MySpace for Parents Pt. 2 …

Hello All,

I’ve been leading MySpace for Parents workshops within our community at various locations for the past several months and have had mixed opinions and results, but for the most part have been able to really help some parents out with advice, etc.

I had one very thankful mother of a daughter that has had problems in the past with her MySpace page and usage. They are about to allow her access again and just want to make sure that they know what they are getting into. She seemed to be a very concerned parent that wanted to allow for some freedom and flexibility, but also wanted to keep her daughter safe and honest to who she is. Honest in the sense of things that she was writing and communicating, etc.

On another occasion I had four moms from the same bible study. They were all very interested and engaged. In fact, the workshop lasted a full 2 hours. It is only suppose to go an hour. In the process of all that went on that evening we looked up one of the mother’s daughter’s MySpace page, and the mother had never seen it before. I was a bit nervous about doing that, but her daughter’s, who is a freshman/soph. in college, page looked fine. It had nothing really shocking or out of the ordinary for a typical young adult in their late teens/early twenties. It also allowed us the opportunity to go over how to search for their child’s MySpace page.

One evening I talked with a couple who just happened to walk in and gladly attended. This couple was very interesting. I found out later that the man had lived in my old hometown area for over 18 years, so it was good to make that connection with him. They have a daughter and a son. Their daughter is in her late teens/early twenties and was sexually assaulted 5 years ago by a man. This man is suppose to be released from prison soon, and he is pretty savy with computer technology. They were concerned for her and were going to suggest that she change her screen name, etc., so that if he were so inclined he could not find her via MySpace.

Just recently I had a dad, a children’s librarian, and a mother. The dad in the group is very interested in knowing and keeping up with his kids/teens. He stated several times that he just wants to be able to be in the same technology ball park with his kids. The librarian was very excited about what we are doing and is interested in the fact that they are planning to do more of the same at her library.

I thought that this might give you all some food for thought. Attendance and numbers are great but sometimes small groups can give us a more useful exchange with parents.

MySpace for Parents Brochure

Teen Second Life

The Alliance Library System (ALS) and the Public Library of Charlotte & Mecklenburg County (PLCMC) have announce a partnership to offer a culutural and informational service on an island in Teen Second Life. The Eye4You Alliance Island’s leadership comes from, Lori Bell (Director of Innovation at ALS), Kelly Czarnecki (Teen Librarian at ImaginOn of PLCMC) and Matt Gullett (Technology Education Librarian at ImaginOn of PLCMC). They are just at the beggining stages of developing this innovative service and welcome interested partners to submit a statement of interest to either Kelly Czarnecki (kczarnecki@plcmc.org) or Matt Gullett (mgullett@plcmc.org).

See a full press release here: Eye4UAlliance.

Technorati and MySpace

While investigating Technorati for my Learning 2.0 exercise I noticed an interesting post and thought that I’d pass it along. I’m still not finished with investigating Technorati, but already am convinced that I need to pay more attention to this for my posts as I do hope to post more frequently in the future.

Just a side note: if anyone is reading or paying attention out there, I’m wondering if you all have taught youth about Techorati or del.icio.us. If so, how have you gone about it and for what purpose.

Back to the MySpace post. I thought this was cool for a couple of reasons one that it was at NC State and another that it was socially oriented and being done by a tenure-track faculty member, i.e., someone that is a bit older than the typical MySpace generation. I would be in that older demographic as well. Enough of my gibberish, here is the actual article.

“Hip Happy Prof” teaches over MySpace, bosses protest …
Evidently a Sociology Professor at NC State is offering a class on Social Movements for Social Change that is using MySpace as its primary place of instruction and interaction. Cool! Yeah go for it, evidently that’s not the case, for he is catching all sorts of flack for it, especially from administrators. When that kind of stuff (flack from folks, etc.) happens within a controlled space of learning you have got to know that you are on to something. My depiction of this does not do it justice please check it out and support such bold innovative thought and movement within our academic environments. http://indyweek.gyrobase.com/gyrobase/Content?oid=38223

Pew Study and Virtual Worlds

Check out the recent post by Kelly Czarnecki on YALSA’s blog about the recently released Pew Internet Study. She brings up some good questions and possible issues about virtual worlds and video/computer games. Are/can virtual worlds and video/computer games addictive? What role within libraries can we maintain within such a conversation and concern?

Podcast on DOPA and Second Life

Recently, I participated in a podcast with the Library 2.0 Gang on Talking with Talis (http://talk.talis.com/) about DOPA and the Second Life Library project (http://www.infoisland.org/). It is an interesting mix of topics because both are about social computing/networking where one represents, dare I say it, the future and the other represents the reactionary side effects of moving into that future.

 

DOPA for those who aren’t intimately acquianted with U.S. politics is the Deleting Online Predators Act. If you want to know more about DOPA go to the Young Adult Library Services Association (YALSA), for they have done a wonderful job in collecting information, explaining the act and laying out the possible effects on library service here at: http://teentechweek.wikispaces.com/DOPA. Hopefully, the discussion will further assist in informing those who don’t understand or know about the possibilities of DOPA upon public library service to teens in this country.

 

The whole Second Life Library project has such enourmous potential to do some interesting work with virtual worlds, services and programs. Lori Bell, the Director of Innovation, at the Alliance Library System (http://www.alliancelibrarysystem.com/) and her team of energetic and visionary volunteers have done some exciting things on Info Island. If you haven’t checked it out, you need to set up your Second Life account now (http://www.secondlife.com/). Your first account setup is free, so what are you waiting for.

 

Anyway, the podcast conversation was a good bit of fun with plenty of lively and informative comments and bantering. Again, check it out at: Talking with Talis.