By KRIS MAHER
Wall Street Journal
September 1, 2009

Many younger workers don't see unions as relevant. This week, Richard Trumka, a third-generation coal miner likely this month to assume the helm of the nation's largest labor federation, is launching Big Labor's latest effort to change that.

online @ http://www.cnn.com

Lindsay Spencer was two years out of college and facing one of the biggest decisions of her young life: what to do with those Facebook friend requests from people she met through her job.

"There's nothing on my personal page that's horrible," says the 24-year-old communications coordinator for the National Peanut Board in Atlanta, Georgia. "It's just that there are some things that are not work-appropriate."

Release of National Survey of Young Workers: 1/3 of Workers under 35 Live with Parents, After "Lost Decade", Young Workers Less Likely to have Health Care, Economic Security and Confidence in Future than 10 Years Ago September 01, 2009. Report at end of this entry.

A long-time Facebook user and association social media expert, I have been perplexed for a while now over Facebook Pages vs Facebook Groups: What’s the Difference?

Thanks to a well-written piece by Mashable, The Social Media Guide, I am a bit more clear with my understanding of the differences between Facebook Groups and Fan Pages!

Here’s Howard Greenstein “Facebook Pages vs Facebook Groups: What’s the Difference?” article that appeared in the May 27th issue of Mashable:

[Excerpt from Inside Higher Ed; online, Friending a Strike ;September 10, 2009 ]

When Oakland University, in Michigan, and the union that represents 600 of its faculty members failed to reach labor agreement last week, the professors went on strike and the university shut down -- while representatives from the opposing sides went behind closed doors in downtown Detroit to negotiate. At the same time, a much larger and more eclectic group began discussing the issue in a space that had no doors -- just walls.

September, 2009 – 210% growth in memberships, 77% of visitors Bookmark the Gateway, new Gateway launch September 15th.

At the Gateway to 21st Century Skills, we have experienced a 210% increase in membership during the period of January 2008 to July 2009. That is amazing and we are grateful to our dedicated members and users but, we think that cycle will shorten with our new improved web site!

[online @ Inside School Research]

A Scottish researcher is making the case that spending time on Facebook can make you smarter. Tracy Alloway of the University of Stirling told the British Research Association that Facebook brings about educational benefits because it requires users to exercise their working memory—their ability, in other words, to store and manipulate information. The same goes, she says, for video games that require planning and strategy and for Sudoku.

Alloway bases her conclusions on studies of low-achieving children between the ages of 11 and 14 who spent time on a brain-training program that involved social-networking sites, playing video games, or using other kinds of digital media. The heaviest Facebook users, she found, boosted their IQ scores by as much as 10 points over the course of the study.

Twitter, text-messaging, and YouTube are an entirely different matter, Alloway says. They seem to have no IQ-enhancing effect, and may even harm the development of working memory.

“On Twitter, you receive an endless stream of information, but it's also very succinct,” Alloway says. "You don't have to process that information.”

Angerosa Research Foundation releases study: Web 2.0: How Associations Are Tapping Social Media

[view online]

Study released by eROI shows looks at how high school and college students and recent college graduates communicate digitally.

According to a review published by the Center for Media Research:

by Kimberly Melton, The Oregonian
[online @ Oregon Education]

Local school districts are following the lead of their students and signing up for Facebook and Twitter. This fall, Portland Public Schools, Beaverton, Forest Grove and Washington's Evergreen are among the districts joining this national trend.

[Online @ ArgusLeader.com]

On Matt Christensen's Facebook page, talk of Lynx football and a message from a longtime friend mix with a student's question about an English assignment.

The 30-year-old Brandon Valley High School teacher said the social networking site helps him communicate with students about schoolwork and gives them a glimpse of who he is as a person. If students like their teacher, he said, they're more likely to respect him or her and work harder in class.

"It's got to be done for academic benefit. I see mine as academically beneficial," Christensen said.

Edutopia wants To help you make the most of the latest technologies and innovative ways to use them as we settle into the 2009–10 school year, so we’ve put together this brand-new resource for you containing ten of the best tips and resources on how to bring new media into the classroom.

Full of succinct and practical ways to prepare our students for 21st-century success, this guide will educate and inspire you to embrace the new-media frontier and embark on a new learning adventure. From “Breaking the Digital Ice” to “Working Better, together” each tip provides succinct and practical ways to turn your classroom into an environment for learning with new media. And each tip includes a wealth of Web sites and additional resources to help you deliver the relevant and meaningful education all students deserve.

—suzie Boss
Journalist and Edutopia blogger edutopia.org/suzie-boss

[view resource]

I had the pleasure of attending and presenting at this year's Indiana State Teachers Association Fall Conference in Indianapolis, IN this past weekend (9/20/09).

The presentation covered Web 2.0 in context of maturing technology and the generations of users who are redefining the rules of communications and organizing in the 21st Century.

[view presentation]

[Excerpt from ReadWriteWeb
Written by Sarah Perez / September 28, 2009

Oh how the mighty have fallen. The one time king of social networks, MySpace, now has the honor of being the site where the less affluent members of the online population stake their claims by way of bedazzled profiles overrun with auto-playing videos and songs. Meanwhile, the upscale, financially solvent users have moved on - and by moved on, we mean to Facebook, of course. At least those are the findings of the latest social networking study done by American consumer behavior analysis firm Nielsen Claritas.