Dropbox in a Nutshell

How Information is collected and stored:

• Drop box collect some personal information when we register an account.
• They collect and store the files we upload, download, or access.
• They automatically record information from our device, its software, and our activity.
•  “Cookies” (small data files that are transferred to our device) are used to collect information and improve services).

How Dropbox stores and uses our personal information:

•  To provide and improve their Service.
•  To administer our use of the Service.
•  To better understand our needs and interests.
•  To personalise and improve our experience.
•  To provide or offer software updates and product announcements.
•  To optimise our experience by using recorded location information from photos/videos.(At present Drop box do not collect real-time geo-location information from mobile devices).
•  For analytical purposes by the Dropbox by technical department.

Information Sharing and Disclosure:

• Dropbox display your Personal Information in your profile page.
• They use certain trusted third party companies and individuals.
• They comply with Laws and Law Enforcement Requests; Protection of Dropbox’s Rights.
•  If Dropbox are involved in a merger, acquisition, or sale then information may be transferred.
• Dropbox may disclose non-private or non-personal information such as such as usage statistics.

Reflections:

The terms & conditions and privacy statement for Drop box were clearly written though rather boring and I am fairly sure that I only quickly glanced at them before opening my account…. with my mind already made up that I was going to sign up anyway.  Information in Dropbox accounts is easy to change or delete and it is possible to delete your account at any time.

My first thought after researching the terms, conditions and privacy statements of Dropbox was…. “Am I naïve enough to let this provider and other similar providers (Facebook, Evernote, Twitter, Google, Diigo etc.) access and use my information?”  However, on further reflection I feel that as I have nothing to hide then I have nothing to fear.  The only slight concern is that of identity theft as this is obviously a growing problem.  Advertising is more of a nuisance than a concern and we can just choose to ignore it (Drop box does not actually use advertising).

If we wish to benefit from the undeniably useful aspects of these services then we probably just have to accept the invasion of privacy. On a more philosophical note, most of us communicate via email, use internet banking and purchase tickets/flights etc. on-line already therefore a considerable quantity of our personal data is already floating around in cyber space! ……… Can we avoid it!?

I would be happy to recommend other people to sign up for Dropbox though not to children under 13 as Dropbox services are not directed to such users.   I would probably advise people to check the terms, conditions and privacy policy for themselves before signing up!

I have found Dropbox to be an extremely reliable online tool.  Dropbox was recommended to me by my sister who initially used it professionally in her role as a TAFE tutor as a depository for students’ finished assignments.   She then opened a second account for personal sharing of photos and videos with our parents who live in England and she invited me to join so as to access and contribute to the shared folder.  Dropbox has proved to be an easy and very successful way to share our photos, videos and documents and I think this would adapt very well for use in a senior high school context as a way of sharing and collaborating between invited, closed groups.   When adding students to a shared folder, the files within that shared folder would appear in their Dropbox just as they do in yours, any member of the folder could add, delete, or change files within that folder thus making it an ideal tool for groups of teachers and students who work together on the same files.  Dropbox does not use advertising as a means of revenue instead it offers users the opportunity to pay for more data space; this absence of advertising makes Dropbox even more suitable as an educational on-line tool.   Files within Dropbox can be easily downloaded or copied elsewhere so you can just choose to delete old files to release space.  Dropbox is a cloud based service therefore backup as such is not necessary; it automatically syncs and downloads files to any of your computer/devices that have Dropbox installed as well as also storing all your data within the cloud.

In conclusion, Dropbox is a useful online tool for working with data across multiple devices and/or multiple users and as such could be a highly productive tool within the classroom context.

Follow this link to the public folder of my Dropbox account to enjoy a bit of jazz!
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/79760390/01%20A%20Little%20Max.mp3

Goodreads        http://www.goodreads.com/

Goodreads is a free social cataloguing website.  The website allows individuals to freely search Goodreads extensive user-populated database of books, annotations, and reviews. Users are able to sign up and register books to generate library catalogues and reading lists. Users can also create their own groups of book suggestions and discussions.  Goodreads was created in 2006. Its mission is “to help people find and share books they love… [and] to improve the process of reading and learning throughout the world.  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goodreads

When assessing the value of Goodreads, I used the SAMR model:

Substitution……………Search for the books, read the reviews.  Substitute the physical library with a virtual on-line library and read reviews on line rather than by physical review cards or articles, online reading log, catalogue your on-line collection.

Augmentation………….Functional improvement  such as larger collection, instant search results when looking for a particular title, visuals, the world’s largest community of readers.

Modifications………..post online ratings and online reviews, post own writing, contact favourite authors.

Redefinition……. This tool is not really a platform that enables us to completely redefine tasks.

Goodreads requires a login but the only information required when signing up for an account was a username, email account and password; there was then a choice to link it to other social networking sites such as Facebook or Twitter.  The main issues when considering using the site with students are security/privacy issues; the site is an open site and it is therefore not recommended for persons under thirteen.

I could definitely use Goodreads in my professional learning as a way of keeping an overview of the multitude of books that our students may be reading or may like to read so that I can engage in interesting conversation with them about the books or make informed recommendations to them.  This site would be useful and interesting to any member of our library staff as well as to the school staff in general.

Goodreads could certainly be used as an engaging substitute for fiction research and the functional improvements it provides would most definitely augment the task. Transformation of the task would take place if students engaged with the web 2 capabilities of the tool and began to interact and collaborate with others on line. Although Goodreads alone does not allow for the creation of new tasks, used in conjunction with other tools it could redefine the task, for example, by using Goodreads together with Skype to develop online conference style book clubs between schools.

http://pinterest.com/coxcaroline/carries-bookshelf/