Google Labs

[Terri Marie Reh]

Has anyone given older students access to Google Labs?  I understand there is some questionable content that can be whitelisted

but is there any other reason to give or not give MS and higher access to Labs?

--
Terri Reh
Third Grade Teacher/Technology Transfer Team
Flagstaff Academy Charter School
2040 Miller Drive
Longmont, CO
(303) 651-7900 Ext. 222

Blog: http://rehfsa.blogspot.com/

Web Page:

https://sites.google.com/a/flagstaffacademy.org/terrirehthirdgrade/
Twitter: http://twitter.com/ThirdGradeTerri

[Kevin Johnson]

I believe so but I'm curious about the questionable content. I'm not seeing anything too concerning in labs. Do you have something specific?

Now I will say that we do filter gadgets which definitely has questionable material.

Kevin

[Renee deValpine]

Thank you for contacting WGTE ERC Department.  As of June 29 I will no longer be employed with WGTE.  For immediate assistance please contact Betsy Hood at betsy...@wgte.org or 419.380.4602.  Thanks.

[Terri Marie Reh]

Hi Kevin,

I went to a tech conference a week ago and hooked up with a Google Certified Teacher so I have been asking him questions. I asked how he felt about students using Google Labs he said it was fine but to whitelist

questionable labs. This was a few hours ago and so I went in to look around for what might be questionable and so far, I haven't found anything.  I have a question in to him about what he might be referring to and I will post his reply here if it is worthwhile.

In the mean time I was wondering if there were any other reasons  to keep student out of Labs?

Thanks,

Terri 

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[Henry Thiele]

Are we talking about gadgets or labs?

Labs can be turned on or off.

Site gadgets can be whitelisted or blacklisted. My blog at hcthiele.com has instructions if you search for gadgets 

Hank

Henry C. Thiele Ed.D

http://www.hcthiele.com

[Terri Marie Reh]

Hi Kevin,

Google Goggles is one that was suggested to be turned off. 

After I was told this I searched and found this....

This (above) was to be a sub-headline for an article I began researching this past week to tout the great sounding attributes of Google Goggles.  While jumping around reading other entries on the subject tonight, I came across an item published just a day ago, Feb. 24, 2011 at Computer World by Darlene Storm.  Ms. Storm's blog, "Security is Sexy" purports the down side of some apps and what they may ultimately be used for. How some could become dangerous.

I found myself immersed in what can only be described as the true dark side of face recognition.  How someone could take your picture as you shopped at Wal-Mart for socks, and use it to find out everything about you that might reside on the web, including your address.  As we all know, none of us are exactly hidden behind a rock if we do anything at all online. I don't think I can state it any better than Ms. Storm did in the last paragraph of her blog entry...

"I'm not saying all facial recognition visual search technology is bad. It could be cool or it could be a stalkers dream come true. We all have good days and bad days, so the ability to utilize face search could be used accordingly. It could be used for something wonderful like love at first sight and helping track down that stranger first seen in a crowded public place. Or it could be used for some ill-tempered moment like snapping a pic to search and track down that jerk who cut you off in traffic. In the case of dissidents, face searches could be a death a sentence."

[Henry Thiele]

This is obviously not written by anyone who has tried the Google goggles lab. Turn it on in gmail and see if it recognizes anyone. 

Googles on the phone does not recognize people. Sometimes it can identify things, but it does best with bar and QR codes.

Most all of this is FUD and fear-mongering - in my opinion.

Hank

Henry C. Thiele Ed.D

http://www.hcthiele.com

[Kevin Johnson]

Let's clarify a few things to make sure we have the same understanding.

Google Googles is an android app and to my knowledge has nothing to do with google apps or gmail. From a google apps for education perspective, we have nothing to do with google goggles. I wouldn't know how to turn it on in labs because it isn't a labs or gmail thing. And Hank is correct. No facial recognition in goggles. There is facial recognition in picasa but that is the only place I am aware of.

So I would group these areas as options for turning things on or off:

- labs (in gmail and calendars), allow or don't allow all lab items. You can't whitelist certain lab items.

- gadgets (in sites), allow certain gadgets

- services (per sub organizations), this would be things like allowing blogger, maps, groups, etc

Then there are options within each service.

I don't see any problems with labs.

I see problems with a few gadgets (adult content)

I don't see problems with most services.

[Terri Marie Reh]

Thanks for clarifying Kevin. I am new to teaching GApps to MS students and needed some guidance with Google Labs. (Didn't want to reinvent the wheel if there were knowledgeable folks around). 

Just wanted to be sure I wasn't venturing into areas better left for adults and that doesn't seem to be the case.

Terri

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[Curts, Eric]

If you mean labs in Gmail, then you might be thinking of "Mail Goggles".  It has no connection to Google Goggles which is an app for your phone.  Mail Goggle makes you solve math problems before sending an email to prove you are not drunk (and therefore fit to be sending email). Here is the official description of Mail Goggles:

-----

Mail Goggles
by Jon P

Google strives to make the world's information useful. Mail you send late night on the weekends may be useful but you may regret it the next morning. Solve some simple math problems and you're good to go. Otherwise, get a good night's sleep and try again in the morning. After enabling this feature, you can adjust the schedule in the "General" settings page.

-----

* Eric Curts

* Technology Director, North Canton City Schools

* 525 - 7th St NE, North Canton, OH 44720

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* http://www.ericcurts.com

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* http://www.appsusergroup.org

[Kevin Johnson]

No problem. My sense is that most students don't even know about labs. Negligible risk.

Good catch Eric... LOL. It seems that if our students need Mail Goggles, we have bigger problems that whether we turn on labs. :-)