Safer Internet Day 2012

Teaching students how to use online resources effectively and appropriately should be an everyday occurrence. All members of the education community (students, teachers, administrators, parents, community) are responsible. So understanding what that responsibility means is a first step.

Today is Safer Internet Day 2012. Organized in Europe it has become a world-wide event to raise awareness and promote education for effective use of internet resources. 

Here is a short video to explain a little more. 

As you can see, the theme for this year's event is Connecting Generations. The goal is to not just focus on kids but focus on getting everyone connected in positive ways. Whether we are 4, 14 or 84, everyone can get connected and learn how to leave a positive digital footprint.

You can visit the Safer Internet Day 2012 site for lots of lessons, talking points and resources not for just staying safe online but for using the internet more effectively. And the great thing? Even if it is after Feb 7, the lessons are timeless. You can use them anytime. It doesn't have to be a special occasion.

Taking Care Of Your Digital Self

One of the areas of focus for me in the district this year is teaching teachers and students how to take control of their digital identity and turn it into something positive and something they can be proud of. Too often each year students find themselves in situations that could be easily avoided if they understood what a positive digital footprint is and how to manage it. The same thing with teachers. Many times I hear of teachers who flat out avoid any (or make a very strong attempt) to leave no trace on the web. While they might believe this strategy works, in essence it does not. School directories, webpages and others are online. Even kids use Rate My Teachers as a place to vent/praise about educators all over. (Meredith Stewart said it best: Astounds me when teachers/professors only digital presence is Rate My Teachers/Profs page. If you aren't controlling your footprint, others are. From Twitter) 

What she says there is so very important. If you aren't controlling who you are online, some else is or will. And taking control of your digital footprint is something that is so easy to do. Who wants something like this to happen?

So, where do you start?

Google Yourself- Take a few moments and Google yourself. You might have a common name so use different variations. Add your middle name, location or something else that might provide some hits. I had the honor of speaking to a great group of educators this week at the New Literacy Institute at NC State University. One of the activities they were involved in was looking at their digital self and the first thing they did was Google themselves. It was fascinating to watch the reactions across the room as they found information about themselves they didn't know was online or information they they thought was private on Facebook or other social networks. You don't know if you don't Google. And this isn't a one shot deal. Google yourself often to make sure the information that is out there represents you in the way you want. 

Establish A Brand- This sounds complicated but really it is easy as figuring out what name you use across all that you do on the web. My brand is my name (Steven W. Anderson) and my Twitter (@web20classroom). I use the middle initial in my name because my full name is pretty common (doctors, laywers, even an actor, and some not so nice folks). So in searches done on those 2 brands the information comes back to me. The point here is to start using the same identity across multiple services so solidify yourself. And try to use your actual name or a simple variation. 

Get You A Space Of Your Own- You are going to need a place of your own to let people know who you are. I chose to use Twitter and a blog. These are places where you can further establish who you are, what you are about what what you want to say. Those are just two ways. It could be something simple like an About.me page. Again, your are further solidifying yourself on the web. What's great is you can control how much information you put out there and what information you put out there; all in an effort to control your identity. 

Stay On Top Of Things- Google Alerts might just be the best way to keep track of things easily. You set up some keywords to search (so you would do the name you have been using to Google, your brand, blog, Twitter, etc), fill out how often you want to get the alerts, an email address and boom! any page on the web that mentions any of the data you submitted lands in your inbox so you can know who is saying what about you or your brand. 

Those are just a few steps. What would you add? What has worked for you? Add some comments below. 

Online Safety Report Discourages Scare Tactics

School’s out and thousands of students have a much deserved rest from school but how will these students spend their time online this summer? A federal online safety task force found that students who spend a large amount of time with social networking sites, text messaging and other ways to communicate are not influenced by scare tactics for Internet safety. The task force determined that educating students about appropriate online behavior and digital media use will enable students to evaluate potential online risks through digital citizenship and media literacy.

The Online Safety and Technology Working Group (OSTWG), created by the National Telecommunications and Information Administration, recommends creating a web-based clearinghouse of online safety education research and establishing industry best practices for effective internet safety education program.

The group pointed out that “the statistical probability of a young person being physically assaulted by an adult who they first met online is extremely low.” The Berkman Center Internet Safety Technical Task Force found that cases of adult –to-child sexual encounters on social networks usually involved teens who were aware that they were meeting an adult male while cyber bullying can start as early as second grade. Unfortunately many parents and teachers don’t sufficiently know how to teach digital citizenship to students.

With summer here, many students will spend hours online in social networking sites and on the internet. Without understanding the risks, many students will be on their own this summer to figure out the ethics, social norms, and civil behaviors that lead to good citizenship and internet safety according to the OSTWG. Parents need to know what sort of content and information will be accessible to students when they are online. So get involved, check out what students are doing online, ask questions about who they are meeting in social networking sites and talk to them about internet safety and cyber bullying.

To read the entire article from eSchoolNews go to:
http://www.eschoolnews.com/2010/06/07/online-safety-report-discourages-scare-tactics/?

To learn more about the Online Safety and Technology Working Group (OSTWG) go to:
http://techliberation.com/2009/06/04/online-safety-technology-working-group-ostwg-is-underway/

To read the report Youth Safety on a Living Internet please go to:
http://www.ntia.doc.gov/reports/2010/OSTWG_Final_Report_060410.pdf

To learn about the Nine Elements of Digital Citizenships go to:
http://www.digitalcitizenship.net/Nine_Elements.html

Question Asked about Internet Safety Resources

Recently, I received an e-mail message from a technology facilitator who works at an elementary school. Her request was simple; She wanted assistance in locating ideas for internet safety lessons plans. The following websites offer internet safety lesson plans that may serve as guides when developing your internet safety lesson plans:
http://cybersmartcurriculum.org/
http://www.fbi.gov/fbikids.htm
http://www.ncpc.org/topics/internet-safety/internet-safety-grades-4-5
http://cybersmartcurriculum.org/lessonsbygrade/
http://pbskids.org/license/
http://www.ncwiseowl.org/zones/parent/safety.htm
You may also wish to visit the computer skills standard course of study website for additional information when planning your lessons.

10 Most Dangerous Things Users Do Online

I recently listened to “The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo” by Stieg Larsson. One of the characters was Lisbeth Salalander who was a computer hacker and quite good. She was able to completely take over a person’s computer, follow a trail of money, find bank codes and was able to transfer money from the bad guys’ accounts to new personal accounts she set up. I began to wonder if I was doing all I could to protect my computer from being hacked or becoming a victim of identity theft?

We’ve all heard that you shouldn’t give out too much information on the Internet so I thought with summer vacation fast approaching it would be a good time to remind people how to stay safe on the Internet.

When you think about all the people who will be on vacation this summer with lots of free time you know some of those people will be looking at ways to hack into computers or take part in identity thief. Just type in “computer hacking” or “how to steal someone’s identity” and see how many results you get.

Here is a list of the ten most dangerous things users do online from School CIO dated May 29, 2009: http://schoolcio.com/ShowArticle/932

1. Clicking on email attachments from unknown senders
   a. Email attachments are still the easiest way to contract viruses on your computer.
2. Installing unauthorized applications.
   a. If you can buy and download a software application for $19.95 that sells for much more you’re probably not getting a bargain and the application may have hidden malware or Trojan viruses.
3. Turning off or disabling automated security tools
   a. Even though some security tools may slow down the performance of your computer it’s not a good idea to ignore security updates or just turn off the firewall. This opens up your computer for attacks from malware or viruses.
4. Opening HTML or plain-text messages from unknown senders
   a. HTML text and images may be infected with spyware. Other HTML files may contain Java Scripts or macros that allow an unknown person to gain control of your computer turning the computer into a botnet zombie.
   b. A botnet zombie also known as a zombie army is a group of Internet computers that have been set up to forward transmissions, spams and/or viruses to other computers on the Internet without the owners knowledge. Basically your computer becomes a computer robot or “bot” for the originator who gains control of your computer.
5. Surfing gambling, porn or other legally-risky sites
   a. Most workplaces restrict Internet access to risky sites through content filters. Your home computer doesn’t have the same level of filters and restricted access and many of these legally-risky sites put your computer at risk. When you visit these risky sites a cookie is placed in your computer. That cookie can trigger pop-ups to start appearing when you’re on the Internet – pop-ups of inappropriate advertisements. Systematically deleting the cookies on your computer will help.
6. Giving out passwords, tokens or smart cards
   a. You may have to use a smart card or security token at work but how do you keep your password from family and friends? Simple – don’t give it out. A family member or friend may decide to “look around” and you could become a victim of identity theft.
7. Random surfing of unknown, untrusted sites
   a. Surfing unknown sites can make your computer vulnerable to adware and spams because hackers like to crack into browser securities, One way to protect your computer would be to surf with active content disabled.
8. Attaching to an unknown, untrustworthy WiFi network
   a. Sitting at a quiet restaurant using a free WiFi connection may be a nice respite this summer but what about the guy in the next booth who may be hacking into your laptop using that same free WiFi network?
   b. Be aware that wireless cards that use Wireless Access Protocol (WAP) are easy for hackers to get your username and password.
9. Filling out Web scripts, forms or registration pages
   a. A lot of sites today use some type of security such as SSL (Secure Sockets Layer) to provide security when making purchases or giving out sensitive information so if you’re not sure a website is secure call the company and speak to a representative before giving out personal information. Also look for websites that begin with https which are more secure.
10. Participating in chat rooms or social networking sites
    a. One of the biggest problems with social networks is the amount of information someone can learn about you by simply searching. Hackers can find out where you work, your business partners, names of family members, where you live and even when you plan to take a vacation. Even using a “closed circle” won’t keep out people who are looking for information so be careful how much information you share in a chat room or social network.

Internet Safety Is Something That All Parents Should Understand!

Internet safety for our children is so important! However, the problem we have today is that the parents of these digital native children sometimes lack the computer/internet skills that they need to understand and be aware of where their children are going on the web. When I was a child, and we won’t discuss how long ago that was, my parents didn’t have to worry or be concerned about where I was in the house. We were never in the house! We were outside creating adventures for ourselves. But when children are in the house today and on the computer, they are actually very far from the confinements of the 4 walls and roof that make up the buildings boundaries. Who are these parents that I am referring to in this blog? Well, it’s you and me and every other person who has a child. Even if you are a person who has computer knowledge, you may not fully understand the places your child is visiting on the web or who they can come in contact with. Not to add to the internet safety fire, but you also need to be aware of the cyber bullying that can happen from other kids at your child’s school.
I don’t want to paint the web as a place that our children should never go. That would be a tremendous mistake! Truthfully, you would never be able to prevent your child from accessing the internet. The best thing you can do is learn about internet safety so that you can teach your children about it as well. If you don’t, someone else will and that will most likely be their friends. Is that the way you want this to happen? I doubt it. Now we all have jobs and busy life styles, but I have a website that you can visit to teach yourself about this very important subject. Go to http://www.commonsensemedia.org/ to learn about this valuable topic.
Once you are on the Common Sense Media site, click on the “parent advice” link at the top of the page. Once there you will see several links to topics such as internet safety, digital citizenship, social networking and virtual worlds, and several other topics. You also have the ability to browse advice by grade level. However, once you click the internet safety link, you will see 39 tips about internet safety including video chatting, checking browser histories, internet filter tips, cyber bullying tips, social network tips, You Tube and your teen, online worlds discussion guide, video violence and the internet, safe and smart cell phone use for kids, should kids have computers in their rooms, as well as many other helpful tips.
Now, I could go on forever about this important topic, but if you made it this far, I doubt that you would want to read my incredibly dull writing style any further. My goal in this blog was to make you aware of the importance of internet safety and provide you with a site to learn the information you need to be an up to date wise decision making parent. I hope that I accomplished that.

Internet Safety: A Different Approach

I spoke on the topic of Internet Safety at Vienna Elementary's PTA meeting last Tuesday. I appreciated the warm reception I received from the PTA members and those who stayed for the discussion. I felt past Internet Safety workshops/ presentations I had attended had occasionally been disproportionately negative in dealing with Internet safety. The presentations would sometimes outline all the "doom and gloom" of the Internet and leave the audience feeling they should cancel their ISP and disconnect the computer. I opened with a short clip from the PBS frontline series "Growing Up Online" (included below) where Danah Boyd addresses the need for us as a society to deal with the fact that living online is an inevitable part of life in this age. I tried to frame my presentation around this idea. Internet Safety needs to take a balanced approach and deal with the education to create responsible digital citizens rather than just outlining the dangers on the Internet.


video retrieved from youtube