The Character One Needs

Those of you who are on Facebook must be aware of the campaign to post cartoon avatars as a protest against child abuse.

Recently there have been warnings - with vague mentions of the FBI - that these cartoons are being used by pedophiles to mask their identity and make contact with children.

Snopes addresses both these issues, and reminds us that:

"Real problems don't disappear as a consequence of 'slacktivism;' they're fought through the mechanism of donation of time and/or money. The character one needs display to the world is not that of a cartoon, but of a benefactor."

A further note regarding adult online predators

Police agencies and family safety groups (as well as purveyors of child safety software) warn parents that

"Sexual predators do exist and are a very real threat. They target both boys and girls of all ages and use the anonymity of the Internet to their advantage since they can be whomever they want. Many are master manipulators with skills that can cripple any child's sense of awareness." -Family Safe Computers

How real is this threat?

"While the abduction, rape, and killing of children by strangers is very, very rare, such incidents receive a lot of media coverage, leading the public to overestimate how common these cases are. Most sexually abused children are not victims of convicted sex offenders nor Internet pornographers, and most sex offenders do not re-offend once released. This information is rarely mentioned by journalists more interested in sounding alarms than objective analysis." -Predator Panic: Reality Check on Sex Offenders

Based on his research studies, David Finkelhor, head of the Crimes Against Children Research Center at the University of New Hampshire, testified at Congressional hearings that

"...the public's perception of Internet pedophiles tricking children into revealing personal information and then stalking or abducting them is false. Most Internet sex crimes begin with weeks of explicit conversations that exploit a teen's sexual curiosity and desire for romance and adventure...To prevent these crimes, we have to take on more awkward and complicated topics and start with an acceptance of the fact that some teens are curious about sex and looking for romance and adventure...prevention efforts should focus on educating teens about drawbacks of a sexual message" (Foster's Online, 7/25/07, linked from CCRC in the News)

So...change your avatar, if you like, but back up your convictions with RL advocacy.

And share the University of New Hampshire's CCRC factsheet, Internet Safety Education for Teens: Getting It Right with your students and family members.

If you truly care about children, give them the knowledge necessary to function freely and safely in their connected world.





"My South Park Character" by Clearly Ambiguous

Protecting Reputations Online in Plain English

"Character is much easier kept than recovered." -Thomas Paine

Another fantastic offering from the folks at Common Craft:

"Aimed at young or inexperienced Web users, this video explains the long term risks of sharing inappropriate information online."

Check out an evaluation copy of "Protecting Reputations Online in Plain English" here


Related postings
Long After the Tide Goes Out
Beyond the Wall



"Mother in the mirror" by crunklygrill

Cougars

When my husband began researching cougars for an art project, he went directly to Google. He expected to find this:


Maybe a few of these:


And perhaps some:


What he didn't expect to see was:


Evidently "cougar" can also be defined as "a woman 40 years of age or older who exclusively pursues very young men." To commemorate Barbie's landmark birthday this year, a video entitled "Barbie at 50: Cougar Barbie" popped up on YouTube showing the birthday girl partying with men young enough to be her sons. (The link is below - may be considered offensive by some, so use discretion when viewing.)

While my husband and I laughed at the fruits of his research, this experience did reinforce some key concepts relevant to student internet use:

• seemingly innocent search terms can lead to unanticipated results
  
• not all search engines are created equal
• for younger students, pre-selected websites may be the best choice
• adult supervision and monitoring is key
  

In our district, elementary classes are told not to use Google. Instead, the district website has links to Clusty and Ask which both cluster results. In this case, a student searching for information on cougar, the animal, could quickly identify appropriate pages. Additional, less desirable results might appear, but they would be grouped under a different category.

Another approach is to cooperatively plan research units with the school's library media specialist, who can help teachers locate websites and databases appropriate for their grade level. All sites should be tested prior to student use, just to be sure that there are no unwelcome surprises.

Even on the "safest" sites, inappropriate content may appear. This doesn't mean that children should be barred from the riches of the Internet. It just reminds us that students need to learn how to safely navigate in cyberspace, and we need to be there to guide them.






"Cougar" by dracobotanicus
"1970 Mercury Cougar" by dave_7
"Prince George Cougars" by iwona_kellie
"Barbie at 50: Cougar Barbie" on YouTube
"Cougar Niece" by Mo ToMo

Cyber Safety: A Balanced Approach

Some of you have heard me refer to CyberSmart! before, either in my blog or on Twitter or Plurk. While I still maintain a full-time career as a K-12 teacher/librarian, I also work part- time as a professional development facilitator for the CyberSmart! Education Company.

Today, eSchool News featured CyberSmart! on their front page.

The article focuses on CyberSmart's new K-12 cyber bullying curriculum:

"The suite of K-12 lessons is being offered to schools free of charge in partnership with the National School Boards Association's Technology Leadership Network, the Character Education Partnership, NASP, and the National Cyber Security Alliance."

These are prominent associations sending a clear message: by offering guided practice in good digital citizenship, and modeling safe online behavior, schools can try to ensure that their students act appropriately whether inside a classroom or out.

CyberSmart's educational resources can help school districts address this need with free, cross-curricular lessons aligned with national and state technology and information literacy standards.

Filtering alone is not the answer to cyber safety. Our duty as educators, administrators, and parents is not just to "guard" our children but to teach them how to navigate safely on their own in an increasingly digital world.

eSchool News webshot.
All other images courtesy of CyberSmart! Education Company 2009 All Rights Reserved.