"It doesn’t matter how safe developers try to make these games, kids will still experiment with what they can say and do," says Julia Tanenbaum, who just finished her freshman year in high school and serves on the Ypulse Youth Advisory Board. Now extremely interested in anime and Japanese pop culture (she's studying Japanese), Tanenbaum looks back on her days in kids' virtual worlds. Her piece … [Read more...] about A teen on kid virtual worlds: Insights
FTC
Great ‘ad-ucation’ tool for teaching media literacy
Critical thinking is user (not just consumer) protection in this age of information overexposure. The FTC seems to agree. It just launched Admongo.gov, a virtual world and Web site to help kids 8-12 decode the code the ads all around them in a very mobile digital media environment, to get their "ad-ucation," as the Federal Trade Commission puts it. It's a great resource for any media-literacy … [Read more...] about Great ‘ad-ucation’ tool for teaching media literacy
FCC’s positive new plan for digital literacy & Net safety
This morning Elmo of Sesame Street helped Julius Genachowski of the FCC launch the child- and family-empowerment part of the FCC's universal broadband plan (trying to understand Mr. Genachowski's job, Elmo asked, "So you're the chairman of the Funky Chicken Club?"). But before Elmo joined him, the Federal Communications Commission's chairman spoke of the "four pillars" of broadband Internet for US … [Read more...] about FCC’s positive new plan for digital literacy & Net safety
Moderator wisdom: Virtual worlds’ youth-safety experts
Virtual worlds are a red-hot topic these days, probably because of their rapid growth and the US Federal Trade Commission's report on their content (see "Related links" below). I can think of two more reasons to add: ConnectSafely's brand-new safety tips for parents (shameless plug, links below) and insights from master virtual-world moderators in a recent 3-part series on the subject at … [Read more...] about Moderator wisdom: Virtual worlds’ youth-safety experts
FTC’s milestone report on virtual worlds
This is pioneering stuff on the part of the US government. The Federal Trade Commission today sent to Congress its close study of 27 online virtual worlds – 14 for children under 13 and 13 aimed at teens and adults – looking at the level of sexually explicit and violent content and what the VWs were doing to protect children from it. I think it's important for parents to keep in mind when reading … [Read more...] about FTC’s milestone report on virtual worlds