 18 February, the winning ad will be featured on the YouTube home page.
It sounds like there is another Twitter hack making its way ’round today. If you think your account has been hacked — for example, you see unexpected Tweets from your account — then this is what you should do:
Let me preface this post by reminding folks that IANAL (I am not a lawyer).
Example of White House Flickr Photo
The U.S. government policy on photographs and copyright is pretty straightfoward: photos produced by federal employees as part of their job responsibilities are “not subject to copyright in the United States and there are no U.S. copyright restrictions on reproduction, derivative works, distribution, performance, or display of the work.”
Why, then, is the Obama White House asserting that no one but “news organizations” can use its Flickr photos? Why is it asserting that manipulation is prohibited? Why is it asserting that photos may not be used in “commercial or political materials, advertisements, emails, products, promotions that in any way suggests approval or endorsement of the President, the First Family, or the White House”?
The buzz this week from Silicon Valley is Siri Assistant (iTunes – not yet findable on my iPhone via AppStore*). Slogan: You Ask. Siri Does.
12:25 pm – update In Comments
I’m not a musician, but Talenthouse.com found my University webform and used it to send me an email asking me to audition for the Vienna Symphony Orchestra.This unsolicited “email” serves as a reminder about mass-mailing in an age of niche markets.
The number one cause of death for women in the U.S. is heart disease; cancer is number two, with lung cancer being the leading cause. So why is it that the thought of breast cancer scares the beejesus out of us? It’s not even on the top 10 list.
Funny but sad (in a way). From @CharltonBrooker via Brian M. Westbrook (@bmw)
My first reaction to the iPhone, as I “consumed” the uStream feed, was this:
Netbook is on “production” side of equation, #ipad is on “consumption” side. It’s a content consumption device. On steroids.
It’s more than 12 hours later, I’ve taught a class where we talked a bit about the iPad in terms of technology evolution/adoption, and I remain firmly fixed in the “it’s a consumption product” camp. But I wanted to take a few minutes and look back at the naysayers in 2007, when Apple launched the iPhone.
