The blog is moving!

CHANGE OF ADDRESS

This blog is hosted on Blogger.com, a free service that has been great. You may have reached this blog by typing in the address www.21stCenturySheep.com. That address redirected you to this address on Blogger.com.

I have moved to a different blogging service where I have more control of the server and can use the WordPress software. I setup the new blog using the WordPress software on my GoDaddy account. You can reach the new blog by typing in either www.21stCenturySheep.com or www.21stCentury Sheep.net.

This will be the last entry on this site. If you have it bookmarked, make sure the bookmark is set to www.21stCenturySheep.com

Alabama - West Florida Conference

I had a great time working with folks from the Alabama - West Florida conference of the UMC this weekend. I'll fly out of Montgomery tomorrow morning.

I liked the format of this training. Participants were encouraged to bring laptops and most did. There was time built into the schedule for the participants to try out the things we were discussing. Several of them joined the Google Group, a couple joined Facebook, and one couple even setup a web page for their church.

The training seemed to go well and I met some great folks. Meredyth and Leigh have been great hosts.

New Cyberbullying Study

A new study out of UCLA finds cyberbullying is more common than previously thought. Almost 75% of teens reported some cyberbullying during the prior 12 months. The most common type of bullying was name calling. That didn't surprise me, but the second most common type did. The second most common tactic was password theft. If someone steals or guesses your password they can send email in your name, visit websites and make it look like it was you, or edit an online profile and post untrue and unflattering information.

We have to teach our kids to use strong passwords, and to keep them private!

Even though nearly 75% reported bullying, only 10% reported it to their parents. The most common reason for not telling was the teens felt like they just "need to learn to deal with it." The second most common reason was that they were afraid if they told, their parents would limit their access to the Internet.

We need to develop relationships that allow our children to tell us what is going on in their lives without fear of us overreacting.

You may also want to listen to the APM Future Tense podcast on this report.

Jog The Web

A friend pointed me to this website today and I found it very interesting. The site is JogTheWeb.com and it lets the user setup a "tour" of websites. You can add comments or directions about each website.

My first effort is a quick tour of several Internet safety resource sites. Give it a try and see what you think. Click here. The site is free and relatively easy to use.