I came across Matt McKeon’s interesting article ‘The Evolution of Privacy on Facebook‘ today. It has an infographic for changes in privacy policy over time.
This tied in nicely with a video on Teacher TV that I’d watched the evening before, where school children at two different schools had the issue of online privacy when using social networking sites highlighted to them.
At the end of last week I was too tired to actually do any research or writing so I sat back and went onto BBC iPlayer. I usually look in the factual section: it means I might take in some useful information during a time when I wouldn’t necessarily be doing anything productive. I noticed a learning sub-category and clicked on it. There were lots of programmes for younger children and then down at the bottom was ‘On Top of the Digital World‘, from the BBC Learning Zone and aimed at 11-19 year old learning. The Learning Zone runs overnight on BBC 2, so you can set up a recording and watch the information programmes at another time.
I began watching it and thought, “WOW this is so good”. Over the weekend I managed to find time to play both available episodes. I think that the format is great. The programmes are 1 hr long per episode, but there are multiple articles each lasting between about five and 10 minutes long covering topics about how young people are using and interacting in the ‘Digital World’. This material can inform all age groups, and could certainly be useful to some of my colleagues.
Episode 1 covers:
Episode 2 covers:
I don’t know how long these will be available on iPlayer (programmes usually last about a week on there), but if they are still available then they are well worth a look for any age.
Link to the On Top of the Digital World site for iPlayer.
Yesterday I clicked on a link in one of Howard Rheingold’s (@hrheingold) tweets to his latest video in which he explains about the importance of literacy in determining the quality and credibility of information on the internet mainly accessed via searches.
He draws on some footage from a presentations he has given (which was standing room only) to illuminate some of his points. He makes an interesting distinction between skills, which are an individual attribute, and literacy, which Howard describes as skills + community as it rests in the realms of social so you can participate im the community of literates.
He presents five important literacies as:
All of these literacies need to co-exist.
Howard makes an interesting point about child safety, comparing concerns about online safety with the higher threats that exist offline. I think this ties in to my recent post about OnGuard Online which really centres on talking to your children holistically about online and offline activity, and your own values. Howard emphasises the important of equipping our children with the ability to think critically, and this reduces any risk in their online activity. This ability is paramount to children being able to assess more generally the quality and accuracy of the information they encounter online, and giving them the tools to filter good information from bad, as we’ve shifted from a world of critically edited material pre-publishing to one where it is the responsibility of the consumer to critically evaluate.
There are two important questions we should continually be asking:
Howard goes on to explain about personal ‘trust’ networks, an extension of the personal learning network in which there is a trust value added. And again this is an extension of the real life scenario, where you trust your doctor more the your mate Trev down the pub to give you health advice, but Trev knows a whole lot more about football, though his financial advice is a little dodgy too.
There’s a whole lot more in this video than I could hope to describe, so I suggest just watching it for yourself.
I’ve posted previously about Internet Safety and the work of CEOP in Britain. Today I came across the OnGaurdOnline.gov The information is US centric, but there is much generic advice that is also useful for the UK. There’s a list of useful topic titles, including email scams, identity theft, malware, P2P security, phishing, etc. In addition there are some useful online question based games to get you thinking about the issues on a number of areas.
However, the item I’d like to draw particular attention to is the Net Cetera: Chatting With Kids About Being Online pdf document that helps adults (parents or carers) to talk to children about their internet use. This really is packed full of useful information; the main point being openly talk to your children, explain things, listen to them, and tell them your values for on- and off-line behaviour. Quoting from the site with regard to this publication:
OnGuard Online encourages you to use this guide with your kids, in your school, at your PTA meeting, or anywhere else parents might gather. Feel free to order as many free copies as you’d like, put your own sticker on it, reprint sections in a newsletter or on a website, download a button or link to it, or even reprint it with your own logo. These materials are in the public domain.
Last week I saw a tweet about Kwercus, a secure social networking site for schools. I did a search to find out some more, but there wasn’t a whole lot out there. So I sent out a question on Twitter, hoping that someone who knew a bit more would provide a link to more info, but no response.
As my tweets are displayed on my blogs, I’ve noticed over the weekend that others are interested in finding out about Kwercus as I’ve been receiving hits from others also searching for more info. So today I’ve done a little bit more work and this is what I’ve found.
There was an article on BBC Radio 1′s Newsbeat:
Kwercus will be a secure system, based on the internet, but managed by teachers.
The company behind it hopes the site will be used as a learning resource for pupils, parents, and staff, as well as somewhere for young people to have fun.
Kwercus is due to launch in 2010.
The company behind the software is imJack PLC and they are working with the child psychologist, Professor Tanya Byron who is acting as an advisor. I’ve found the web site relating to Kwercus, though there doesn’t seem to be all that much information available on there at the moment.
But there is a video on Vimeo that went up three days ago from the time I’m writing this. It’s an hour long panel session that includes Prof Tanya Byron and also a student. There is some interesting discussion about the current use of social networking amongst children, who are below the minimum age required for registration under their terms and conditions. Also, how children are using these networks, and why. In addition, there is some talk about the benefits of using social networking with children within schools. There is also some talk about online bullying, and how this needs to be address, along with development of digital lieracy.
There are a few images around about what the environment looks like:
It’s the start of anti-bullying week. It’s important that children feel safe both on- and off-line and the BeatBullying campaign sets out to ‘Shape attitudes and change behaviour’ relating to how children act towards one another. Complementing BeatBullying is the Cybermentors.
Taken from the CyberMentors site:
CyberMentors is here to support all young people affected by bullying. If you’re being bullied, or perhaps there’s something else that’s bothering you and making you feel rubbish, and you’re not sure what to do or who to talk to, then CyberMentors is where you can go for help. It doesn’t matter how big or small you think the problem is, or whether you’re being targeted online or offline, CyberMentors are here to listen and support you.
If you want to talk about a problem you’ve got with bullying (whether you’re being bullied, whether you’ve seen it and don’t know what to do, or whether you’re actually bullying someone else and want to stop), just drop a CyberMentor a message, or ask to chat to them online. You can find their profiles on the left.
CyberMentors are young people who have been trained in their schools, and are supported by senior CyberMentors at college or university, whilst trained counsellors are also on hand if necessary.
Any child having problems with bullying can contact a mentor via the Cybermentor site to chat about their concerns.
A link to my previous post about Internet Safety.
It is important for parents, carers and teachers to ensure that children are safe when using the Internet. The Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre (CEOP) is part of the authorities in Britain dedicated to child protect. Part of their work is about disseminating the message of Internet safety. I just wanted to take the opportunity to highlight their work and to draw out some significant areas of their website.
A new intelligence report (pdf) has been published that parents will find useful in protecting their children whilst online, and an accompanying video:
Linked in with the CEOP site is the Think u know site.
This has advice split into age specific sections of 5-7, 8-10, 11-16, along with Parent or Carer and Teacher or Trainer.
The 5-7 year olds section, for example, has a set of non-threatening, age appropriate cartoons about using computers safely on the Internet.
The Parent or Carer section has some simple and informative advice about how children use technology; important uses and concerns. The different areas covered in the faq section include grooming, mobiles, gaming, social networking and chat. There’s a quiz for parents to take to test their knowledge of how children use technology and the Internet. And what about this video as a warning:
Their YouTube video channel is linked here.
Additional (30/10/09): This video is used by police in schools to highlight the issues to school children. It’s very powerful, and the user feedback about it is very encouraging.
