Comments on: Internet safety – what are the real risks? Raw Notes. http://gwegner.edublogs.org/2006/07/20/internet-safety-what-are-the-real-risks-raw-notes/ Tue, 07 Feb 2012 11:39:00 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.2.1 By: Graham http://gwegner.edublogs.org/2006/07/20/internet-safety-what-are-the-real-risks-raw-notes/comment-page-1/#comment-2520 Graham Fri, 21 Jul 2006 06:55:10 +0000 http://gwegner.edublogs.org/2006/07/20/internet-safety-what-are-the-real-risks-raw-notes/#comment-2520 No, Bill you didn't misread my notes. It was emphasised at the end that NetAlert is about education, not banning but there wasn't a lot about changing anything in terms of our filters. I think the stats quoted would be fodder to "prove" that the filters used are providing a "safe" environment at school. (We know that isn't necessarily true - kids can hack the system, but maybe more an indicator of how little time kids are allowed online in classrooms!)The vast majority of the presentation was on the dangers and the cases that have occurred in Australia (for illustrative cases.) Interestingly, every time there was a conversation in a workshop or presentation about the read/write tools that could empower student learning (i.e. edublogs, wikispaces, flickr) it was just suggested "talk to your administrator to get it unblocked". That's hardly a long term solution but then again, the major decision makers weren't really at this conference, so the other side effects of the current filter system (blocking access to tools that kids use freely in the real world) aren't really the focus here yet. There was a lot of focus on web based learning this year so maybe awareness is building momentum. No, Bill you didn’t misread my notes. It was emphasised at the end that NetAlert is about education, not banning but there wasn’t a lot about changing anything in terms of our filters. I think the stats quoted would be fodder to “prove” that the filters used are providing a “safe” environment at school. (We know that isn’t necessarily true – kids can hack the system, but maybe more an indicator of how little time kids are allowed online in classrooms!)The vast majority of the presentation was on the dangers and the cases that have occurred in Australia (for illustrative cases.) Interestingly, every time there was a conversation in a workshop or presentation about the read/write tools that could empower student learning (i.e. edublogs, wikispaces, flickr) it was just suggested “talk to your administrator to get it unblocked”. That’s hardly a long term solution but then again, the major decision makers weren’t really at this conference, so the other side effects of the current filter system (blocking access to tools that kids use freely in the real world) aren’t really the focus here yet. There was a lot of focus on web based learning this year so maybe awareness is building momentum.

]]> By: Bill Kerr http://gwegner.edublogs.org/2006/07/20/internet-safety-what-are-the-real-risks-raw-notes/comment-page-1/#comment-2515 Bill Kerr Fri, 21 Jul 2006 04:45:38 +0000 http://gwegner.edublogs.org/2006/07/20/internet-safety-what-are-the-real-risks-raw-notes/#comment-2515 hi graham, From reading your report the emphasis appears to be on the risks rather than a risk / benefit analysis of the two way web. Was that the emphasis of the talk, or the way you reported it, or my misreading of your report? Danah Boyd: "The fear of predators has regularly been touted as a reason to restrict youth from both physical and digital publics. Yet, as Barry Glassner notes in The Culture of Fear, predators help distract us from more statistically significant molesters. Youth are at far greater risk of abuse in their homes and in the homes of their friends than they ever are in digital or physical publics...." <a href='http://billkerr2.blogspot.com/2006/07/myspace-interview.html' rel="nofollow"> myspace-interview</a> There is a link to the original interview at my blog link. I think we need some balance in this discussion. The fear based filtering currently in place in SA schools is far more about the right to control (including control of adults) than protection of children hi graham,

From reading your report the emphasis appears to be on the risks rather than a risk / benefit analysis of the two way web. Was that the emphasis of the talk, or the way you reported it, or my misreading of your report?

Danah Boyd:
“The fear of predators has regularly been touted as a reason to restrict youth from both physical and digital publics. Yet, as Barry Glassner notes in The Culture of Fear, predators help distract us from more statistically significant molesters. Youth are at far greater risk of abuse in their homes and in the homes of their friends than they ever are in digital or physical publics….”
myspace-interview
There is a link to the original interview at my blog link.

I think we need some balance in this discussion.

The fear based filtering currently in place in SA schools is far more about the right to control (including control of adults) than protection of children

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