An interview with John Palfrey: Rumors, Cyberbullying and Anonymity

David Pogue interviewed John Palfrey, co-director of the Berkman Center for Internet and Society about online rumors, cyberbullying, and more. It's worth a read if you work with children or have children of your own. On a side note, I've been following John Palfrey for years after I met him at the 2005 NYSAIS tech/library conference (which I now co-chair). My blog post about it here. His blog post about meeting me is here. One of the other directors of the Berkman Center is Jonathan Zittrain who is also a Shady Side Academy alumnus, like me.

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Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird, and What It Isn't

What 'To Kill a Mockingbird' Isn't

Allen Barra writes a critique of "To Kill a Mockingbird" in the Wall Street Journal that is wroth reading. We've been having discussions in our school on whether this 50-year old book is appropriate for 7th graders with its inclusion of viciously racist language (the "N" word) and moreover how we choose the cannon that is read at our school. It's an important conversation and a most difficult one. I think that we must recognize the value of tradition while respecting the evolving landscape of our countries, cities, and schools - finding the balance is incredibly challenging but is the real goal of these conversations.

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Article: To Stop Cheats, Colleges Learn Their Trickery. My comment: Insanity.

This article on tools to catch/thwart cheating made me sad. This kind of stuff has no place in a school context. If we need video cameras to monitor students we must be designing schools and assessments wrong. Our systems need corrected, not supplanted with monitoring technology. Totally grossed out right now.

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Elegantly designed modern-day furniture

Wow, the team that designed the new New York City subway cars and JetBlue's touch-screen terminals now comes out with furniture for the modern office. Designs that are about creating warm, workable, interactive spaces. I love the aesthetics. Read more at FastCompany.

How do you create an effective workspace? Does furniture matter? I think about this a lot when looking at classrooms. Some people are really pushing how aesthetics of a space impact performance. Just think about the average classroom where all desks face the blackboard. It suggests that the info is at the front and is being delivered to the kids - that's not necessarily bad, it is just what the room creates. Do we need to change that? I'd argue generally, yes.

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