Here's more on the power of blogs in the flat world: the headline on the front page of the Syracuse Post-Standard Saturday morning was "How one man with a Web site in Oregon exposed hazing at dozens of NCAA schools." The article is about the blog NCAAHazing.com, created by one man, a former assistant athletic director at SUNY Albany, who has gone on a crusade to stop hazing at colleges across the nation. He's even flagged our fair college, specifically the women's softball and lacrosse teams.
How does he do it? Well, thanks to the Internet, it's quite simple:
Many of the photos [blogger William] Schut found were on online photo albums sites, such as www.webshots.com. Those photos, among millions of others, would have likely remained under the radar, except students added captions such as "rookie night" and "initiation" and included the name of their college and sports team.
"It takes five minutes to get on the Internet and find them," Schut said.
Yet again, this underscores the importance to teach kids about how connected the flat world is and how they must always keep in mind that anything they post online is there for anyone to see. Even with these photo hosting sites such as Facebook, which require "friend" status in order to see photos, it only takes one person on the friend list who decides he/she wants to put an end to illegal behavior to blow everything in to the authorities.
The fact is, college sports teams have been getting in trouble for posting hazing photos on the Web for years. Those convictions seemed to be relatively few and far between, though. Now, there is one blogger who has become a watchdog, tracking down these photos and exposing them in one easy-to-view location which is quickly earning respectability. Schut has already nailed 30 colleges and universities on his website. And the sad thing is, college athletes don't seem to learn from the mistakes of others. They all think they're invincible.
Can we, as educators, help kids learn at younger ages that their behavior online needs to parallel their behavior in other social situations? The Web has been regarded as the final frontier of the law for years. With blog crusaders like William Schut, though, the long arm of the law is reaching into WebShots, Facebook, and other previous safegrounds for posting incriminating photos.
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4 comments:
Dave,
You bring up an interesting point that I was grappling with as I started (and stopped) responding to Alex's post. A paperless classroom sounds awesome for countless reasons, but what about privacy issues? I keep thinking, if there's a will, there's a way, and someone who wants to get into my virtual classroom would probably be able to.
Even as I think about my final project I wonder what kind of liability am I opening myself up for in using live subjects. Then, I think about these people who put things like you've described up on the web for all to see, but if a teacher uses a public forum for education...well, now...that's just plain dangerous.
On the other hand, having all students' work in one place could be great in terms of CYA. I have had to photocopy poems, letters, essays, and artwork in order to document my observations of concerning student behavior. Having it all online would be a great way to make more people aware and accoutable. Hmmm... seems like I'm still trying to figure this out.
Just to clarify, photos are SENT our way, we do not search.
You would be surprised to find how many are concerned.
NCAAHazing.com
Thanks for the response with the clarification. And just for the record, in case it didn't come through in my post, I am totally with you in your crusade. Keep up the good work.
I read this article as well and of course was interested in the Cortland reference...
I just found out this week that a young teacher in an unnamed area school may be in danger of losing her job over an incident that happened this week when students "found" a digital photo (taken with a school camera she had been using as yearbook editor) that depicts her and her boyfriend in a less than appropriate pose for public consumption.
You're right Dave. Someone is always watching and the digital trails we leave are never "safe" from surveillance...Chris..."1984!"
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