The Predator Myth!

Today’s RSS blog reads led me to the Danah Boyd at HHL08 presentation on Alan Stewart’s blog.  I enjoyed listening to her talk, but I particularly enjoyed the ‘any questions?’ section at the end. What she said reminded me of my readings for the Literature review section of my dissertation. I’ve included bits and pieces here:

In a study involving young people’s use of blogs, Stern (2007) found that knowing that their personal sites are publicly accessible does not lead most young people to envision a broad audience for their online works. Despite their recognition that virtually anyone with Internet access can pore over their sites, most adolescents, by and large, cannot imagine why “some random stranger” would be interested in visiting. Rather, the typical audience that young authors visualize as they deliberate what to post online are those people that they know actually visit their sites and those whom they have directed to visit their sites.

Buckingham (2008) states that recent studies suggest that most young people’s everyday uses of the Internet are characterised, not by spectacular forms of innovation and creativity, but by relatively mundane forms of communication and information retrieval. The technologically empowered “cyberkids” of the popular imagination may indeed exist, but even if they do, they are in a minority and they are untypical of young people as a whole. He argues that there is little evidence that most young people are using the internet to develop global connections, and that in most cases it appears to be used primarily as a means of reinforcing local networks among peers.

In addition, he maintains that in learning with and through these media, young people are also learning how to learn. They are developing particular orientations toward information, particular methods of acquiring new knowledge and skills, and a sense of their own identities as learners. In these domains, they are learning primarily by means of discovery, experimentation, and play, rather than by following external instructions and directions.
 
There is, however, growing concerns about the safety and privacy of young people using these media. Adults worry that, by displaying personal information, young people are putting themselves at risk from predators who may take advantage of the anonymity and unbounded nature of the internet to make contact with young people.  An article in The Times Online (18/1/2008), entitled, ‘Parents Don’t Understand Risks Posed by Internet’, quotes Byron as saying that new technologies have created a generation gap between parents and children:

“Parents are worried about online predators, but children are more concerned about bullying and they don’t differentiate between the real world and online. It starts in the classroom and, when they get home, it’s all over their MySpace page,”

Green and Hannon (2007) found that there are some powerful myths that inform the way people think about youth culture. The main finding from their research was that the use of digital technology has been completely normalised by this generation, and it is now fully integrated into their daily lives. The majority of young people simply use new media as tools to make their lives easier, strengthening their existing friendship networks rather than widening them. Almost all are now also involved in creative production, from uploading and editing photos to building and maintaining websites. The authors argue that the current generation of decision-makers – from politicians to teachers – sees the world from a very different perspective to the generation of young people who do not remember life without the instant answers of the internet. They maintain that schools need to think about how they can prepare young people for the future workplace. They state that, rather than harnessing the technologies that are already fully integrated into young peoples’ daily lives, schools tend to make it clear that these new media tools are unwelcome in the classroom.

Green and Hannon (2007) state that their research suggests that the blanket approach of banning and filtering may not be the most effective safeguard. The children they interviewed were on the whole aware of potential dangers and adept at self-regulating. Where children found it easy to bypass the rules set by schools and parents, they were dependent on their understanding of what constituted inappropriate or risky behaviour.

I think I might have witnessed a bit of what’s been discussed here when I ‘chatted’ to Danni when she was having difficulties getting a Voki to appear on her blog. Danni had already left Carronshore and had no way of contacting me for help apart from leaving a comment on the Carronshore blog. She’d seen that we’d been including Vokis on our edublogs venu, and was having difficulty doing the same on her edubuzz site.

I was able to gatecrash her site, and managed to help her to get the Voki embedded successfully. She left a Thank You post. She received a comment on that post from an ‘unkown adult’  (to her, anyway).

 David Gilmour had been watching the precedings and had left a comment on her blog. When I saw it, I suspected that Danni would have been suspicious that someone outside our circle was leaving comments. It happened on another occasion, too. 

Now, I know that David is a trusted adult – and was able to re-assure Danni the next time we met 🙂

There were other times when adults left comments on the pupils’ blogs. This one was left by the owner of the picture that Andrew had ‘pinched’. Once again (even though I had investigated the comment author) lots of re-assurance was necessary.

It was apparent that comments from strangers were only acceptable on their own personal blogs if they were from children their own age 🙂

4 thoughts on “The Predator Myth!

  1. It was apparent that comments from strangers were only acceptable on their own personal blogs if they were from children their own age
    I guess this might be different on a class/group blog, I hope so as I’ve commented on a few. My own class always seem encouraged by adult comments on their class blog, I’d not thought through the difference with personal blogs, but it it is an important point I think.

  2. Hello John,

    Yes, I think you’re perfectly right about adult comments on class blogs being very accepted (and welcolmed) by the children. I also think that if YOU were to comment on an individual child’s blog, it would be accepted … because you, Mrs P, Mrs C (Loirston), etc. have become part of their ‘blogging circle’.

    I’m pretty sure I’ve commented on a number of Sandaig and AllStar Individual blogs. I’m also sure that in EL authority, David is a ‘household name’ on all blogs there 🙂

    You’ve given me lots more to think about ……. a follow-up post is required – head is buzzing 🙂

  3. Hi Margaret
    I’ve only used a class blog this year, although one of my students has just set up his own blog to share his year’s work – sort of like an e-portfolio. I hadn’t really thought of the difference between comments on class blogs and personal blogs. I have left comments on several student blogs in the past, and some of those students have then visited our class blog. It’s certainly something worth covering in class when you decide to set up personal blogs.

    I’ve really enjoyed reading your blog posts. Thanks for sharing your learning journey – very inspiring.

  4. Thanks for the kind comment, Pam.

    I’ve been thinking about what you wrote, and the fact that some of the children whose blogs you commented went on to visit your class site.

    Maybe the difference is that you were recognised, via your linked website, as being a teacher of children around their own age? This wouldn’t have surprised them the same way as comment linking to an adult blog site (such as the ones mentioned in the post)?

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