Ad4dcss/Digital Citizenship

If a stranger came up to you on the street, would you give him your name, Social Security number and e-mail address? Probably not. Yet people often dole out all kinds of personal information on the Internet that allows such identifying data to be deduced.

It's a brave new world. Unfortunately--continuing the literary allusion--Big Brother is watching. As technology makes more information more accessible, it also threatens to expose information that is not intended to be shared. Privacy is a concept that is caught in the middle of the struggle.

Some great advice here! Some of you recognize these habits and call them basics, but many need to put them into practice. If this is old hat news to you then pass it on to the relatives you helped set up on Facebook. It just may keep them from being a Facebook victim.

Great 2-minute video produced by the YouTube safety team with tips for teens about privacy, cyberbullying and cybersafety.

Great 3-minute safety video from the YouTube Safety Team. "How to recognize and steer clear of tricks online" covers scams, phony free offers, phishing, pop-up contests etc.

2.5 minute video from the YouTube Safety Team with tips for enjoying YouTube safely. Reviews community guidelines and what is/is not allowed. Includes discussion of copyright, dealing with insulting comments, hiding objectionable words, privacy,

Gardner tells us that what is unique about digital media and our era is that you can be as young as 7 or 8 and participate ... in some kind of a social network site or game and you are in touch potentially with thousands and thousands of other people. So the former lag between behaving morally toward people you know and behaving ethically toward people in the community who you don't know - that's been lost.

"But there is growing consensus among lawyers and legislators that the child pornography laws are too blunt an instrument to deal with an adolescent cyberculture in which all kinds of sexual pictures circulate on sites like MySpace and Facebook. " But there is growing consensus among lawyers and legislators that the child pornography laws are too blunt an instrument to deal with an adolescent cyberculture in which all kinds of sexual pictures circulate on sites like MySpace and Facebook.

Understand and control how you share information on Facebook.

A school's Acceptable Use Policy, or AUP, is a list of technology regulations that require students to use technology responsibly and prevent abuse of school computers. Students are often required to sign this "user contract" in order to use school network computers but unfortunately many sign without reading or understanding the information. The Smart AUP assessment tool is a fun and effective way for students to demonstrate to teachers and administrators that they have read and understand the AUP.

Cyber-savvy experts view electronic chatting as an example of how technology - and especially the growth in text messaging and live video chatting - is allowing people to keep in such constant communication that it has begun to radically change the sense of what it means for people to feel together, or alone, or apart.

It's a discussion parents all around the world are having: Is Chatroulette something we should be worried about?

Can be used with students to address cybersafety/cyberbullying topics.

Law enforcement agents are following the rest of the Internet world into popular social-networking services, even going undercover with false online profiles to communicate with suspects and gather private information, according to an internal Justice Department document that surfaced in a lawsuit.

Students use Voice Thread to communicate their knowledge of digital citizenship topics. Particularly noteworthy is the project done by 8th graders entitled "Online Safety." Not only do they demonstrate knowledge of safety principles but they also set up opportunities for the global community to interact with them as they query their audience on their own cybersafety practices. Nobody has answered them yet, but think of the possibilities!

Currently four missions are available for students with the following themes: email/spam, chatroom safety/privacy, cyberbullying awareness, web dangers. Download and print the hint sheets for each series.

Bullying is a problem at every level of education. Every school has its own way to address the problem, but are these techniques effective? Do they ever make a deep impression on the students? Does the bullying ever go away? Not Likely. My school is no different from any other; we have implemented programs to combat bullying, but the bullying persists. Then, after experimenting with some new software, I got the idea to make bullying awareness important and exciting for my third-and fourth-grade students by having them create comic strips using Comic Life, one of the new programs available for Macs. With the aid of ready-made templates, word bubbles, pictures, etc. its users easily create a comic strip.

Teacher/student examples of Comic Life usage for cyberbullying awareness.