>I’ve noticed that the representation teens around here have of a weblog is in fact a “skyblog”, meaning an online photo album where friends can comment. I completely agree with this. Recently, when I told my young brother about a new article on my blog asked me, after visiting : "but, that's not a real blog, isn't it ? There's not a lot of photos there" :/
Maybe, that kind of teenagers should have a look at the date of the old articles of the "classical" weblogs to see that the "original" isn't theirs :).
Well, that's certainly evolution, eh ? :o)
Stephanie
· 4 years ago
I think that's also where school and guest speakers can come in. School and workshops on weblogs can give those kids a chance to experiment that a blog can be much more than "just" an online photo album.
The "problem" of students making jokes with teachers is not new. Back in 1998, my girlfriend and other students at her school had a fake photo of one of their teachers, in a leather combo, some of his very precious organs being quite visible. The file was called 16inches.jpg, and was on the web. Maybe the thing that changed most is that now that teachers start to be able to browse the web, they discover what their students have been able to do during all these years. So, logically, we can allege that students will always be able to do more than what teachers can discover (I'm not talking about quantity, but skill), which makes all this quite obsolete. Start condemning public offenses towards teachers, and they will migrate to secret web sites, etc. Even with "perfect" teachers, this kind of offense seems unavoidable to me, so let's wonder whether it's better to have it on a public website, or on a private one, but probably more offensive.
Stephanie
· 4 years ago
I agree, kids have always made fun of teachers, and always will. Until now, they usually did it at recess, with their friends, by sms or in secret journals.
Publishing such things on the web takes them to another level: publication (!). I think the basic problem is a misconception of what the web is, as a public space.
What is acceptable said in a private audience of 4-5 people becomes unacceptable when widely published.
As I said to the classes I talked to on the matter: if you really want to write stuff online that your teachers/parents/grandparents shouldn't see, if you want to say how much your school sucks (we know all schools suck) and make fun of your teachers, then you need to make your website/weblog password protected.
This probably won't protect you if you're sued for libel (I need to check this), but at least it might prevent things from blowing up out of proportion.
Barzi
· 4 years ago
Je réponds en français. Mon anglais est trop minable.
A propos des "website/weblog password protected"...
N'oublions pas que ce qui rend Skyblog attirant, c'est la simplicité technique. L'immense majorité des ados, contrairement à ce qu'affirment leurs parents dépassés, ne sont que des tanches en informatique. Il ne mesurent ni les conséquences de leurs actes sur Internet, ni la technologie pour s'en protéger. Alors tant que Skyblog n'aura pas mis un "accès par mot de passe" par défaut pour la création des blogs, rien ne changera. De toute façon, ce qui attire les ados (tous comme nous, bloggers adultes!), c'est que potentiellement, leur blog peut être lu par des millions de personnes. Mais de nouveau, il faut relativiser. Ces skyblogs si licencieux ne dépassent en général pas quelques visites par mois.
Lucas Wyrsch Chinese
· 4 years ago
Excellent blog on French schools and there reactions on bloggers.
patrizia
· 4 years ago
J'ai suivi la discussion avec beaucoup d'interêt. Je viens d'avoir un problème de mauvais usage sur un blog de spérimentation (classe d'anglais). Je suis en tout cas pour l'information et la prévention. Miex que ça ce passe avec un prof qui peut les prévenir et leur expliquer, plutôt qu'il fassent ça en manière autonome et sans guide à la maison (la plus part des parents patoge dans la plus totale ignorance au sujet, et malheureusement ignorent aussi les éventuelles conséquences). Merci Stephanie pour ton BLOG. Patrizia
All Comments
I completely agree with this. Recently, when I told my young brother about a new article on my blog asked me, after visiting : "but, that's not a real blog, isn't it ? There's not a lot of photos there" :/
Maybe, that kind of teenagers should have a look at the date of the old articles of the "classical" weblogs to see that the "original" isn't theirs :).
Well, that's certainly evolution, eh ? :o)
Maybe the thing that changed most is that now that teachers start to be able to browse the web, they discover what their students have been able to do during all these years. So, logically, we can allege that students will always be able to do more than what teachers can discover (I'm not talking about quantity, but skill), which makes all this quite obsolete.
Start condemning public offenses towards teachers, and they will migrate to secret web sites, etc. Even with "perfect" teachers, this kind of offense seems unavoidable to me, so let's wonder whether it's better to have it on a public website, or on a private one, but probably more offensive.
Publishing such things on the web takes them to another level: publication (!). I think the basic problem is a misconception of what the web is, as a public space.
What is acceptable said in a private audience of 4-5 people becomes unacceptable when widely published.
As I said to the classes I talked to on the matter: if you really want to write stuff online that your teachers/parents/grandparents shouldn't see, if you want to say how much your school sucks (we know all schools suck) and make fun of your teachers, then you need to make your website/weblog password protected.
This probably won't protect you if you're sued for libel (I need to check this), but at least it might prevent things from blowing up out of proportion.
A propos des "website/weblog password protected"...
N'oublions pas que ce qui rend Skyblog attirant, c'est la simplicité technique. L'immense majorité des ados, contrairement à ce qu'affirment leurs parents dépassés, ne sont que des tanches en informatique. Il ne mesurent ni les conséquences de leurs actes sur Internet, ni la technologie pour s'en protéger. Alors tant que Skyblog n'aura pas mis un "accès par mot de passe" par défaut pour la création des blogs, rien ne changera.
De toute façon, ce qui attire les ados (tous comme nous, bloggers adultes!), c'est que potentiellement, leur blog peut être lu par des millions de personnes. Mais de nouveau, il faut relativiser. Ces skyblogs si licencieux ne dépassent en général pas quelques visites par mois.