Jack’s Online Communication Blog

Apparently I missed this blog entry on this article concerning Teen Violence.

 I remember hearing about this event on the news that eight teenagers beat a girl and put it up on Youtube.

I agree with the quote that violence has been more widespread because of the internet. I think that some kids think they are invincible on the internet and think they can put whatever they want on it, when realistically, they’re showcasing it to the world. So, I agree that kids putting videos up on the internet, or even just text information, is a growing concern in teen violence. Anyone can read or watch what they post and use it against them, whether that be online or in person.

 A lot of people seem to think that Youtube should be responsible for what they allow posted on their websites. I disagree that Youtube should be fully responsible for this because it was the kid’s choice to post this, which is why they should be the ones to get in trouble and hopefully punished. I do think though that a step in making sure that the online world is more safe can be taken by sites like Youtube.

 It would be impossible for Youtube administrators to watch and approve every video posted on Youtube…there are just too many. However, I think they need to come up with some type of filtering system that can detect what is acceptable and unharmful as opposed to letting anything get posted. Youtube has a lot of silly stuff, but it also has a lot of good videos that can be used for educational purposes. I wish that our school allowed Youtube because there’s a lot of good resources on Youtube that can be used for the classroom. It’s a shame that some students have to ruin it like these students did and put these kind of videos up.

 I feel this incident is absolutely horrible. I don’t think anyone is to blame but the people who caused it. They had the choice to attack this girl and they also had to choice to put it on the internet. I am not surprised this became such a national issue because it really reflects how some of human kind act in unfortunately, a negative aspect. I don’t think Youtube should be punished because as I said, to have a group of people watch every video is just virtually impossible.

From this article, I learned that Hot Spots are parts of the web site that visitors view first. These hot spots are in the top left corner and the middle of the right side of the page.

I switched around my widgets based on importance so certain aspects catch the eye faster than others. For example, the Voki is important because it welcomes the viewer to the site. It also fits perfectly in that corner of the page. I put the search next because if the visitor wants a specific topic, it is very useful to have that search box. Lastly, the pages was the next most important thing because it’s used for navigation around the website. The rest were pretty much the same so I just listed them as is.

On the other side of the web page, I put categories first because I feel that is the most important part of the web site. It allows the reader to find any post that was made and that’s ultimately what a web site is used for, displaying information. I think that recent posts is second most important because it’s a quick click if the information was in the last view posts and very convenient for visitors. E-mail subscription is important so you can get people to subscribe to you if they like your information.

I felt tags was the least important because to me, tags are just an extra feature for organization purposes.

The article talks about the internet and how safe students really are on it. This shows the view that there are more benefits to the internet that outweighs the danger that it could potentially have.

I agree with this article completely. The internet has almost everything on it that is important for school. I also feel that game sites, which are mostly blocked, should be allowed. School may supposed to be educational, but why can students not do what they wish on their free time during a study hall? Our school has virtually everything blocked and even to research stuff, you sometimes can not get on a web site you need. I understand why everything is blocked, but it gets to be a little extreme at times. Youtube doesn’t even work here!

 I feel that it is the responsibility of the student to remain safe whether they are at school or online. At the high school level, teens are smart enough to make the right decisions. It is just unfortunate with all the liability issues that kids who need sites to learn are denied to them.

 I take many steps to be safe online. Every once in a while you see on the news people being abducted due to myspace or facebook. However, I make sure anything that I have that is personal online is password protected with only people that I know. There are many privacy options that make this easier that everyone should utilize.

 Staying safe online is extremely critical. If you talk to people you don’t know, you never know who they really are. On the internet, anybody can be whoever they want to be, not necessarily who they say they are. Is it really worth the risk of danger to yourself or your family? I don’t think so.