Ad4dcss/Digital Citizenship

Over the last five years, scholars say, the meteoric rise of social media sites, including MySpace, Facebook, YouTube and Twitter, has sparked a public explosion in self-documentation, making the "me" in multimedia more prominent than ever.

The Rapid City School District is paving the way for students and teachers to let their opinions be heard on the World Wide Web. The district has revamped its Web site and one of the new features will allow teachers and students to blog. A handful of teachers are already using the blogging option in their classrooms, but the 'blogs' aren't what you might think.

mobiSiteGalore creates history by launching a revolutionary free service that for the first time in the history of the Internet enables anyone to build mobile websites using just their basic mobile phone\n\n

For anyone who attended college before the era of e-mails and the Internet, the notion that bulky textbooks could someday become obsolete might seem ludicrous. Yet with a wealth of information on virtually any topic now readily accessible online, more people are starting to ponder if these hefty staples of education will remain relevant.

FACEBOOK, MySpace, YouTube and Wikipedia are considered valuable educational tools by some who embrace the learning potential of the internet; they are also seen as a massive distraction with no academic benefit by others. Research in Nottingham and Notts suggests split opinions over the internet in the classroom. Some 1,500 interviews with teachers, parents and students nationwide showed the 'net was an integral part of children's personal lives, with 57% of 13 to 18-year-olds in Notts using blogs in their spare time and 58% in Nottingham. More than 60% of Nottingham teens use social networking sites. They are a big feature of leisure time - but now the science version of You Tube, developed by academics at The University of Nottingham, has been honoured in the US this week. The showcase of science videos shares the work of engineers and students online. However just a quarter of teachers use social networking tools in the classroom and their teaching, preferring to leave children to investigate outside school.

Obama Works is an independent grassroots organization that helps Obama supporters in neighborhoods across the country to organize community service events. The group was founded in early 2008 by a group of Yale students who were inspired by Barack Obama and felt that the energy surrounding his campaign could be channeled to do more than generate votes.

Obama Works is an independent grassroots organization that helps Obama supporters in neighborhoods across the country to organize community service events. The group was founded in early 2008 by a group of Yale students who were inspired by Barack Obama and felt that the energy surrounding his campaign could be channeled to do more than generate votes.

The Internet Protectors(TM) today opened its doors to computer users looking for non-technical help in learning about and protecting themselves against the security risks that plague Internet users today. The Internet Protectors (TIP) website (http://www.TheInternetProtectors.com) provides a neutral environment where users can ask questions of topic experts, research different aspects of security in a library of podcasts, videos, and white papers, read and subscribe to blogs on multiple security topics, discuss security issues in forums, and more.

Texting is a form of wireless communication where users send or receive short, digital messages electronically. Texting is also known as SMS (Short Message Service). Although the bulk of texting is done via mobile-to-mobile devices, websites and companies are also jumping on the bandwagon. Some companies allow users to "web text" by sending and receiving text messages to mobile devices from their computers. Many provide the service for free. Text messaging is an extremely popular method of communication. CTIA-The Wireless Association®, the international association for the wireless telecommunications industry, reported that over 48 billion text messages were sent in a one-month period in 2007, which averages 1.6 billion messages per day.

For most teenagers, texting has become an integrated part of their social networking. It is, however, still a mystery and possibly a cause of concern for many parents and teachers not familiar with the phenomenon. We see letters like "ttyl" and wonder what in the world these kids are saying (talk to you later). Teachers see kids who have become so adept at texting that they can send messages from the pocket of their pants to avoid detection, and we wonder what they are up to. I recently had a conversation with about 90 of my students (all high school juniors and seniors) and asked them to give me the heads up on current texting practices.

A pair of 2007 studies conducted by the Pew Internet & American Life Project showed that teens are steadily drifting away from the "old-fashioned medium" of e-mail. While 92 percent of surveyed adults said they regularly used e-mail, only 16 percent of teens made it a part of daily life while text messaging (36 percent), instant messaging (29 percent) and social network site messaging (23 percent) gained in popularity. As teens, 20-somethings and, increasingly, other generations bypass their in-box in favor of other formats, is e-mail endangered?

Three teenagers aged 16 to 19 have been arrested in Hong Kong over a violent "rape video" that has been widely viewed on mobile phones and over the internet.

As any parent knows, tweens are crazy about cellphones. Those hoping to delay such a purchase--despite cries of "But everyone else has one!"--take note: 46% of U.S. tweens (ages 8 to 12) use cellphones, but only 26% own them, according to data released Wednesday by Nielsen Mobile. These "mobile borrowers" use their parents' phones when they go out with friends or on short trips, says Sally DePiro, a Nielsen product manager who worked on the report. The borrowing is more than an occasional habit: About 50% take their parents' phones more than three times a week. The key age for these early adopters is 10. While kids start using borrowed cellphones, on average, at around age eight-and-a-half, American tweens generally acquire their own phones between the ages of 10 and 11, reports Nielsen.

Ask a teacher to name the most irritating invention of recent years and they will often nominate the mobile phone. Exasperated by the distractions and problems they create, many headteachers have ordered that pupils must keep their phones switched off at school. Others have told pupils to leave them at home. However, education researchers at The University of Nottingham believe it is time that phone bans were reassessed - because mobile phones can be a powerful learning aid, they say.

The Internet has changed the playground bully into the in-my-bedroom-bully. It's true; the line between school life and home life is gone. Kids can no longer leave the social pressures, cliques, bullies, snootiness and the other highlights of adolescence at school.

People used to say a child's suicide ripples through a community. These days, it rides an electronic wave. Teenagers relay the news with cell phone calls, text messaging and Internet social networks, complicating the efforts of teachers, counselors and parents trying to manage grief after a young person's death. To our readers This series stems from our continuing examination of what led 19-year-old Robert Hawkins to become a mass killer last December at Omaha's Von Maur store. Today's stories describe how Internet postings, cell phones and text messages allow teens to spread their angst rapidly under the radar of adult oversight. Three-part series The World-Herald investigation into Robert Hawkins' murder spree and suicide last December leads to the discovery of a teen suicide cluster in Sarpy County. Sunday: Connections between suicidal teens cross community and school district lines. Today: Technology spreads teenage grief and angst quickly, with no parental oversight. Tuesday: A widely used but controversial suicide screening program is urged for use in Nebraska schools. Cyberspace is fertile ground for suicide contagion. It provides a forum for prolonged and excessive grieving in a highly charged, emotional atmosphere - precisely the kind of atmosphere psychologists warn to avoid after a death. It is also unmonitored by all but the most vigilant parents.

Social networks and digital media are making it easy for us to share our lives not just with our small circle of friends, but the entire world. With the invention of YouTube, Facebook and MySpace, we are creating a massive digital archive of our lives. The benefit of such a digital archive is that we no longer have to rely just on remembering memorable events: There are video and photos of it online. Besides just video and photos, there's also a massive text archive we are establishing with personal blogs. Every column I write for the Courier & Press is obviously archived for the history books, but so are the things that I write online.

The following resources were been compiled by Alec Couros to help high school students understand issues related to digital citizenship such as: cyberbullying, social networking, online safety and ethics, and critical media literacy.

The crackdown on schoolyard bullying in recent years has increased awareness of problems at our public schools involving degrading comments, intimidation and violence. But the problem is still out there and, thanks to the Internet and cell phones, has taken on a whole new dimension. Some of our children are now taunted and harassed not just at school, but electronically with inappropriate text messages, e-mails and Web site postings.

Follow-up blog post about Internet safety with grades 1-4 students.