What's+What+-+Marina+Eichner

https://www.whatswhat.me

Explore the site and answer the following questions: What is the site's mission? (i.e. purpose of the community and its objectives). Vincent Cannistraro, a father of three tween children, attended an Internet safety presentation at their school and quickly discovered he was ignorant to the dangers of the internet and his children. He was bothered that there was no safe and secure online social networking option for kids and wanted his to be prepared for the challenges and opportunities of the digital world. He set out to create a site that his children and kids everywhere could safely enjoy.

Who are the community's members? Tweens aged 7 to 13

What are the guidelines for membership? You must be between the ages of 7 and 13. You must also have a webcam attached to your computer because they utilizes a patent pending facial recognition technologies.

What are the guidelines for adult involvement? (teachers, parents) There is no adult involvement in this site. This site strictly enforces their age guidelines. However, the site is not free so parents must approve and pay for their child's membership

What features are included in this site? (e.g. message areas, discussion forums, blogs, chats, photo and video sharing, games, etc…)
 * Only kids – Webcam and facial recognition software is used for login. Photos are encrypted and stored on our state-of-the-art, secure servers.
 * Age-appropriate – We allow kids to “friend” within their grade, one grade above and one grade below. Exceptions require parental approval.
 * Protected content – We don’t use it or sell it. No one else can touch it or search for it outside of the site.
 * Professional moderators – Our highly trained staff constantly monitors site content and activity.
 * Community rules – We present clear rules with appropriate consequences for unacceptable behavior.
 * “Report It!” – This feature is next to every comment, so that members can report confidentially any improper online behavior and inappropriate content to our moderation team.
 * User Approved Posts – All postings must be reviewed and approved by the recipient before becoming visible to others – effectively mitigating cyberbullying and teaching kids to “think before posting.”

Is there a clear rationale for the features that have been included? Yes there is however it still does not make me feel comfortable for my child to be participating in a website like this one.

In your opinion, can this site be used for an educational purpose? Can it be related to curriculum? Why or why not? Really I do not see the educational value of this site and I would not use it in my classroom. It is inappropriate for the classroom. I feel that children should be learning social interaction in the real world-face to face.

If it can't be directly tied to curriculum, would you recommend it to parents? Would you let your own children use the site? Why or why not? No I would not recommend this site to parents. No I would not allow my children to use this site. I recall my youth prior to there being computers or cell phones. When I would come home and try to get on the telephone to be social with my friends my mother would tell me NO WAY. You just left your friends and were with them all day and you will see them tomorrow. What could you possibly have to talk about???