Kathleen Kalk
Vancouver rioters, findable online, raise questions about citizen surveillance
In the aftermath of the riots that broke out Thursday after the Vancouver Canucks lost the Stanley Cup to the Boston Bruins in an amazing 7-game series, several Facebook pages have been set up to capture photos of people at the scene. The pages attempt to use the wisdom of the crowd, so to speak, […]
US Commerce Department launches new digital literacy site
Digitalliteracy.gov. That’s the name of a new portal announced last month by the US Department of Commerce. The site, while still in its infancy, already has a wealth of resources available that focus on digital literacy. Resources include everything from basic computing tutorials, mobile and wireless resources, design and usability primers, information on copyright education, […]
Joplin tornado and the process of newsgathering
Eleven days ago, in the town of Joplin, Missouri in the central United States, one of the deadliest tornados in recent memory struck, killing 142 people, causing billions in damages, and leaving survivors in shock. Twelve hours after the tornado touched down, Brian Stelter, a television and media writer for the New York Times, was […]
Steve Dotto discusses our Digital Tattoo project
Steve Dotto produces and hosts the podcast Dotto Tech, a weekly discussion of all things technology related. Last week, he sat down with Trish Rosseel and Cindy Underhill, creators of the Digital Tattoo project, to discuss how everyone – students, professors and teachers, and others – can learn and benefit from the Digital Tattoo website. […]
Teens understand and care about privacy
There tends to be a widespread narrative that persists about teenagers when it comes to their online habits. It goes something like: Teens don’t care about their privacy online. Web giants like Google and Facebook, market research surveys, and a brief glimpse of some social networks suggest teens share information online frequently, without thought or reservation. […]
iPhone records location data – even when you tell it not to
An article appearing in the Wall Street Journal this morning says that an iPhone user’s location data – their coordinates and some timestamps – is automatically collected by the phones, regardless of whether the location-sharing feature on the phone is turned on or off. The revelation comes after two developers released an iPhone app that […]
BC candidate drops out over Facebook profile
Two years ago, BC NDP candidate Ryan Lam withdrew from an election race in Vancouver over “inappropriate” photos that he posted on Facebook. See here and here. Today Alan Saldanha, a Green party candidate from a district that includes Surrey, has dropped out after content on his Facebook page was discovered – specifically a quote Saldanha listed […]
Online network education for kids – Doctorow style
Cory Doctorow talks about kids, privacy and social networks In a recent TEDx presentation, the Canadian blogger and science fiction author, Cory Doctorow, proposes a new type of “network education” for kids online. His views stand in contrast to those suggesting that filtering internet content in an effort to keep kids safe is the way […]
The Best Social Media Statistics for 2011
Over at Ragan’s PR daily, Adam Vincenzini has released an interesting collection of social media statistics for this year. Among my favorites: 80% of internet users participate in groups, compared with 56% of non-internet users. Moreover, social media users are even more likely to be active: 82% of social network users and 85% of Twitter […]
