Techlearning blog

Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that. Martin Luther King, Jr.

A recent Internet article from WIRED gave me real pause last week. In an attack that brings to mind the deadly computer virus found in the surrealistic and macabre world of the novel Snow Crash, the article related how "hackers" posted scripts containing flashing animated gifs in forums at the Epilepsy Foundation. The "flashes" were intended to cause harm by bringing on seizures with photosensitive and pattern-sensitive readers and became more sophisticated over the period of a weekend, eventually sending readers to a web page that had more complex images. WIRED's article describes the assault as "possibly the first computer attack to inflict physical harm on the victims." The attacks were successful: they caused real pain, in the form of headaches or seizures for the recipients.

There are, of course, so many responses to this episode, but the one I keep returning to in my mind is that we can ---and must--- use such a disturbing event to help educate our students on the moral and ethical responsibilities of using technology, and in particular, the Internet. More importantly, we can use this destructive act as an opportunity to respond with an act of positivism, creativity, community building, and a commitment to building a stronger Internet. We can help guide our students to answer this act of "tearing down" with an act of "building up."

How Does Your Garden Grow?

Years ago, a good friend of mine explained the concept of Community Gardens that he was helping to create in a nearby city. He was finding the ugliest and most barren lots to turn into neighborhood meccas by forming teams of middle school kids to clear away all the trash and rubble and create vegetable and flower gardens. These lots were in bad neighborhoods with rundown houses and no visible community. He cautioned me one day when I was helping him start a new garden, that many times when a community garden is created, the first thing that happens is that the people living in the neighborhood will come and destroy the garden. He told me that this had happened with some of his own previous efforts. I was shocked, though on some level it made sense. Perhaps one recognition of beauty in a climate of despair causes an uncomfortable dissonance, throwing a spotlight on all that is still broken in the rest of the neighborhood.

I asked my friend what he and the other builders do if a garden is destroyed.

"We just build it back again," he said.

I asked him, "What if they destroy it again?"

"We just build it back again," he repeated. "We just keep building it back."

In the Dark

Two Saturdays ago, I sat in the dark with my wife, daughter, and my daughter's friend as we participated in Earth Hour, joining several hundred thousand other people around the globe in cutting off the electricity for an hour in order "to symbolize that each one of us, working together, can make a positive impact on climate change - no matter who we are or where we live." It was a simple act that had great benefits: we all slowed down a bit, played games, talked, made up funny songs with the guitar, and talked about the Earth. My daughter's nine year old friend is an "uber-recycler/composter" and talked about different things that her family does to help the Earth. She told us about a site her brother uses, Earthle, which is a modified Google search engine designed in black to reduce the energy consumption that CRT monitors use "lighting up" the regular white Google page. All in all, the ideas we discussed to help the Earth were little things, simple to implement, yet may have significant impact if done on a large scale. Or---if nothing else---the act of implementing these simple things will at least continue the discussion and awareness of the environmental issues we all face. I know that turning my lights off for one hour really is just a drop in the bucket of what I can and should be doing, but the education that happened for my family while sitting in the dark builds a sustained dialog and commitment, supported by a larger community.

When my wife and I had decided to join the blackout, it wasn't to frighten our child and her friend about the dangers we all face with global warming, but rather to connect with the hope and inspiration of others that we can and will save this planet. In the same way, we can talk about the "dark sides" of the Internet without instilling fear, but rather to illustrate the need for more positive acts of community building on the Internet.

2 to 1

The assault described above seems to cross a new line in "bad things that can be done with technology," but perhaps only because of its originality. Is it indicative of some new danger on the Internet or just representative of the darker side of human nature? Either way, what's our response? Do we share the account with students, engaging them in discussions of ethics and solutions, or do we just ignore the incident altogether? Just as Global Warming warrants a response from all of us because we all live on this same planet,
doesn't this act of violence also demand a response from all of us because we all use the same Internet? Or... do we in fact use different Internets, committing only to our own small niches on the web and not worry about the health of the rest of the system? Do we have a responsibility to help build an Internet that we want to leave for our children, in the same way that we should work together on saving a planet that we want to leave for our children? Do I have a right to just take from the Internet, or do I have a duty to also give back?

Imagine if, in the collective spirit seen during Earth Hour, we proactively repaired the darker acts on the Internet. In other words, whenever a story such as the one above comes to our attention, bringing with it its negative and shocking defeatism, we respond by counterbalancing it with two positive acts on the Internet. Thus, the outcome of such a hateful cybercrime would be two acts of "cyber-good".

As we have the ethical discussions that are so necessary with our students about the use and misuse of information and technology, responsibilities involved with being members of social networks, cyberbullying, cybercrimes, etc., we can also provide opportunities for constructing a better, safer, and healthier Internet. In doing so, it reinforces that as individuals, we have the power and responsibility to help shape this collective tool. I've dubbed the process"2 to 1 Counterbalance" in reference to the idea that for every negative experience we hear about on the Internet, we can counterbalance that with 2 positive experiences.

I've set up a Diigo group ("2 to 1 Counterbalance") in order to invite you and your students to add bookmarks and ideas with the focus of identifying opportunities where we all can go to find ways to contribute ---in some small or big way--- to a healthier Internet. If you don't have a Diigo account, feel free to use the comment form below to add sites and ideas and I will transfer them to the Diigo list. Hopefully the list will grow and serve as an aggregator of resources and ideas that will augment discussions of ethics and responsibilities we have with our students and transform those discussions into action.

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Poulsen, Kevin. "Hackers Assault Epilepsy Patients via Computer ." Wired News . 8 Mar. 1928. 7 Apr. 2008 <http://www.wired.com/politics/security/news/2008/03/epilepsy>.

Image Citations:

Gardener, Flatbush. "Individual Plots, East 4th Street Community Garden on Flickr - Photo Sharing!." Welcome to Flickr - Photo Sharing. 3 Nov. 2007. 7 Apr. 2008 <http://flickr.com/photos/flatbushgardener/1848868833/>.

Aelle. "Candles in the dark on Flickr - Photo Sharing!." Welcome to Flickr - Photo Sharing. 27 Oct. 2005. 7 Apr. 2008 <http://flickr.com/photos/annalisa/56669856/>.