Pew Research - Information Sharing, Friending, and Privacy Settings on Social Media

Madden, M. & Lenhart, A. (2013). Part 2: information sharing, friending, and privacy settings on social media. Pew Research Center’s Internet & American Life Project. Retrieved from http://www.pewinternet.org/2013/05/21/part-2-information-sharing-friending-and-privacy-settings-on-social-media/

I have now read several articles on the subject of teens’ consideration of privacy settings and am continually and pleasantly surprised to find that they actually think about these things.  I guess I assumed that teens were egg heads who felt themselves to be invincible and in no need of protection. 

Teens share a lot of information about themselves on social media sites.  Most teens, however, do not adopt a fully public style when using social media.  Most of them post their real name. Or else how would their friends find them?  Most of them post a photo of themselves.  Or else how would their friends recognize them?  71% post their school name and city or town where they live.  This may not be the best idea.  53% post their email address.  This is definitely not a good idea.  20% post their cell phone number.  Okay, these are the egg heads.  What are they thinking?  Maybe they are proud to be owners of cell phones and it is an expression of independence.  Boys are more likely than girls to share their cell phone number.  African-American teens are less likely to disclose their real names.  I wonder why that is?  I have read this before.

Reputation management seems to be a big concern of teens.  It is interesting to read the survey comments in this article.  Teens, especially girls, are very concerned about their Facebook profile pictures and other photos of themselves.  One girl said that she would message “a ton” of photos to her friends, asking which one should be her profile. Another said that if her photo had less than 20 likes, she would take it down.  Likes are status symbols apparently, as one teen declared that your social position is determined by the number of likes your picture gets.  Some have discovered that you get more likes by posting a picture at a prime time.  I’m so glad I’m not a teen.  In my day, we only worried about zits and our jeans fitting tight enough!

In addition to choosing privacy settings, teens choose different people to add to their friend network.  Most choose school friends, friends from outside of school, and extended family members.  Older teens tend to be Facebook friends with a larger variety of people, while younger teens are less likely to friend certain groups, including those they haven’t met in person.  I often have my middle school students ask to be friends with me on Facebook and I always tell them no, it’s not allowed.  Sometimes they friend request me later when they’re in high school.  If they had been a very special student whom I remember with fondness, I usually accept their request, though I may later, quietly, delete them.   MY STATUS DOES NOT RELY UPON HOW MANY FACEBOOK FRIENDS I HAVE, NOR HOW MANY LIKES MY PHOTOS GET.

Most teens have checked their Facebook privacy setting relatively recently and keep their Facebook profile private.  Girls are more likely than boys to restrict access to their profiles.  They feel confident in their management of privacy settings, yet relatively few take steps to customize what certain friends can see, or what their parents can see for that matter.

The article also discusses teen Twitter use.  The majority of teen Twitter users have public accounts.  Like on Facebook, teens are confident in their own privacy regulation.  The typical teen Twitter user has 79 followers, far fewer than Facebook friends.

[28 pages]

Pew Research - Teens & Technology: Understanding the Digital Landscape

Lenhart, A. (2014). Teens & technology: understanding the digital landscape.  Pew Research Center’s Internet & American Life Project. Retrieved from http://www.pewinternet.org/2014/02/25/teens-technology-understanding-the-digital-landscape/

While 95% of teens use the internet, 71% of teen computer users say the computer they use most often is shared with other family members.   However, teen internet use is becoming increasingly mobile with 78% having a cell phone and three in four saying they access the internet on cell phones, tablets, and mobile devices at least occasionally.  The use of smart phones by teens is increasing.

Texting is teens preferred method of communicating.  I can vouch for that.  My 16-year-old son would rather I texted him than call him.  In fact, he sounds downright annoyed on those rare occasions when I venture to communicate orally with him.  He, like most teens, prefers short succinct messages over eloquent speech. The typical teen receives 60 texts per day.  Older girls received a median of 100 texts per day in 2011.  Geez, I hope their parents had unlimited texting plans.

More than half of all teens have downloaded apps to their cell phones or tablets.  26% have uninstalled an app because they found it was collecting personal information.  46% have turned off location tracking features over privacy concerns.  It may also be because their parents talked to them about it or asked them to disable tracking features.

Facebook is considered by some to be “dead;” however, usage remained about the same from 2011 to 2012.  Teens complain about the adult presence, the drama, and the too-much-information aspect of Facebook.  Twitter use by teens has risen.  Like texting, it is short and snappy snippets of thoughts or conversation.  Instagram has also become popular among teens.  MySpace usage, conversely, has diminished.

 A lot of time is devoted to reputation and network management among teens.  74% have deleted people from their network and 59% have deleted something that they posted in the past or deleted comments from others.  Ever wish you could take back something you said?  With online social media, you can.  And if no one has read it, it was never even said.

[24 pages]

Pew Research - Young Adults, Mobile Phones, and Social Media

Lenhart, A. (2013). Young adults, mobile phones and social media: technology and the transition to adulthood. Pew Research Center’s Internet & American Life Project. Retrieved from http://www.pewinternet.org/2013/05/07/young-adults-mobile-phones-and-social-media-technology-and-the-transition-to-adulthood/

Lenhart discusses how young adults ages 18-29 use mobile phones and social media and the ways that this has changed how teens make the transition from childhood to adulthood. During late adolescence, technology influences access to people and places.    In the year 2000, only 46% of adults used the internet and only 53% owned a cell phone.  No one used wireless internet or social network sites.  Twelve years later, 82% of adults use the internet, 88% are cell phone users, and 65% of online adults use social network sites.

Mobile connectivity changes access to people and information.  81% of men and 80% of women cell phone users use their phones to send and receive text messages. However, in young adults the percentage is 97%.   57% of men and 56% of women cell phone users use their phones to access the internet (77% of young adults).

Cell phones allow us to manage and record our life on the go.  94% of 18-29 year-olds takes photos with their phones.  68% of this age group record videos, 65% do email, and 45% do their banking.  All on their phones and on the go.  They are also more likely to use social networking sites than older age groups.

[20 pages]

Pew Research - Teens & Libraries in Today's Digital World

Rainie, L. (2014). Teens and Libraries in Today’s Digital World. Pew Research Center’s Internet & American Life Project. Retrieved from http://www.pewinternet.org/2014/04/09/millennials-and-libraries/

Research shows that teens live in a different information ecosystem and a different learning ecosystem.  95% of teens use the internet, with 74% accessing the internet on mobile devices.  78% have cell phones, 47% have smartphones, 80% have desktops or laptops, and 23% have tablet computers.  81% of teens use social networking sites.

When teachers with the College Board/National Writing Project were surveyed, 77% felt that the internet and digital tools mostly have a positive effect on students’ research work, while 87% felt that these technologies create an easily-distracted generation of teens with short attention spans.  I don’t know if their attention spans are shorter, but it is hard to hold their attention with their phones constantly vibrating, quietly screaming for their attention.

76% of those surveyed felt that the internet helps students access a wide array of resources, while 76% felt that search engines condition students to expect instant gratification without much searching.  Does the internet make students more self-sufficient, or does it simply overwhelm them?  The survey results do not answer the question with any degree of finality.

16 and 17-year-olds use libraries and get help from librarians more often than adult age groups, but they don’t feel as strongly as older age groups that the library has impacted their lives and their community.  They would be more likely to ask for personal book recommendations, use library “redboxes” if available, use a cell phone app to access the library,  and use preloaded e-book readers.

The public and the teachers want libraries to adapt to the generation of digital teens who will behave differently in the world to come.  They want content focusing on digital literacy to be incorporated into school curriculum.  They want free early literacy programs to help young children prepare for school.

The way children learn has changed and will continue to change, and we must run to keep abreast of it.

[40 pages]

Pew Research - The Impact of Digital Tools on Student Writing

Purcell, K., Buchanan, J. & Friedrich, L. (2013). The impact of digital tools on student writing and how writing is taught in schools. Pew Research Center’s Internet & American Life Project. Retrieved from: http://www.pewinternet.org/2013/07/16/the-impact-of-digital-tools-on-student-writing-and-how-writing-is-taught-in-schools/

2,462 teachers were surveyed who teach Advanced Placement (AP) and National Writing Project (NWP) about the impact of digital tools on student writing.  Most of the teachers who participated in the survey (95%) teach in public schools and almost one-third has received extensive training in how to teach writing effectively in the digital world.  Most of these teachers believe that digital technologies are helpful tools for teaching writing to middle and high school students.  They view the internet and digital technologies (social networking sites, cell phones, texting) as boosting personal expression and creativity in teens.  Most teachers also feel that having a larger audience encourages teens to write more often and in more formats than teens did in the past.  The drawback is that writing on these platforms is usually very informal, so teens are not learning how to write formally.

Mostly teachers found digital tools to be beneficial.  96% agreed that digital technologies provided a broader audience to which students could share their work.  79% found that more students were encouraged to work together when using these tools.  78% believed that creativity and expression were inspired when using digital technology.

Undesirable effects were that students tended to use only informal language and style in writing assignments, and that students were lacking in the use of writing for different audiences.  Cell phone users tend to truncate words and expressions.  Interestingly, the survey shows that 40% think today’s digital technologies make students more likely to use bad spelling and grammar.  Conversely, almost the same percent (38%) feel that the tools make students less likely to use bad spelling and grammar.  Go figure.  As I read, I thought about my middle school ESL students, many of whom don’t have cell phones or even computers in their homes.  The survey mentioned an undesirable effect being disparate access to and skill with digital tools among their students.  In general, the teachers surveyed give their students’ writing skills modest scores.

Most of the teachers surveyed feel that students do not perform well when it comes to citing and referencing their work.  When using digital technology, it is very easy to copy and paste another’s work.  88% of teachers surveyed say they spend class time discussing citation and plagiarism and 75% spend class time discussing fair use and copyright.

Another interesting note: half of teachers surveyed feel that digital technologies make it easier for them to shape or improve students writing, 31% feel there is no impact, and 18% feel it makes it more difficult.  The older teachers, who themselves are not technologically savvy, are probably the ones who feel it makes it more difficult.

What about handwriting skills and formal writing?  Almost all of the teachers surveyed encourage students to do some of their writing by hand.  Many say this is because students must write by hand on standardized tests. Others say that students are less likely to copy and paste others’ work because, well, you can’t hardly copy and paste by hand without scissors and paste.

[7 pages]

Using Instagram and Vine

Instagram and Vine are mobile apps that are free, easy, and fun to use.

Instagram is a very popular social media channel for teens today.  They use it to share their lives with friends through a series of pictures.   They can snap pictures with their cell phones, apply digital filters to them, and share them on a variety of social networking services, such as Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, and Flickr. To make your photos even better, you can add text with an additional app.

at Animal Kingdom in Disney World

My son and his friend getting ready for prom

my kitty, Leia

from The Great Movie Ride at Disney World

Here are some examples of pictures I took using Instagram with Overgram for the text.  To use Overgram, you take the picture first, then add the text, and then get it into Instagram.

















Vine,  acquired by Twitter, is used to create and share short video clips.  And by short, I mean 6 seconds. With 6 seconds you don't have time to dally around, filming your pet while you wait for it to do something cute.  You have to anticipate its cuteness, or cause it to happen.  I sneaked up on my pig, knowing that she was asleep in her doghouse, and that it would take about 6 seconds for her to wake up and walk to me (to see if I had any food).
 You can also start and stop very easily by touching the screen with your finger and lifting it, and then touching it again. I played around with this feature using some of my students as guinea pigs. Instagram and Vine do actually have uses in the classroom. And you can believe that students will be engaged when using these apps at school!

You can set up a private Instagram account and use it to show students' work.  You can assign a student each week to take 5-10 photos which they share with the class.  The class must choose one of the pictures to use as a story-starter or writing prompt.  You could use it as a show-and-tell activity.  Students could take pictures of their family, their pets, their things, or their favorite somethings, and share them with the class.

With Vine, you could also make a show-and-tell activity as described above.  You could stage a scene from a book you are reading; of course you only have 6 seconds.  Students can actually be very creative with 6 seconds.  One of my ESL classes is reading There's a Boy in the Girls' Bathroom.  I am considering making a Vine of "Bradley" walking into the girls' bathroom, the girls screaming, and Bradley running out embarrassed.  I think it can be done in 6 seconds, especially with Stop and Start action.  You can also film a short sequence and have your students guess what is happening in the video.  This could be used as a writing prompt or story-starter.  They could also write about what they think happened before the part shown in the video or what they think will happen next: sequencing and/or cause-and-effect.

The possibilities are endless!

Information Curation

Information Curation involves finding, and publishing articles, photos, and videos on topics of interest from the web.  The web tools actually find content for you based on your keywords. Then you build relationships with followers of similar interests.

I created a free account on www.Scoop.it.  The website includes a very brief tutorial which didn't really show me the benefit of using this tool.  So I signed up and began trying to figure it out.  The first thing I had to do was create a topic.  Not knowing what to expect, I thought about a previous idea I had of decorating a library to look like a forest and having a "camping" theme.  So I typed in the topic, "Library Forest," and was then asked for key words for search terms.  I typed: library, theme, forest, camping, wild things (as in Where the Wild Things Are).  I immediately had 100 suggestions, none being anywhere near what I was looking for.  Here are some examples:  Suicide Forest in Japan; Chile Forest Fire Leaves 11 Dead; Drinking Games in the Library; Trying to Kiss Girls in the Library; 16 Reasons Why Camping is Worth It.  I tried changing up my search terms, but still was unsuccessful in finding what I wanted.  So I changed my topic to : Creative Commons, though the URL still indicates a forest library.  http://www.scoop.it/t/forest-library  Under this topic I was able to find a lot of useful information to "scoop."

II
 I played around a bit more and created a new topic of Library Videos. I was having fun looking for, viewing, and scooping YouTube videos about the library and overdue books when suddenly I got a message that I had reached my limit of 10 scoops per day. That would be the perfect amount of scoops if it was ice cream!  But I was told that I must upgrade to a Pro Account to get more scoops. I guess I'll look for minty pistachio mocha jubilee tomorrow!


Next, I signed on to www.paper.li which calls itself a newspaper. When prompted for a topic, I typed in "Preventing Plagiarism."  My search terms were plagiarism, library tips, and citing sources.  I was given sources from which to look of RSS, Google+, Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube.  I chose several promising options and clicked the Create button.  For a few seconds, a message told me it was processing my newspaper and that I should bookmark the page because it would be the permanent link.  Then I got a disheartening message that read, "Sorry!  No content found for today's paper...check back next edition."  This is very frustrating.  I tried going back under "Fetch New Content," thinking that perhaps I had done something wrong.  But I got the same thing each time.  I did put a button on my toolbar so that I could copy content from anywhere on the Web, but I thought the whole point of the tool is that they do the searching for you.  Their web site promises, "Once you tell us what type of content you would like to monitor, we'll scout the web and present the content you want, when you want, automatically. Our mission is to help ease the pain of manually scouring the web and multiple sources daily, by filtering, sorting and presenting the content you are looking for automatically, daily."  I don't think I picked such an obscure topic that nothing could be found.  I will check again tomorrow.  NEXT DAY:  Still could not find content.  How frustrating!  I changed it to Learning Commons, but still...NOTHING.  I edited my search term to "library" and did find content. However, since my title is "Learning Commons," the content does not exactly fit.  I'm afraid to try to edit my title; I don't want the content to suddenly go away. (As you can see, I struggle with technology and am somewhat fearful of it.)  Here is my link: https://paper.li/f-1397826360#


































Moving on. Next I tried Prismatic (One Feed for all your Interests). The Web address for signing up is: http://getprismatic.com/home.   Like the other two, you can sign up through Facebook or Twitter, or you can sign up with email.  I tried signing up through Facebook as I did with the other two, but kept hitting a snag. I don't know if it was because of my computer, my internet service, or Prismatic. Surely it's not me.  I ended up downloading the app on my iPad.  First, I added 11 interest fields.  I had many categories from which to choose, such as From Your Activity, Education, Business, Technology, Travel, Sports, Fashion, Family, Animals, Environment, DIY, and Art.  From these categories I chose the following interests: Libraries, Scholastic, Children's Book News, Reading & Writing Skills, Books, Children's Books, Book Reviews, Books & Literature, Computers and the Internet, Television Sets, and Cats (I have 5).  Once my selections were made I was able to scroll down an abundance of content.

I like this!  You have but to tap on an interest to open it up, sometimes swiping across to see more pictures. Stories can be tapped to read in their entirety.  It's like surfing the Web without your "Non Interests" getting in the way.  Everything you see has been tailored just for your interests.  http://prsm.tc/21Yze2

Next, I download the app - Zite.  I clicked the button: Build Your Zite and was asked to choose some topics that I'm interested in, which will be used to build my personalized magazine.  Popular categories from which to choose are Celebrity Gossip (I'll pass), Apple, New Technology, Gadgets, World News, Food & Cooking, Autos, Photography, Healthy Living, Movies, etc.  I chose Movies, Fashion, and Gadgets.  Under Zite's Picks I chose Pets.  They have an interest tab of Gay which has 31,000 readers and one of Sex which has 75,000 readers.  Hmmmmmm.  Under New & Noteworthy, I chose Hair & Beauty, Happiness, Books, and Education.  Then I clicked Done (for now).  After entering my name, email, and a password I was informed that Zite recommends stories based on my interests and reading habits.  The more I use it, the smarter it gets.

 Brief instructions appeared telling me how to manipulate and navigate the site by tapping to go to sources or to a related topic, exploring all topics, and keeping topics I visit frequently in my Quicklist.  If I am interested in a particular topic, I tap the heart to get stories based on my interests.  Now I'm ready to swipe away, page after page of my interests.  I tapped on an interesting heading link, Lazy Dog Refuses to Get out of Bed, and was taken to a page titled LifeWithDogs.tv

 If I want to add the interest of Dogs, I can tap on the heart.  I like it, though I like Primatics scroll features a little better.  On Prismatic, you see less of the story, but more choices per page.  You can scroll up and down, AND left and right.

Flipboard is another free app.  The pages literally flip when you swipe them, just as if you were turning a page. Like the others, you pick content to get started.  As you can see, I picked News, Technology, Flipboard Picks, and Style.  From Flipboard Picks, I clicked on the Film box and was taken to a series of film stories in a magazine format.  I loved turning the pages with a swipe of the finger!  (See below. Can you tell it's an iPad?)

 Being a long-time Star Wars fan, I was quite interested in an article about the latest installment of Star Wars: Episode VII and a photo of a desert film shoot site in the dunes near Qasr Al Sarab.  Could it be Tatooine?  (below)

This site is very easy to maneuver and very attractive to the eye.  You truly feel that you are holding a glossy magazine (or actually a stack of magazines) full of articles of interest to you.  So far, this is my favorite.



But let me try one more, Google Currents.  You sign in through your Google account.  This is also a free app.  Under the heading of News, I have Breaking Stories, Lifestyle, Business, Science & Tech, Sports, and Entertainment.  When I clicked on Entertainment, I was given another tab of Breaking Stories.  Are there really breaking stories in the field of entertainment???  Apparently so.  STOP THE PRESSES!!!  Johnny Depp may have another flop.  Lindsay Lohan's 'Sex List' may be the end of her reality show.  Jenny McCarthy is engaged to her boyfriend.

 If I choose Breaking Stories under the category of News, I find headlines such as Deadly Blast Rocks Syrian City of Homs and Mexico Earthquake Strikes with 7.2 Magnitude.  I can save stories, but I can't customize what I receive as thoroughly as in the other tools.

My favorite Information Curation tool is Flipboard.  I likes its look, its ease of use, and the cool feel of flipping through a magazine.  I would probably use it the most, whether for serious reading or for casual browsing, like you do in a doctor's office.  I also liked Prismatic.  I like how you can see more information per page with the option of delving deeper.  It had a lot of categories to choose from and as a librarian, I was able to find a lot of pertinent information.  It just wasn't quite as fun as Flipboard.

Screencasts

Want to teach someone how to use a particular tool on the internet without actually having to be present?  Consider making a screencast.  It records what you are doing on the computer, along with your voice as you "walk" through the steps.

Screencast-o-matic is very easy to use.  You simply connect your microphone and click start.  I show how to create a comic strip using MakeBeliefsComix.com.  The only tiny problem I had was that the recording of my voice was somewhat grainy, with a loud buzzing in the background that drowned out my voice.  I didn't know if it was because I was using an ancient computer at my school to record my screencast or if there was a problem with the microphone. Also, I didn't realize it, but I went slightly over the allowed 15 minutes and was cut off.  This is probably due to my slow Southern drawl.  Luckily, I was about finished with my demonstration when it cut me off.  It was almost eight o'clock in the evening and the custodians at my school were beginning to turn out the lights, so I went on home. The next morning I listened to my screencast from a laptop computer, and found that I could not hear it at all...only some loud static.  Alas!  I decided to start over and record another one.  I sought help from our computer technology person.  She loaned me another set of headphones to use.  Here is my second attempt.  Click the play arrow next to the title: Dating Glitches.This second time I had no problem.  Well, I did have a problem keeping it to the 15-minute time maximum.  I had to know pretty much ahead of time which characters I was going to choose for my comic.  I was using my laptop, which has a weird mouse which triggers at any slight hand movement. This caused me some delay.  I actually recorded it during a class, with my computer projected on a screen.  Because most of the students were very interested in the proceedings, I knew that this would be a successful tool to use in a class setting.  The students are also eager to make their own comic strip.

Next, I used Screenr.com to make a screencast of how to combine text and pictures using ReciteThis.com. Screenr is almost identical to Screencast-O-Matic in that you simply hit play and it counts down from 3 to begin recording. However, the free account only allows five minutes of recording time.  As I had struggled to limit myself to 15 minutes with Screencast-o-Matic, I was nervous about the time limit.  I was glad I had decided to use ReciteThis because it is quick and easy.  I remembered seeing a scene with trees, so I decided to use a verse from a song I wrote a few years ago.  Here is my screencast:

If I was speaking quickly, it was because of the 5-minute thing. The first time I attempted to record, it didn't work because I navigated away from the page when I typed in ReciteThis.com.  The second time, I simply opened a new window.  When I finished, I had forgotten which control key combination to enter to stop recording and was not on the page with the DONE button, so I had a moment of pause and indecision there, but it's not evident in my recording, ha ha. Oh, and just in case you were going to beg me for more of my song verses, here are two more:

Comrades and strangers pass through time
Oft faced with the same choice;
Some follow the throng
Whether right or wrong,
Some heed their inner voice.

Sojourners, we in this earthly realm
All rocked by an unseen force;
Claim ordained dance,
Blame happenstance,
But we each plot our own course.

I prefer Screencast-O-Matic over Screenr for two reasons.  First, the time limit.  Five minutes is simply not enough time to teach much of anything, especially in the South. With fifteen minutes, I could teach a mini-lesson, followed up by subsequent recordings of additional lessons.  Second, I like being able to use the same window and still see my tool bar with play, pause, and stop as I record.  I would definitely consider buying the PRO package if I were to use this regularly for my classes.