Lesson: Private Today, Public Tomorrow (9-12)

DEFINE the Key Vocabulary terms persist and reputation.

ASK: Why do you think things posted online tend to persist, even when you prefer they didn’t?
Students should understand that even if they “unpost” something, it can persist online because information can easily be reposted, copied, and passed around by others.

ASK: What kinds of things might be good for your reputation in the future if they are posted online now? What kinds of things might be harmful?
Sample responses:
Good for reputation

• Photos and videos of you doing activities for school and community
• Positive comments about you from others
• Cool things you created for school or for fun

Harmful to reputation

• Embarrassing or humiliating comments or photos
• Hints of drug or alcohol use
• References to illegal or bad behavior
• Personal information that you shared in confidence with someone
• Photos that were taken without your consent

TELL students that they will explore a situation in which information posted online had unintended consequences and damaged someone’s reputation.

INVITE students to reflect on the saying, “A picture is worth a thousand words.”

ASK: What do you think this saying means?
Students should consider that a complex idea can often be illustrated with a single image, and that context plays a role in how an image is interpreted.

ARRANGE students in groups of four or five, and distribute the Unintended Consequences of Sharing Student Handout, one for each student. 

INSTRUCT students to read the “Drunken Pirate” article, either silently or aloud (taking turns). Alternatively, assign the reading as the previous night’s homework. The purpose of the article – about a young teacher in training whose career is affected by a photograph on a social networking site –  is to encourage students to understand how oversharing information online might affect their privacy, and to grasp the importance of context around sharing things online. 

DEFINE the Key Vocabulary terms context and tag. Explain that tagging can be done on many social networking sites without the permission of the person who is being tagged. 

INSTRUCT students to discuss the following questions in their groups, with one group member writing down their responses.

KEEP students in groups.

ASK: Do you ever post things online about your friends? Do you comment on or tag their posts or photos? How do you decide what is okay?
Students might say that they try not to post mean, embarrassing, or private things about their friends.

ASK: What if your own judgment about a post is different from a friend’s? For example, imagine you’ve posted a photo of a group of friends. One friend immediately comments that she loves it, but another complains that he doesn’t like the way he looks, and asks that you to take it down. You think everyone in the photo looks great. What do you do?
Students may suggest talking to the friend who doesn’t like the photo, or choosing another photo of the group to post in its place.

INVITE students to brainstorm a list of questions that someone should ask him- or herself before posting anything about another person. Have them write these questions on paper or on the backs of their student handouts.
Sample responses:

• What am I posting, and where am I posting it?
• Who might see what I post?
• Might it be harmful, harmless, or something in between to the person?
• Do I have permission to tag people?
• Even if I don’t think something is harmful, is it possible that my friend will?
• Do I know my friend’s feelings about what he (or she) would want posted?
• Would I feel comfortable if someone posted this about me?
• What are the possible consequences of sharing this information about that person?
• How might the information affect the person’s reputation?
• Could the information be offensive to some members of the online community?

CHALLENGE students to work in the same groups to create decision trees based on their brainstorming of questions in Teach 2. They should develop a flow chart of decisions on a large sheet of paper. 

Note: Alternatively, have students create a flow chart using tools on Microsoft Office (e.g., shapes and lines in MS Word and PowerPoint, or the flowchart tool in Excel) or by using the free online flowchart maker Gliffy. Allow for additional time. Students should start their decision tree with the first question they would ask themselves when deciding whether to post something, and then continue to additional steps or questions based on a “yes” or “no” answer. Below is an example of the first steps of a decision tree:

1. Could what I am about to post be harmful or embarrassing to my friend(s) in this context?
   If Yes > Do not post it. If No or Not Sure > Go on to the next question.
2. Have I asked my friend(s) if it’s okay with them to post something?
   If Yes > Go on to the next question. If No > Go ask them if you can. If you can’t ask them, go on to the next question but remember to ask them soon.
3. Did your friend(s) say it was okay to post something about them?
   If Yes > Go on to the next question. If No > Do not post.

INVITE students to display their decision trees and discuss how they share responsibility for protecting the privacy of their friends and anyone with whom they connect online.

EXTENSION ACTIVITY
To reinforce the importance of context, have students look through news magazines and celebrity magazines to find a photo that might make either a negative impression or a positive/neutral impression based on how it is captioned. Have students cut out their photos, glue them to sheets of paper, and then write one of each type of caption on the back (negative vs. positive or neutral). Invite volunteers to hold up their photos and read both captions aloud to the class. Encourage other students to say whether they agree with the interpretations of the photo, and explain why or why not.