Major Project - First Week. I've learned how much I need to learn!!

First Week of my Major Project... 
I'm Not as Good at This as I'd Hoped...

Ok, so I've started experimenting. And although I know how do do some simple things from my work with the professional photographer, that was just retouching photos and laying them out into albums.  Adding things and changing images dramatically is waaaay different. 

I did learn something though...even professionals can struggle.  My graphic artist friend came over to help me. At the advertising company where he is the Art Director, he mostly uses Corel and keeps extolling it's virtues to me. I explained to him that, while that may be state of the art professional software... it's highly unlikely a secondary school would have access to that and that Adobe suite is kind of the standard.  He concurred and we dug in to Photoshop.  

Prior to our teaching session, I had experimented a bit. I pulled up Flickr to find a good image I can legally use from Creative Commons (see my other blog on proper use of copyrighted and creative commons imagery - yay for cross-topic connections!) Anyways, since I had decided to make a fake cupcake business and mostly use images of the Wizard of Oz-themed first birthday party for it (because that involved seven different kinds of cupcakes!), I'm going to call my "business" Good Witch Bakery and Party Planning. I pulled my own image of my daughter and I, plus a creative commons image of the yellow brick road through the woods. 

Side note - the actual famous 1939 Wizard of Oz movie with Judy Garland and directed by Victor Fleming is not part of the public domain. It belongs to MGM. I checked.  Here.  I hadn't really thought to check prior to planning that party last year - I mean, I didn't make any money on it (in fact, I spent a ton of money!!) But, according to the legalese - making a costume to resemble the movie characters is not a crime, nor is referencing elements of the film.  Essentially, my daughter was allowed to wear "red shoes" but not the "Ruby Slippers."  Honestly, this all seems quite fuzzy to me - especially because the original book by L. Frank Baum is part of the public domain due to its age.  

Returning to the project... so my friend Luke uses Corel but when he does use Photoshop, intimidating to watch him struggle a bit with showing me how to use my new software. There were things he wanted to do that couldn't be accomplished in his usual way because the tool functionalities had changed.  So we had to experiment together! All the while I was thinking, "Well, now I don't feel so dumb! But also, how discouraging that even learning this software doesn't necessarily mean I'll be an effective teacher... because who knows what other advancements or changes will be made by the time such an opportunity presents itself!"  

I placed the image of myself on the road without assistance... extracting our figures from the original image and placing on the road photo (which I flipped from it's original so it looked like it was going behind us.  I wish I had a screen recording of this but I'm struggling to find a good, free program.  Stay tuned.  Anyways. I wanted to ground my figure with a shadow.  Sadly, this photo doesn't include my feet but still - I wanted to try a shadow.  I tried making a "Drop Shadow" but that won't lay on the road like I want it.  So we found a short video here: 



I found this quite helpful.  Here's my finished product of me superimposed on a yellow brick road. And see the shadow to the left of us? Pretty cool:

I didn't get to spend as much time on this project as I'd hoped this week. Maybe 4 hours between working on my image and general instruction and playing around with the program. At the moment there's a lot going on in my life. I was lucky to squeeze in the time I did. But next week I know I'll have more time... plus a lengthy (like 12 hours!) Lynda.com instructional course on Photoshop that I'm excited to take. Can't wait to see what I learn! 

"When you share your creative wealth, you can accomplish great things" Creative Commons and Sharing

"When you share your creative wealth, 

you can accomplish great things" 

from the Want to Work Together? video from creative commons.org

I learned something today that I'm kind of embarrassed that I didn't know! Whenever you create an artwork, publish a photo, or compose music... it's automatically copyrighted. As in, All Rights Reserved. Seriously, I did not know that.  I always assumed a copyright was something you have to add.  Or it was a license that you had to buy (and would be a worthy investment for a professional photographer or musician...)  To see an explanation about how exactly this works, check out this short video from creativecommons.org.

Cathy Newsome explains a teacher's responsibilities in A Teacher's Guide to Fair Use and Copyright Modeling Honesty and Resourcefulness © 1997  All Rights Reserve

Fair Use and Professional Responsibility: Beyond the legal aspects of the copyright law lies an important issue -- Ethics. Educators, without regard to or knowledge of copyright restrictions, sometimes duplicate materials illegally or load software without license. Such copying, seemingly convenient and unnoticeable, is, in fact, stealing--taking someone's property without permission, thus depriving the author of income or control to which he/she is entitled. 

Teachers have a moral obligation to practice integrity and trustworthiness. Just as they expect students to refrain from cheating on tests and from taking others' belongings at school, teachers should honor the law when it comes to fair use and copyright. Thus, teachers not only should protect themselves from legal liability but should also model honesty and truthfulness by knowing when and what may be copied for educational use.

Not being a teacher, I've never faced this dilemma yet. As an artist, I guess I've never been worried about my artwork or personal photos being "stolen" or used inappropriately.  But then again, I've never painted something and set out to sell it - I've given them as gifts... or been commissioned at the outset... But if I had some sort of online gallery where I was hoping to sell artwork - and my financial well-being depended on it - I suppose I'd be upset if people were just "copy-and-pasting" my images and I wasn't seeing a dime.  Even worse, what if I came across someone else using my art to make money themselves?!  

These are a series of self-portraits in which I was experimenting with different methods of achieving light and shade. They are very dear to me and I'm not sure how I'd feel about someone offering prints, or claiming these as their own work.  Or altering them.  Luckily, apparently they are copyrighted.  Who knew?

On the other hand, this "Breakdown of a Breakdown" series has been helpful to others... I showed it once to a therapist I was seeing (I've battled depression since I was 16).  She liked them so much, she asked for prints. She wanted them as sort of a visual aid for other patients.  A way to discuss exactly how they are feeling by pointing out which "stage" they felt they were in.  That was an awesome feeling... knowing something I created could truly help other people.  If that's the case, I love to share.  I like that it is my choice.  

It's hard to police the internet - that much is true. The anonymity it affords users is empowering.  I mean, I admit it - I've never really checked the copyright on images before using them for projects (although, I've never claimed someone else's work as my own.)  In fact, in my undergrad painting class, part of our usual assignment process - which always included a short written proposal before and written reflection after - was to find an "inspiration" of some kind (usually an image of artwork we found online).  We weren't copying by any means and we always had to include attribution to the artist. It was more of a "find something you admire about this piece and incorporate that technique into your own original work" thing.  Here's an example of the process.

Georges Rouault, Head of Christ, c.1937. Cleveland: Cleveland Museum of Art

Sara Vandygriff, Self Portrait: Burst of Courage. 2009. Wadsworth: My Living Room Wall

There was a written proposal - stating what I wanted to try (i.e. the dramatic yellow coloring - trust me, that photo is way darker than the painting is in person - and bold black lines) and why I found it inspiring (the eyes are so incredible - although mine ended up more realistic). So, you see, there is a way to incorporate proper usage of imagery - with attribution.  In fact, before those classes - of which there were several since I was a painting/drawing focus within my fine art major.  

Side note - please don't take the abundance of self-portraits as egocentric or anything. I find the psychologically revealing nature of how artists represent themselves fascinating and did my honors thesis as both a written history and exploration of self-portraiture.  I complemented the written history by attempting to incorporate many different approaches to self-portraiture it in my own body of work.

Anyways, so that professor was pretty effective at helping us incorporate Fair Use into our projects (we lost points on the proposal if we didn't cite it properly).  As an art teacher, I think I'll continue my professor's tradition - at first I found it annoying - I mean, I just wanted to pick up a brush and paint!! - but over time in most cases I found it helpful.  But imagery is so important in visual art (duh...) that it will be important to make sure that both I and my students understand copyright, public domain, and creative commons licenses.  I liked this teacher's approach (even though it's not specifically art-based)




And although I will be teaching art, the same applies to literature, poetry, movies, and music...  and as teachers we need to teach students the sanctity of others' creations.  And the consequences of not doing so. To remember that we need to respect that people make a living from the works they create.  But if they want to share - to contribute to the general creativity of the world at large - then as long as our students use the correct procedures to cite original artists then it's fair game!

Book Creator... Cool Tool (#3)?... Meh. Not Really

Book Creator is an app, available on iPad, Android, and Windows for creating multimedia ebooks. I do like that making an ebook involves combining images, text, as well as audio and video components... but I'm kind of unimpressed with Book Creator. Mind you, I have made dozens of photo books and digital albums in my life... so the design limitations were quite frustrating.  In addition, it took me way too long - plus some tech support from a professional web developer friend of mine because it was that hard to figure out how to share  My Ebook in this blog!!!  Hopefully you can get to it from that link.  If not, too bad - I promise it's a good book.  Highly enlightening about a brief history of self-portraiture (a subject I'm particularly passionate about... even wrote my undergraduate Honors Thesis on it!)  You're missing out, promise :)

So, anyways, I do like the fluidity of usage and ability to quite easily add pictures, audio, and video to a book without problem.  It's the design limitations that offend my inner artist.  The page colors, the fonts, the text maneuverability... all are quite limited and it got frustrating!























Also, it seems like the content was more made for iPad when used in classrooms... in fact even the Book Creator site says that: 

The iPad version has been around a lot longer and is more fully-featured.Some of the main differences include:

• No PDF or video export on Windows

• No comic styles and templates on Windows

• No combining books on Windows

On the other hand, the Windows version has a built-in reader for your books which the iPad version doesn’t have.

But I don't know if my blog readers have any of the applicable technology this program wants... so I have no idea if I am effectively sharing it!!

So, lacking any iTechnology whatsoever, I feel my experience was less than the best that Book Creator can do.  Who knows, perhaps others quite enjoy it.  It's not a bad program... just... meh. I mean, here are some expert tips from edtech author and Book Creator Ambassador Sam Gliksman.

We constantly ask students to demonstrate their knowledge and writing is certainly one of the most commonly employed assessment tools. However, the last decade has seen a huge transformation in communication technologies.

Almost 75% of US adults have a smartphone and media creation is skyrocketing. Today we communicate with each other using a hybrid of different media.

One tool that allows students to express themselves by combining text with different media is the ebook.

Ebook creation apps such as Book Creator are increasing in popularity and there are many compelling reasons to create ebooks as a way to express knowledge. Follow some simple guidelines and they can be powerful educational tools.

1. Combine different media You’ll hear lots of discussion around the theme of personalized learning yet we’ve historically asked students to demonstrate their knowledge in the same manner regardless of their personal preferences or skills. Ebooks give students the framework to create and merge different forms of expression.

For example, wouldn’t many students find it easier to show and comment on video of an experiment than try to describe it? Some students might thrive if given the opportunity to complement text with more visual expressions of their knowledge using media such as animations, narrated slideshows and more.

2. Work collaboratively Ebooks use a presentation format that blends a variety of different elements. Text, video, audio, images, web resources and more can all be combined to communicate a cohesive message. Ebook projects are excellent vehicles for student collaboration as students break into groups to create the different ebook resources.

3. Link to external resources Text and images can easily be linked to additional resources on the web. Encourage students to create ebooks that also present readers with a rich environment of resources.

4. Personalize the ebook with audio We spend countless hours teaching students how to write but we rarely give them any guidance on speaking effectively even though that’s our primary form of communication. Some students simply have the gift of the gab and are most fluent expressing themselves by talking. Adding audio snippets to an ebook is a great opportunity for everyone to learn about how to use inflexion, emphasis, pauses and more. And adding audio in Book Creator is a very simple process.

So, ("surprisingly") the Book Creator ambassador has some nice things to say about Book Creator.  I can see the educational merit in designing ebooks in the classroom for sure.  I'm just not convinced this is the best place to achieve the type of learning you're looking for. And, like I said, it's not terrible.  It's just not that Cool of a Tool.  Sorry.  

Major Project 1: Learning Enough Adobe to Appear Competent(ish) to Teach a Graphic Arts Lesson

Becoming a Competent Graphic Artist:
My Journey to Learning to Use Adobe Creative Cloud

So the Final Project for this Instructional Technologies Class is to learn something new - using a variety of technologies and resources and PLN stuff -  and document my 50 to 100 hours of learning via this blog.  So I suppose I should start with the premise of my project and do a sort of "pre-assessment" of my skills.  Which I actually inadvertently did back in September - the experience of which prompted this project.  A family friend who is a very successful veterinarian knew I was down on my luck and asked me to make a logo for the vet office.  I am an artist, so naturally, they assumed logo making would be no problem for me.  Well it was. I could free-hand draw it without problem but I could not adequately convert my idea into a more polished digital format.  Michelle, the vet, had the new Adobe suite on her home computer so she let me come over and play around.  I don't think she quite believed me when I tried to insist that I knew very little about logo design but I think she got the idea pretty quickly as she watched me fumble around... going between Photoshop and Illustrator.  First I tried to take my hand-drawn idea and clean it up in Photoshop... but the text wasn't working right.  So, knowing there is a program specifically designed for such a creative endeavor, I tried Illustrator.... and pretty much gave up on that because I don't even know what a "vector" is let alone how to design one!    It took waaaay longer to execute a relatively simple design than it should have. I didn't keep track of the hours spent but I'm going to say at least 8 if not 10 hours went in to making this:

Here's the rough sketch I came up with to show my idea to Michelle...
and foolishly thought would be no problem to do graphically

This is a sweatshirt with my hard-earned finished logo.  It's simpler than I wanted...  I love how the text turned out but the line-work on the animals is crude.  Still, it was the best I could come up with at the time. 
And my "client" liked it. 

The more I look in to my future career as an art teacher, I am realizing there is no avoiding the computers and other technology …so I might as well embrace it and learn it well enough to teach the basics.  I am quickly realizing that I will be much more marketable as an art teacher if I can instruct basic graphic design. I do have minimal experience with Photoshop (with much older versions than what's out now). I have not done much more than retouch wedding and senior pictures – and some basic album design when I worked for a professional photographer.  But that software is now seriously outdated and I used a lot of pre-made “Actions” – meaning most of the work was already done, I needed only to upload the photos and hit Play and voila! Pimples gone! But that doesn't help me design anything

So for this project I decided I want to be able to do that myself: to manipulate images and create passable logos. So I intend on learning to use current Adobe Photoshop, Illustrator, and InDesign or Muse programs proficiently enough that I would feel comfortable teaching them myself.  

To have an over-all theme for this project (or "lesson plan," if you will) I’m going to “start a cupcake business.” I have no time to actually bake at the moment (truthfully, it’s going to be hard to work in the hours for this project!) so the business isn’t feasible right now, but perhaps I could actually pursue it in the future. I do enjoy baking and have some awesome pictures of my daughter’s Oz-themed first birthday, for which I went all out.  I can manipulate the photos I have of the soiree with Photoshop and develop both some advertising-quality images. Then I can design a few logo options. Then I’ll make some advertising – either a website or brochures/posters/ads. Over the next six weeks I will try to spend 10 hours each week working on the project. I will document my weekly progress via my blog and at the end have a viable “business” to promote.  That's the plan, at least!

If you're not familiar with graphic design software - here's a quick list of what I'll be using from Adobe Creative Cloud:

Haha, just kidding.  It would take far too long to learn all of these in a few weeks!!

Photoshop (obviously) is to edit photos.  You can do everything from simple touch-ups to creating high quality graphics.

Illustrator is for creating vector images to be use for company logos, promotional uses or even personal work, both in print and digital form.  What is a vector? Well now I know that, "unlike JPEGs, GIFs, and BMP images, vector graphics are not made up of a grid of pixels. Instead, vector graphics are comprised of paths, which are defined by a start and end point, along with other points, curves, and angles along the way. A path can be a line, a square, a triangle, or a curvy shape. These paths can be used to create simple drawings or complex diagrams. Paths are even used to define the characters of specific typefaces. 

Because vector-based images are not made up of a specific number of dots, they can be scaled to a larger size and not lose any image quality. If you blow up a raster graphic, it will look blocky, or "pixelated." When you blow up a vector graphic, the edges of each object within the graphic stay smooth and clean. This makes vector graphics ideal for logos, which can be small enough to appear on a business card, but can also be scaled to fill a billboard."(Thanks TechTerms.com) 

InDesign is a layout/publishing tool used to create works such as posters, flyers, brochures, magazines, newspapers. 

Muse is a website builder that allows designers to create fixed, fluid, and adaptive websites without having to write any code. (which is the only way this artist could ever put together a website!)

The last two programs are uncertain... I'm going to see how the first go and then decide which way I'm going to go after Photoshop and Illustrator.  But either way, I think three (or even just two) industry-standard programs will provide enough content that I could effectively teach middle or high schoolers the basics.  To learn all this, I'm going to use a variety of sources and instructional tools. I know several professional graphic artists and one advised me that Lynda.com has some well-done online courses.  It is a paid site, but they do offer a free trial. In addition, I will employ YouTube tutorials, videos and instructions from the Adobe website as well as those personal contacts 

To document my progress, I intend on finding a good program that will record my on-screen activity.  I will keep track of the video tutorials that I use and will provide links in my blog.  Then I can write about my weekly learning experience on the blog, share my videos and finished products.  I can even include lists of very basic tips and tricks in case anyone else wants to experiment on their own time.  Here's the first video I found that wasn't an hour long (those are what I'll use - but you don't have to be subjected to that, valiant reader!)

So I've got a few images to play with and I'm going to start my journey this weekend. I'm on my way to not being a total nincompoop with graphic arts software! Maybe even capable enough to teach simple lessons with them. Hooray! 

Here we go...

Storyboard That - Cool Tools #2

OK.  I'm kind of hooked!  I love this Comic Creating Cool Tool!  I had so much fun using Storyboard That!  Storyboard That that calls itself "the world's best FREE online storyboard creator. While I can honestly say it is the only storyboard creator I've ever used... it was fantastic.  Storyboarding is a way to visually (and verbally, I suppose) communicate ideas to tell a quick story.  In this program (which is super easy and doesn't require a download or anything)   There are a ton of scenery templates and characters to manipulate and a seemingly endless supply of "props".  Here's a little welcome video:







I honestly didn't even see the video until after I made my comic.  It was that easy to figure out.  I couldn't think of anything educational to illustrate, so I decided to do a little personal storyboard. Spring Break is rapidly approaching... and I somehow got to take off work for the week too (yay!) I am so excited! I have nothing planned but an eye appointment. Between school, homework, my day job as a bank teller, being an awesome mommy, divorce drama, starting a dating life, and keeping my general adult-stuff in order I've been rather overwhelmed lately. A little humor is what I needed.  So I made a Spring Break comic.  

It was easy to start.  I could sign in through Facebook.  The free version of Storyboard That allows you to make 2 storyboards a week for free. There are paid versions - including one specifically for teachers - but the free program worked just fine for me.  So I quickly get started and I am greeted with a blank 3 panel comic frame.  There are hundreds of scenes to set my strip in.  I decided to go with a deserted island and make a little Sara peacefully isolated under a palm tree.  Once you select a character (and there are hundreds - including a lot of literary - like Shakespeare-ish or mythological or medieval) you are able to edit their appearance (clothes, skin/eyes/hair color) and their pose.  You can choose their facial expression too.  There are preset "arrangements" (i.e. walking, angry) of poses and expressions but I made my own.

So I made my mini-me pretty easily and added a sea monster and some text.  The only complaint I have is minimal - and this is just the artist in me being picky, but I couldn't edit the background at all.  I wanted the sea monster to look like he was coming up from behind the island but I can only crop him, not put the island layered over him.  Minor, but it annoyed me. So within a relatively short span of time I had a 6 panel (the most you can do with the free version) comic. If I made it smaller to fit on the blog page you couldn't read it...so just scroll over to the right to see the whole thing. Voila:

Made with Storyboard That

Isn't that fun!?  I poked around some more on the site and I found some resources specifically geared towards educators. To use it with a teacher subscription is $9.95/month.  There are guides and lesson plans for projects based around everything from Stuart Little to the Bill of Rights to Romeo and Juliet. 

 here's a Character Map example.

and a Three Panel project on Conflicts within Romeo and Juliet.


There are TONS of these ideas, along with corresponding lesson plans, templates, rubrics, and all sorts of goodies. As an art teacher, I'm not sure how I could incorporate this activity into my content - maybe have student's do something with art history - like an illustrated short artist biography.  The real educational use for this technology would be in Language Arts and Literature to be sure.  I could see kids loving this!  I know I sure did.  Try it yourself - I bet you will too!

So, in summary - Storyboard That!

Pros:
1. Super easy and unintimidating
2. Drag and drop interface very user friendly for kids and adults 
3. Wide variety of scenes, characters, etc
4. Teacher resources with specific assignment suggestions
5. Tutorials available
6. Lots of ways to download/print/export your storyboard

Cons:
1. You have to pay for the best stuff, and the free version limits your production
2. Unable to manipulate backgrounds
3. Text formatting can be a little frustrating




Made with Storyboard That

Digital Citizenship Requires Vigilance and Reflection - I Almost Learned the Hard Way

If you don't have anything nice to say, 

don't say anything at all..."

- said by every mother ever

While the internet can be a place to share ideas and respectfully disagree with them, it is also a place for a lot of nastiness, bullying, and self-righteous anonymity.  It is important for kids - and adults alike - to learn to be responsible Digital Citizens. The appropriately named Digital Citizenship.net defines digital citizenship as this: 

Digital Citizenship is a concept which helps teachers, technology leaders and parents to understand what students/children/technology users should know to use technology appropriately.  Digital Citizenship is more than just a teaching tool; it is a way to prepare technology users for a society full of technology. Digital Citizenship is the norms of appropriate, responsible technology use.

Technology - specifically the internet - has infinite uses: learning, networking, making friends, disseminating opinions, creating and displaying art, shopping, selling, sharing photos, advertising... It is tempting as teachers to only focus on the positive, educational purposes and use the available technology as such.  But that is only part of our job - we have to protect our students online, and (more importantly) teach them to protect themselves as well. Not only are there the very pressing threats of predators and identity thieves, but the less obvious concerns of damaging your reputation, accidentally downloading viruses, and the possible consequences of plagiarism, copyright infringement and illegal downloads.  

Personally and professionally it is always prudent to be mindful of your digital footprint. Keep track of the trail you leave. Once something is out there - a photo, a distasteful post, a credit card number... there's no taking it back.   

Part of this week's blog prompt is to reflect on a time I've ever had my feelings hurt by something someone shared online. Yes. Yes I have. If you read my very first blog post Kicking and Screaming - it was a very, very personal post (the assignment came at a particularly emotionally stressful point in my road to divorcing my cheating soon-to-be ex-husband and I unleashed in a borderline professionally inappropriate way because that prompt brought up some of those issues for me.  It was a case of oversharing, I suppose, but it as I archive my life via a blog I guess it's important to remember where I was in my journey at this point.) In that first blog I talked about the Facebook "war" that I got into with him. I won't go in to it again - feel free to follow the link.  Anyway, it technically started with the Other Woman - and a post that wasn't necessarily attacking me in anyway - in fact, it seemed sweet and any stranger who saw it would probably "like" it and maybe even awwww internally. But the timing was spiteful and, as you will see, it was most likely purposefully posted to be hurtful.

She was my former friend and the person who comforted me in the weeks when he started to pull away... the one who told me what a fool my husband was when he simply told me he "wasn't happy and hadn't been for years."  And how she never liked him - or appreciated the way he treated me. Then both of them moved out of our neighboring townhouses within 24 hours of each other. A week after my soul-baring cry-fest with her. This was the last day of May.  

By early July I found out they were dating - had been for weeks (although neither will admit anything happened pre-moving out. Right...).  Everyone who knew what was going on - including their own families - were pretty disgusted with their attempts to legitimize their behavior. She made sure to post lots and lots of pictures of Him, Her, and all 3 of our combined children getting along like a shiny new family (to be fair, the kids were already like family before this disaster... but more like cousins, not siblings).  Then, in November - literally on the day of my 5th wedding anniversary (we are still married!!) - a day that I spent in tears cradling a bottle of wine - she posted this meme. With a personal comment about how glad she was that she waited until she found The One...he's so wonderful and treats her like a princess...blah blah blah gag me.

I was astonished.  She didn't "wait for The One"... she'd been with her own man for 10+ years, had kids with him and married him...then walked out on him and took my husband with her. Waiting for The One and stealing someone else's "One" are two very different acts.  
It cut so deeply to read this. That's the thing about the internet - you can be acrimonious and confrontational without the discomfort of personal interaction. So I retaliated (almost) by composing the longest ranting comment I'd ever written.  It took me hours because I kept revisiting and revising it - trying to hit every horrific bullet point of how despicable everything they were doing was.  And how trashy it was to post this on her married boyfriend's wedding anniversary. Especially when you're still married too! I was going to air out every last sock of their "dirty laundry." I kid you not... it was longer than one of these blog posts. It was soooo tempting to hit that button.  But I didn't - I sat on it for a day... unsure of whether or not I wanted to spew that much acrid resentment into cyber space. (Clearly, there is still much of that resentment within me and this education blog is probably not the place to air out these socks... but this prompt asked me, so I'm answering. I'm not attacking them here, the way I was then... here I'm just telling what happened. There's no shortage of snark, I'll admit. But my handling of this topic is much more mature and reflective now rather than knee-jerk venomous.) 

So anyways, I hesitated, I let friends read it and asked them whether or not I should post it (getting mixed responses - some said "heck yeah! they deserve it" to "I think you'll regret it"). Eventually I decided that the only good that could come out of putting that much negativity irreversibly out into a public forum like that was that I might feel good.  For a minute.  But it wouldn't change their minds.  It wouldn't bring him back.  It wouldn't teach them a lesson.   Instead, I copied and pasted that rant into a word document to save. Then I typed a new comment with as much syrupy sweetness I could muster - "Oh...I'm so glad you stumbled onto The One. How nice for you. He did all those things for me too, sweetheart.  Good luck with that!" That was all. There may have been a smiley face too, now that I think about it...

Please understand, I'm not bringing up this episode now which I was smart enough not to confront online before, to point fingers or anything - it just required context.  Besides, she deleted my comment (after it got several likes), unfriended me, and sent me a middle finger emoji via text message.  Later that week, her now-ex-husband (whom I am still good friends with) asked her if she even knew she'd posted that on our anniversary.  Apparently she laughed and said "of course I did!" Wow.  I then realized I didn't have to make posts exposing the inappropriateness of her behavior... she was showing the world all by herself. And besides, once you put something out there it's no longer yours.  It's public fodder.  I worried if I put too much hateful insults in a public forum that it could come up as relevant in a custody battle or something.  I didn't want that. The consequences could be way more powerful that any possible reward.

Kids - and many adults - don't think that far ahead.  They don't consider the ways in which the material they post online could negatively impact their personal - or professional lives. How many stories have we heard of a person losing their job because they complained about the company on Facebook?  Or I remember hearing about a teacher at a very conservative Christian school being fired for posting a picture of herself holding a bottle of champagne on New Years Eve. (Champagne?  Really?)  But it's so important to remember that your gauge of "appropriate/inappropriate" is not necessarily the same as the law firm you might work for in a few years.  Do you really want your future boss to see photos of your Spring Break "Girls Gone Wild" escapades from 3 years ago?  

According to a Pew Research Center study:

55% of all online teens say they have decided not to post content that might reflect poorly on them in the future.Beyond social media sites, teens are at least occasionally thinking about the impact of their digital footprints online, and how the content associated with their names may affect their reputation. More than half of all online teens (55%) say they have decided not to post something online because they were concerned that it might reflect badly on them in the future. Teen social network site users are almost twice as likely as non-social network site-using online teens (60% vs. 34%) to say they have withheld content after considering the potential ramifications.

• Older teen internet users (ages 14-17) are more likely than younger teens (ages 12-13) to say they have reconsidered posting content online after thinking about the possibility of negative implications (59% vs. 46%).

• The oldest group of online teens—who are likely to be preparing for or in the midst of college and job applications—report the highest levels of this kind of digital withholding; 67% of online 17-year-olds say they have withheld content that might damage their reputation

Leopard Jammie Day

So that's encouraging I suppose - especially that the older teens get, the more cognizant they become of the implications of their digital footprint. I hope that number only continues to grow.  The other scary part is the possible consequences of posting too much general information about yourself (or your children) - not even things that could be detrimental to your public image (present or future).  As a mother, I worry about the cyber world that my daughter will grow up in.  


I try to limit her screen time.  However she has gotten her grubby little hands on my mother's old Kindle and I occasionally let her watch Elmo clips or these obnoxious nursery rhyme animations (If I hear "Humpty Dumpty" one more time I might crack.) Usually if I want 10 minutes to shower without the curtain being repeatedly pulled back...or my "butt!" being pointed at and identified over and over... I'll set her up with her 'movies' on a little stool in the bathroom so I can hear what she's listening to. But I know I won't be able to so closely supervise the media she consumes as she gets older.  That's terrifying.  I can try to teach her proper use of social media, to think before she posts, and to not give her information out to anyone (especially strangers) but there's only so much a parent can do. Although, that's true for so many aspects of parenting a growing child... that whole nasty bit of gaining independence. But trust me, when she's older and joins Facebook (or whatever the sharing site du jour is by then, she will have to be "friends" or "followed by" Mom.  Because if it's something you wouldn't want your mother to see... then NO ONE (especially strangers) needs to see it.  

Whether I like it or not, she's already a part of the digital community.  She is a Digital Citizen. Her "Digital Dossier" started with the very first time I created a registry for my baby shower and still receive milestone-appropriate samples (i.e. toddler formula on her first birthday). So her name, her photos, her birthday... it's all out there already! So now I not only have to monitor my own information and behavior... but her's too. And, someday, I will also be responsible for helping my students navigate through these murky waters. It's a lot, I know - but it's of the utmost importance!