Lessons Learned

I was reading email on my school computer using the Yahoo account my wife and I share when I noticed an advertisement that I had never seen before on the right side of the page playing a short video. What caught my eye was the attractive women seemingly talking to me. I looked closer and yes, she was inviting me to “video chat” with her. I then noticed the small amount of clothing she was wearing and before you know it, I felt like I was in Amsterdam being propositioned in the red light zone. It was bit uncomfortable especially with one of my sons looking over my shoulder.

I checked with my wife on her school computer and she was seeing the same ad. Our family emails involve discussions of who is going to cook dinner to weekend plans. We would definitely not come across as a 20 something testosterone-laden emailer looking for companionship. This new ad replacing our usual graduate school offering definitely seemed targeted at a wider user base.

I asked myself how could this type of advertisement be placed in a mainstream site like Yahoo. While it might be found at sites aimed at college age males, it definitely seems like a pretty big drop in standards for a company like Yahoo. It then dawned on me that Yahoo, which had difficulties even before the economic downturn, must be losing advertisers to such a degree that they now are lowering their standards to get any advertising. What worries me is so many of our students have their own online email accounts where they, too, will be viewing Ms. Video Chat.

With many teachers and students using a variety of online free tools, it seems that in our slowing world economy that we need to keep a keen eye for any changes in what inappropriate advertisements might be popping up on our students’ screens.

In addition, there have been plenty of discussions on tech-oriented podcasts that one has to be on the look out for free providers of Web 2.0 tools who will lose their funding and go under. Folks already saw Google drop a tool or two so one needs to be careful about what lessons, projects, and general information is being stored online by companies who might not be around in the near future.