Technology: Friend or Foe? How do we decide?

I have to admit...it is with increasing frequency that I find myself in a crisis of conscience with tech these days :( 

Did anyone else catch last night's 60 Minutes—Is YouTube doing enough to fight hate speech? During the interview, I was completely unenvious of the role YouTube CEO, Susan Wojcicki, must play in being the arbiter of what is allowed and what is not allowed within this open platform. At the same time, I also found myself quite shocked at some of her answers, along with the seemingly limited amount of effort the company is putting into tightening up its guidelines in relation to hate speech and misinformation. 

In our dizzying world of shiny and free tech tools and services, one thing is is clear: if it's not being sold to you, it's you who is being sold. In an age where your data is the most valuable commodity in the world, and where we are inundated with tools, devices, and services that bring massive (real or perceived) convenience to our lives, we must constantly grapple with the ramifications of our tech use....data privacy, perpetuation of misinformation, etc....often well after the point we even are aware of those ramifications (and after the point we've immersed ourselves in their use). 

In YouTube's case—we CLEARLY are immersed. Although this graphic only shows statistics up to 2018, YouTube again was voted number 1 this year in Jane Hart's annual Top Tools for Learning survey, making it the top tool for learning for 4 straight years (and one of the top 3 tools for the past 11 years):

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Because of YouTube's immense value and our (CrowdED Learning's) current experimentation phase with crowdsourcing, I literally have a blog post scheduled for Friday about YouTube, along with a video crowdsourcing challenge designed to introduce educators to a really cool new (free) tool while building a useful, educational video library!!!! Yet, the more I hear things like I did last night on 60 Minutes, I question how much I should be promoting these types of services. 

So, how do we as educators reconcile the immense value these tools bring to teaching and learning while at the same time becoming increasingly aware of the potential harmful implications of their use? (Which only is exacerbated when we see limited transparency in what is being done / could be done / will be done to address known issues.) I have my own thoughts, but I'm really interested in hearing folks' perspectives....

Comments

I have noticed that *at best* ... YouTube waffles.   It is entirely too plausible that the folks running things don't mind at all being used to promote hate. 

I wonder when I post my little math videos whether I'm planting good seeds out there ... does it bring more good to folks who use them or ... is it being part of an ecosystem with poison that I should be leaving as fast as I can?   

My plan is to put things up on YouTube ... but also get better at having them on my site as well so that I'm not dependent on YouTube.   Education is a powerful weapon against hate and misinformation and I'm going to do my best to help learning happen...

Susan....I like your thought "I wonder when I post my little math videos whether I'm planting good seeds out there." You definitely are! And lots of others are doing the same, which is wonderful and why this is so challenging. I wish there were some way on YouTube to indicate "this video is for educational purposes" or something similar so that it could be ad free or suggestion free, or that this could be a user option so that they weren't led down the proverbial rabbit hole. 

How easy/difficult do you find it to put videos on your own site? Are the videos just for your class, or do you find others use them as well? (Please share if you'd like....I'd love to see them!) Do you provide any guidance to your learners related to YouTube use?

Here are my playlists  -- and the technology has gotten to where it's reasonably easy, but it's still a thing where you need to know where to click and it's best to have somebody who's been there to walk you through.   

When I've shared videos I've gotten hits ... and the ones I've properly "tagged"  also get "found" by Google now and then... they're out there for anybody.     I don't know whether people would do better w/ "Oh, I need to figure out exponents today!"  or "I'm looking for a course to work through this year."   Right now I'm putting together a Thing To Learn Times Tables because that keeps coming up everywhere, and while there are myriad resources out there, the overwhelming majority of them are randomized practice games for when you already know the times tables, with no connection to meaning. Lots of teachers are asking for ways to get folks fluent without the dreaded "Mad Minute" ;)   

I follow the hashtag #Indieweb on twitter, and those folks really want to promote people "owning their own content" ... but while they try to be inviting to everybody it takes about a paragraph before they're discussing technical terms regular folks don't understand.    I remember Geocities ;)   ... anybody could make their own website; there were little templates and you added your content.   Or you invested in Dreamweaver (or ... oh, my... FrontPage that came along with the Windows programs and was horrible...).    I know part of the Open Ed Resource community promoted "domain of their own" for students when I was at the conference in Richmond... I'm not sure where that's going.   I wonder about promoting "domain of our own" for folks like us -- or at least enough of us to share for more of us (I've uploaded videos for people who just didn't know how to do that stuff).   

I've been intrigued by the "sprints" where people get together at a day and time and have some training and then spend X time making OER.... 

 

 

Hello Jeff and others,

Part of the Love-Hate relationship that I -- and perhaps you -- have with electronic technology is its power to do both enormous good and enormous evil. Some of the strategies for controlling evil in the world itself are to uplift and expand the good, and regulate or punish evil. We may boycott companies that have bad labor practices, write letters and op-ed columns calling out their practices that need to be changed, and protest through demonstrations, marches, and in other ways. In the case of a product like YouTube, and many others, we can use social media to express our views; we can stop doing business with or boycott the company; and we can encourage others to do as we have done. I am not considering pulling the plug on YouTube, although I am considering quitting another major social media company because it has not responded to the many and serious charges that have been made about its allowing those in other countries to influence American votes with deliberately false information. If I do quit it, I will first post a message to all my "friends" about exactly why I am leaving the platform, and I will encourage them to do the same. I welcome hearing from those who have actions to suggest that one might take regarding the issues you have raised about YouTube.

David J. Rosen

 

Agreed, David. We always have a choice. I think these companies realize the immense value they have (and they do offer amazing services!!!!) and therefore feel they can continue to do whatever they want because they realize how difficult it is to "unplug" once we've all become so reliant on them. 

For example, I share the same feeling about the social media platform to which I assume you are referring; but, their fundraising reach for my org has been the most effective of any that I have used thus far because of their massive reach. At the same time, I know they also throttle distribution/promotion of other posts because of the fact that I'm not paying to "boost" them, yet, I continue to rely on the platform.  

So, I know my continued use does represent a choice on my part....the underlying factor being the convenience the service affords me outweighs (for me) any malfeasance for which they may be the conduit. At least for now.....but it definitely is becoming less and less palatable the more we learn about what they are doing (and what they are NOT doing). The funny thing is I get totally frustrated when I hear a school doesn't allow access to sites like YouTube because of the massive amount of quality content they are shutting out; at the same time, however, I completely understand why. 

The question I have is—when we encourage our students to use these platforms (which makes sense because many of them already spend time in these spaces), what are we doing to help them understand the ramifications of their use? I personally think it starts with increasing our focus on information and media literacy, for which I know Michael Cruse has been sharing some great things on here for some time. And, I've compiled a skill directory dedicated to information literacy. But I'm curious as to what instructors' strategies are for helping their students understand what they are seeing....and why they are seeing it....when they venture onto social media and content platforms. What types of activities, discussions, "contracts," etc. do you use with learners to help them safely and effectively utilize these tools...FOR GOOD....while being aware of the potential pitfalls?