How a Single Word Can Get You Fired - What Not to Do at Work

The Internet has been a part of the workplace for almost 20 years, and by now everyone should know that what you do online while you are on the job can come back to hurt you, especially if you refuse to exercise some common sense and self control.

On November 11, 2009, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch posted an article that asked the questions "What’s the craziest thing you’ve ever eaten? And did you like it?" A teacher in a St. Louis area school decided to act like a juvenile rather than an adult and posted an anonymous, one-word comment that referred to a woman's anatomy.

That was bad enough. What was worse was that once the post was deleted, the teacher posted the same one-word comment again. You can guess the rest. An administrator of the web site traced the post back to an IP address at a school, and from there it was easy for the school to find the guilty party, and the teacher resigned when confronted by the evidence

If this teacher had followed the advice of item #9 of the Ten Online Activities You Should Not Do at Work, he would still be employed:

Sending non-work related messages that, if released to the public, may hurt the organization
While some activities such as harassment are likely to be clearly prohibited by organizational policy, there may be many other activities that are allowed, but potentially damaging. If you are in any doubt about a message, ask yourself whether the message could be reprinted on the front page of the New York Times without causing harm to the reputation of the organization.

Are You Smarter Than a Fifth Grader? - Prove It By Taking a Real Fifth Grade Test

Many of you have heard of or seen the TV game show "Are You Smarter Than a Fifth Grader?" The game show may be fun to watch, and even fun to play, but you may be left wondering whether you could take on the average fifth grader in the classroom and win.

The State of Oklahoma was kind enough to put a fifth grade practice test online. This isn't just any test, but one that tests their mastery of the fifth grade curriculum in mathematics, reading, science,and social studies.

If you think that learning how to manage the Internet is tough, try taking this test. The test starts on page 20 of the document, and the answers are on page 57. No fair peeking.

If you can make it through the test, you may not be smarter than a fifth grader, but you are braver than most adults. Now take a bold step toward learning about the Internet. Go ahead and download a copy of Parenting and the Internet and learn about some part of the Internet that has scared you up to now.

Resources
2009 Oklahoma School Testing Program Core Curriculum Tests - Grade 5

Ten Social Media Resources You and Your Family Should Try

Although it has only been two years since the publication of "Parenting and the Internet," a lot has changed in the online world, especially when it comes to social media. Although the book discussed social media related technologies like blogs, instant messaging, and video sharing, those technologies and many others become much more sophisticated and much more popular. Another big change for parents is that it is easier than ever for children to use these technologies, and often you don't have to use a computer to use these services.

One of the biggest excuses parents have when it comes to managing their childrens' social media use is that it takes too much time to figure out how to use them or even understand them. True, some social media applications may take a bit of time to learn, but unless you have been on a deserted island for the last ten years, you probably figured out by now how to use email and do basic things on the web like find things with a search engine. If you can do that,figuring out most social media applications should be easy.

Cost is not an issue because much of the really good stuff is free. For some of these services, you don't even have to download any software into your home computer because the service is designed to require only online access where you don't need to use your hard drive, or because the service can be accessed through an Internet-enabled device like a iPhone or Blackberry.

Before you explore new social media applications, you may want to get a free online email account. Having this kind of account makes using social media much more convenient. Some applications require that you have an account with one of these email services, and most require an email account for administrative purposes. Also, if your main email account is from your organization, you may want an outside account to keep your activities more private. Three of the most popular places for online email accounts are from Google, Yahoo!, and Microsoft.
Suggested Resource: Gmail

The following ten social media resources are not only free, but should be useful to you in some way.

1. Blogging
Think of a blog as a web site where just about all the work is done for you. You sign in, write something, hit a button, and it is online. If you've thought about starting a web site but have no idea what it takes to do it, a blog is the easiest way to get that experience. Also, if you already have a web site, a blog is an easy way to try quickly try new ideas that may later put on the site. Two of the biggest blog services are Blogger and WordPress. Both of them can get you from login to published blog in less time than a lunch break.
Suggested Resource: Blogger

2. Micoblogging
This is a stripped down version of a blog, basically little more than a couple of sentences and maybe a link to something online. Examples include Yammer and the much more widely known Twitter. This blogging method that may work best for sending short messages to portable devices like an iPhone or Blackberry, or in conjunction with other resources such as a web site, mailing list, or full sized blog.
Suggested Resource: Twitter

3. Online File Storage
If you need to share files with one or more colleagues, or you need to access key files from several different computers, and don't want the hassle carrying around a laptop or thumb drive, or emailing files, you can use one of these services to manage your files in a password protected environment.
Suggested Resource: Airset

4. Photo Sharing and Storage
If you are interested in sharing photos, services like Flickr and Picasa allow you to store photos online, and even giving you the option of allowing others to access them or download them.
Suggested Resource: Flickr

5. Intelligence Gathering
If you need to find or track some information online, for example monitoring a developing news story or keeping current on a competitor or industry, Google has a service called Google Alerts that will keep track of them for you and send regular email updates when it finds something.
Suggested Resource: Google Alerts

6. Video Sharing
Some of the millions of user generated videos are published every day may actually be of interest to you. While you may be able to find them using general search engines like Google or Bing, you may have better luck by searching within video sharing sites like YouTube, Metacafe, and LiveLeak. YouTube is by far the biggest, with the greatest variety of content. Also, if have videos that you want to share, you can follow the AirSafe.com example and create a home page withing the site to showcase your videos.
Suggested Resource: YouTube

7. Social Networking
Facebook and Myspace may be the most well known social networking sites, but a site like LinkedIn is more relevant to working professionals, providing a kind of online resume and biography, and allowing others to see you out and contact you.
AirSafe.com's Choice: LinkedIn

8. Subscribing to Podcasts
There are millions of audio and video podcasts out there that cover a huge range of topics, including a few that would be of interest to you. Both Apple (iTunes) and Microsoft (Zune) distribute free software that allows you to easily manage subscriptions to audio of and video podcasts of every description. The iTunes software also has extensive links to online audio stream of radio stations from around the world.
Suggested Resource: iTunes

9. Free Phone Calls
Wouldn't it be great if you could use the Internet to call someone long distance, even internationally, without spending any extra money? You can download a program like Skype or GoogleTalk and talk for free with anyone else who has both a connection to the Internet and who has downloaded the same software.
Suggested Resource: Skype

10. Social Bookmarking
All web browsers allow you to bookmark favorite pages, but if you use several computers, or even several browsers on the same computer, keeping track of your bookmarkes can be next to impossible. Bookmark sharing resources like Delicious, Digg, and StumbleUpon allow you to create an online account where you can store and manage your bookmarks, and then either make them private and password protected, or make them public and available to anyone.
Suggested Resource: Delicious

Selected Social Media Applications Used by Speedbrake Publishing's partner organization, AirSafe Media
YouTube
Facebook
Twitter
Flickr
Delicious
Podcast (main page)
Podcast (subscription)
Mailing List
Prlog.org (online press releases)
Bird Strike Blog
Crash Video Blog

Next Steps
If you are using none of these services, go ahead and try one of them to see if it can help you out in some way. If you are using one or more of them, leave a comment on this blog post and share your experiences, positive or negative, with using these services.

Blackouts, Twitter, and Social Media

One of the things about online resources is that there are always new ones popping up. Most of them go away because they don't work well and never get popular, and others catch on quickly with children, but much more slowly with adults. Sometimes it takes something dramatic bring things into focus.

Last week, the dramatic event for me was a blackout. I was at home late on a weekend night, and the lights suddenly went out. I looked out the window and saw a nearby neighborhood was lit up, so I figured it was a localized blackout. I also figured it wasn't going to be a big local news story, so listening to the radio probably wouldn't give me much information.

The TV and computer were out, but my phone, which had Internet access, was up and running. I suddenly had a wild thought about how to get information on my neighborhood blackout. I'd used Twitter, specifically the search function in Twitter at search.twitter.com, and did a search on my neighborhood's name.

What I found surprised me. There were a surprising number of people who were using their Blackberrys and iPhones to send Twitter messages to their friends. It was surprising because the area affected by the blackout had about 10,000 residents, but most would not have even had access to the Internet, and only some of them would have had both Twitter accounts and a desire to send out messages.

The number of people using Twitter in my neighborhood was surprising, but the content of the messages were not so surprising. Most of the messages were not very useful, with things like jokes, rumor mongering, and wild speculation about the blackout. In spite of the useless noise, I did find several useful pieces of information, things like links to the power company's web site and Twitter account. Links to the Twitter accounts of local television news organizations, and updates on what blocks were getting back their lights.

So what should you take away from this little story? First, if someone in your family is using Twitter, don't get in their way. If you are thinking about using Twitter, go ahead and check it out. You may actually like it. The service may come in handy one day in ways you can't imagine. Whether you use it or not, check out search.twitter.com. Search it like you would a search engine and look for things that interest you. I've found it very useful for breaking news items. For details, check out a post of mine from another blog that describes how I use Twitter to support my web site AirSafe.com.

Because of this experience, I found out several things I didn't know, such as the fact that local news organizations use Twitter, as does the local electric utility. Next time there's a problem with my electricity, I'll know where to go.

For even more insights into the kinds of social media resources are out there for you to use, check out my list of 10 free social media tools you should try.

Great Site for Astronomy Basics

Based on an introductory astronomy class developed by educator Nick Strobel, This free online astronomy textbook contains among other things a brief overview of astronomy's place in science, the philosophy of science and the scientific method, astronomy that can be done without a telescope, a history of astronomy and science, and how Newton's law of gravity applies to orbits. This site also has a basic mathematics review, astronomy tables, and astronomy terms.

Encourage Your Kids to Have Fun Without Using Computers

Computers, the Internet, video games and other electronic diversions are a part of most kid's lives, but it doesn't have to get in the way of normal social interactions, especially when other kids come over to hang out or play. One rule that works well in my house when it comes putting some balance between electronic entertainment and old fashioned play is what I call the "30 Minute Rule." The rule is simple--if a friend comes over to visit, for the first 30 minutes there can't be any electrically generated fun. No computer, no television, no video games, no electronically generated entertainment of any kind. I've found that the lack of electronic fun didn't keep the kids from having a good time and I've rarely had the children ready to turn on the juice right at the 30 minute mark.

For more suggestions on how to manage your child's use of computers and the web, you can review Parenting and the Internet, especially the chapter on the parent's role and what kinds of general rules parents should have. You will be sent a link for your free download of the PDF edition of the book when you join the book's mailing list at subscribe.speedbrake.com.

Free Online Photo Editing at FotoFlexer.com

Ever need to do a few changes on a photo but you are on an unfamiliar computer? Like with so many other functions that used to be only on a PC, FotoFlexer at http://fotoflexer.com/ can be a quick and free online replacement for an image editor program like Paint or iPhoto. Change contrast, get rid of redeye, crop, or resize, add captions, or do any of a number of basic edits on your photo. It can be from your hard drive, or from an online resource like your account at Photobucket, Flickr, or Picasa.