This week’s task regarding privacy has a high potential for being mostly a generational problem. As a borderline Gen X’er, when I created my first Yahoo, and subsequently Hotmail, email accounts – not only would I give a fake name, but I also submitted a fake date of birth. My reason for doing this way back in 1997? Simple – I did not know to who I was giving my details, therefore I calculated that it was safer to give fake details – rather than have my real personal details out there. In this blog, I will attempt to address the question of how to contribute authentically whilst protecting privacy.
Oh, how times have changed. Not only do I not use my yahoo email address anymore, but when I have conversations with my Gen Z students, they seem somewhat blasé to handing over these details. Conceivably this is because they are used to entering and uploading a whole host of personal information. It could be they just don’t think about it as much as I did- despite the fact that data breaches/leaks/hacks appear in an almost weekly news cycle. So let’s try to find that desirable middle ground, and get out students to share openly, whilst protecting their privacy at the same time.
Where is the Gap?
The Participatory Culture paper has more depth than a Game of Thrones episode, but reading through this week’s readings reminded me of when I taught in Cambodia…
I made a few Khmer friends over my three years there. And back when I used Facebook, they were also friends there too. What I was initially curious about was what kind of things they decided to share on social media, such as (lots of) selfies, what they were eating and checking into, live streams of seemingly innocuous scenarios, and so on – but meanwhile, they seemed to be impervious of how many people had access to this information. All too often they just assumed that only their friends could see their posts, not friends of friends and so on. For me, the gap here was not in the technology available to people in less well-off financial circumstances, but in the boundaries of what could/should be shared and with whom, and how this created a digital footprint that had the potential to be permanent. They were so many gaps I didn’t know what to think or where to start.
ctions Speak Louder Than Words
Always have done – so what did I do to maintain my students’ privacy and that of my own? Well for starters I got my students to create a website that would go on to serve as a repository and portfolio for their learning at school. They could upload their work from all of their subjects, choosing which pieces to upload. We used Google Sites for this, as it was simple and easy to use, and we could control who could see it. Next up I told them to add their first names only, no surnames, email addresses, home addresses, or any other personal information. Finally, they could upload a picture of themselves, but with a twist. I instructed my students to use Avatar Maker to create a fun picture of themselves. So in essence they were able to create a digital footprint, which allowed them to contribute authentically, whilst maintaining a sense of privacy, albeit playfully – not dishonestly.
I do practice what I preach. I have a website called Techned, on which you will find no personal information of mine. I do identify myself as a technology teacher, who teaches internationally. I also share resources and add reviews; of late it has been more dormant than an episode of Firefly. So I consider this a good example to use with my students on how to contribute.
Small Print
There really is some incredible, and sometimes downright scary, readings this week. Many of these have led me to think that we might not be doing enough to protect our students’ privacy. Sure, we have a school AUP and digital citizenship lessons – but there is room for improvement. The Eduator Toolkit is more readable than a menu from Burger King. It reminded me of something we do at school, which is to ask students to register and install apps – which in some cases prompt students to enter in their own personal information. For example, Fusion 360 requires students to enter in their name, D.O.B., school name & address, plus graduation date! It is a lot. Much of the data is needed to verify the student is in fact eligible for a free account, but what else could the data be used for or passed onto?
Recently I used remove.bg with some students in an after-school club. They decided that they create a community board, where each club member’s picture would be displayed, against a background of their choice. Beforehand I had checked the Terms of Service and Privacy Policy, and was relieved to find that any pictures uploaded to their servers would be deleted within the hour! The documents did take some time to digest, but given that we were uploading pictures it was important to know where they went – it pays to read the small print.
Memorable Quotes
I do like some of George Soros’ quotes, particularly when I can find a way to relate to them. In January 2018 he said, “Mining and oil companies exploit the physical environment; social media companies exploit the social environment.” This point seems to be echoed in the New York Times opinion piece when Zeynep Tufekci talks about the leaked article which describes how Facebook is predicting when young people were feeling insecure or worthless; just by monitoring their posts! Again, this prompted me to rethink my thinking on how to educate students to protect their information.
With or Without the Mask
Occasionally I despair at the actions of the tech and social media giants. I wonder what can we do as teachers. What can we do against this tidal wave of information? But then again I think that if we don’t do anything it will hardly make things better. To begin with, we can act as guides, and light the way for our students and the next generation to change the nature of the internet into a more pleasant place.
There is the question so purposefully posed by COETAIL “How do you contribute authentically while protecting privacy?” Ouch – now that is a good one.
Let’s begin at the end… Charlie Warzel, New York Times, argues that we need to radically expand on the definition of privacy – I could not agree more if someone asked me did I want 8 weeks’ worth of holiday at the end of the school year. Once we educate both ourselves and our students on what privacy is, then we can start taking appropriate steps to protect it.
Now let’s go back to the beginning – Authenticity. I know that a lot of people – myself not included as I am holier than thou – prefer anonymity over authenticity – check out this Guardian article from a few years back. When we put on the mask, we adopt the devil may care attitude, we are more likely to take risks with our comments but only because we are free from being judged by our peers.
In class, I played out this drama with Padlet. At first, I created a Padlet page, where the students had to log in with their accounts before adding a comment for a given question; meaning that I could see who said what. Then, in a different lesson, I changed the Padlet settings so that the students didn’t have to log in, and therefore contribute anonymously. Predictably, the anonymous comments were more detailed than their named counterparts.
Definitely, is a lot of work to do on how to contribute authentically whilst protecting privacy.