Living in the 4th Screen

Watch the You Tube video for a little comic relief from Jerry Seinfeld.

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A recent article on Yahoo.com highlights the findings of a Stanford University Study that says the iPhone may be addicting. The study was administered to 200 Stanford students. Below are some quotes from the article:

The most interesting trend was how quickly the iPhone became an indispensable part of the students' lifestyles, and how many of them openly acknowledged they would be lost without it.

Nearly 85 percent of the iPhone owners used the phone as their watch, and 89 percent used it as their alarm clock. In fact, 75 percent admitted to falling asleep with the iPhone in bed with them, and 69 percent said they were more likely to forget their wallet than their iPhone when leaving in the morning.

The survey also suggests there are benefits to having an iPhone fixation that may balance out the potential negatives. Over 70 percent of those surveyed said the iPhone made them more organized, and 54 percent said the iPhone made them more productive.

Follow the link above to read the full article. It is full of interesting statistics. My wife and I both have an iPhone 3G. It has become an important tool for both of us. I think I am most surprised by how much my wife uses her iPhone. I just did not think she would use it as much as she does. She almost never goes on the home computer anymore. The addictive features for her are the ease of use and the instant on feature that allows quick access to her email. 

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This article on Scholastic.com gives advice on how to handle cell phones in the classroom. What I found interesting was the section on using cell phones as part of the lesson. Below is an excerpt from the article:

DO Use Texting to Teach Summarizing
Jennifer Kuszmerski, a language arts teacher, uses text messaging to invite students to summarize what they've learned in a given class period. To close a lesson, ask students, "If you had to text what you learned today to one of your friends, what would you say?" "Texts are short bursts of information that get to the point quickly, and students understand that," says Kuszmerski. "If a student can summarize what he or she learned in a sentence or two, it's easy to see if your objective has been met for the day."

DO Use Texting to Discuss Language
To teach students the formal rules of writing, write a sentence on the board, such as "Can you come to my Valentine's Day party?" Ask students to translate the sentence into a text message (i.e., "v-day party 2-nite u should come"). Then, ask them to rewrite that same sentence as if it were in an e-mail to a teacher. ("Ms. Walker, would you like to come to my Valentine's Day party on Thursday night?") Considering audience and revising for tone teaches kids that different forms of writing are appropriate at different times. Marika Dietsch, a seventh-grade language arts teacher, also uses text-speak to demonstrate how language evolves. "My students can't believe that Shakespeare is considered modern English!" says Dietsch. "We talk about how language changes over time, and they make the connection to the abbreviations they use for texting."

I think these are some creative ways to use cell phones as part of a lesson. Has anyone else used texting in this way or in some other way to support a particular lesson? Follow the link above to read the full article.

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Below is part of a post I read from Dean Shareski's blog Ideas and Thoughts. I thought it was a great post. Click on the link to read the post in it's entirety.

Dean Shareski asks: Are we insane?

Imagine it’s 1991. A principal of a large school has students that are doing some really nice writing and art. Imagine of a large publishing company comes to the school and wants to try something different. They offer the principal a chance for every student in the building the opportunity to publish any or all works of their choice. They’ll publish these books of writing and/or art and distribute them to libraries and book stores all over the world. And they’ll do it all for free.

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The feud between Cablevision and WABC came to a peak today as WABC was pulled from Cablevision’s line up. Apparently the two companies could not agree on fees to be paid between the two companies. Who is the big loser? The customers who subscribe to Cablevision’s service. What can customers do about it other than write letters or make phone calls to each company’s headquarters? Not much. The two big babies want more than the billions they are already making. How does this feud tie into Apple's iPad? Let me explain.

I believe Apple is positioning the iPad to be a device for people to consume media on, i.e. television, movies, books, magazines, and newspapers. I believe eventually they will be successful in shifting people from their current media diet to a robust electronic diet. The same way Apple has taken control of the music industry it will become the dominate player in all forms of media. In my mind it is troublesome when a few people control the flow of vast amounts of information. In no way do I think Apple has evil intent or even wants to control the media industry. I think Steve Jobs and company want to create a device that will be easy to use and enjoyable to watch shows and read books on. A byproduct of the iPad's success will be a further shifting from print media to electronic media. As this shift happens someone has to control the pipes. As Cablevision and WABC control the pipes and have turned them off for millions of people tonight, the same could happen in the future with all forms of media.

I am not sure how long the shift will take for all major media to be in an electronic format delivered over the Internet, but anyone who reads the news can see that it is happening. I believe the iPad will be the device that accelerates this shift. What does that mean for the future?

After all our books are in electronic format who will control what can and cannot be sold. It won't be the publisher per say, but the person who delivers the e-book to the consumer. If the NY Times, as it seems very likely, has a subscription for the iPad, it will eventually give up control of the delivery of their content to the consumer. As the media companies merge over time, a small amount of people could potentially control most if not all of our media. I am a big fan of electronic media, and consume almost all of my media via the Internet. I think the Internet has been a tremendous medium to deliver vast amounts of content to the masses. I am able to read and see things I would never had been able to even just a few years ago. But electronic media is easy to control and manipulate. The reformers were able to get around restrictions in Iran via Twitter, but think about how that government reacted to the protests. They shut down all kinds of access. Will those of us who eschew the virtues of all things technological (myself included) come to rue the day when all our access to media is in the hands of a few large corporations?

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