BlogWalker
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March 30th – Stop Cyberbullying Day
For the last few days, a very sad story about educator Kathy Sierra has been moving across the blogosphere. A heinous story about threats made on her life, scary enough to cause her to cancel a keynote speech at a tech conference in California. In support and response, Andy Carvin has requested that today, March 30, all bloggers address cyberbullying in their posts.
It is because of cyberbullying that we need to fight poorly thought through legislation such as DOPA. It is unlikely that many parents are aware of or prepared to help their children understand the depth, breadth, and danger of cyberbullying. In fact, the definition of “digital divide” has changed. It’s not about low income schools not having access to computers and technology anymore. The new “digital divide” is the gulf between how parents think their children are using computers and the reality of how they actually are. More than ever, we need iSafety and Cyberethics to be part of the school curriculum.
Fortunately, there is a growing bank of good resources for educators and parents. I really like the selection available at Netzsmarts, complete with accompanying classroom activities. I also like Bill Beasley’s Cyberbullying.org and Nancy Willard’s Cyberbully.org – along with Nancy’s very complete white paper: An Educator’s Guide of Cyberbullying and Cyberthreats.
Posts this week by Eric Hoefler, Andy Carvin, and Vicki Davis offer insightful thoughts and resources, including the newly created Stop Cyberbullying social network, annotated guidelines for stoppying cyberbullying, and cyberbullying badges. It’s a sad to think that one voice has been silenced, but also encouraging to see how quickly the Web 2.0 community is rallying to lend support and find solutions.
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8 Responses to “March 30th – Stop Cyberbullying Day”
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April 2nd, 2007 at 10:58 am
Comments are messed up on the Karl Fisch post, so:
Got it. I’m not crazy about some of the arguments that Fisch made, BUT I have and never would be snarky about it like that. In academic (university) circles, Friedmanesque flat-world views are not in good odor (I’ve heard this from both liberals and a libertarian economists), so I worry about it undermining our credibility. Also, the argument sounds a lot like the “Russians are coming” arguments made in the past. That being said, I think from Fisch’s post, and posts I’ve seen over the last month from Scott McLeod who pushed this video, they understand this, and have been asking for criticism, input, etc. so I would never been a snot about it like he was.
BTW, you going to BarCamp Sacramento in June?
April 2nd, 2007 at 10:12 pm
I’m with you, Alice. I’ve just learned from this experience to always provide some context before passing on someone else’s efforts.
BarCamp Sacramento?
April 3rd, 2007 at 9:26 am
BarCamp is sort of a tech “un”conference. The participants are expected to be part of presentation.
April 3rd, 2007 at 9:27 am
http://barcamp.pbwiki.com/
April 5th, 2007 at 10:45 am
Alice, I’m looking at their calendar and don’t see Sacramento. If it’s coming here, I definitely would like to attend.
April 5th, 2007 at 5:10 pm
http://barcamp.org/BarCampSacramento
April 5th, 2007 at 6:28 pm
Oh, BTW, Steve Hargadon is talking about holding local teacher academies here: http://classroom20.ning.com/forum/topic/show?id=649749:Topic:2758 and I suggested Sacramento for one. You interested?
April 7th, 2007 at 11:58 am
Alice, had a few issues getting registered, but I’m in now – and very one board. See you in the discussion area.