This is a presentation I held at the Computers, Privacy and Data Protection conference in Brussels in January 2010 (www.cpdpconferences.org). I present You Decide, a school project aimed at empowering young people to make their own (good) decisions when they use the internet and social media.
The title of the conference this year is ”An element of choice”. And what better headline is there to talk about a project called ”You decide”? I’m going to show you some of the things that we in order to made to try and empower young people to make good decisions when they use what I guess we probably soon will stop calling ”new media”. As the name of the campaign indicate – we think that it’s very much up to the young people themselves to figure out what they want and how they want to interact with others. We ask, for instance: How do you want to be seen?
Or you can see it on the You Decide pages: http://www.dubestemmer.no/How+do+YOU+want+to+be+seen%3F.9UFRzQ30.ips
All Norwegian children, ages 8 and up use PC. 75 % use the Internet every day Norwegian children now spend more time online than they spend on any other medium such as TV The average age for starting to use the internet has decreased. In 2003 children started using the internet ages 7-10, and in 2008 they were 5-8 (Trygg bruk 2008) Children are social internet users: - Entertainment: games, movies, music - Social interaction: online communities, chat Contribute with content: blog (in particular the girls), You Tube To the left you can see the most popular blog on one of the Norwegian blog Sites. Emilie Nereng, who calls herself Voe, gets 100 000 visitors every day! She gets thousands of comments on every item she publishes. She is 14 and has been blogging since she was 13. She sais she has a lot of fun with her blog, but she has also encountered some difficulties. She has to have a disclaimer on her profile because so many people pretend to be her when they post to other peoples’ blogs. At one point there were 20 different profiles pretending to be her on Nettby, the biggest Norwegian social networking site. And she’s not the only one with problems: 23 % have found pictures or video of themselves online without their permission (trygg bruk undersøkelsen 2008) 70% of children between the ages of 10-15 have experienced cyber bullying – being bullied, bully or know someone that has been involved. (Opinion/Telenor)
The Norwegian Board of Technology, the Norwegian Data Inspectorate and the Norwegian Directorate for Education and Training were given money to make a campaign addressing privacy and safe internet use. But it’s difficult to change the world with slogans. If you want to fix something, you first have to agree what the problem is. And what we – the adults and the authorities - think are problems might not be perceived as problems to the youngsters. But one thing at least the partners in the project agreed on is that both young people AND teachers AND parents know too little about how new media works, what privacy issues arise from use of these media, and how to handle both privacy and other issues, such as cyber bullying, commercial pressure on young people and ”What is a trustworthy source?” We decided it was easier for us to reach into the schools than into the homes – especially since we knew that this type of material is in great demand. For many teachers this is an area where they feel that the students know more then they do, and because of this, they are reluctant to teach it.
This is a page from the teaching material: We first introduce the topic, We have some tasks and topics for discussion We have some facts And we have some real life examples The teaching material is quite unique in that the material is the same both for the teachers and the students. Some teachers reacted to this, asking: Isn’t there a guide for teachers with the right answers? And the answer is: There are no right answers. Rather than pointing fingers, the campaign aims at empowering and encouraging children to reflect on privacy and make up their own minds: - What information is it ok to put on the internet about yourself? About others? - How much of the children’s activities should parents and teachers be allowed to check? - Does surveillance cameras make the streets safer? - Who can you trust on the Internet? How can you tell if someone is trying to sell you something?
We started with a brochure for the older students – aged 13-17. So far almost 50% of all high schools in Noway have ordered sets orf brochures More than 60% of all secondary schools have ordred it, and even 30% of elementary schools! (Aug. 2009) Adopted in at least 9 countries: Denmark, Andorra, Spain, Canada, Makedonia, Slovenia, Austria, Belgium In a survey, 97% of the teachers who used it said they would use it again. In fact the only really negative feedback we got, was that there wasn’t a ”you decide” for the younger children. So we made one.
This brochure covered more topics than the 13-17 one, which mainly focussed on different aspects of privacy Within a few months after the launch, more than 30% of all elementary schools in Norway had ordered the films and brochures. Now I’m almost done with my presentation – but remember – not everything can be undone...
Or you can see it on the You Decide pages: http://www.dubestemmer.no/Did+YOU+send+that+lame+message%3F.9UFRzQ41.ips
And please visit our website to take a closer look at what we made. Everything is available in English. We own the rights to almost everything, and we love to share, so please don’t hesitate to contact us if you want to use some – or all – of the things that we’ve made in your own country. Thank you