The only way we can have solid, progressive parent-child and public discussions about children's online safety is if we can keep the facts in mind when we read the latest news about predators in Facebook and MySpace - facts based on consistent, peer-reviewed academic research about online risk. So here are the key facts to keep in mind: Not all children are equally at risk of Net-related sexual … [Read more...] about Sex offenders in social sites: Consider the facts
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Pennsylvania case study: Social-networking risk in context
This is interesting in light of criticism by state attorneys general of the peer-reviewed research in the Internet Safety Technical Task Force report this month: a just-released study from the Center for Safe and Responsible Internet Use (CSRIU). The attorneys general have said the research is outdated (it's actually not, but see the Wall Street Journal) and not enough about predators in … [Read more...] about Pennsylvania case study: Social-networking risk in context
Youth perspective essential
I've been reading social media scholar danah boyd's PhD dissertation, "Taken Out of Context: American Teen Sociality in Networked Publics," the result of her 2.5-year enthnograpic study of how teens use social-network sites. The study is unique in a couple of ways: she was like an embedded reporter, not a data cruncher, and she approached her fieldwork very differently than most adults - "with the … [Read more...] about Youth perspective essential
Key crossroads for Net safety: ISTTF report released
Online safety has reached a major crossroads, here in the US. The Internet Safety Technical Task Force's report is being released tonight, and to me (a Task Force member), it represents a stark choice all stakeholders have going forward: continue down the road of fear-based online-safety messaging or together match the messaging to what the research says. Choose to be fear-based or … [Read more...] about Key crossroads for Net safety: ISTTF report released
Toward fixing teen risky behavior in social sites: Study
A professor of pediatrics said she was a little surprised by how much information about risky behaviors teens post online - information for all to see but that their doctors struggle to get out of them. In a random selection of 500 MySpace profiles of people who say on their pages they're 18, Dr. Megan Moreno at University of Wisconsin, Madison, and her co-authors found that "54% of the profiles … [Read more...] about Toward fixing teen risky behavior in social sites: Study