I came across two blogs posts that cover the topic of internet safety, identity, and educating children. The first blog I read titled "Nameless, Faceless Children", written by Julie Cunningham, discussed a simplistic approach to internet identity. She challenges the belief that people should not put any information about themselves online in order to protect their identity. Julie believes that the information put online cannot be worse than the information we voluntarily disclosed locally. One example that Julie gives is:
"Johnny has a recreational soccer game on Saturday morning for the 7 & 8 year old league, which was published in the newspaper. His last name is on his jersey. His parents and uncle cheer loudly from the sidelines “Go Johnny!”. He holds a water bottle with his elementary school name and logo printed on it. Oh, and by the way, his face is visible."
She points out in this example that the child's full name, school, age, and image is voluntarily exposed in a local setting. The main point of Julie's blog is to point out that keeping a child (or anyone for that matter) nameless and faceless on the internet is not going to protect their identity. Instead, she says we ought to teach our kids about the effects of what we share on the internet and how to use the internet safely.
The second post I read had a similar view on how internet safety and identity should be approached. "A common sense approach to Internet safety", written by Elliot Schrage, focused on education being the way to keep safe on the internet. In the post, Elliot offered over ten different sites that readers could use to educate themselves on how to use the internet safely.
In comparing these two blogs, Julie's blog was more entertaining to read with her lively examples. While Elliot's blog is drier and more technical. On the other hand, if I were looking for a more helpful blog that focuses on the "how to" of internet safety then Elliot's blog would be the way to go. Both blogs have great content, but the methods that the content is given is very different. The tone of Elliot's blog is more professional and educational. While Julie's blog sounds like she's simply talking to her friends about the subject. Both posts were successful in conveying their messages, but I don't think one is better than the other. In my opinion, a combination of these two styles of writing could be used to capture a more diverse audience and offer what the audience is looking for.
What do you think?
Yes, the first blog about the children is set as more of a letter or conversation between parents or something presented at a PTA meeting. It has no specific descriptions of where it has been done, only implies that it can be done or has been done but not specific about it. The second blog presents itself with more authority and more technical data at its disposal. It also gives different suggestions on how to better equip oneself to deal with the situation at hand.
ReplyDeleteI have to agree with Julie's post. I think that long before the digital age parents were likely to reveal information about their children in various ways. One example which comes to mind are those stickers for car windows that include the child's name and clearly indicate his/her gender.
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