Copyright – do you care?

You might  have done it?

A beautiful tune,
a smashing movie,
a breath-taking picture,
an appealing text
-everything just a key stroke away.

Cut, paste, and ….

Hold on …..

You just can´t do that? You found something on the Internet, still you can´t  just “take” it!

Or can you?

You might be among those thinking downloading stuff from the Internet is OK. It easy, fast. You get what you want for free.

Or you might be the kind of guy who read and understand the full context of the Copyright Act. The law protects the author's works and prohibiting copying intellectual property. Music, movies, pictures, texts and other artistic expression are copyrighted. The act regulates the usage of others´ intellectual property and presupposes consent of usage.

Do you realise that downloading, copying and distributing others´ intellectual property is an act of crime? Some internet sites like Pirate Bay, Limewire, and previously Napster have shared or enabled sharing. They have all been prosecuted for violating the Copyright Act.

Are you among those taking copyright seriously?


I recommend spending less that 4 minutes watching this funny video, which I have found on YouTube, and where the owner has consent me to share it here.

Everything was better in the past....

I remember back in the merry eighties.
When it was perfectly safe to be a kid - especially where I grew up.
When we wrote on a typewriter, most people wore mullets and BALL sweaters.
When Gro was prime minister and Brå broke his famous pole.

When I got hand written letters from pen pals in our letterbox and I actually had to walk to visit

When TV was synonymous with NRK, Vidar Lønn Arnesen played the 10 most popular songs in a Saturday radio show (Norwegian). It was “Forelska i lærer`n”, “Take on Me” and “Sunday People”. I proudly listened to cassettes of A-ha, Creation and Shatoo on my Sony Walkman and “La det svinge” by Bobbysocks was the hit of the decade.

Before PlayStation, before Nintendo WII, before X-box even before Nintendo DS. I didn´t owe a computer game at all, nor did I have video or DVD. No mobile phone, no computer, no Internet, no BLOG, no Skype. Not even Facebook

And still I survived! - Strange you might think?

But; I didn´t know of any ting else. I though it was supposed to be like that. Surly by time I got aquatint with Super Mario. At the comprehensive school I barely remember we could play games on the Commodore computer. I didn´t spend much time in the computer room.

My interests in computers, Internet and social media have grown by the years. Nowadays I hardly can imagine a life without it. I´m on Facebook daily, Skype’s with friends and family, blogs, places comments and asks questions on various websites.

I write about my self, my family, comments on my friend’s posts, criticizes and praises – gives and takes! But is this entirely safe? Who can see what I post online? Can I delete it? Can someone get hold of my posts and abuse them? Can I be sure that no unauthorized people can access information that uploads? Can anything of this be uses against me? Can people get hold of information of me and my family that I do not want?

When I think of these questions I get a little shaky.
When we share something on Facebook or other social media nothing is any longer a secret. Even if just a limited group can access my posts there is no way to control what this group can do with the post. Even the most strict privacy settings in Facebook can not guarantee privacy. Your posts can be reposted or used by your Facebook friends in ways you never wanted. Hey - that’s how social media is design to work.

The term “Friends” have become rather extended after the success of Facebook. My self, I got several hundreds of friends that I don’t spend time with. I´ve got old classmates, people I met at an occasional party, colleagues, fellow students, friends of friends…. Status updates, pictures, groups – do I want all those to se each of my status updates and picture uploads?

The entire neighbourhood doesn´t need to see the post about my nosy neighbours. My boss doesn’t necessarily appriciate that I have aplied for a new possition and I hope my husband doesn´t see the party pictues from the party this weekend. In additon my son have got so old that he and his buddys also have a Facebook Profile.

In a way, I have no controll when I´ve shared something online. I can´t be sure that only my friends reads my posts. I upload pictures to Facebook in order to let my friends see them. After some days I regrets. Surly I can delete the pictures from my profile. Most likely the picture is removed from the Facebook server as well, but we do not have any guaranty for that. The real trouble however is that any of my “friends” can have download the picture before I deleted it. They could have shared it with their friends. The Facebook user agreement have some clear guidelines for how to use this social media.

We do our best to keep Facebook safe, but we cannot guarantee it. We need your help to do that, which includes the following commitments:

1.         You will not send or otherwise post unauthorized commercial communications (such as spam) on Facebook.

2.         You will not collect users' content or information, or otherwise access Facebook, using automated means (such as harvesting bots, robots, spiders, or scrapers) without our permission

Be careful about what you posts online.

It is not only your friends that can access your information. Always think that the entire world can see your posts. If there is a problem that certain persons reads your posts; DON´T POST!

How to act on Facebook 
Watch this movie (Norwegian)

Data Retention Directive- supporter or opponent?

Just some days ago Stortinget decided to implement the Data Retention Directive. (DRD)

The directive was issued by the European parliament in 2006.

“According to the directive the authorities will have to store citizens' telecommunications data for six to 24 months stipulating a maximum time period. Under the directive the police and security agencies will be able to request access to details such as IP address and time of use of every email, phone call and text message sent or received. A request to access the information will be able only with a court order.”

                                                                                                 en.wikipedia.com

This is going to be retained

Supporters of the directive argue that data retention can be used to fight serious crime, and that this fully compensates surveillance of law-abiding citizens. These arguments is based upon a assumption that people doing serious crime actually can be monitored like ordinary people.   

What happens if they hack into your network or uses a US-based proxy server or routes the traffic trough a captured computer?

I think this is mainly about supervising  “innocent” citizens and I think this is privacy intervention. I´m pretty sure I don´t have anything to hide, but still I´m not a supporter of full surveillance.

I raise my voice against the Data Retention Directive, and I applauds respect for personal privacy.

So what is it going to be? Are you a supporter or an opponent?

Fairytale

On top of your head you might think of Eurovision Song Contest and a dark heard gay from Norway, singing and playing the violin like mad. But this fairytale is about a girl I know quite well.

Once upon a time, a girl started to work as a kindergarten teacher. About that time, she also created a profile on Facebook. That combo wouldn´t provide any trouble she thought.

Boy, was she up for a surprise!

The position in the kindergarten was demanding in several ways. A lot of new stuff to learn, there was many children with special needs and she had to create relations to many different parents. Still, the girls was happy, and did her very best. The Facebook profile got updated, pictures was added and tagged. The girl was careful about what pictures to publish. Or so she thought! Days and weeks went past. She spent the time changing diapers, playing outdoors, singing, discussing and doing project work. In the evening she spent some time socializing on Facebook.

The girl was rather inexperienced about Facebook so she hadn´t restricted the privilege of watching her pictures.  Naive? Probably. But she didn´t think she had any enemies out there!

Boy, was she up for a surprise!

The girl didn´t have any thoughts, what so ever, that what she and her friends on their spare time put on Facebok would be relevant for her job as a kindergarten teacher.

Boy, was she up for a surprise!

The girl was playing with some kids in the sandbox, when her boss called for her. It sounded like there was something serious. The girl could not understand what her boss had in mind. She hurried in to the boss´ office, anxious to know what this was about.

Boy, was she up for a surprise!

“To day I´ve got a letter from the mayors’ office. The letter is about you!” the boss said. Enclosed in the letter was a picture of the girl, and a text asking “Do the employees of our municipality want to promote them selves like this?” The coward sender had of cource not signed the letter.

The girl got knocked out!

The picture, quite innocent, was taken at a girls trip some time back. A friend of her had added the picture to Facebook picturing the girl sitting on the toilet, singing, with her clothes on. It was printed from her Facebook profile. How could this picture upset someone? She felt bullied. She got paranoid. Someone wanted to hurt her. Perhaps some parents in the kindergarten, or even some of her colleagues, or even …
The girl needed long time to recover from the shock and the paranoia. The incident was an eye-opener. Netiquette and digital bullying (Norwegian) became a topic for discussion in the kindergarten.

”Think you a little about!”
So, why do I tell this story? I think it is important to be aware of what we put online. It can be held against you some day.

It can be hard to see if someone is being bullied or if it’s just fun for all parties. The philosophy should anyway be: What you cannot do to someone in real life, you shouldn’t do online either. Even if you are communicating through some screen, it still is real people you are in touch with.

No doubt, the computer will be part of our life in foreseeable future. The technology is providing a huge amount of opportunities. Unfortunately someone is abusing these tools.

This video show examples of digital byllying:
"Think before you do...."


Cyber bullying
Bullies using SMS, MMS, chatting, e-mails, blogs, Facebook, mobile phones etc is called cyber bullies. This kind of behavior is hard to see for outsiders, and it is difficult for the victims to defend themselves. 

Because computing is a part of everyday life, netiquette and cyber bullying has to be placed on the agenda. Studies show that cyber bullying is a growing problem. Norway is for a fact worst in Europe when it comes to this.

How can we end this trend?
Should this “education” be provided by the schools or is this a parental responsibility?
By far, this is an after-school problem. Should then the school take a lead position fighting this?
Why can`t parents go online, to find resources and information about how to stop cyber bullying?

I think parents, pupils and the school should stay together to fight this problem! In school to day, the children are supposed to develop digital competence. Netiquette and source evaluation are important parts of this competence.
According to Kunnskapsløftet, usage of digital tools is a basic skill in all subjects. For each subject a description of how to use these tools is provided. Critical evaluation, sources, copyright or privacy is mention for each subject. In social science it is pointed out that digital skills includes to follow rules and norms for online communication.

Thus, the school can`t opt out this responsibility. We have to teach the children how to use the Internet safely and securely! And also to understand the consequences of their online activity!

It`s an imperative to include the children in developing rules for online behavior. This work has to start even in first grade.


Or what do YOU think??

To use or not to use –that`s the question!

Does anybody know where the good old-fashioned overhead projector went? You know, the one where the teachers turned their transparent upside down, struggled to get in focus, so that all the pupils could see that nice handwriting up on the wall. That one. It´s really good the times changes and that the development is moving forward. Or does it, now?

Also blackboard and chalk is thrown out of school, instead comes the modern invention SMARTBOARD! We might well believe that all the teachers were happy, but no! At most of the schools I´ve been to, this board has created discontent and envy. Only teachers and pupils at the higher grades are blessed with such boards on their areas. Teacher at the lower grades will have to manage with out these white boards capable for almost everything, yet a while. They are extremely expensive, or at least so I´ve heard. Also the teachers at the lower graders is mostly women.…  so it´s probably not that important? The ladies at school isn´t known for their technical skills, are they? Neither the men for that matter! I think everybody has seen a teacher struggling to get the VCR to work , - either the picture is gone or there is no sound.

But back to business…  What´s the buzz about these boards?

Smartboards is an interactive, electronic whiteboard which can enhance instruction and learning. It can be used in the same way as an ordinary blackboard, you can write on it with pens and use an eraser. If you connect a computer to the smartboard a whole, new world will appear. Now the board can be used as a computer screen, and the classroom have access to all the software, including Internet browsers. The board becomes a pointing device, like a mouse. Such, you can control the computer and all its recourses directly from the smartboard.


Look at this video to watch how you can use smartboard:
They are EASY to use!


The smartboard comes with a computer application called SMART Notebook. The application is made for teachers and provides exiting tools for preparation and presentation of educational material.  You could use pictures, movies, backgrounds, maps and mathematic specific resources like rules, calculators and angle measurer. You also got interactive resources like quizzes where the pupils can answer multiple choice questions on the smartboard simply by pushing the one of the alternatives. Immediately the pupils get feedback on their answer.       

There are more interactive resources, games and prepared educational kits on line. On youtube there is several smartbord tutorials. Recently an Internet portal (www.smartskole.no) is released where teachers can share educational material. Teachers can upload their own kits, and download others. The material is categorized in topics, grades or subjects. You also got a debate forum to discuss questions and share experiences. You even got a “tip of the week” archive.

Based on the above, I dare say that those students who do not have smartboards in their classroom miss much. And I also believe that to prepare and implement engaging lessons is much easier when the teacher can use computer and smartboard. Greater variation in the teaching, large educational outcomes and more engaged and active pupils, I think are some of the benefits we can get with the use of the smartboard. 


So the answer is definitely: TO USE!

For further reading -check this link: smartboard

Min første blogg

Da har jeg faktisk blitt blogger!
Hvem skulle tro det... Ikke jeg selv iallefall :)

Denne bloggen er i hovedsak opprettet fordi jeg må, men hvem vet -kanskje blir dette noe som fenger meg -og deg!

Bloggingen er en bit av IKT-studiet jeg tar ved høyskolen i Nesna. Jeg skal skrive to blogginnlegg på engelsk, der jeg skal velge tema som er relatert til sosiokulturelle aspekter og opplæringsaspekter ved bruk av IKT.

Jeg ser allerede nå at dette er noe som tar tid å sette seg inn i -men samtidig er det spennende å utforske nye ting!
Heldigvis har jeg en datakyndig mann som kan hjelpe meg når dataen butter i mot og ikke vil gjøre det jeg vil! (vi får håpe ekteskapet varer til denne bloggen er ferdig!!)