Comments on: Just the Facts

By: Dean Mattson

Dean Mattson — Sat, 11 Aug 2007 08:54:36 +0000

Here’s a very interesting article about Dateline NBC: http://tinyurl.com/2xkjtw I always regretted by sensationalization and never watched it, but I figured if the program was really catching sexual predators preying on children, it was doing some good. Well, if this article is true - and to me it has the ring of truth - what they were really doing was entrapping men by putting up decoys that were acting in ways that no “child” ever would.

By: Scott S. Floyd

Scott S. Floyd — Thu, 19 Jul 2007 17:49:47 +0000

Thanks for this post, Dean. I am participating in a technology conference for the National Writing Project called Tech Matters in Chico, CA. I copied and pasted it in its entirety (with credits and links) into our conference blog (kept behind closed doors, sorry). There was a continued discussion about safety and the fear of using Web 2.0 tools because of this. I challenged them to read your post, visit it on your site, and comment amongst the others. Hopefully they will take me up on the offer, but who knows.

Again, Thanks so much for the links and information.

By: Dean Shareski

Dean Shareski — Thu, 14 Jun 2007 23:56:40 +0000

Wes,

It seems to me that most conversations about internet safety lead most to consider the worst case scenario of sexual harm. Perhaps we need to make clearer distinctions on the impact of revealing personal information. I’m not advocating a total release of personal information but we ought to be more specific in exactly how we handle this.

The more one blogs and participates in the digital world and its many communities, the more of ourselves we reveal, that’s natural, as natural as it is in our offline lives. The difference is that conversations that take place in digital “staff rooms” are now open to the public. I recognize this and try to conduct myself accordingly. I’d show anyone photos of my family, I”m not worried about that in the same way I wouldn’t be worried if our family was featured in a national publication like a newspaper or magazine. I realize now that I live a public life under the same scrutiny, but to a much lesser degree than other public figures.

Everyone must decide their own comfort level, but we need to dispel myths about the exploitation of information shared freely in a digital world.

By: wfryer

wfryer — Thu, 14 Jun 2007 22:50:21 +0000

This is a great conversation and I appreciate both the thoughts shared here as well as the additional resources. Dean, I really appreciate this distinction, because many of my recent talks about “internet safety” have focused on disclosing personal information. In many if not all of those discussions, I don’t know if we even talked about the “s” word (sex.) Yet if discussions about sex are what put kids at risk, we absolutely should know this and share this.

By: Douglas Levin

Douglas Levin — Tue, 12 Jun 2007 11:13:33 +0000

I’ll add my voice to the chorus, as well. Let me also add a couple of additional resources that folks may be interested in. The first is the most recent edition of Cable in the Classroom’s Threshold (produced in partnership with the George Lucas Educational Foundation), which focuses exclusively on digital ethics issues as they relate to K-12 schooling. In particular, be sure to check out the “Weaving a Web of Responsibilities” graphic - all online at: http://www.ciconline.org/thresholdsummer07. One other resource that may be helpful, especially in talking to parents, is this new website: http://www.pointsmartclicksafe.org/