As our kids hit the streets in their various third places, I am also pondering the use of networking technology which has become second nature to kids which may include the powerhouse community organizer of Facebook. My idea over spring break has been to find a virtual classroom where I can interact with kids re: their Mission Explorations outside of the confines of an actual classroom. To that end, I am developing a Facebook site for our class to be populated by class participants and. . . who knows else. On one hand I am tempted to lock the site down to class members only for security reasons. But, on the other hand, I am wondering if a locked-down site would defeat the very purpose of our Missional Exploration which is to engage our culture and the people that God brings our way.
I think that most of the class is already on Facebook. (I have had a Facebook account since last fall and while I do not allow current students on my site for various reasons, I have found Facebook to be a communication medium of gigantic proportions. In fact, I opened a Facebook account when one of our graduates was tragically killed in a car accident last fall and we had graduates streaming back to school within an hour, hearing the news through cell phones and Facebook.) Yet I know that some parents (including ironically me) have not allowed their kids onto this virtual playing field due to the dangers that often lurk in cyberspace. Even so, I would like to try this thereby bending the Internet to more interesting directions. And if parents do not want their kids on Facebook, I have created second and third options for interaction through a online blog and/or personal journal as they choose. Yet another new experiment this year in Joining God's Mission.
You might also look into ning.com as a good functional alternative which will solve the security issues.
Posted by: FrankD | April 02, 2009 at 02:02 PM