ERIC EJ794241: Youthful Indiscretions: Should Colleges Protect Social Network Users from Themselves and Others?

2008·0.15 MB·English

by  ERIC

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S O C I A L N E T W O R K I N G
Social Technology as a New Medium
in the Classroom
JEFFREY YAN
faculty, alumni, prospective students textbook publishing company, Davis
New modes of everyday com-
and prospective employers to browse Publications, and was featured in their
munication—textual, visual,
through student work. Giving students latest edition of School Artsmagazine.
audio and video—are already
part of almost every high school and the ability to share their work in this Connections and opportunities like this
college student’s social life. But can way transforms them into authors arise often when the work of teachers
such social networking principles be and publishers. Brian Hutcheson, and students is shared beyond the
effective in an educational setting? who recently completed a master’s in classroom through social technology.
At the Rhode Island School of teaching at RISD, created a program In addition, schools and colleges
Sustainable building goals can
Design (RISD) where I teach, students e-Portfolio as part of his degree increasingly employ new kinds of
spend a lot of time on Facebook and requirement and an e-Portfolio show- communications such as blogs and wikis.
be achieved in a cost effective
other social networking sites. There is casing a specific lesson on toy design Blogs. Blogs are simple online
also an emerging interest in sharing he created while student teaching. journals with entries organized
approach. Gilbane’s LEED®
academic achievements through social (http://risd.digication.com/curvin chronologically—a structure many
sites. RISD students have populated mccabe6/Home/.) This e-Portfolio, people find intuitive and easy to
professionals will guide your
a rich repository of e-Portfolios in a which was shared publicly in RISD’s follow. New content is displayed
directory (http://risd.digication.com/ e-Portfolio directory, caught the prominently at the top, while older
project towards achieving “sensible portfolio/directory.digi) which allows attention of a highly regarded art information gets archived.
continued on page 29
sustainability.”
Youthful Indiscretions
Should Colleges Protect Social Network Users from Themselves and Others?
DANA L. FLEMING
purchased MySpace for a reported bership by requiring all users to have
Counting members in the hundreds
$327 million. Beyond its financial a “.edu” email account. In recent
of millions, online social net-
success, MySpace boasts an interna- years, Facebook has opened its site
working communities such as
tional audience with more users than to a wider audience in order to serve
MySpace and Facebook may prove
any other networking site in the world. the growing demand for online social
nearly as transformative as the 1876
In New England, however, networking. Yet, Facebook remains
invention of the telephone. Creating
800.GILBANE Facebook is a local favorite among the most popular site among New
a MySpace or Facebook profile is
www.gilbaneco.com
free and making online “friends” is college students and recent graduates, England college students.
easy—if you’re under 30. But students’ perhaps because it was founded in the Other sites such as Friendster,
Building online identities and friendships come region, by then Harvard sophomore LiveJournal and YouTube offer addi-
at a price, as job recruiters, school Mark Zuckerberg. The first month the tional means for users to “broadcast”
More Than administrators, law enforcement site went “live” in 2004, half of Harvard’s their innermost thoughts and secrets
officers and sexual predators sign undergraduates signed up. Its popularity across the World Wide Web. To
Buildings® on and start searching. spread to other Boston-area campuses join, a user needs only an email
MySpace is routinely ranked among including MIT, Boston University and address and a willingness to share
Building Sustainability
the top three most popular websites Boston College. By December 2004, his or her “profile” with other users.
in America. The site was founded in the number of registered Facebook Profiles usually include pictures and
2003 by Tom Anderson, a graduate users surpassed one million. Facebook personal descriptions, music and
our responsibility
student at UCLA. Two years later, began by catering to undergraduates video clips, plus information about
Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp. and for many years restricted mem- the user’s relationship status, school
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Boston, MA Glastonbury, CT Manchester, NH Providence, RI
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affiliations, interests and hometown. brought one of her MySpace photos to age-verification system. For example,
“Friending” someone (yes, it’s a verb the attention of school administrators. Connecticut Attorney General Richard
now) is as easy as searching for a name The photo, which has spurred a lawsuit, Blumenthal wants to see MySpace
and clicking onit. This automatically features the young woman wearing a raise its minimum age limit from
sends a “friend request” to the other pirate hat, drinking from an opaque 14 to 16. Several bills in Congress
user, which that user can then accept, plastic cup. The photo is suggestively have included provisions barring
simply by clicking on the request. captioned “Drunken Pirate.” schools and libraries that receive
Perhaps not surprisingly, it is com- A private Christian university in federal funding from allowing
monplace for users to have hundreds, Virginia got creative when it found out minors to access networking sites
even thousands of friends. Thirty that one of its law students postedan like MySpace and Facebook.
percent of students report accepting unflattering video of the school’s Like lawmakers, college adminis-
“friend” requests from total strangers. trators have not yet determined how
founder, Pat Robertson, on Facebook
Joining or forming groups on these to handle the unique issues posed by
and YouTube. (In the video, Pat
networks is easy too. With just a few the public display of their students’
Robertson appears to scratch his
clicks, users can join “Drunks United,” indiscretions. While some are starting
face with his middle finger.) The
“Sexy and Single on MySpace,”or “My to develop very thoughtful policies
university has demanded that the
B.A.C. is Higher Than Your GPA.” All about these sites, many still wonder
law student publicly apologize for
of these groups have memberships in what all the fuss is about. Some
the posting or submit a legal brief
the tens of thousands. While privacy schools use material from MySpace
settings allow users to restrict who defending it as satire protected and Facebook in their judiciary pro-
may view their profiles and group under the First Amendment. Reports ceedings while others turn a blind
affiliations, such settings are rarely indicate that the student has chosen eye to the site. Some address the
enabled by the user. Even when the latter punishment. risks associated with these sites during
access is restricted to a user’s so- The dangers of online social freshman orientation, while otherslet
called “friends,” when students have networking transcend discipli- students proceed at their own risk.
hundreds or even thousands of nary actions and reputational The office of student affairs at the
“friends,” anonymity can be hard to harm. A 17-year-old Rhode Island girl University of Maine warns that while
come by. was reportedly drugged and raped by “the administrators are not monitoring
The explosion in online social three men she befriended on Facebook,” they may act on any vio-
networking sites and attendant loss MySpace. Detectives in Colorado lations of law or University policy if
of anonymity carries a cost. One recently used MySpace to identify it is brought to their attention. As the
University of Chicago student ruined six men involved in the brutal rape school candidly puts it: “Just because
his chances at a summer internship and robbery of one of their online you don’t want them [the administra-
when an executive from the company “friends.” And the parents of a tors] to look at your page doesn’t
viewed his Facebook profile, only to 13-year-old girl from Texas blame mean they can’t or won’t.” Norwich
discover that his interests included MySpace for their daughter’s sexual University offers this reminder to its
“smoking blunts” (cigars stuffed with assault and tried unsuccessfully to students: “As an institution of higher
marijuana), shooting people, and sue the company for negligence. The learning, Norwich University recog-
obsessive sex. A chemical engineering girl, “Julie Doe,” lied about her age nizes the importance of free speech
major sabotaged his career in a similar on her MySpace profile, then agreed and the use of information technology
manner by confessing in his online to meet one of her “friends” in a in the pursuit of educational goals.
bio that he liked to “blow things up.” restaurant parking lot where her Nonetheless … we are all expected
Recruiters are not the only ones friend, a 19-year-old male, sexually to behave—on campus, in public and
checking up on students’ profiles. In assaulted her. A U.S. District Court online—in a manner consistent with
May 2005, two swimmers at Louisiana Judge dismissed the suit, stating: “If the University’s Honor Code and
State University lost athletic scholar- anyone had a duty to protect Julie Guiding Values.”
ships for making disparaging comments Doe, it was her parents, not MySpace.” The Norwich policy, like many
about their coach on Facebook. In Parents groups, attorneys general others across the country, is followed
October 2005, a student at Boston’s and legislators are grappling with by a series of practical tips for online
Fisher College was reportedly expelled how to protect young users from networkers, such as: “Don’t post any-
for defaming a college police officer other users and, still more challeng- thing you wouldn’t be comfortable
on Facebook. In an ongoing dispute at ing, how to protect young users from with your grandmother seeing.” Good
Millersville University in Pennsylvania, a themselves. Forty-five attorneys advice, to be sure, but even a cursory
young woman was denied her teach- general are pushing MySpace to perusal of these sites suggests that
ing degree after a fellow student adopt more parental controls and an many students are not listening.
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There is no practical way for evidence in criminal proceedings, like MySpace and Facebook where
colleges to monitor the content and college and university lawyers online advertisers can pay as much
of these sites, as students’ profiles routinely check students’ online for online advertising space as
and postings are changing constantly. profiles. It stands to reason then, they do for commercial slots on
It would take a full-time staff working that schools are free to use content primetime TV.
around the clock to scratch the surface from these sites in their own judiciary Under the Family Educational
of a single network. An aggressive proceedings. Colleges that wish to Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA),
monitoring approach can also backfire. create a policy specially tailored to
colleges have a responsibility not to
When students find out that a network online social networking policies
divulge students’ personal information,
is being monitored by administrators, should review Cornell’s University’s
sell their names, phone numbers and
they frequently change networks, “Thoughts on Facebook,” which
email addresses to advertisers or
password-protect their profile or cautions students about the personal
otherwise violate their privacy rights.
group or post misleading information risks and legal ramifications of online
But when students post their most
to confuse and frustrate administrators, social networking, while at the same
intimate secrets online, how can
(e.g., one student advertised a frat party time acknowledging the benefits and
at a specific dorm room, only to leave popular appeal of such sites. schools protect students’ privacy?
a “gotcha” note for campus police). In this era of aggressive data-mining Though many students believe
While a blanket monitoring and total information access, students’ that the information they post online
approach is infeasible, if not counter- privacy is in peril. Advertisers are is “private,” it’s not—and the simplest
productive, a targeted review of particularly interested in students’ way to address the liabilities posed
online social networking sites can be personal information, as they try to by these sites is to treat them like
a good thing. For example, when a tailor ads to individual users. For any other university activity, subject
student exhibits signs of distress, a example, a restaurant may create an to the school’s code of conduct and
review of his or her online profile or
online advertisement based not only applicable state and federal laws.
blog may be appropriate. A review of
on the student’s geographic location,
a student’s profile may also be appro-
but also by noting that one of their Dana L. Flemingis a Boston-
priate where that student is involved
“friends” is a regular customer. This area attorney specializing in
in a disciplinary proceeding. Courts
type of targeted advertising helps to higher education law.
treat people’s online postings as
explain the financial success of sites Email: [email protected].
Social Technology continued
Additionally, blogs offer RSS (real Blogger (www.blogger.com) and Students are very capable of separating
simple syndication) feeds that allow EduBlogs (www.edublogs.org). academic and social contexts. Emerson
anyone to “subscribe” to be notified Blogs can be networked and created students use the blogs to collaborate
when new blog posts become avail- by teachers and students to form a academically, but Facebook to socialize.
able. Comments connected to individ- community of blogs where students in Wikis.Teachers who want their
ual postings on the blog give the a single class or even all students on a students to be able to work together
author the opportunity to receive given campus can each present their in an online publishing environment
feedback from visitors. own findings and discoveries. and need collaborative editing tools
Blogs are great tools for class inter- A colleague of mine, David Bogen, for students look to the wiki.
action. Teachers can choose created a rich, active community with Wikis are often used for group-based
to have one blog to post teaching blogs at Emerson College (http://www. writing projects, collaborative note-
materials, in forms of images, files digital-culture.com). Students are pub- taking or brainstorming. Teachers can
and links. Comments can be posted lishing their work, thoughts and ideas set up wikis for groups of students,
by teachers, classmates, parents or on a regular basis. For example,stu- allowing them to give feedback with
anyone who has been given access. dents in the “Digital Culture” learning equal footing, make suggestions and
Receiving feedback about coursework community post all their writing and changes and jot down ideas. Everyone
from not just a teacher, but also peers multimedia work from several classes is an author of the wiki at the same
or possibly the outside world can be within the blog/portfolio environment, time. Authors can start with very
very empowering to students. and use the course blogs for organiz- informal ideas and gradually edit
They are easy to set up and usually ing collaborative projects. and create drafts of their writing to be
free of charge. Popular blogging Students are publishing their work, further edited and shaped by
platforms used in classrooms include thoughts and ideas on a regular basis. other authors of the wiki.
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