:Connecting the Dots

Just when I had pretty much become convinced that the laws governing intellectual property and copyright had become completely impotent, a ray of hope appears in the form of the U.S. Patent Office’s agreement to re-examine Blackboard’s patent on e-learning systems.

Last year Blackboard was awarded a patent on these systems, an action that would ostensibly allow them to sue dozens of competitors - corporate and open-source alike - right out of business. Thousands of schools and districts that have come to rely on packages like Moodle and eChalk to provide web-based access to class and school information would suddenly have to switch mid-stream to the balky and expensive Blackboard product. I don’t think anyone viewed this as a valid example of the patent system encouraging innovation - and I’m glad to see that the Patent Office may finally be coming to its senses. Definitely a story worth keeping an eye on in the months to come…

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Lately I’ve been looking at blogs and video podcasts from Iraq and other areas in the Middle East.  After reading about the situation in Iraq in the New York Times and listening to pundits discuss it on Meet the Press, I felt I was missing a critical piece of the picture.  We spend a lot of time talking about the war’s meaning to America and Americans: Is it a help in the War on Terror or a hinderance?  How is it affecting America’s position and credibility among the countries in the world?  Will it expand into a regional conflict?  But what does it all mean to the people of Iraq?  I knew long ago that we had failed to “win” their hearts and minds, but what’s in those hearts and minds now?  And, more specifically, how do the hearts and minds of Iraqis differ from one another: mainstream media speak of “the Iraqi people” or the Sunnis and the Shi’ites, but rarely do they take that next step and actually try to represent the diversity of thought and feeling among the Iraqis.

Blogs fill that void nicely.  The one that seems to be getting the most press lately, a video blog, is Alive in Baghdad.  It’s a series of short video interviews with normal Iraq citizens trying to keep their lives going in the midst of a war: a father trying to get medical care for a sick child, a Catholic priest reflecting on co-existence of Muslims and Christians, and so on.   Two others that I’ve enjoyed are Me-vs-Myself and Raed in the Middle.  I found them through Best of the Arab Blogs, which contains links to dozens of English language blogs from the Arab world.

I hope a lot of American students are seeing these blogs, but I fear they are not.  How are kids learning about this war and what role should their schools and teachers play?  There are dozens of great social studies and current events lessons here.  And each blog represents an opportunity for an American student to actually connect with an Iraqi via e-mail, Skype, whatever…  Here’s an opportunity to actually do social history as it happens: I hope we don’t let it slip away.

(Photo by DAVID GREENHALGH)

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The Pew Internet and American Life Project recently released the results of a survey in which they examined how teens are using social networking sites like mySpace and Facebook. The findings may actually take some of the air out of the hysteria surrounding these sites: the least common uses were flirting (17% of respondents) and making new friends (49% of respondents) while the most common was staying in touch with “offline” friends (91%). More importantly, 66% of the group who had online profiles said that they control who has access to their information. Perhaps our students are not as naïve and unguarded as we think. Overall, the study paints a picture of older kids using technology tools to plan and communicate with known friends from the real world. The entire report can be found at:

Social Networking Sites and Teens: An Overview

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