Digiteen

• Keep children safe online
• Stop unwanted e-mail and spam
• Protect your computer from hackers and viruses
• Keep your personal info private.
• Meet Faux Paw the Techno Cat
• What to do When Something Online Worries You
• Bullying and the Myth of Internet Anonymity
• Our Family’s Safety Contract

1. Appoint a single leader or a small group of leaders who are
responsible for making sure everything runs smoothly. These leaders
need not have any decision-making authority, but they should have
administrative responsibilities such as: keeping debates on topic,
setting and enforcing deadlines, maintaining the group mailing list,
and keeping a group archive. They should also be willing to serve as
a resource and answer questions from group members so that these
questions need not clog the mailing list. These leaders must be
diligent about carrying out their responsibilities and should
seek assistance should they find themselves over burdened.

2.

3. Establish a policy of open communication between all group
members. Members should keep everyone informed of the progress they
have made i

trouble completing a task they volunteered to do (due to lack
of time, lack of expertise, or any other reason), they should inform
other group members. If some group members communicate privately
about a group matter, they should inform the rest of the group about
the outcome of their discussion (being careful to say ``we recommend''
rather than ``we decided'' unless the group has given them the
authority to make the decision). It is especially important for
anyone in a leadership position to communicate with other members and
make sure that the members are communicating with each other.

4. Establish a mission statement and set of operating procedures for
your group. Depending on the size of your group and the duration of
your project, this may be a short list of ground rules or a formal
constitution. You should have guidelines and rules that cover the
responsibilities of the leaders, the responsibilities of members,
procedures for making decisions (including what to do in the event of
a deadlock), procedures for appointing and expelling group members or
leaders, and procedures for changing these rules. When working on a
long-term, open ended project it is best to keep the ground rules
somewhat flexible so that unanticipated ideas are not precluded and
new group members don't feel stifled by a framework established by
members long-retired.

5. Whenever a new and likely controversial topic is introduced to the
group, have people respond to the original poster rather than to the
entire mailing list. Then have the original poster collect all the
responses into a single message (and if possible prepare an executive
summary) and send that back to the group. You may want to repeat this
for several rounds of discussion before opening the topic up for
general debate. The idea here is to put all the issues on the table
at once so that people don't start a debate before they have all the
facts and a general understanding of the concerns of other group
members.

6. Hold periodic virtual meetings. This can be done through a
conference call, audio or video online conferencing software, an
online chat room, or even an agreement that everyone will be online
and checking their email at a specified time. Any of these
formats should allow for a more or less synchronous debate followed, if
necessary, by a vote.

7. If your group has trouble making decisions and is unable to get
group members together for a virtual meeting frequently enough, try
resorting to an electronic equivalent of Roberts Rules of Order in
which the rules of debate are spelled out in great detail. (The nice
thing about Robert's Rules is that they have been well established and
thus groups can agree to adopt them without arguing over what they
should be. Adopting a set of electronic rules for debate may be
tricky if your group has to write these rules from scratch. But you
may be able to get your group members to agree t

subcommittee or a neutral party.) Such rules might
include the maximum amount of time allowed for a debate before a vote
must be taken, the amount of time members have to submit their votes,
and the maximum number of words or separate email messages a member
may send to the mailing list on a particular topic. I see this mostly
as a method of last resort, and I don't recommend writing this into
the group's constitution or ground rules unless you've tried it and
found it to be effective.

8. Try to find ways for as many of your group members as possible to
meet in person. Ideally you would fly everyone to a central location
for a group retreat. But financial concerns often don't allow for
such luxuries, so do the best you can. Encourage group members to
visit their geographically closest neighbors in the group and to meet
other members at conferences or when traveling. The more group
members get to know each other, the easier collaboration will be. If
possible, try to get the entire group together at the beginning of the
project and at the end of the project (or for a lengthy project, after
every major phase of the project has been completed). Getting the
entire group together at the beginning will help the group establish a
common sense of direction. Meeting at the end or after the completion
of a major phase will provide a sense of closure and an opportunity
for group members to evaluate what they have done.

• You need to be aware of which sites people can gain access to your profile and without your permission. Some examples are: Facebook, MySpace.
• Beware of sites where people can change your password just by knowing your user name. An itunes account is a good example of where this is the case. If your not sure, test it out for your self by clicking on "forgotten your password?" and seeing whether the new pass word is accepted.
• If you become a victim of cyberbullying, make sure you contact people responsible for the site.
• If you join a forum, make should you read through the rules and regulations for members. This can be especially important if the forum is a special interest forum where you may get asked to leave if you post "off topic" mails.
• Use the Internet respectfully: don't post embarrassing pictures of your friends onto sites without their permission!