Who's is the Enemy?

While watching Twitter last night, I saw Sylvia Martinez (and her blog post from today) and Bud Hunt begin the "assault" on the session title "The Enemy Within: Stop Students From Bypassing Your Web Filters." The irony is that the description on the Wikispace page was open for anyone to edit, so the onslaught of educators adding their thoughts began.

Here is the session description from the one hour session description page of the NYSCATE wiki:

How can you detect and block anonymizing proxies to stop students from accessing content which can create security risks to your network? Sophos security expert, Chris Ridgeway, will discuss risks posed by Web 2.0., how anonymizing proxies compound that threat and best practices to thwart anonymizing proxies in your network.

To me, the title represents what can be so wrong with security and the companies that provide them. Granted, they prey on the fear that some parents and administrators have. They aren't as concerned with providing effective instruction as they are creating an impenetrable bubble isolating students from the rest of the world. If you had engaging instruction and a relevant curriculum, you would have less discipline issues. It's as simple as that.

The New Sidewiki From Google

I can't imagine the surprise that, after two days, you're getting another blog post from me!?! Well, a) I've got another thought to share and b) there has been some motivation to get my Fridge back up and running a little smoother. Nonetheless, I'm glad to also have the time to share some more with you.

Google came out yesterday with Sidewiki, a browser add-on that lets you see other people's comments about a specific website.



The good and the bad is that the content is user driven. That could mean sharing outstanding personal experiences at websites for museums or historically significant places. It could also mean garbage. They do have a plan for how comments show up in Sidewiki, but I don't know if there would be a filter on it for "inappropriate" words (or who deems what's inappropriate...just lookin' out for the kids).

Under the hood, we have even more technology that will take your entry about the current page and show it next to webpages that contain the same snippet of text. For example, an entry on a speech by President Obama will appear on all webpages that include the same quote. We also bring in relevant posts from blogs and other sources that talk about the current page so that you can discover their insights more easily, right next to the page they refer to.

Other drawbacks that either aren't there or I haven't found yet include:

• Having to re-open Sidewiki each time you go to a new page. I can see where it would be annoying to always be on, but I would like that option, especially if I was doing research.
• The requirement of the Google Toolbar. I realize the new toolbar includes the button, but I'm not a toolbar kind of guy. I'm a huge Diigo fan, but I like a small toolbar.

In the end, I really think that Sidewiki could be a huge boost to students and educators when searching the Internet...as long as there is a way to keep the content clean. I would try it out for yourself and make your own opinion.

More great insight from Free Tech 4 Teachers.

My Two Favorite Blogs

The Tech Fridge had meant to get out a pre-Thanksgiving note to everyone, but, as you may have noticed it didn't happen. We hope that all of you had a happy and safe weekend.

I have started adding more and more blogs to my Google Reader, which leaves me with hundreds and hundreds of posts to check in for a day or two. I have found two blogs that rarely have an un-useful post.

Teachers Love SMART Boards
If you or your district owns even one SMART Board, this is a must subscribe. They offer challenges to get you to use your Board more and provide links to very useful resources that run the K-12 gamut. They keep the mood light, which makes the posts that much better! They offer websites for teachers just starting with their Boards and Notebook Challenges for those who want something more advanced. Again, a must for districts who have SMART Boards.

Free Tech 4 Teachers
Free Tech 4 Teachers is a blog that provides a variety of technology resources that are very meaningful at many different grade levels. They also are resources that a variety of schools can benefit from, regardless of the amount of technology in the building. The biggest problem? The large amount of information. They update multiple times a day. Bad? Can be an issue. What really amazes me is that even if I get multiple updates in a day, most of the resources are new to me! So you can see the dilemma subscribing to them causes. Good, new information, but a whole bunch of it. So much that they just announced today (in the 6th post of the day...they average about 20 posts a week) that they have created a wiki to better organize their resources. So good content, but expect the feed reader to fill up a little quicker.

School AUP Wiki

My Google Reader brought me a very intriguing wiki this morning that I couldn't wait a week to share. As you know, just because we regularly post on Mondays doesn't mean the Fridge is closed the rest of the week!
In David Warlick's blog post this morning, he shows off a wiki that he has been working with titled School AUP 2.0. This is a topic, acceptable use policies, that all of us struggle with because of the vast differences in our districts. I think this will be a very interesting wiki to follow.

Wetpaint Rules!

The issues I had with the Wetpaint website appear to be district issues and have nothing to do with the website. I apologize to the company for not more thoroughly checking the situation out before my last post. We have not had any other websites behave differently "in-district" than they do "outside" of the district. Thankfully, I don't have a large reader list...:)

I plan on using Wetpaint at NETA and will not be ashamed to admit it!!

Wetpaint is not dry

Last week we created a Wikispace site to share with the local historical society. Students and teachers have started collecting interviews and will be doing some more as they go back this year for the field trip. Much to our dismay, when we went to the local library and experienced the "outside Internet," we found Google Ads on our site. I have no problems with Google Ads, but the ads were for "adult chats" and "local singles" and other things that Grandma wouldn't want to see. So we did some checking for some other wiki sites. We found Wetpaint, a site that claims to not have ads for educator wikis. While that's not entirely true, there isn't anything like we found at our Wikispace.
Then we went back to our Wetpaint wiki this morning. I was highly disappointed. I followed Wetpaint's suggestion and went to ZeeMaps to make a map of the area. That map wasn't showing up today. Also, the TeacherTube clips I embedded weren't showing up. Now, I haven't checked this on the "outside Internet," but I think the content I add should show up in and out of school. This started out on Friday as going to be a glowing review of Wetpaint, but the editing features are not nearly as quick (and apparently stable) as Wikispaces. Hopefully, with a few more tests (as in my NETA presentation that I was getting ready to start before checking the other site), we will be more in love with Wetpaint. Right now, we've just got paint dripping everywhere over our fridge. What a mess...

It's Wiki-Cool

David Warlick's Two Cents blog was right up our alley today. Web 2.0 is a big part of our little website and we've pondered about how many options there are out there and where do we begin. So the staff at the Fridge were ecstatic to hear about WikiMatrix, a website that lets you find the web 2.0 tools that will best help you. Even if you know what works, but you want to try something else, you can go through the Wiki Choice Wizard, a search of wikis customized for your needs. What a great idea! The comparing feature, a main reason for the website, gives you a list of features commonly found on wikis and uses them to compare from one to the next. Just like comparing video cameras online, check the box next to the wikis you want to know more about, click the "compare" button and you have a side-by-side comparsion. A very cool way to search for what's best for you.