Tagged with 'education'

Teenagers do think differently than the rest of us – you probably knew that already or could have guessed that. But did you know that the way teens develop their skills online is actually being studied by the MacArthur Foundation? They have released the results of their study from three years of interviewing young people and their parents. From the article, they conclude, “America’s youth are developing important social and technical skills online, often in ways that adults do not understand.” The two page summary report is a great read, and I was excited when I found danah boyd in the list of authors.

What does this study mean for your web content strategies? You may already have made assumptions about your web visitors, but in three to four years, these teen agers will have entry-level jobs everywhere you look. And some of the students in the study are no longer stdents and have already entered the workforce. So if your content is for working people, consider taking some time with the longer white paper.

Also, the social aspects of learning and learning how to be social (not quite the inverse of each other) are important to learn about when studying your web visitors. The summary report states, “Youth respect one another’s authority online, and they are often more motivated to learn from peers than from adults. Their efforts are also largely self-directed, and the outcome emerges through exploration…” Social media may be risky for some businesses, but as this youth population grows up, we can learn a thing or two from their online habits.

For anecdotal evidence, look no farther than this great story from Alan Porter, dad of a teenager, in Move Over DITA – Chaos is Coming!

Then she got on Facebook and YahooIM and started using messaging to ask friends who were online for recommendations. These friends were literally from all around the world, so she was given access to resources that gave totally different perspectives than those given in the classroom. As I watched she soon had six different windows open on her iMac and was pulling information from multiple sources into her own document. Building the structure and narrative as she went.

One friend suggested going to a social bookmarking site and searching using a variety of user applied tags. Instead of taxonomy she was now applying folksonomy.

So, what’s a parent or web content strategist to do?

• Adults do have a role to play by facilitating engagement online, modeling good behavior, and setting a young person’s learning goals while online.
• Educational institutions should attempt to keep up with the fast pace of change in digital media.

Not easy, certainly! But all worthwhile goals to achieve.

A blogging or social media policy describes how an employee or volunteer should represent themselves and the organization online. It also describes whose time and whose equipment may be used for blogging or other social media activities, and it also clarifies when someone is representing themselves, and when they are representing an organization. I’ve written blog entries based on a corporate policy at BMC Software, and it was helpful to know what were the expectations for my time investment and also where privacy lines could be drawn.

Many blogging policies are still either non-existent or in infancy, yet they can help your organization free up employees or volunteers to blog about their passions and start real conversations. Easter Seals, a non-profit organization whose goal is to help people with disabilities achieve more independence, has a policy that encompasses all social media representation. In fact, it is called the Internet Public Discourse Policy and I first found it reading Beth Kanter’s blog where she has a blog entry that includes a copy of the Easter Seals Internet Public Discourse Policy. While blogging policies are important, in fact, these are Public Relations and publications policies, it’s just that blogging makes every one a journalist of sorts and publishing is faster than ever.

I think this example is a really good one for its entirety and completeness, and also for the transparency it encourages while still protecting the heart of the goals of the organization. It also tells people what the main goals are for outreach through the tools the Internet offers, which I think helps focus the efforts.

Protection of image and brand is an important part of a blogging policy. While the employee needs to feel protected, the organization should also feel like it can protect its brand. It’s certainly a balancing act. As Blue Avocado points out in, “What Should We Do About an Employee’s Outrageous Blog?”

Employee blogging could be deemed protected speech under the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA) or whistleblower laws. The NLRA allows employees to discuss the terms and conditions of employment with the purpose of engaging in collective action to change them.

The Easter Seals example is so down-to-earth, well-written, and pragmatic. It really shines. Some of the highlights include “Be Smart. Write What You Know. Work Matters.” This is an organization that really “gets it” and their policy reflects that. How’s your public discourse policy looking? Could it use a Blogging update? We’d love to hear your stories as well.