A US law about children's online services can really only regulate US-based children's online services. It might influence foreign regulators but it has no jurisdiction over sites and services based outside the US and can't stop US users from leaving compliant services and going to noncompliant ones outside the US (or in it, for that matter). So, by the global nature of the Internet, there's no … [Read more...] about Today’s Net, kids & COPPA: Our comment to the FTC
Another high-profile sexting study: Takeaways for parents
Let's just cut right to the takeaway for parents, then some background. The takeaway, which is right in the headline of TheAtlantic.com's intelligent coverage of new data on sexting published in the journal Pediatrics: We need to talk with our kids about sexting, but I would add: that might be in the context of their developing sexuality, of the family's values, of appropriate use of digital … [Read more...] about Another high-profile sexting study: Takeaways for parents
A suspension of disbelief needed
Sidebar to my post below, "Literacy for a digital age" In talks he gives, media professor Henry Jenkins, often refers to the advice Peter Parker, aka Spiderman, gets from his Uncle Ben: "With great power comes great responsibility." But Dr. Jenkins, a professor at the University of Southern California, isn't only creating a parallel between young Spiderman's new-found super-powers and … [Read more...] about A suspension of disbelief needed
Literacy for a digital age: Transliteracy or what?
Digital literacy educator Diana Graber is crowdsourcing a media literacy curriculum for 8th-graders at Journey School in southern California. It's Year 3 of the school's CyberCivics program that Diana's building, she writes in the CyberWise blog. Reading her resource-rich post got me thinking about all I've learned about digital literacy, media literacy, and social literacy since I first heard … [Read more...] about Literacy for a digital age: Transliteracy or what?
Important for safety: ‘It Can Wait!’
There seems to be something automatic about responding immediately when a text comes in. Maybe it's because a text is just part of a conversation. But whatever that reflex is, it needs an override when we're driving – an override either in the software between our ears or some "I'm not available right now" software in our phones. AT&T has an app for that called "DriveMode" that sends a text … [Read more...] about Important for safety: ‘It Can Wait!’