[Year 12 IT Apps] Hacking through the classroom IT Language

[Roland Gesthuizen]

No Donna, you did raise a good point and thanks for raising this. I am being
careful here not to pick on any one issue, broadening it from the original
hacker vs cracker debate to something more interesting .. What many call a
settlement, others call an occupied territory. What many describe as
pioneers, others describe as invaders. What many describe as illegal
migrants, others describe as desperate refugees. What some hide as
government owned, private and confidential, others may report as being in
the public interest. What the media describes as a balanced debate,
scientists describe as pandering airplay to crackpots.

Even our very real world of IT is not so black and white. Crikey, what some
call a benevolent security filter, others describe as the great firewall.

Should students be aware of this language play and be guided to identify the
associated tensions. There are some powerful groups and corporations that
like to think they can control our thinking and steer opinion. Humanities
teachers have to juggle the spin put onto our language all the time. Would
anybody on the list like to share how they deal with this?

I have my doubts that common usage should dictate the ideas of what we
should teach. That is not to say that we cannot describe what people
generally think. I bump into this every year when I start to describe
information and data to get students to think about these terms as as IT
professionals do, not as a lay member of the public. Any valid claim for how
we should use a term should probably be based on sound arguments, not
popularity.

Regards Roland

On 2 April 2010 10:48, Donna Benjamin <donna at cc.com.au> wrote:

> On Sun, 2010-03-28 at 18:33 +1100, Mark KELLY wrote:
> > I fear the battle is already lost; 99% of the
> > population simply does not know or care about the difference: and they
> > win.
>
> But you are IT teachers, teaching IT students, who surely should at
> least be exposed to the notion there is a difference?
>
> Or should I just pull my head in?
>
> Common Usage is not always Correct Usage.
>
> I fort youse guise mite no that.
>
> --
> Donna Benjamin - Executive Director
> Creative Contingencies - http://cc.com.au
> ph +61 3 9326 9985 - mob +61 418 310 414
> open source - facilitation - web services
>
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-- 
Roland Gesthuizen - ICT Coordinator - Westall Secondary College
http://www.westallsc.vic.edu.au

"Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change
the world; indeed it is the only thing that ever has." --Margaret Mead
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