Saturday, December 13, 2008

What we're doing now to take this further

What we're doing now to take this further

Reaching Out to The Media

One group of students has been working on videos to send to the big news companies. They are sending videos to sites like Fox, CNN, and the Atlanta Journal Constitution. We know that without the support of the media companies we will never get Google's attention. We hope that the news will take us seriously, and we hope that they will support us.

Making A Video to Get the Word Out
Some of our students are making a video to send to different places so they can tell everybody else that google is shutting down Lively.
We are posting it on Youtube so we can get it out to other people around the globe so they can maybe help us save Lively. So, when you see this video you will know how much we enjoy to use Lively.

Blog Posts
The last group is making blog posts to put on our website. We are blogging about what we have and will be doing to get Google to keep Lively.
Letter to Google
We are sending a letter to google to try to convince them to not shut Lively down. We are trying to show them how Lively can help younger kids learn more about digital citizenship, and how to stay away from predators. It just helps them learn at a younger age.

3 comments:

Jim Dornberg said...

I am very impressed by your well organized campaign. I wish you well. You have many valid reasons for saving Lively and I hope Google listens.

I have a suggestion for you: Could you list some ways for the rest of us to get involved? Maybe links or email addresses to Google or the media that we could click to show our support?

Your project reminds me of the movie "Miracle on 34th Street." Remember (if you've seen it) when the post office drops off thousands of letters to Santa Claus on the judges' desk? Well, we can help you write those thousands of emails to Google, FOX, CNN, or whoever to get your message out.

Good luck! And no matter what happens, think of how much you learned about advocacy, and standing up for what you believe is right. Those are lessons that will last you a lifetime, and that many students your age may never learn in school. Best wishes for a successful outcome.

Vicki Davis @coolcatteacher said...

Jim-

Thank you so much for the suggestions both here and on twitter -- YES!! Thank you.

We've added some links over to the right that will let people contribute. We are getting support and also criticism saying "who do you think you are."

Well, the students and I know that we're just a small classroom but we LOVE LIVELY and really, everything Google. Lively is a great educational platform and we wish wish Google would notice. As of now, they haven't that we can see, but we'll keep plugging along to let them know. At least we will have tried and then, in January, we'll finish our selection process, which has already begun of finding a safe, virtual world alternative to move our work. Of course, part of the evaluation process is going to be the viability of the company.

But, who would have thought that Google wouldn't stand behind something like this?

If it is a web2 app, you just never know!

Thank you for the suggestions.

Mikisew said...

Students have done a great job of justifying Lively for education. As a Canadian educator just learning about the educational applications, I really need some more time to play around with it and try it out with students. What reason does Google give for shutting down Lively?

Thanks for your hard work on this protest and best wishes.