Kik Messenger, which claims to be the US's 7th most popular social app and ranks even higher in some other countries, today released a new version that gives its 120 million+ users more control over who can text them. Over the past year, its creators at Waterloo, Ontario-based Kik Interactive noticed the app has become "the leading cross-app messenger," they claimed. That means that people who … [Read more...] about Kik Messenger’s smart new safety features
A media mentor for every child
Author and journalist Lisa Guernsey has a great idea – one that clearly grows out of her research for the recent book, Screen Time: How Electronic Media – From Baby Videos to Educational Software – Affects Your Young Child, and her work in early childhood education for public policy think tank the New America Foundation. [I loved her cover story for The Atlantic based on the book and wrote about … [Read more...] about A media mentor for every child
Our kids’ privacy & a White House report on ‘big data’
Referring to a new report from the White House that she contributed to, social media scholar danah boyd points out how impossibly simplistic it is to view "big data" as either all good or all bad. I'm thankful for the balance it struck in its findings on big data in education between the tremendous opportunities it represents for students and educators and the risks to student privacy. It … [Read more...] about Our kids’ privacy & a White House report on ‘big data’
‘Being Ginger’: A film for anyone addressing bullying
Being Ginger is really about being human. In a fundamentally kind, sometimes humorous, amazingly un-moralistic way, director Scott Harris shows what it both feels and looks like to be dehumanized and what healing from that looks like, even as the casual cruelty he documents continues. Sometimes he asked for it while doing his filming but it's still amazing and disturbing to see how unthinkingly … [Read more...] about ‘Being Ginger’: A film for anyone addressing bullying
An 18-year-old’s exploration of ‘Internet addiction’ in video
In a series of man-on-the-street interviews, one young woman's answer to the question, "Do you think you're addicted to the Internet?" was: "Yes…. Twitter. I can't get off of it." Another responded, "I love creeping on Facebook. I never post; I'm just always creeping, creeping, creeping [also called "lurking," looking at people's comments, likes, photos, etc.]." A third said, "I just run to the … [Read more...] about An 18-year-old’s exploration of ‘Internet addiction’ in video