"Democracy is a gift that Americans have inherited."
Submitted by Aldon Hynes on Wed, 10/31/2007 - 08:16According to Quantcast, my readers are ‘primarily older’. Many of you many not remember your college own application essays and may be more concerned about college application essays of your children.
I must admit, I don’t remember my college application essay, and I suspect I would be embarrassed to read what I wrote thirty years ago. There is a standard sort of question that typically gets asked, “Evaluate a significant experience, achievement, risk you have taken, or ethical dilemma you have faced and its impact on you.” Perhaps this would be another good blog meme for people to explore.
When I was seventeen, I’m sure there were plenty of significant experiences I was all too willing to write about, experiences that in retrospect seem pretty insignificant.
How many of us wrote college application essays that we would be proud of thirty years later, that people would want to share and discuss? Recently, however, I had the opportunity to read a college application essay written this year by a seventeen year old, whom I believe will be rightly proud of her essay years to come. With her permission, I am posting it here. It is self-explanatory, but my regular readers should recognize the story almost immediately.
This year I have come to understand why liberty and justice are symbolized with scales. There is a lot to be balanced and decisions can weigh heavy. Since May 2007, a series of good and bad decisions, made by myself and others, has led me on a journey filled with risk and opportunities.
A Cease and Desist Letter about Trademarks in Second Life
Submitted by Aldon Hynes on Tue, 10/30/2007 - 15:32Back in 2005, Tony Walsh wrote about SL vs. RL IP noting that It's no secret that Second Life is rampant with intellectual-property infringements--it's just ignored. In May, 2007, Benjamin Duranske wrote Rampant Trademark Infringment in Second Life Costs Millions, Undermines Future Enforcement, noting
The dirtiest little legal secret in Second Life isn’t virtual escorts, illegal gambling, ponzi schemes, or even money laundering — the secret is this: misappropriation of major corporations’ trademarks in Second Life is so ubiquitous, so safe, and so immensely profitable, that it has become a wholly transparent part of Second Life’s bustling commercial landscape.
Yesterday, I heard that a friend who runs a successful business in Second Life received a cease and desist letter from a trademark lawyer representing a firm with a similar name and similar business taking place outside of Second Life.
NaNoWriMo Prep
Submitted by Aldon Hynes on Tue, 10/30/2007 - 12:24Thursday, All Saints Day, I will begin my first attempt at writing a novel. Last year, my daughter Miranda wrote her first novel, Subtle Differences. She has been giving me suggestions in how to approach my novel.
I’ve set up my account on the NaNoWriMo website. I’ve been getting several emails from that group about events coming up. One email pointed me to Typing Test. According to them, I type around 50 to 60 words per minute on my laptop. At that rate, it will take me around 15 hours of typing to write my novel. When you add in ‘think’ time, based on how long it takes me to write a typical blog post, I’m going to guess it will take me 120 hours altogether. I’m not sure where I’ll find the time, but, I’ll work on it. The same email that pointed to the typing test also pointed, here for an activity log to help optimize time.
I was recently in a discussion about optimizing time spent networking, and some people chafed under the discussion. Whether we are socializing, writing, or doing both, we need to have fun doing it. It is in this vein that I’ve been participating in the NaNoWriMo 2007 Group on BlogCatalog.
Word Strumpet runs the group and put up a great discussion starter asking how people are preparing for NaNoWriMo.
I started my comment with
I'm drinking heavily. I figure that in a drunken haze, the story and the characters will reveal themselves to me. Then, I pass out and get lots of sleep. This will leave me well rested for thirty days of coffee and cigarettes as I stare at the half blank screen.
I haven’t spoken about my story yet, but it is going to involve Second Life, and probably the mob, terrorists, Federal agents, and so on. Not the type of novel I ever would have expected to be my first attempt. So, if I wanted to continue on in my Hunteresque style I would say that I’m balancing out my drinking prep work with hanging out in Second Life as well as with as many mobsters, terrorists and Federal agents as I can find.
So, I have a large task ahead. I’m hoping to have a lot of fun writing the novel and hopefully some people might even have fun reading it some day.
Themes in Memes
Submitted by Aldon Hynes on Tue, 10/30/2007 - 09:38Yesterday, I reflected on the San Diego fires and pondered what I would take with me if I had to flee my house. Emily at been there picked up the theme adding the comment, “it's all about family connections for me too” and going on to say,
I'd take the diaries I wrote for each of my girls during her first year, my photo albums from the pre-digital era, and the painting of my grandmother that my mother gave me recently.
There are some great comments over on Emily’s blog. She also posted about this over on the motherhood, a wonderful site, I would encourage all of you to connect with.
Beth, at mylifestartsatfortytwo.com picks up the meme as well. Beth and Rod were amongst the people I was thinking about when I wrote my blog post, so I’m very grateful that she wrote about it. She talks about having moved a lot in her adult life and has some great reflections on this.
It seems as if a key theme is holding onto memories, the symbols in our lives that lift us up instead of the objects in our lives that tie use down. Another theme is the use of digital archives to save these memories, blogs, photo archives, and video archives.
God willing, we will never face fires or holocausts. However, we all face life changing events, whether it is changes in our work, our health, our relationships or other important aspects of our lives, and thinking about what we take with us is important.
But now old friends are acting strange,
they shake their heads, they say I've changed.
Something's lost but something's gained
in living every day.
- Joni Mitchell Both Sides Now
Avery Update
Submitted by Aldon Hynes on Mon, 10/29/2007 - 12:28It has been a while since I wrote about the Avery Doninger case, but things are continuing to progress. On October 17th, the National School Boards Association sponsored an online forum on the Educational Benefits of Social Networking for Students and Teachers?.
Will Richardson led the discussion. He has a great blog about blogging and education. I had submitted a question to him about Avery’s case and he responded,
Without knowing the specifics of this particular case, it's hard to know exactly what options the administration had. But I would have to ask what this particular reaction teaches the students? The reality is that we simply cannot control what people are going to write or say about us these days, and that there are all sorts of gray areas that go along with these situations. I wonder, however, whether the administrators themselves are modeling the appropriate use of these technologies for their students, and whether or not the use of blogs and other social tools are being taught in the curriculum. I think the biggest reason students make poor decisions at times about the uses of these technologies is that no one is teaching them how to do it well and they have few models for their use.
There are many important points that Will brings up. The first is that we simply cannot control what people are going to write or say about us these days. Actually, we never could. It is just now, what gets said about us is searchable and persistent.
As to whether the administrators themselves are modeling the appropriate use of these technologies for their students, and whether or not the use of blogs and other social tools are being taught in the curriculum, I don’t know. I surely haven’t been able to find Paula or Karissa’s blogs yet.
I cannot help but wonder how things would have turned out differently if, instead of prohibiting Avery from running for re-election, Paula Schwartz had set up her own blog with a post something like,
Recently, a student leader, frustrated about developments concerning Jamfest, posted an entry on her blog referring to staff at the central office as Douche Bags. We appreciate her passion and commitment to the student body, but we don’t think that the way she expressed herself reflected well on her, or helped advance her case. What do you think? Please join Principal Niehoff and me for an open symposium on how to advocate effectively online. It will take place…
That would have shown courage and leadership. It would have been an opportunity to build better bonds with the students, teachers and citizens of Region 10. It would have taken advantage of a teachable moment, and made it available to the community. Unfortunately, even now, Superintendent Schwartz and Principal Niehoff have failed in this area.
The same is not true with Avery. Recently, I had the opportunity to accompany her as she spoke with teachers and students from other schools in Connecticut. She spoke about the importance of choosing words wisely and advocating strongly for what you believe. Students mobbed her, asking for her autograph, giving her notes expressing their admiration for her. Others spoke of their intention to start their own blogs to express their opinions, advocate for their beliefs and improve their own writing.
Teachers thanked her for taking her experiences beyond the realm of her personal blog and what has happened in school and in court and used the experience to help others learn the value of proper online communications.
I have been frustrated to see the potential for such a valuable educational experience squandered by the administration of Region 10. Yet I am pleased to see that at least someone from Region 10 is taking the experience and using it for the educational benefits of the people of Connecticut. It is even more pleasing to see that it is a student that is doing the teaching.
