Group items tagged

New safety rules from Telestra aim to give parents a tool in the fight against cyber bullying, with many struggling to understand what they can do to protect their children.Families should learn how to report cyberbullying and to work on building trust about discussing online problems. The article gives five suggestions for how adults can become an internet parent:
Familiarize yourself - talk with your child about their use of the internet.
Explore - websites and technologies yourself.
Restrict inappropriate content and consider parental controls such as filtering.
Talk to your child and encourage open communication
Know - be aware of the potential dangers and know where to report potentially illegal or inappropriate behaviour online.

Job characteristics and strengths at work at Google -
\n\n... analytical reasoning. Google is a data-driven, analytic company. When an issue arises or a decision needs to be made, we start with data. That means we can talk about what we know, instead of what we think we know.
\n\n... communication skills. Marshalling and understanding the available evidence isn't useful unless you can effectively communicate your conclusions.
\n\n... a willingness to experiment. Non-routine problems call for non-routine solutions and there is no formula for success. A well-designed experiment calls for a range of treatments, explicit control groups, and careful post-treatment analysis. Sometimes an experiment kills off a pet theory, so you need a willingness to accept the evidence even if you don't like it.
\n\n... team players. Virtually every project at Google is run by a small team. People need to work well together and perform up to the team's expectations.\n\n... passion and leadership. This could be professional or in other life experiences: learning languages or saving forests, for example. The main thing, to paraphrase Mr. Drucker, is to be motivated by a sense of importance about what you do.

Florida's Cybersafety Initiative consists of SafeSurf Web sites for Kids, Teens and Adults and a cybersafety school assembly program that specifically targets middle and high school students to educate them about cyberpredators and personal internet safety.

Cool summary of an article by Liz B. Davis -- Liz took the article and extracted the most valuable bits to her using google Docs. This methodology is fascinating, but even moreso the fact we may all begin doing this together with Diigo.

This research article has the facts about sexual predatory behavior.

Bullying Beyond the Schoolyard: Preventing and Responding to Cyberbullying

Co-authors Dr. Sameer Hinduja and Dr. Justin W. Patchin provide a comprehensive guide to identify, prevent and respond to this increasingly serious problem. The book is primarily based on Hinduja and Patchin's original research with thousands of adolescents, many of whom were victims of cyberbullying. In addition to providing numerous practical strategies for educators, parents and other youth-serving adults, the book includes personal stories and case scenarios, an extensive overview of terminology and legal issues, and a clear explanation of the scope and prevalence of online aggression among youth.

Digital image that defines THEFT vs PIRACY vs FILE SHARING

For the last 11 years Marje Monroe and Doug Fodeman have worked to educate schools, parents and students about the issues that affect children in an online world. Their Web site, ChildrenOnline.org, offers practical articles, resources, research, and a monthly newsletter on the topic. Recently, the team, which has a long background in education, self-published Safe Practices for Life Online, intended to show middle and high school students what scams target them and how to use the Internet more safely. A teacher's edition of the book will be available through the International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE) in November.

The company will provide content blockers that allow parents to prevent their children from accessing certain content, application filters to keep children from using software and will empower parents with time limiting tools to control time spent on various Internet activities.

Blog from Danah Boyd. Last week, she and three other social scientists participated in an Internet Caucus panel in DC. David Finkelhor (Director of Crimes Against Children Research Center), Amanda Lenhart (PEW), and Michele Ybarra (President of Internet Solutions for Kids) all presented quantitative data. Most of the press coverage of Michele and David's work has been consistently inaccurate in representing the implications of their findings. So they've helped clarify some of the misinterpretations. The Internet Caucus put the video up online so you can view the actual conversation.

Personal note: David Finkelhor has a great document that helps with clarifying interpretations of his work. He coaches you on what to say. You can download INTERNET SAFETY EDUCATION FOR TEENS: GETTING IT RIGHT and use it for your next presentation!

An effective school-based strategy to address the issue of online safety should include these six key components:
EDUCATIONAL USE - Schools must ensure that when students use the Internet, their activities have an educational purpose -- class assignments, extra credit work, and perhaps some high quality enrichment activities as a reward
SUPERVISION AND MONITORING Schools must shift focus from reliance on filtering to better supervision and monitoring.
MEANINGFUL CONSEQUENCES Misuse of the Internet must lead to a meaningful consequence -- but it should be recognized that suspension of Internet access privileges just causes more work for teachers. Requiring a service contribution to the school and establishing "close monitoring status" for all Internet use are preferable consequences.
ACCIDENTAL ACCESS TO PORN - All students and staff must know that if inappropriate material appears, they should quickly turn off the monitor or turn it so it can't be seen, and then report it. Following any incident or discovery, there must be a responsible assessment of culpability.
INAPPROPRIATE BLOCKING Selected staff in every school building must have the authority and ability to quickly override the filter to provide other staff or students access to sites that have been inappropriately blocked
INTERNET SAFETY AND RESPONSIBLE USE EDUCATION Schools must provide effective Web 2.0 Internet safety and responsible use education to students and parents.

Real world, practical and relevant copyright, fair use and public domain information. Covers copyright in the visual domain (movies, tv shows, photographs, screenplays, art, sculpture), copyright in the audio domain (musical compositions, lyrics, sound recordings) and copyright in the digital domain (web, Internet and software).

If you're planning on showing the Digizen.org film on Cyberbullying at your school, be sure you download the teacher's guide that goes with it at http://www.digizen.org/downloads/Let'sFightItTogether-guide.pdf

Back To School, Back on the Internet, Back to Basics: A Guide to Protect Yourself and Your Children Online .This double-sided brochure from Americans for Technology Leadership can be downloaded, printed and distributed to parents -- or used as a link from your school web site.

Olivia Gardner, a northern California teenager, was severely taunted and cyber-bullied by her classmates for more than two years. News of her bullying spread, eventually reaching two teenage girls from a neighboring town, sisters Emily and Sarah Buder. The girls were so moved by Olivia's story that they initiated a letter-writing campaign to help lift her spirits. It was a tender gesture of solidarity that set off an overwhelming chain reaction of support, encouragement, and love. In Letters to a Bullied Girl, Olivia and the Buder sisters share an inspiring selection of messages that arrived from across America-the personal, often painful remembrances of former targets, remorseful bullies, and sympathetic bystanders. Letters to a Bullied Girl examines our national bullying epidemic from a variety of angles and perspectives, and includes practical guidance from bullying expert Barbara Coloroso, author of The Bully, the Bullied, and the Bystander. Though addressed to Olivia, the letters speak to all young people who have been bullied, offer advice and hope to those who suffer, and provide a wake-up call to all who have ever been involved in bullying.

There is also a video interview with the Buder sisters on this site.

Teens and tweens have been bullying each other for generations. The bullies of today, however, have the advantage of utilizing technology such as computers, cell phones and other electronic devices to inflict harm on others. "Bullying Beyond the Schoolyard: Preventing and Responding to Cyberbullying," due out this month, uncovers the types of youth most susceptible, how they felt, who they told, how they coped and how it affected their lives, and illustrates the gravity of cyberbullying and its real-world repercussions. The co-authors, [Justin Patchin, Ph.D. and Sameer Hinduja] both have backgrounds in Criminal Justice and are university-based. Their web site, Cyberbullying.Us is dedicated to identifying the causes and consequences of online harrassment.

How much information about your daily life gets recorded by big business and Big Brother? Play this simple interactive scenario by conducting your normal transactions as you would on any given day. We'll show you how often you feed information about yourself to corporate and government databases. Then, play them again and try to see if you can reduce your digital footprint and see what benefits you'll lose trying to get off the grid.

Megan Meier Cyberbullying Prevention Act - A federal law has been proposed that defines cyberbullying and specifies penalties (in the form of fines and up to two years imprisonment) for violators. The bill is formally called the Megan Meier Cyberbullying Prevention Act (HR 6123), and was introduced jointly by Representatives from Missouri and California. It anmends the federal criminal code to impose criminal penalties on anyone who transmits in interstate or foreign commerce a communication intended to coerce, intimidate, harass, or cause substantial emotional distress to another person, using electronic means to support severe, repeated, and hostile behavior.

Taking risky opportunities in youthful content creation: teenagers' use of social networking sites for intimacy, privacy and self-expression.
The explosion in social networking sites such as MySpace, Facebook, Bebo and Friendster is widely regarded as an exciting opportunity, especially for youth.Yet the public response tends to be one of puzzled dismay regarding a generation that, supposedly, has many friends but little sense of privacy and a narcissistic fascination with self-display. This article explores teenagers' practices of social networking in order to uncover the subtle connections between online opportunity and risk. Reprints of the complete article are available for a fee from Sage Publishing.

VERY helpful document!!!

A growing number of people are promoting Internet Safety Education in effort to keep youngsters safe from Internet sex offenders. But be cautious about some of the statistics that you may find from lectures, pamphlets, videos and web sites. Not all of the data accurately reflects what researchers have learned about cyberpredator crimes. For the real stats and myths vs. realities on child predators , download a copy of: Internet Safety For Teens: Getting it Right . This fact sheet (created by Dr. David Finkelhor at the Crimes Against Children Research Center) is packed with helpful clarifying information for your next presentation.

Volunteer agency founded in 1997 to fight online harassment through education of the general public, education of law enforcement personnel, and empowerment of victims. The site lists cyberstalking-related laws for all 50 states. They also have a Kids/Teen division.