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First off, I want to thank Andy Carvin for organizing this day and the ning site and leading by example - showing us how to take an issue and integrate the use of new social media tools! Also, hats off to Lisa, Jory, and Elisa (as well as to my fellow CE editors) for posting such brilliant thoughts about this topic.
Andy's post yesterday describes how he is experimenting incorporating the use of Twitter into this campaign. He hasn't neglected the traditional tools either - yesterday he and I as well as Elisa Camahort were interviewed on the BBC about this issue.
This issue is so massive that it is going to take an ongoing effort from many different angles -- educatiing young people with help from teachers and parents as well as everyone who is using the Internet now - to model good behavior and continue to the dialogue around this. I also think that those who make the tools need to have awareness of this too.
As I think about my own children getting to the age when they will use the web, I'm trying not to get too depressed about what educators have said about this growing problem of cyberbullies over at the Stop CyberBullying site. Yet, I have only to click over to Vicky Davis and I'm inspired.
Here's her advice for educators, students, and parents on how to stop Cyberbullying Today!:
- JOIN the Stop Cyberbullying networkto
create a central repository of information that is rated and reviewed
by educators and to discuss what works. View it like the front lines
establishing a form of communication. (If the network is blocked, I've
got a template on my blog
that you can mail your IT person to ask for it to be unblocked.) After
joining, post hyperlinks or review and comment on the resources of
others, join the conversation.
- EDUCATE YOURSELF - Read how your school can respond to and prevent it over at Stop Cyberbullying.com (and how to tell the difference between harrassment and cyberbullying from a legal standpoint.) Take some of the free lessons at Wired Safety. Listen to Wes Fryer's podcast (or read his wiki ) about Cyberbullying. You can listen to the whole podcast, or if you are short on time,read the highlights that I have annotated and listen to the clips you choose. (I did this using Innertoob -- a great way to grade podcasts, by the way.)
- SHARE -Plan to show this video to your students
during the next several weeks and talk about the importance of telling
someone when they are being harassed online. (You can also see a wealth of other videos collected at the Stop Cyberbullying Network)
- REPORT - Every little BIT
helps. When you see someone inappropriately attacking another blogger
either on comments on or a blog, say something! (Often we DON"T see it
because of comment moderation.) We often don't say things because we
are afraid. Afraid that some "nut case" is going to come after us.
However, if we agree that we will all band together and speak up. If we
are afraid to "stand up," Wired Safety has a Cyber 911 tipline that you can also use.
- SPEAK - Use a badge from Scott McLeod on your blog and hyperlink it to http://stopcyberbullying.ning.com, or just copy the link and image from the picture. Post and share the facts from the experts and tag it <a
href="http://www.technorati.com/tag/stopcyberbullying"
rel="tag" >stopcyberbullying</a>. Speak up in your sphere of
influence: the classroom, the PTO, the civic group, the government
agency, the educators organization. Make sure this is a topic that your
teachers learn about and understand. We must become a cacophony of
voices speaking out about how to be wise, civil, and successful online. - BE AN ADVOCATE FOR WISDOM - When the leaders of the Dark Ages became afraid of thoughts and dissension, they burned books. We cannot afford to burn blogs (as ill-thought out DOPA would do) and the
