Tag Archives: privacy
Welcome to the 2013 What’s Your Story? Video Contest
Posted on 05. Feb, 2013 by lynette.
For the last 3 years, we’ve been asking young people across the US and Canada to tell us in 2 minutes or less their stories about safe, responsible technology use. They’ve responded with enthusiasm and creativity; they’ve entertained and moved us.
Our contest themes have varied each year. As a result we’ve seen a wide range of entries: how social networks are used, how cell phones are misused, or how bullying makes people feel and act, for better or worse.
This fourth time around, we’re sticking to the format that’s worked so well so far. We hope to again see some inventive storytelling on film. We’d like contestants to continue using social media to spread their message. And we’re ready to give out some very big cash prizes again.
But this year, we’ve changed a few things – hopefully for the better.
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‘Tis the Season to Share, But With A Cell Phone, Share Wisely
Posted on 04. Dec, 2012 by lynette.
It’s so easy to share photos using mobile social networking apps like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Tumblr. The fact that we can capture something we’ve seen and need to share immediately with our friends and family is an amazing ability. One tap and you have a picture. One more and you have a massive audience for it.
During Hurricane Sandy, Instagram logged around 1.3 million photos tagged with the word #sandy. These were images taken by the public and shared with the world, so the rest of us could see what was happening, up close and in near real-time. It will go down as another shining example of social media’s usefulness and power to do good.
But the same tools can be misused, to the detriment of the person using it. We’ve seen a current trend among youth around the world taking and photos of private information in and sharing them in public places. Before giving your kids a smart phone this holiday, be aware and ready to give your kids the right guidance.
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Can You Trust That Link?
Posted on 21. Sep, 2012 by lynette.
In an age when everyone can author or share information to a mass audience almost instantly, it is more critical than ever to develop and sharpen our ability to discern the credible from the implausible things we see online.
There are many purveyors of false or biased information on the Internet – a company seductively advertising the effectiveness of its weight loss product, a politically-motivated organization hoping to persuade you to vote for their cause, a hacker attempting to fool you into clicking on something that infects your computer with malicious software.
Thankfully, among the mounds of information we find online, there is also the credible and the safe. It’s a good habit to have and teach others how to figure out which is which. I believe the skill to do this is made up of 2 basic things: information literacy and information security.
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From cyberbullying to online reputations to cell phones, ‘What’s Your Story?’
Posted on 10. Feb, 2012 by lynette.
The world’s current obsession with kids and technology is understandably rooted in the fear of the unknown and is further fueled by the media’s sensationalization of “kids gone wild” stories that are true but rarely happen.
Yes, bad things do happen online, I am not trivializing this fact by any stretch. But sometimes, most of the time, good stuff happens, too.
That’s why we are happy to announce that our 3rd annual ‘What’s Your Story?’ video contest is now open for entries. For a third time, we want to hear what young people have to say about issues related to their safety and responsibility online. For another year, we will award the best entry with $10,000 and runner-up prizes to the best individual and school entries. If the last two years serves as any predictor of the third, we believe young people have a lot to say on these matters and they want and need to be heard.