About a third, or 82 million, of Indonesia's 250 million+ people are online, LaPrensaSA.com reports (via the EFE news service). That's twice as many Internet users in "the world's third-largest democratic country" since about a year ago, based on 2013 World Bank data, and 69 million of them are on Facebook. That makes Indonesia Facebook's 4th-largest market after the US, India and Brazil, … [Read more...] about Social media snapshot: Indonesia
Of young people’s (not just digital) citizenship
This being Digital Citizenship Week in the US, here's a view of it that isn't typically heard by parents and K-12 educators here. It's the view from youth themselves, as captured by scholars in the new book Wired Citizenship: Youth Learning and Activism in the Middle East, edited by Linda Herrera at University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign (Routledge 2014). I hope that – even though entire … [Read more...] about Of young people’s (not just digital) citizenship
About our strange way of understanding teen sexting (guest post)
By Nina Funnell Based on her many thoughtful conversations with youth and adults about sexting over several years, Australian researcher and author Nina Funnell – who I met and heard speak at an Internet safety conference in Sydney last year – offers adults the rare opportunity to step outside the box of conditioned, fearful and often legalistic thinking about technology and sexuality. Here is … [Read more...] about About our strange way of understanding teen sexting (guest post)
Zooming in on ‘screentime’ (this time with more precision)
Don't believe everything you read about "screentime." It's rarely helpful – especially if presented as an undifferentiated mass of digital activity that just needs to be limited. That blunt-instrument approach is not helpful to parents. This very visual commentary from graphic designer and blogger Heather Hopp-Bruce in the Boston Globe is a refreshing departure from most messages about children's … [Read more...] about Zooming in on ‘screentime’ (this time with more precision)
Protecting student privacy calls for student participation
This era of big data and big exposure – of all aspects of life to peers, the public and even perpetrators – calls for big participation. Because every day people are exposing, sharing, uploading, creating and inputting things about themselves and others, whether in social situations or part of their jobs, as friends, relatives, students or professionals, everybody is a participant (and … [Read more...] about Protecting student privacy calls for student participation