Browsing through the website took my mind right back to Net Smart and our class conversation with Howard Rheingold. Some of the comments Howard made in his book or stated during our class discussion were further reinforced on the website. To my knowledge, Teaching How to Read, Write, and Participate on the Web: Web Literacy for Educators is a place to gain awareness, necessary digital information, and creativity. The website stressed collaboration or people doing group assignments and had some solo work. I initially thought this website was going to be for kids, but after roaming through the site and reading what some of the activities were about I would argue contrary. Like we discussed in class, I think it all depends on your level of engagement with the computer.

Furthermore just like in Howard’s book, the first activity I tried taught me new websites I knew nothing about. While doing the first activity, I was surprised to see that this attitude of choosing convenience over reliability is habitual, and I was further convinced of Soo Young Rieh and Brian Hilligoss research in which “twenty-four college students revealed that they would be willing to compromise certainty about credibility for speed and convenience” (qtd. in Rheingold 82). On the other hand, a password like “qwerty” I would never think to use or even consider it to be bad, but SplashData cites it frequently. Lastly, I was really thrilled to know a password I used in the past was considered good.

With that being said for the second activity, I experienced ease and discomfort. In Follow Your Data Trail it was really easy for me to do the assignment, but in this case that might not necessarily be a good thing. Fear arises when I think about evil people knowing the information the activity invited me to reflect upon. I think it would be harder to keep up with someone who has a busy schedule compared to someone who has a routine. This website and Rheingold basically taught me how much I am being followed.