"Everyone is a Media Outlet"

I think Shirky's use of Ivanna's phone story brings up interesting ethical and relational questions. He notes, "the willingness of humans to feel wronged is infinite. Do we want a world where, whenever someone with this kind of leverage gets riled up, they can unilaterally reset the priorities of the local police department?" We know some of our students can quickly feel an injustice has occurred (maybe a lower grade than expected, or a not making a team) and feel passionate about righting that wrong. Through being their own publisher, can a situation be "tried" in the court of public opnion long before we even know it? Shirky notes that "when we change the way we communicate, we change society."

When students have the ability to be their own publisher, how do they learn discernment? Formal journalism has had standards and ethics that guided their profession. Now that we have broadened the definition of journalist and publisher to include most of us, are we teaching the ethics and sensitivity of our actions' (words') impact on others, along with the technology? I recently attended a workshop by Dr. David Walsh who spoke at Parkway several years ago on the impact of media and technology on the brain of children and adolescents. He shared that in Korea, where use of technology is very advanced, preschoolers are taught songs with lyrics about responsibly using the web, in the same way that we teach the "clean up" song. Just wondering what others' thoughts are about the ethical questions that Shirky raised in these chapters and how we can help our students make great choices in this domain of little supervision...

Tags: Socialmedia101

0 members like this

Comment by Janice Burroughs on March 24, 2010 at 11:00am: Cindy, you have brought up some interesting and important issues. Because of the speed with which we can now voice our opinions, concerns, ideas, etc., decision making can come very quickly before we have taken time for discernment and considerations of others. When I attended an international meeting at the United Nations a couple of years ago, I met teachers from Taiwan who taught internet etiquette and safety to second graders. It is a part of their defined curriculum and is taught developmentally as the children mature. I found the story about the cell phone fascinating and still find myself thinking about it. Can you foresee a tme when students would be educated about the proper use of technology? Who would define or set the standards? You have brought up some intriguing avenues to consider.

Comment by Christy Prudence on March 24, 2010 at 4:47pm: Internet safety is just as important as every other safety procedure we talk about at school now. We are so lucky to have all of the technology we do in Parkway, but we also need to educate those that receive this privilege!