Mimi Ito, one of the principal investigators of the Digital Youth project. Of particular interest to parents concerned about teen social networkers' safety are findings by C.J. Pascoe mentioned by Dr. Ito, for example that: "Contrary to common fears, flirting and dating are almost always initiated offline in the traditional settings where teens get together and extended online. Her work clearly shows there's a strong social norm among teens that the online space isn't a place to find new romantic partners, but a place to deepen and explore existing offline relationships." Exceptions: marginalized teens "whose romantic partners are restricted for cultural or religious reasons" and gay and lesbian teens (the latter are "not reaching out online for random social encounters but using the expanded possibilities online selectively to overcome limitations they're facing" in their offline social networks); and the very small percentage of teens most at risk of sexual exploitation
Megan Merritt on 20 Jan 13This site was really interesting to me. It is kind of focused on older students, however there is also a k-3 section. I played some of the games and looked at the different subjects. It is a fun new age learning site. I think its important for the kids to be motivated to learn more and when you have interesting sites like this that kids enjoy it makes it easier for the information to stick.
