New government bullying prevention website unveiled at the White House on 3/10/11 by the Dept of Health Resources & Services. Provides info on programs and materials that can help schools and communities expand their own anti-bullying initiatives. Emphasizes intervention, role of bystanders etc.

"The Last Text," a very powerful video produced by AT&T. Should be shown to every student. This documentary (featuring families affected by texting while behind the wheel) is being distributed to educators, government officials, safety organizations and public as part of a educational awareness campaign.

In a continuing effort to keep students safe, some high schools in Oakland, CA have just launched a new "text-a-tip" program. This cell phone texting technology provides students with a quick and anonymous way to notify campus police about situations such as bullying, drugs, and fights.

The folks at AnyPlace Control (remote desktop access) have compiled this list of resources for computer security. Many are related to protecting children.

From the Elementary Teachers' Federation of Ontario (ETFO). This downloadable 246-page resource includes teacher-authors' individual or group units, modified by curriculum inquiry and peer review, and provides many links to resources.

Classroom support materials for the MySecurityCyberspace Game. The Teacher's Companion gives educators an introduction to The MySecureCyberspace Game and Academy Web site and 13 lesson starters to help them get started with the game in the classroom.

7th grade bullying incident caught on camera and posted on YouTube. Parents are filing a lawsuit against the Palm Beach County School District claiming the school has done nothing to stop such incidents or to create a safe environment for students.

Say It 2 My Face is a campaign against cyberbullying and a protest against anonymous websites that foster hate. The campaign was created by Taylor Audette, a University of Southern California college student.

Authors Anne Collier and Larry Magid have published a free 35-page guide for parents in partnership with IKEEPSAFE. The online resource provides parents with the perspective and how-to information they need to help their teens optimize their privacy and safety on Facebook.

Digital and Media Literacy: A Plan of Action, a new policy paper by Renee Hobbs, Professor at the School of Communications and the College of Education at Temple University and founder of its Media Education Lab, proposes a detailed plan that positions digital and media literacy as an essential life skill and outlines steps that policymakers, educators, and community advocates can take to help Americans thrive in the digital age. You can download DIGITAL AND MEDIA LITERACY: A PLAN OF ACTION at http://bit.ly/bdVDy3

Thoughtful post! As long as internet safety and digital citizenship are presented as a business, with products to be purchased to prevent problems, curricula that purport to immunize children, and professionals required to deliver messages, it's no wonder that parents and teachers are paralyzed by the prospect of helping children negotiate their lives online. At the Family Online Safety Institute (FOSI) Annual Conference, held in Washington, DC last week, there was a striking confluence of those who view digital citizenship as an extension of our daily roles as citizens, and those who have a vested interest in keeping the alarm bells going in order to draw parents and teachers into their camp for speaking engagements, stand-alone curricula, web-tracking, web-blocking, or mobile phone tracking services.

The Family Online Safety Institute (FOSI) and the Pew Research Center's Internet & American Life Project have agreed to conduct a research project aimed at understanding teenagers' behavior online. The research will examine how this behavior ties to digital citizenship - the behaviors, expectations and skills teens have around interacting with others in digital spaces. The research is jointly funded by the Pew Internet Project and Cable in the Classroom. The study will begin in November 2010 and results are expected in November 2011.

When it comes to the Internet, teenage girls, particularly those with low self-esteem, don't always present themselves honestly. Girl Scouts of the USA conducted a national survey in June 2010 of 1,026 girls ages 14 through 17. The survey found that girls often downplay their positive characteristics on social media networking sites, and many choose to portray themselves as sexy or crazy.

In this talk, presented at the Family Online Safety Institute's annual conference (Nov 2010), senior research specialist Amanda Lenhart discussed Pew Internet data about how teens use mobile phones and the potential safety issues associated with them. The presentation was based on the April 2010 study by PEW on Teens and Mobile Phones. See: http://pewinternet.org/Reports/2010/Teens-and-Mobile-Phones.aspx

Facts and Figures about Online Safety from FOSI, the Family Online Safety Institute. (Presented at their annual conference, Nov 2010).

An October 2010 study of the privacy habits of parents and their teens on social networks, conducted by TRUSTe, one of the foremost authorities on online privacy. Data suggests that the majority of teens use privacy controls on social networks and that most parents actively monitor their teen's privacy. However, there is still room for improvement a some privacy areas were identified where teens are at risk on social networks. There are some good videos on this site including parents and teens talking about privacy issues.

The National Road Safety Foundation teamed up with National Organizations for Youth Safety (NOYS), to invite young people to help get out important safe driving messages in their own thoughts and words in a Drive to Life PSA Competition. The winning video was submitted by Bethany Brown.

Erin Schoening's first grade class at Gunn Elementary School [Iowa] is one of the first in the Council Bluffs Community School District, if not the nation, to use Facebook as a teaching tool, recapping lessons and "synthesizing concepts" while using the social media site to provide updates for their parents and others.

Draw a line between digital use and abuse via cell phone and Internet. Great place to learn about digital disrespect, innocent and appropriate online behaviors. Learn how to identify, respond to and stop the spread of digital abuse. The site contains a number of great videos for kids created by their peers. See: http://www.athinline.org/videos