College Orientations Now Include Social Network Warnings
USA Today has an interesting article about how college orientations this fall include warnings about the dangers of blogs and social networks. The students are also told about how students can later came to regret postings and profiles they have made. From large public schools such as Western Kentucky to smaller private ones like Birmingham-Southern and Smith, colleges around the country have revamped their orientation talks to students and parents to include online behavior. Others, Susquehanna University and Washington University in St. Louis among them, have new role-playing skits on the topic that students will watch and then break into smaller groups to discuss.
Facebook, geared toward college students and boasting 7.5 million registered users, is a particular focus. But students are also hearing stories about those who came to regret postings to other online venues, from party photos on sites such as Webshots.com to comments about professors in blogs.
"The particular focus is the public nature of this," said Tracy Tyree, Susquehanna's dean of student life. "That seems to be what surprises students most. They think of it as part of their own little world, not a bigger electronic world." Hopefully, they are also telling students that everyone from police to potential employers have used blogs and social networks to find out more information about individuals. And what about videos and YouTube? User-submitted videos could potentially be considerably more embarrassing and career harming.
The impact and popularity of social networks is remarkable. The article says that incoming freshman to one college already met online before school began and formed a Class of 2010 group on Facebook. The sites actually help with one of the major goals of orientation: bonding. At Birmingham Southern, dozens of members of the incoming class of about 350 had already formed a Class of 2010 Facebook group long before the start of school.
"That's great," said Renie Moss, the school's dean of students. "That's what should be happening, forming that camaraderie. But we're hoping to just maybe give the students a moment to pause and make sure they put out something they can be proud of." That's probably happening already at many colleges -- freshman showing up at college having already made new friends online during the summer.
Facebook, geared toward college students and boasting 7.5 million registered users, is a particular focus. But students are also hearing stories about those who came to regret postings to other online venues, from party photos on sites such as Webshots.com to comments about professors in blogs.
"The particular focus is the public nature of this," said Tracy Tyree, Susquehanna's dean of student life. "That seems to be what surprises students most. They think of it as part of their own little world, not a bigger electronic world." Hopefully, they are also telling students that everyone from police to potential employers have used blogs and social networks to find out more information about individuals. And what about videos and YouTube? User-submitted videos could potentially be considerably more embarrassing and career harming.
The impact and popularity of social networks is remarkable. The article says that incoming freshman to one college already met online before school began and formed a Class of 2010 group on Facebook. The sites actually help with one of the major goals of orientation: bonding. At Birmingham Southern, dozens of members of the incoming class of about 350 had already formed a Class of 2010 Facebook group long before the start of school.
"That's great," said Renie Moss, the school's dean of students. "That's what should be happening, forming that camaraderie. But we're hoping to just maybe give the students a moment to pause and make sure they put out something they can be proud of." That's probably happening already at many colleges -- freshman showing up at college having already made new friends online during the summer.
Art Teacher Tops Technorati After Flickr Photo Incident
Tamara Hoover, an art teacher at a high school in Austin, Texas, has quickly become the #1 search term on Technorati (search results). Hoover was escorted from school last week after partially nude photographs of her were discovered on Flickr. The school claims the photographs are inappropriate.
The photos, which were posted on Flickr.com by her partner, depict Hoover in the shower, lifting weights, getting dressed, in bed and doing other routine activities.
Her abrupt dismissal highlights a new concern for employees: Your boss has Internet access, too.
"People don't realize when they put their entire diary out there, they're giving very private information to the public," said Kate Brooks, director of career services for liberal arts students at the University of Texas at Austin. "You never know what's going to appeal to someone or disturb someone."
The school district said the photos were inappropriate and violate the "higher moral standard" expected of public school teachers. As a result, she's become an ineffective teacher, she was told as she was escorted out of class last month.
The Flickr photos have been blocked or removed but the Austin American-Statesmen has an article that includes one of the Flickr photos. Ms. Hoover disagrees with her employers and says the photographs were artistic in a post on her MySpace profile.
1. The website is artistic photography and very good at that.
2. I never told kids to "go see me" at the website.
3. The website is not mine and I have no control over what the photographer posts, nor do i know what she is going to post
4. The website is not pornographic.
5. I have been recognized by the board year after year (2 weeks before may 19 board recognized me again) for outstanding achievments as an art teacher..YET I am supposedly ineffective.
CBS News' Blogophile column has a roundup of several blog posts about Tamara Hoover and her Flickr photos including bloggers here and here that agree with Tamara that the photos are artistic in nature. Sploid writes that Hoover is "accepting donations for her legal defense."
The photos, which were posted on Flickr.com by her partner, depict Hoover in the shower, lifting weights, getting dressed, in bed and doing other routine activities.
Her abrupt dismissal highlights a new concern for employees: Your boss has Internet access, too.
"People don't realize when they put their entire diary out there, they're giving very private information to the public," said Kate Brooks, director of career services for liberal arts students at the University of Texas at Austin. "You never know what's going to appeal to someone or disturb someone."
The school district said the photos were inappropriate and violate the "higher moral standard" expected of public school teachers. As a result, she's become an ineffective teacher, she was told as she was escorted out of class last month.
The Flickr photos have been blocked or removed but the Austin American-Statesmen has an article that includes one of the Flickr photos. Ms. Hoover disagrees with her employers and says the photographs were artistic in a post on her MySpace profile.
1. The website is artistic photography and very good at that.
2. I never told kids to "go see me" at the website.
3. The website is not mine and I have no control over what the photographer posts, nor do i know what she is going to post
4. The website is not pornographic.
5. I have been recognized by the board year after year (2 weeks before may 19 board recognized me again) for outstanding achievments as an art teacher..YET I am supposedly ineffective.
CBS News' Blogophile column has a roundup of several blog posts about Tamara Hoover and her Flickr photos including bloggers here and here that agree with Tamara that the photos are artistic in nature. Sploid writes that Hoover is "accepting donations for her legal defense."
