BFTP: Lessons from the mouse

A weekend Blue Skunk "feature" will be a revision of an old post. I'm calling this BFTP: Blast from the Past. Original post October 16, 2007.

I reviewed this post in anticipation of next week's trip to the Black Hills of South Dakota with our 10 and 5 year old grandsons. No Mom or Dad, just Grandpa, Grandma and the boys. Don't expect any posts since we will be way too busy hiking Harney Peak, swimming in Sylvan Lake, visting Cosmos Mystery House and Reptile Gardens, and eating buffalo burgers.

Recovering from a few days spent at the Disney parks in Orlando with my two adult kids and oldest grandson. We had a wonderful time. We got along well, the weather was great, we got to all the parks and rode on everything we wanted to ride, saw a bunch of shows and fireworks and parades, and just enjoyed each other's company. The hotel had nice enough rooms, a great swimming pool and easy access to the efficient Disney bus system. The FAME conference sessions went pretty well, too.

I was feeling really good about the whole trip until I got on the car park shuttle at the Minneapolis airport. During the 10 minute ride back to my truck, two couples discussed their week in "the Magic Kingdom." It was hot. The rides were lame. The crowds were impossible. The food was inedible. All the kids wanted to do was play in the hotel pool. They dropped a bundle. On and on they complained - with their elementary-school-age kids right beside them learning just how terrible a vacation they'd just had.

How could we have had such a great experience and these folks such a poor one - at the same place at the same time? Am I just too dumb to know when I've had a bad time? Are my expectations too low?

I starting thinking about how these families and mine approached the experience in quite different ways... 

1. We read about where we were going. The Unofficial Guide to DisneyWorld is about the best $20 a person can spend to make one's trip a better one. It describes and rates everything you find in the parks including restaurants, hotels, shows, transportation systems and the rides. It gives lots of advice on how to manage your visit when the parks are busy. And it is spot-on accurate. I even bought my grandson Paul his own kids' guide which was nearly in pieces by the time we got there. He about had it memorized and knew just what things he really wanted to do. He's my kind of 6-year-old! (My bus companions seemed to be surprised that some of the rides were old, some were too scary for young kids, etc. They went in clueless.)

2. We got a jump on the day. We were at each park by the time it opened at 9AM. We went on the most popular rides first, grabbed and used FastPasses when possible, and tried to eat a bit before standard dining times. We followed a touring plan and the longest we had to stand in line was 15 minutes and for most attractions is was less than 10 minutes. We had fun at the less glamorous attractions. Mid-afternoon when it got really hot and crowded we headed back to the hotel for a nap and a swim and then sometimes went back out again in the evening. We snacked often! (For my bus companions, it wasn't a vacation unless they could sleep in until at least 11.)

3. We knew the reason for going. At least I knew my reason - to spend some time with my kids - to get a chance to talk to my busy daughter, to watch my son shop for gifts to take home to his first girlfriend, to see the excitement in Paul's eyes and voice when he talked about being chosen for Jedi training and tell his dad about it on the phone. Yeah, the rides and shows are fun, but not as much fun as seeing the whole experience through the eyes of kid who adores Star Wars, dinosaurs, and pirates. And who probably did like the hotel pool and playground as much as the parks. (My shuttle group seemed to go for the adults rather than for the kids in the group. The vacation was all about them.)

It sounds trite but the visit was a wonderful reminder of that happiness is less a matter of circumstance and more a matter of attitude. I chuckled the entire flight back home about my daughter's response when I asked if she wanted my upgraded first class seat or to sit back in coach with son Paul. "Is this a trick question?" just popped out!

I sincerely hope my shuttle bus folks next year vacation at a hotel with a nice pool close to home where they can sleep in, let the kids play, and come home happy. 

A thank you from my kids.

I guess they don't realize it was their inheritance I was spending ;-)

Both the challenge and thrill are gone

I brought home a new MacBook Air last evening. It's the same model and size as my 2009 Air but with a faster processor, another USB port, a longer battery life and a lot fewer dents. And then there is that Lion OS thingie that came with it too.

Normally when I get a new computer I schedule almost a day getting files transferred, settings reset, passwords re-entered, software reinstalled and quirky changes cursed. 

So I was surprised when after using the Apple migration assistant and TimeMachine back-up on a little portable harddrive, I was up and running in less than 60 minutes - files, programs and settings all transferred. I tested the video out, USB Ethernet, speakers, remote control, and power supplies that I'd been using with my original Air. Damn - they all just worked. 

The "two finger scrolling" gesture works bass-ackwards in Lion than it did in the last OS, but a quick change in the track pad settings put it back the way it was. (I guess I scroll unnaturally rather than naturally.) 

So now instead of an enjoyable day tweaking, puttering and watching load bars creep across the screen, I have to actually do real work. While I am happy Apple has removed the frustration from updating my computer, the thrill of the new isn't as great either.

I guess I'll need to wait for the bill for that.

__________________________

Mock up of the cover of my forthcoming book:

There is still a thrill from getting published - in print and by a real publisher. Really. This is due out until early next year, however.

Of what land is a Digital Citizen a citizen?

In direct or indirect ways, children begin to learn ethical values from birth. And while families and the church are assigned the primary responsibility for a child’s ethical education, schools have traditionally had the societal charge to teach and reinforce some moral values, especially those directly related to citizenship and school behaviors. Most of the ethical issues that surround technology deal with societal and school behaviors and are an appropriate and necessary part of the school curriculum. Johnson, Developing an Ethical Compass for Worlds of Learning, MultiMedia Schools, Nov/Dec 1998

I like the term "citizenship." As is obvious from the quote above, I've always seen "citizenship" as the rationale for teaching ethical behaviors and values in the public schools. Given the concern many parents and religious leaders have over public schools addressing "values" (we teahcers are mostly godless humanists, after all), teaching what is right and wrong can be tricky. But while Baptists and Bodavistas may differ a great deal about many beliefs (as may one Baptist church right down the road from another one), all faiths pretty much agree that it's a good thing to teach kids to follow the rules of one's government.

But when I first hear the term "digital citizenship," I am a little confused. Of what governance, exactly, are we supposed to be teaching kids to be good citizens of?  According to Dictionary.com, a citizen can be defined as:

a native or naturalized member of a state or nation who owes allegiance to its government
and is entitled to its protection.

an inhabitant of a city or town, especially one entitled to its privileges or franchises.

an inhabitant, or denizen: The deer is a citizen of our woods.

While "denizen" might be aptly applied to many a middle school student, none of these definitions of citizen work very well for me when it comes to online citizenshi[. The digital world itself is not a single entity with a codified set of rules, laws or even mores. We can't say "Internet citizen" like we'd say "U.S. Citizen" or "Chinese Citizen" or "Madrid Citizen."

What we are left with then is that we teach online citizenship as a subset of the general citizenship rules we already address in each of our communities or countries. Being a good "U.S. Citizen" means acting lawfully and ethically when online as well as off line. Thankfully, there are clear analogies between online and offline behaviors.

OK, most of you probably already had figured this out. It just takes some of us a little longer.

Image source

________________

On a personal note, I just finished making the suggested changes to my Technology Survival Guide book to be published by Josey Bass early next year. From the forthcoming book: A Dozen Ways to Teach Ethical and Safe Technology Use.