Digital citizenship, briefly

Anne CollierExecutive Director, Editor

NetFamilyNews.orgCo-director

ConnectSafely.org

What we now know

...from youth-risk research in US:Harassment & cyberbullying =

most common riskNot all youth are equally at risk A child’s psychosocial makeup & environment

are better predictors of online risk than the technology he or she uses

No single technological development can solve youth online risk

What else we know

…from youth-risk research:

“Youth who engage in online aggressive behavior … are more than twice as likely to report online interpersonal victimization.” – Archives of Pediatrics, 2007

A living Internet

HuffingtonPost.com

So the ‘Net safety’ that

doesn’t work…• Is one-size-fits-all• Appeals to adult fears• Focused only on potential victimization• Presents potentiality, not research• Views tech as both problem & solution• Sees social media as risky because hard to control• Not relevant to its “beneficiaries”

A taxonomy of online safety

• Physical safety – freedom from physical harm• Psychological safety – freedom from cruelty,

harassment, and exposure to potentially disturbing material

• Reputational and legal safety – freedom from unwanted social, academic, professional, and legal consequences that could affect you for a lifetime

• Identity, property, and community safety – freedom from theft of identity & property

What Net Safety needs to be

• Research-based, not fear-based, so relevant to young users, who are not fearful of technology

• Flexible, layered – not one-size-fits-all• Respectful of youth agency – stakeholders in positive

experience, not just potential victims• Positive, empowering: Not just safety from (bad

outcomes) but safety for…• Full, constructive engagement in participatory

society (context!)

• Control is difficult anyway in a user-driven, mobile media environment• Inconsequential use => powerlessness => hopelessness => greater risk • Agency, stakeholdership, citizenship => empowerment => greater safety• Citizenship suggests active, ethical engagement

Control model => agency model

The POWER of ‘social norming’

Source: Craig & Perkins, Hobart and William Smith Colleges 2008

Reinforcing our community’ssocial norms

Source: Assessing Bullying in New Jersey Secondary Schools: Applying the Social Norms Model to Adolescent Violence: Craig, Perkins 2008

Levels of online safety

“Promote digital citizenship in pre-K-12 education as a national priority.”

– Youth Safety on a Living Internet:Report of the Online Safety & Technology Working Group

To U.S. Congress, June 2010...

• It’s protective • Promotes agency – critical thinking, self-actualization (for user-driven media)• Supports civic engagement online and offline• Turns users into stakeholders – citizens• Thus supports community as well as individual goals & well-being

Why citizenship?

The most basic definition

“The central task of citizenship is learning how

to be good to one another.”

– A.J. Patrick Liszkiewicz

Expanded definition (draft)

Citizenship: the rights & responsibilities of full, positive engagement in a participatory world

• Rights – access & participation, free speech, privacy, physical & psychological safety, safety of material and intellectual property

• Responsibilities – respect & civility => self & others; protecting own/others’ rights & property; respectful participation; learning and benefitting from the literacies of a networked world

The pillars of

citizenshiplearning

By Julian Turner

• Infrastructure

• Guidance

• Practice (lots)

5 key elements• Participation or “civic engagement”• Norms of behavior or "good

citizenship" or etiquette• Rights and responsibilities• A sense of membership or belonging• The literacies: tech, media, social

• Opportunity to co-create the social norms of social media (or “cyberspace”)• More positive personal & collective experiences in/with social media• Power, as agents for social good (offline too)• Opportunities for collaboration with fellow change agents• Leadership training and opportunities in online and offline communities.• Safety and support

What’s in it for youth?

“If the notion of digital citizenship in

policy discourse is to have traction with its

constituents and prove effective, it is vital

that our understanding and use of the term

be directly informed by young people’s

values and insights.”

--Third & Strider, University of Western Sydney

No citizenshipwithout the citizens

Thank you!Anne Collier

anne@connectsafely.orghttp://os3.connectsafely.org