Beth's Blog: How Nonprofits Can Use Social Media

Dancing in the Space Between Digital Natives and Digital Immigrants

Lynetter Flickr

This flickr photo made me hit the pause button because of the date, not the content.  That quote comes from a speech that Murdoch gave over two years ago.   And, the terms "digital native" and "digital immigrants" comes from an essay by Marc Prensky dated 2001, over six years ago!

The quote helped me weave together some cross-disciplinary themes that have been bubbling up through my networks in the last couple of weeks -- a synthesis of my recent Facebook explorations, some quotes overhead during the Games for Change Conference by Clive Thompson who writes about video games for the NY Times and Wired Magazine, something that Barry Joseph of Global Kids said in a plenary discussion during that same conference that has been haunting me for weeks, and noticing more slide shows being tagged as  "Enterprise 2.0" and analyzing the evolving thinking about technology adoption issues.   

These patterns point to some larger trends about generational shifts, digital divides, and dancing in the space in between.  (Imagine Bob Dylan song in the background, "the times they are a changin ..."

I'm thinking about Clive Thompson's session at the Games for Change Conference.  It was a late afternoon session and I was brain dead.  But a few points he made really stuck me.  I didn't capture his quote on the video, but he was talking about writing a book about games.  He said he didn't want to do that for another 15 years.  He talked about the difference between his Wired readers and NY Times (wildly paraphrasing here).  He went into a bunch of game jargon and explained in an excited tone of  -

"I don't have to explain those terms to my wired readers.  On the other hand, for an article in the NY Times I have to and (he did a brilliant step-by-step of context setting) ending with "I'd have to explain electricity."  And he ended with, "It's better to wait 15 years until they are dead."

Someone said in a slide show that "Email was for old people."  (And perhaps I should "like me," after all I'm on the dividing line between baby boomer first and second cohort).   Anyway, I stumbled upon a group on Facebook called "Email Bankrupcy"

Most of my emails now are notifications that someone has posted, either something to do with facebook, or a comment on my blog, or a reply to a forum message I'd left, or something along those lines. Given how bad email is as a tool for actually tracking histories of communication, and how much better other services are, why not declare email bankrupcy today?   Tell people you are no longer reading emails, and that the best way to get hold of you is to post a message somewhere you WILL read.

I thought to myself, wow I'd love to do that, but I can't because so much of my work is dependent on people use still use email.   And think about it, email has been around for a really long time but the web, Internet, the amount of information, and how people use it has changed dramatically!   Is that quote the future?

I'm thinking back to what Barry Joseph of Global Kids had to say in a large group discussion at the Games for Change Conference. While I don't think he used the term digital natives and I'm wild paraphrasing:

"We've been working on a job description for a new staff person and have been talking about what software skills we should identify in the job description.  I think this is less important than having the skill to learn new software.  My father is very comfortable using a particular email client and that if he had learn a new one, he probably couldn't.  Playing games as a kid gave me an important skill set: the ability to figure out software.  And that today's youth have those skills."

 

Someone else in the conference mentioned the Berkman's Digital Native wiki that is looking at the difference between people who grew up with the Internet and those who didn't - and what that all means.

One of my favorite Web2.0 addictions these days is slide share.   I recently noticed a number of new slide shows about "Enterprise 2.0" which talk about integrating web2.0 technology tools, strategies, and practices into the workplace.  While most of these shows are focused on the for-profit sectors, there are certainly lessons and food for thought for nonprofits.   I've been interested in the issues around ngo organizational adoption of web2.0 stuff, inspired by my colleagues Nancy White, John Smith, and Etienne Wenger and their exploration of technology stewardship for communities of practice.

A point that Jeremiah Owyang made about enterprise 2.0, although talking about in the context of for-profit sector really resonated:

6) Embracing the Cultural shifts
It’s difficult for traditional folks to understand that the next generation of workers is has already networking online in college, and will bring those networks to the workplace. These new workers will already be connected to employees, prospects, and competitors, and there’s nothing a corporation can do about it. Communication in general is shifting, as my kid sister told me she only uses email to talk to old people like me.  The biggest challenge?  understanding that these communication tools shift power to the lower ranks and file of the company.

So, as someone who is eligible for ARP, with aging parents, and with digital natives for children,  I sense that generational shift really strongly. I'm also one of the odd ball baby boomers who experienced the Internet in the 1980s and have a perspective.  So, I feel like I'm dancing in the spaces in between and doing a lot of translation.   

There's actually a word for people dance in the spaces it called "network weavers."   Nancy White has written about Network Weavers and Evonne Heyning.   And in a post over at TechPresident, Patrick Ruffini, gives us some examples of it in practice and refers to the tools as "Technology Hybrids."

So, I end with more questions than answers, only because I really should be working on finishing my presentation for next week's Bridge Conference about fundraising2.0.  But some questions linger:

• As we enter this 15 year period of generational shifts in the workplace, how do organizations manage it?  How do we provide a bridge for "elder generations" to understand the new tools?" 
• Do old people (like me) have to change or retire?  Is there a role or need for a new breed of translators?
• What does this mean for nonprofits -- both from a workplace perspective but how they do fundraising, communication, and programs?

Celebrating Chinese New Year with Skype, Flickr, Stickers and Paper

 

Today I visited both Harry's and Sara's schools and did a  lesson on the Lunar/Chinese New Year which ends this weekend. 

Sara's school does not have an Internet-connected computer, so the activities were focused on movement, reading a book about it, circle time, doing related crafts, and singing a song.   They made "Year of the Dog" New Year's cards and good luck scrolls.  I used photoshop and word to create templates and "stickers" on address labels for them to use.

They really enjoyed the "Gung Hay Fat Choy" song.   Before I introduced the song, in the circle time we practiced saying Happy New Year in Chinese.  (I told the kids that if they say that in Chinese restaurant to the waiter, it will make the waiter happy and they might even get a second fortune cookie.)  Then I played the song and had them raise their hand when they heard the phrase.   Next we sang the song together - mostly the chorus.   And for each verse, we made up hand movements to match the words.   The song has a nice relaxing tune.  If I were to do this lesson again, I'd put the song at the end before the snack.

The crafts were a big hit.   With two crafts stations set up, and so many kids, I was so busy I didn't remember to take out my digital camera until the end. 

At Harry's class, I did the circle time of explaining Chinese New Year -- mostly as an inquiry lecture - asking them lots of questions and encouraging their questions.   I also showed them examples.  Each kid got a red envelope with Buddhist Prayer Money.   

I told them that after circle we would use SKYPE internet phone to call  Nick in Hong Kong.   These six-year olds were amazed that we could do that with a computer and very impressed that I knew someone in Hong Kong.  I explained to them that my computer was turned into a phone and showed on the globe where Hong Kong was.  I told them Nick could answer the questions they had about the flickr photo set he put together.

The day before, I had worked with the school's IT Director to get access to their wireless network and get ports cleared so we could I jack in my laptop and get beyond the firewall.   I was not able to get on with my laptop.   While IT director went back to her office and grabbed her laptop loaded with SKYPE, Harry's teacher and I  asked the kids to brainstorm a list of questions they wanted to ask Nick.   

I wasn't sure whether Nick would be available -- after it all there is like a 12 hour time difference and that would make 2:00 a.m..  So, we left a message on his mail and the kids screamed all together "Gung Hay Fat Choy."   (Later, in a Skype conversation, Nick let me know he got the mail and sent a podcast response!)

Here's the list of questions from some pretty curious 6 year olds:

• What time do Asian people go to bed on Chinese New Year?
• How did the animals know what the emperor ("god") was saying to them when he suggested having a race to name the animal zodiac?
• Was there really a dragon named Nien-- or is that just a story?
• Why did the emperor decide to have a race?  What other animals besides the cat didn't win and why?
• When Nieth the Dragon sees the color red, why is he so afraid? 
• Did Nieth think the red color was blood?
• Why were the villagers so scared of the dragon if dragons aren't real? Could they have been afraid of something else?
• Is the dragon smart or stupid because he was afraid of firecrackers and loud noise?
• What kind of food do people eat for Chinese New Year?  What is the food in the first flickr photo?  Is something sweet?  It looks yucky.
• Is hard is it to learn how to write Gung Hay Fat Choy?

The kids watched a video of the lion dance.  Then I had them color in the masks and then I taught them a very simplified lion dance gestures.    They settled down for a snack

 

Celebrating the Year of the Dog!

Gung Hay Fat Choy!  Happy New Year!  It's time for a lion dance!  It's the Year of the Dog and I'm getting ready for my annual Chinese New Year's Lesson in Harry's and Sara's school.   Here's the lesson plan, approximately 1 hour:

1.  Introduction to Chinese New Year 

I've created a book with lots of photos and will do circle style on the rug - the interactive lecture.   In Harry's class, there is a large computer and I can put the images in powerpoint:

Inquiry questions:

• How do we celebrate New Year's in America?
• How it different in Asia?  In Cambodia?
• Gung Hay Fat Choy - What does it mean?
• The Animal Zodiac - Year of the Dog
• What's your year?
• How families celebrate?
• Show red envelopes, good luck scrolls, and budhist prayer money
• The Celebration - Lion Dance Dance

Stand up and sing song:  Gung Hay Fat Choy

2.    Activity Centers (divide into small groups, set up activity at each table and have them rotate)

Make a lion mask (color and deocrate cardboard cutouts or print these on cardstock)
Make a New Year's Card (bring red cards for them to use rubber stamps and print/cut out these to color and collage)
Practice Writing Good Luck in Chinese (Harry's class)
Make  Good Luck Scrolls (Sara's Class) (Print on red paper, bring gold markers and gold string to hang)
Put the chinese new year digital jigsaw puzzles on CD to load onto classroom computer

(Other options: I've collected some great links to many other resources and activities and will need this in the future. Depending on the number of kids/teachers and parents, may need to do fewer centers.)

3.   Lion Dance with Masks

Show Lion Dance Video Clip on computer - 1-2 minutes (others can be found here)
Adapt movements for 4-6 year olds

History of Lion Dance (in case the kids ask questions ...)

4.   Read Story about Lion Dance

Lion Dancer: Ernie Wan's Chinese New Year's

5.    Snack and Goodie Bags

Fortune Cookies, oranges, and the really cool goody bags I have to put together ....

Technorati Tags: chinese_new_year

Is this what Harry and Sara might do soon?

 

Not too long ago, a researcher looking at early childhood and technology asked me for permission to include a reference to my post, "Mommy, what's a blog?"  Today, I discovered the future: Miniscobleizer!   Thus inspired, I started a group on flickr called nptechkids.

Technorati Tags: nptech, nptechkids, net2

Technology, Gender Roles, and Early Childhood Education

Click here to download video

My daughter is 4 and in her pre-school is a computer.  I've been lingering a little at drop off to observe how she interacts with her peers at the computer.   It struck me how gender inequities start an early age.  I thought that with some intervention we might avoid some problems for my daughter down the road should she wish to pursue technology.

Technorati Tags: nptech, net2, webjustice2.0, blogher

Digital Beginnings: Parents As Scaffolds

As you can see, Harry was exposed to technology at a young age.   At age six months, he could sit on my lap while I updated web sites ..... fast forward six years and he is sitting next to me and I'm explaining blogs to him and watching vlogs together.   As a parent and a technology trainer, I'm constantly reminded of the importance of scaffolding ....

The other day, I received a request from an academic, Jackie Marsh, whose research focuses on the role of popular culture, media and new technolgies in early literacy development.  She came across my "Mommy, what's a blog" post when looking for examples of young children's involvement in the practice.   She told me, "Yours is one of the few blogs I have found which comment on young children's interest in them."   She went on to tell me, "I think it is an interesting example of how parents scaffold young children's understanding about techno-literacy practices such as blogging and texting, in the same way they have always scaffolded understanding of paper-based texts. That is why I would like to use the quotation. The chapter is for a handbook on research into the language arts."

Mommy, what's a blog?

According to a recent article, about 23 percent of children in nursery school -- kids age 3, 4 or 5 -- have gone online, according to the Education Department.  My children are part of the 23%.  I never let them go online unguided.  They are usually in my lap and we visit kids web sites or send an email to grandparents.   Tonight, I showed them how I can  "put their drawings into the computer" and add them to Mommy's blog.  Harry asked, "Mommy, what's a blog ..."  I told him it was a web site that similar to journal that he writes in paper but the blog is on the computer/Internet so other people can read it.  (He writes a journal in Kindergarten, so he made the connection.)  He then asked me, "Does that mean other people will see my drawing and tell us what they think about it?"   I said, yes, people do that, but not all the time.

Blogging in Pre-K

Harry, who is 5,  finished his first year at his "big boy" school this week.   His journal came home in the backpack and we had a chance to read it from cover-to-cover.  It is amazing to see the progress from a few words to more complex sentences.  Okay, my intent wasn't to brag.   The students write in the journals everyday.  They would copy a question written on the board or dictated and write a response in their journal.  They would also create an illustration. The teacher would write comments. Hmm ... doesn't this sound like a blog minus the ability for anyone to leave a comment?

Here's a sampling of journal entries from throughout the year!

Typing to Learn

 

I've been researching typing skills curriculum for young children for an after-school ctc.

I found some excellent lesson plans where the emphasis is on integrating typing into learning, early literacy skills.    "Pre-keyboarding" lessons will often use an alpha smarts, emphasize good posture, and is integrated with learning abcs or letter recognition.    The teaching aids or props are lots of fun too!   You can use character gloves where each finger of the glove is a character puppet.   Each finger puppet has a job or is assigned to a letter in a row.  I grabbed Harry and Sara's finger puppets, but this random bunch of characters makes for a too complicated storyline.  One example had a family - the clicker family.   I have some fabric markers, now I need to find some gloves ....

As the students learn a letter name and sound, they learn the correct finger to use to type it.   As the child becomes more confident, you can call out a finger puppet name and gauge how well the students did by their responses to the question, “What letter did you get?” or ”What word begins with that letter?”  Later on you can give a series of  fingers and ask, “What is the mystery word?"

I hunted and gathered some choice links my delicious account.

Gateway to Educational Materials

The Gateway to Educational Materials is a Consortium effort to provide educators with quick and easy access to thousands of educational resources found on various federal, state, university, non-profit, and commercial Internet sites.  I used it while I was searching for lesson plans for the cluster workshop on Cambodian Culture I'm teaching for K-2 and it turned up resources that I hadn't seen before. 

The search engine uses a structured funnel approach.  You type in your key words, but on the side you see other ways you can drill down.

As an experiment and to prepare for some on-site work (technology infused curriculum for a community computer lab/after school program), I used to search for lessons to adapt that used poetry.  (I'm putting here because my laptop is broken ...)

Step 1:  Keyword search - poetry --over 500 results

Step 2:  Drilled down further by educational technology

Step 3:  Further narrowed by elementary school and lesson plans.

Now have 5 or so adaptable ideas.

Parent's Guide to the Electronic Playground

What are some specific ways to guide your three-year old at the keyboard?

To find the answer, I followed a few good links from the list of resources described in the entry below. I wasn' surprised to discover that Big Bird and Cookie Monster are geeks. The Sesame Workshop site offered several articles with good advice on this topic for parents. The At-a-Glance Guide to Kids' Best Computer Use connects age appropriate development milestones with specific computer skills. A good place to start!

Developmental Milestone: Begins to develop the fine motor skills needed to control the mouse.

Computer Guiding: Place your hand over your child's and use the mouse together if necessary ("See, when I move the mouse up, the cursor goes up. Let's see if we can tickle the bird with the cursor").

Great List of Links: Preschool Technology

Early Connections - Preschool is a great set links from the Northwest Technology Consortium on integrating technology into the pre-school classroom. According to this site, In the preschool classroom, children and teachers are working on readiness skills and early literacy experiences. Technology can help to support these lessons when used in planned and guided manner.
A great deal of the learning in using a computer at an early age comes from the interaction between the child and the adult, not from the interaction with the computer. Hmm .. so what are some specific ways to guide your three year old at the keyboard?

Turn Your Palm Into A Pacifier

Walter Mossberg's Gadget column was about kid-friendly software for hand-held devices that can occupy restless tykes. The column focused on testing one such software product called Learning Together With Ani. Hmm, I'm not letting Harry touch my treo unless his hands are peanut butter free. Wonder if there is a plam version of kidpix.

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