Internet Safety Presentations (Resource List)

[Replies: 6]

Hi,
Now that we are in Back To School mode, it's time for people to request Internet Safety Presentations to be held for parents, teachers and students. But where to turn?

Anne, Larry, I know there are many great (and often free) speakers who can come into the school or parent organization environment to give an internet safety presentation. I do a few per month, you probably do as well, but we can't be everywhere there is need. Maybe you know some that I've missed? Here are a few to start:

Your local police department (D.A.R.E. or cybercrime officer)
Your local district attorney's office
Web safety organizations such as ConnectSafely, IkeepSafe, WebWiseKids

What other agencies would you suggest people contact to find a speaker?
Or, who has ready-to-go presentations that an interested teacher, administrator or parent could use themselves?

thanks!
Marian Merritt

Last Post Sep 6, 2008 11:32 AM by: Anne

Anne

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Re: Internet Safety Presentations (Resource List)

Sep 6, 2008 11:32 AM

Respectfully, internet child safety, I just don't feel that the "be afraid, be very afraid" message has ever really been effective in online-safety education. From the Crimes Against Children Research Center's work, we now know that only a very small percentage of online youth are at risk of predation (see "Profile of a teen online victim") - less than 5%, certainly, and this group of young people is at risk offline, not getting the validation and support from family and friends that all children need. And we know from several national studies of cyberbullying that at least a third of youth are affected by that behavioral problem (see this item) on which fear-based messaging has no effect and which is addressed with curricula on ethics and citizenship in a participatory culture (and what's modeled for them by good people every day at home and school as they grow!).

As MarianMerritt put it, "when parents leave a cyber-education program, often the items that stick most in their minds are the 'fright' statistics or stories about predation or grooming." So what happens when parents go home afraid for their children? I'd love to get people's thoughts on this here. Tell me if you disagree, but very often adolescents - whose developing prefrontal cortexes need to do risk assessment, pediatricians and child-development experts tell us - want to get as far away as possible from overly fearful or overreacting parents; much-needed parent-child communication diminishes; and kids go into stealth mode (go online at friends' houses and other locations, cover their online tracks with proxy servers and other workarounds, establish accounts in off-shore social sites showing no corporate responsibility, all of which can potentially put them at greater risk than if they're actually working and talking about online socializing with their parents). Parents need to be engaged in adolescents' lives as the latter do their developmental "jobs" of identity exploration and risk assessment. I feel online-safety educators need to be very careful that the messaging they use doesn't lead to a reduction in parent-child communication and mutual respect. Would appreciate your comments. Thanks, all, for this discussion.
Anne
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Anne Collier
ConnectSafely co-director

internet child safety

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Registered: 9/6/08

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Re: Internet Safety Presentations (Resource List)

Sep 6, 2008 7:03 AM

Hi folks, Trust no one online. Especially when children are involved. Being aware of a child's online activities is not a violation of their privacy. It is a preventative measure that needs to be done in order to ensure they are not being taken advantage of. Many online predators are master manipulators. So setting up some safety measures can make all the difference. I wrote a book with tips and information that show you how you can prevent your Child from becoming a predator’s target and your worst nightmare. Internet Child Safety

digitalt

Posts: 1

From: UK

Registered: 9/3/08

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Re: Internet Safety Presentations (Resource List)

Sep 3, 2008 1:34 PM

Hi Guys,

I am based in the UK and have been wondering about the same sort of thing. We don't even have a strong law enforcement presence, and I have been shocked by huge variation in quality and delivery when teachers are "asked" to speak to parents.

I have heard that CEOPs are building a volunteer employee scheme for some private sector businesses - but I am concerned that they have a very anti-abuse message. Having spoken at a number of schools it is clear that parents need encouragement, as well as wider (web) media literacy help.

I have set up a site, it is very early days, where people talking to parents can share experiences, tips and tricks (eg: it can very difficult to get parents to turn up to school sponsored events) as well as content. It would be great to get a really balanced parental session built.

The site also provides parents with an online community to discuss issues with other parents - although getting them to take part is proving challenging!

Anyway, any resources that you uncover (or need to post centrally) please let me know.

Stuff that I have found and our resources for event organisers can be found at http://www.digitalparents.org/Resources

Thanks,

Toby

MarianMerritt

Posts: 2

From: Culver City, CA

Registered: 8/29/08

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Re: Internet Safety Presentations (Resource List)

Sep 2, 2008 1:49 PM

Hi Anne and all,

Symantec has created an employee "Evangelism" program with prepared presentation materials that anyone can use in their school, church, community group to educate about online safety. This is a wonderful program and one that works beautifully with two conditions: you need to have an employee who has the drive to put these programs on and you need to have access to an organization. Right now because it's a small program, we haven't publicized it externally which is a shame but so is raising hopes we can provide a speaker and then failing.

I agree with you about the crime prevention fixation that many speakers use. What's also frustrating is that when parents leave a cyber-education program, often the items that stick most in their minds are the "fright" statistics or stories about predation or grooming, rather than the day to day crimes or threats that impact most kids.

How can we help you in the quest to create a speaker's bureau? I think this might be a great program to collaborate on!

Anne

Posts: 507

Registered: 6/26/06

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Re: Internet Safety Presentations (Resource List)

Sep 2, 2008 1:32 PM

Marian, an afterthought: One way to go for those interested in shaping the public discussion in a balanced, research-based way would be not only to help create a speakers bureau of some sort but also to pull together experts with that approach and create a train-the-trainers academy or event that helped develop good speakers. Tx again for your question,
Anne
--
Anne Collier
ConnectSafely co-director

Anne

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Registered: 6/26/06

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Re: Internet Safety Presentations (Resource List)

Aug 29, 2008 3:26 PM

That is a really good question, Marian. We frequently get requests from all over the country, and in most cases the presenter needs to be local. A few years ago at a GetNetWise Advisory Board meeting in DC, I suggested that somebody set up an online-safety speakers bureau.

I think it's getting to be more of a problem because there are so few speakers who are not law-enforcement people. There are some great speakers in that field, of course, and all the officers who do speak have the best of intentions, I'm sure, but the problem is simply that law enforcement deals with crime. As you well know, most of the issues parents, educators, and social-networking sites are dealing with online don't involve crime. They're about bullying, harassment, etc. - with research showing that a third of US teens reporting they've been cyberbullied vs. maybe 3-4% at risk of predation. We've just got to get some balance into public education about online safety, and that won't happen as long as most of the talks and presentations are given by experts in online crime.

Some ideas that occur: One of our sponsors, as part of its employee public service program, is developing an online-safety-ed volunteer program (training employees to give talks in their communities); I think that's a great idea. There are some new books out on cyberbullying, so their authors would probably be great speakers - it would be fantastic if Sarah and Emily Buber, teen authors of Letters to a Bullied Girl: Messages of Healing and Hope could do a lot of public speaking, but they have to find time to go to college (see this item for more on them)! And there are some great tech educators out there who could speak eloquently and accurately about constructive use of technologies they use at school - from social networking to blogging to virtual worlds to multiplayer gaming; by definition, they have experience with both the benefits and risks of youth using these technologies. [BTW, here's an example of what we don't want online-safety presentations to be like.]

Enough from me - hope others will chime in here. Thanks for posting,
Anne
--
Anne Collier
ConnectSafely co-director

MarianMerritt

Posts: 2

From: Culver City, CA

Registered: 8/29/08

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