Why people react differently to technology

A post on commoncraft.com quotes Douglas Adams' theory on why people react differently to technology. So funny, so true.

• Anything that is in the world when you're born is normal and ordinary and is just a natural part of the way the world works.
• Anything that's invented between when you're fifteen and thirty-five is new and exciting and revolutionary and you can probably get a career in it.
• Anything invented after you're thirty-five is against the natural order of things.

Security tips for kids and blogs

I know my top concern, and the top concern of many other educators I know, with using blogging in schools is the security issues. How do we protect the kids if we just throw them out onto the Internet? The answer is not to just throw them out on the Internet, but have a protective framework set up and monitor their blogs closely. Here's some tips from Weblogged about what works for them:

1. Inform parents and get their ok

2. When students use their Weblogs, limit identification to first name only.
   

3. <>If you need an e-mail address to set up the account, either use bogus e-mails or rely on a feature in Manila (the software we use) to hide the address when it is legitimate.
   
4. Talk to kids about what to do if they are contacted by "strangers," that they should never give out personal information or start on line conversations with those not vetted by the teacher.
5. Teachers are asked to subscribe to the feeds of their student Weblogs which include any comments that might be left. "While some are more vigilant than others, I do think most teachers are able to monitor activity on the sites to a satisfactory degree."
   
6. Finally, both the teacher and administrator are "managing editors" of the student sites, so if things break or if there is abuse, they can deal with it in short order.
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7. For some classes like Creative Writing, where students are writing about more personal issues, they close the entire site to the public.
   
   

I'd be interested in hearing any other tips because the security of the kids must come first. But we shouldn't be scared of a new technology, just cautious. I think we can find ways to take advantage of the blogging technology and still be safe about it.