O fenómeno do cyber-bullying

É a nova ameaça que aterroriza pais e professores. A agressão entre crianças passou do recreio das escolas para o espaço (quase) infinito do ciberespaço.

O artigo
Battling the online bullies

Cyber-bullying used to involve sending threatening texts or e-mails, but the class of 2008 are finding social networks to be a fertile, and occasionally dangerous breeding ground, as Ian Hardy found out.
It does not take much for a teenager's cyber universe to spin out of control.
A fight at school, an online misunderstanding, and within minutes he or she can become the victim of a cyber-bully campaign, thanks to the fact that millions of children are connected by computers and gadgets.
"Cyber-bullying is when one child or teen targets another for embarrassment, humiliation, fear, blackmail. Something designed to hurt the other using an interactive technology," said security, privacy and cyberspace lawyer and executive director of WiredSafety, Parry Aftab.
"That's made a big difference because kids have learned that they can use the internet as a weapon."
Cyber-bullies can hide behind anonymous internet accounts, and they do not need big muscles, just the ability to type.
Yet the consequences can be far reaching.
"It's more harsh over the internet because they don't have to see your reaction when they say those mean words to your face. So over the internet you're more likely to say the meanest possible things you can say, and then you don't even regret it, " said cyber-bully victim Abby.

in BBC News - Technology

Blogging para tótós

Algumas dicas e conselhos do site Webmonkey para melhorar o seu blogue, tornando-o num êxito da WWW.

O tutorial
Tips for Better Blogging

If you've taken the plunge into self-publishing, you've probably already learned that setting up a blog is the easy part. Tools like Blogger, TypePad and WordPress make it simple to set up your own site with just a few clicks.
It's the next step -- the branding, promotion and the actual writing -- that's the toughest nut to crack.
If you want your blog to hit the big time, you'll need to dress up your site's public presence. Here are Webmonkey's tips for what you'll need to play with the big boys and girls of the blogosphere. Soon, you'll be swapping political commentary with DailyKos, and CoolHunting will be linking to you.

Contents
1 Establish a Brand
2 Write Better Headlines
3 Promote Yourself
4 Banish the Bling
5 Syndicate, Track and Analyze

in Webmonkey.com

Twitter, entre o online e o offline

O Twitter é um dos mais recentes buzz da Internet. Apesar de ainda não ter tido oportunidade para investigar as suas funcionalidades, é quase impossível não assistir à sua mediatização. Esta crónica do comentador da BBC Bill Thompson já foi publicada no mês passado mas, por considerá-la interessante e pertinente, dedico-lhe este post.

A crónica
How Twitter makes it real

Bill Thompson is impressed by the sense of being there offered by Twitter

Unlike many of my friends and colleagues I wasn't able to make it to Austin, Texas for this year's SXSW interactive, the four-day technology conference and festival that is currently firing the imagination of the technology world.
So I wasn't in the ballroom when the keynote address by Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg went awry under the less-than-forensic questioning of technology journalist Sarah Lacy.
I didn't see the crowd start to get restless and heckle Zuckerberg about the deeply-unpopular Beacon advertising system, or get a chance to grab the microphone and ask questions when Lacy threw the conversation open to the floor.
And yet I was there in another way, listening to and even interacting with some of my friends in the audience, picking up on the vibe in the room and even tuning in later as Sarah Lacy loudly defended herself.
I was there because I was plugged into Twitter, the instant messaging service that lets users send short text messages to anyone who cares to tune in, online or on their mobile phone.
As I sat at my desk a constant stream of 'tweets', as they are called, was being supplied by many of the people in the room and I was able to reply directly and feel that I too was participating.
Of course following short messages on a screen is not the same as being physically there, just as watching a nature show on TV doesn't mean you can claim to have visited the Serengeti.
But the sense of presence that can be achieved is remarkable, especially when you're sitting at your computer working, connected to the internet and with a Twitter client running on your computer so that tweets appear as they are posted. It's rather like reading a novel, where you stop seeing the words on paper and find yourself immersed in a world created for you by the author.
After a certain point Twitter becomes part of the background to life.

in BBC News - Technology