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On listservs and blogs, education researchers and teachers are beginning to discuss how to handle this latest online application. To most educators, filtering is never a preferred option. Teachers and media specialists almost uniformly choose to use opportunities like this to teach students how to make decisions about what's appropriate on their own. "One of the responsibilities of working with students on the use of online resources is to make them aware of potential dangers so they can make informed choices," says Deb Logan, librarian and media specialist for Mount Gilead (OH) High School, by email. "A discussion of online resources like Chatroulette offers a learning opportunity. These opportunities sometimes come at unexpected times." But educators believe Chatroulette may be a bit different then other similar sites like Omegle.com and Facebook's PopJam in that video is involved-and there's no way to edit what pops up on the screen other than clicking "next" after it's already appeared. There's no lurking allowed on Chatroulette-once a user signs in, they're visible to anyone who chances upon them, and anyone, in turn, is visible to them. Needless to say, there's a bit of nudity and sexual play being reported on the site, and the swiftness of people moving from image to image doesn't allow children to protect themselves-other than signing off.

Two out of three online U.S. households use social networks such as Facebook and MySpace, nearly twice as many as a year ago, according to the latest Consumer Reports State of the Net survey. But millions who use these services put themselves and their families at risk by exposing very sensitive personal information, according to the national survey of 2,000 online households conducted in January by the Consumer Reports National Research Center.

U.S. Sen. Bob Menendez is proposing a federal grant program to research and educate children about Internet safety. Menedez, D-N.J., said he is hopeful that educating teenagers, teachers and parents will stop children from sending explicit photos of themselves over cell phones and the Internet. The grant proposal would authorize $25 million to $35 million each year for Internet safety programs. The grants would be awarded on a two-year basis and administered by the Department of Justice.

Effects of Cyberbullying: New research by a group of school psychologists trained in Olweus Bullying Prevention methods that they have applied to bullying in the digital environment.

Privacy and security concerns are among the many barriers holding back the use of social networking tools in schools, new research suggests--but a number of child-friendly applications have emerged.

Anne - has anyone compiled a general list of CFSNT?

Anne - has anyone compiled a general list of CFSNT?

World Book Student's "How to Do Research" feature provides tutorials and exercises for students and educators on 21st century information literacy skills.

Two Mason teens charged with sending and possessing nude photos on their cell phones were sentenced on May 11. Both 15-year-olds pled guilty to contributing to the delinquency of a minor. The boy was sentenced to 30 days house arrest and the girl was told to write a research paper for the court on the dangers of sexting -- both will have to perform 100 hours of community service and give up their phones for 30 days.

The explosion in social networking may be even greater than imagined. The time that people in the U.S. spend on social network sites is up 83 percent from a year ago, according to a report from market researcher Nielsen Online.

Do you suffer from Copyright Confusion? This is another great video from the Center for Social Media that describes the new Code of Best Practices in Fair Use for Media Literacy. This is a great video to show at an educator workshop as a segue into the new thinking on Copyright Law and Fair Use. The Fair Use document was developed and funded by a MacArthur Foundation grant after a research study revealed that rigid interpretations of copyright law are actually strangling educational practice rather than enabling it.

Millions of students head to the nearest computer to conduct school research online. With the Internet's help, they can create everything from detailed projects on rainforests to slide presentations about how a hurricane forms without setting foot in a library."There's a wealth of information on the Internet, and it's a great tool," says Ross Ellis, founder and CEO of Love our Children USA, a child abuse prevention organization that is active in Internet safety. "You can't keep kids off the Internet." Yet the Internet is not the place for an all-access pass. Kids of all ages need parental supervision. A few common-sense tips can help keep your child safe online.

Research on how perceptions of copyright law affect media literacy educators, by Temple University's Media Education Lab in collaboration with the Center for Social Media, American University. Funded by the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation.

Results from this CosmoGirl survey of teens and young adults show that 21% of teen girls and 18% of teen boys have sent/ posted nude or semi-nude images of themselves. What is going on with teens, tech, and sex?

Members of the research team at Project New Media Literacies discuss the social skills and cultural competencies needed to fully engage with today's participatory culture. Featuring Henry Jenkins, and produced by Anna Van Someren at Project New Media Literacies.

Giving Students Ownership of Learning: Footprints in the Digital Age. In the Web 2.0 world, self-directed learners must be adept at building and sustaining networks.

Larry Magid and Anne Collier of ConnectSafely.org have put together HELPFUL TIPS TO PREVENT SEXTING for Educators, Parents and Students. They did a lot of research to pull these tips together, including talking with current prosecutors, a formal federal prosecutor and legal scholars and they include what-to-do advice for parents with kids involved. Getting teens the facts will help with the trend.

n June 2008 a diverse group of representatives from technology companies, child advocacy and parents' groups, educators, health researchers and policymakers gathered in Washington, DC to begin work on a set of recommendations for best practices that participants in the Internet industry could adopt to help keep children safe and smart when online. The result of the year-long effort is the report PointSmart.ClickSafe.: Task Force Recommendations for Best Practices for Online Safety and Literacy.

One way to measure digital access is to measure access to "broadband" Internet availability. Broadband access is the benchmark for Internet access. Broadband access means access to a robust and speedy connection sufficient to utilize the cutting edge technology of the day. But we should not mistake lack of broadband access with lack of Internet use.\n\nThere is currently a significant gap in broadband access between young and old, rich and poor, rural and urban. Over two-thirds of US households have broadband access as of May 2009 according to the Leichtman Research Group. But only 37 percent of households with income under $30,000 have broadband access compared to 89 percent of households with over $75,000 annual income according to the same study.

Cyberbullying: Using Virtual Scenarios to Educate and Raise Awareness [Research Paper: Discussion] Vivian Wright, The University of Alabama with Joy Burnham, Chris Inman and Heather Ogorchock Monday, 6/29/2009, 8:30am-9:30am WWCC 159, Table: 1 This session will teach educators how to use student feedback and reactions to scenarios created in Second Life to educate and raise awareness on cyberbullying prevention techniques.

One problem with most of today's Internet safety messaging campaigns is that there is only one set of messages for the entire population of youth and parents. But, an extensive literature review conducted by the Internet Safety Technical Task Force Research Advisory Board found that "not all youth are equally at risk" and that "those experiencing difficulties offline, such as physical and sexual abuse, and those with other psychosocial problems are most at risk online."

My Pop Studio is a creative play experience that strengthens critical thinking skills about television, music, magazines and online media directed at girls. Users select from four behind-the-scenes opportunities to learn more about mass media: My Pop Studio strengthens media literacy skills, promotes positive youth development, and increases knowledge about health issues. Highly interactive creative play activities are used to create an online community that guides users through the process of deconstructing, analyzing and creating media. Video segments, flash animation, media deconstruction games and quizzes, and moderated blogs make the website lively, fun and educational. My Pop Studio was created by a team of researchers and media professionals at the Media Education Lab, located at Temple University's School of Communication.