Sunday, August 21, 2011

First Assignment of the Year???


Every year I struggle to find a reading that I can start the year off with.  This year I am thinking of having my students read the first chapter of The Filter Bubble.  The book is about how Google is tailoring our Internet searches for us to find what it believes we are most interested in.  So that if you are liberal, you will find more like minded sites when you search for a newspaper.  Likewise, you only see like minded people in your Facebook news feed and on it goes.  My students (assuming I go
1) What are three ways that Internet sites control what you see?
2) How do your political beliefs control what you see on the Internet?
3) Is it okay if you are only seeing articles, ads, etc. that mirror your political beliefs?
4) In what ways should our federal government control the Internet? Give me at least three answers. with this idea) will have to consider.

Above is a Ted video by the author that gives a nice overview of the book - in case you like the idea and don't want your kids to read the chapter. 

2 comments:

Upper School Government and Economics said...

I enjoy following the blog - thanks for sharing THE FILTER BUBBLE.

My students and I viewed the video on the first day of Government class, and students have commented at our blog: http://pesgovernment.blogspot.com/2011/08/on-filter-bubble.html.

If you choose to use Pariser's TED Talk early in the school year, we'd love for your students to join the conversation at our blog!!

eLearning Blog said...

Seeing your class blog was great. It is wonderful to know an idea I had can help a class somewhere else in the country. I will definitely get my students to comment on your blog site.