This past Wednesday, Wikipedia and many other online communities decided to blackout their websites for as long as 24 hours in protest of the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) and Protect IP Act (PIPA). These two pieces of U.S. legislation are intended to stop the distribution of pirated music, movies and television shows online. At the moment, due to the protest and concerns voiced by numerous organizations, it currently appears support for these two bills is waning.
Despite your stance on these two bills, one thing is clear: the music, movie, and television industries have spent a lot of time and money to address piracy. Stronger actions will be taken against those who engage in producing and consuming pirated material in some form. There are important shifts going on that we all need to aware of so we are ready for them and can guide kids accordingly.
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Your New Profile is Here: Time for Facebook Timeline
Posted on 23. Dec, 2011 by lynette.
Last September, Facebook announced that it would change the way your profile would be laid out and how you could share and manage your information. It is not uncommon for sites (social networking, websites, or any site) to update and improve themselves on a frequent basis, but this change is one of the biggest since Facebook’s launch and possibly the first change many new Facebook users have ever encountered.
Beyond the obvious artistic changes, there is much more to pay attention to, especially if you’re someone who shares a lot of things with a lot of people. Here’s a list of the highlights of Timeline…
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Helping Kids Take a Stand Against Bullying
Posted on 14. Oct, 2011 by lynette.
While the media and the rest of us have been shocked, saddened, and angered by the extreme cases of bullying that have been widely publicized, most kids will neither be the bully nor be bullied. They are more likely to be someone who witnesses it.
As a parent, I believe this is one of the bigger challenges in raising kids. Since our children will more likely be observers to rather than directly participating in it, the difficulty is in helping them know what and when to do something about it. This is especially tricky when the circumstances of who did what to whom are not so clear, when the Internet enables bullying to happen in ways not previously possible, and more importantly, when the cost, social or otherwise, of taking action outweighs any perceived benefit to kids who are bystanders.
Here are some great resources to guide you and your kids through it.
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Does technology in your kids’ hands worry you?
Posted on 12. Oct, 2011 by lynette.
Technology is all around us — it’s where we work, how we communicate and how we entertain ourselves. Our favorite gadgets help to make our lives easier but, when it’s in the hands of our children, can also come with many safety risks. While these risks are prevalent and constantly increasing, as parents we have to remember that the actual technology is not to blame. Guest post from Kiwi Commons.