Group items tagged

"Own Your Space--Keep Yourself and Your Stuff Safe Online" Digital Book for Teens by Linda McCarthy

The article from the New Statesmen" explores the technology out there that allows parents to spy on their children's online activities and mobile phone. However, the question put is whether it is all good or whether some such actions can be detrimental.

"Our first phone app, Below the Belt: Sex, Selfies and Cyberbullying, was launched in November 2013 on Google Play. Below the Belt has information on sex and consent, sexting and cyberbullying for young people in Australia, including victims of sexting or cyberbullying and friends who want to support them. As well as providing information about the law in every state, Below the Belt has interactive features young people can use to help navigate the issues."

"The Internet is without a doubt one of the best resources available to us. Unfortunately it's also extremely dangerous if you aren't aware of who and what lurks behind the scenes. Everyone should know how to be safe when surfing the web, but internet safety tips and tricks are spread out all over the web without a go-to resource. Since the majority of internet scam and virus victims are students and young people, Open Colleges is a perfect place to post the very first full guide to being safe on the internet."

"By now, we know that social media behavior differs, based on factors like gender, age and nationality. It turns out, how you manage your social media privacy may depend on similar indicators. ZoneAlarm created the below infographic, based on a 2012 study by Pew. The research points to gender-specific privacy practices. For instance, men are nearly twice as likely as women to profess regret for posting online content. On the other hand, men are more likely to maintain public social media presences."

"Cyber-bullying, update-addiction, sexting - from the perspective of a parent raising a ''digital native'' child, social media seems fraught with dangers. But new research suggests the risks inherent in social media use by younger generations might be overblown. danah boyd, assistant research professor at Harvard and principal researcher for Microsoft Research - like k.d.lang, she prefers the lower case - has completed a large-scale study on how US teenagers use the internet in general, and social media in particular. Her book is called It's Complicated, and is the result of in-depth interviews with scores of teens over an eight-year period."

At the risk of oversimplifying Kant's ideas, I'm suggesting that his categorical imperatives (unconditional requirements that are always true) be adapted as guiding principles for ethical technology use: 1. Before I do something with this technology, I ask myself, would it be alright if everyone did it? 2. Is this going to harm or dehumanise anyone, even people I don't know and will never meet? 3. Do I have the informed consent of those who will be affected? If the answer to any of these questions is "no", then it is arguably unethical to do it.

"Parents have taken over Facebook and, to a lesser extent, Twitter. This has sent device-laden students flocking to social media apps such as Instagram, SnapChat and Yik Yak, and the shift has created new challenges for administrators trying to root out cyberbullying and threats of violence. Garnering the most concern in many districts is Yik Yak, a free app created in 2013 that connects users within a 10-mile radius to a message board, and allows anyone to read and post anonymously. The app, meant for college students, is blocked on most K12 campuses thanks to technology called geofencing."

Smokescreen is a cutting-edge game about life online. We all use Facebook, MySpace, Bebo and MSN to keep up with our mates - and we've all heard the stories about parties on Facebook being mobbed, or people getting stalked on MSN. The question is, what would you do if it happened to you?

via @benpaddlejones

Stigler and Posankony model of change with diagram ---- "once awareness that a system is broken begins to emerge, some people need to keep the current system running and shepherd it down gently while others incubate and experiment with new ideas. The old system can serve as an umbrella for the new, protecting experimental approaches as they emerge and as many of them fail to achieve their intended results - or even achieve worse results than do the approaches that they aim to replace."

"If you've ever visited a website that handles even the smallest bit of your personal information, there's a good chance (hopefully) that it's asked you to read through a privacy policy or two. Rather than pour over the details, many of us simply click on 'I AGREE!' and proceed with using the application. Even the companies and websites involved understand this and make it as easy as possible to satisfy lawyers as well as users. What's the harm in essentially ignoring that privacy policy? While the majority of the time it's harmless, there are some ne'er-do-wells that may gather your personal information and sell it to marketers, advertisers, or spammers. While terrible, it's not unheard of."

"NSW Police have been made aware of a Facebook page that has allegedly made disturbing death threats against baby-faced singer Jack Vidgen. Telephones don't stalk children, Social Media doesn't intimidate them either. People do. Investigate People. Don't blame the online community tools. Thank the tools - they shine a spotlight on all that is horrid in our society. We cannot heal until we know what is wrong with us and acknowledge and address it. And newspapers are not here to heal us, believe me!"

Google or You? Who Would You Rather Control Your Digital Identity? 

ConnectSafely is for parents, teens, educators, advocates - everyone engaged in and interested in the impact of the social Web.