Keeping up with the Kids: ACMA’s Cybersafety education programMatthew Dobson Rosalie O’NealeDigital Society Cybersafety Programs Policy and Research

Communications and Policy Research Forum

Sydney 7-8 November 2011

Background

• Cybersmart: the national cybersafety and cybersecurity education program managed by the ACMA.

• Part of the Australian Government’s commitment to keeping children and families safe online.

• Key audiences: children and young people, parents, teachers/educators, pre-service teachers and library staff.

Role of research

• Research identifies issues, audiences, attitudes and behaviours and information needs.

• Allows for development of targeted and tailored education programs and resources.

• Ongoing informal and formal review of programs and resources,

to ensure accessibility, usability, and utility.

ACMA research• The ACMA’s research program examines the role of online interaction

and new technologies in the lives of Australian children and young people (CYP).

• Research assists ACMA to “keep up with the kids” and will inform future Cybersmart program initiatives.

• This recent study is a 3 year follow up to ACMA’s original 2009 Click and Connect research on CYP use of online social networking services.

• Quantitative study to be completed in 2011/12.

Research objectives

• Understand children and young people’s attitudes and perceptions toward social networking services.

• Identify attitudes and behaviours which profile children and young people’s online risk level.

• Understand children and young people’s self-management of online risk, including through protective behaviours and resilience.

• Explore the role of families and peers in children and young people’s experience and use of social networking services.

Methodology

• Qualitative research design:

> Six group discussions with 13 to 17 year olds

> Six in-home depth interviews in friendships pairs with 8 to 12 year olds

> Four in-home ethnographic immersions with 12 to 15 year olds

• Fieldwork conducted in June 2011 across different metropolitan and regional settings: Sydney, Adelaide, Coffs Harbour, Armidale and Murray Bridge.

Internet usage patterns

• 8 to 9 year olds have limited repertoires and are closely supervised.

• By 10 to 12 years, children are starting to seek information online.

• By 13 to 14 years, the majority are using the internet to socialise.

• At 15 to 17 years young people are independently engaged with the internet.

As CYP age, the internet meets an increasing number of needs

8 - 9 years8 - 9 years 15 – 17 years

15 – 17 years

10 – 12 years

10 – 12 years

13 – 14 years

13 – 14 years

I want to be actively entertained (gaming)

I want to be actively entertained (gaming)

I want to be passively entertained (browsing, consuming content)

I want to be passively entertained (browsing, consuming content)

I want to know a piece of information(searching and research)

I want to know a piece of information(searching and research)

I want to engage with other people(social networking)

I want to engage with other people(social networking)

I want to shop, bank

etc

I want to shop, bank

etc

Social Networking Services

• Facebook dominates the field of user-generated online social networks.

• From the age of 13+ CYP expect to engage online using Facebook as their social networking service.

• The language of social networking is dominated by Facebook-centric terms – Now, CYP talk exclusively in terms of their Facebook use when referring to their online social networking.

Social networking services are central to creating and presenting CYP identities

A number of activities on Facebook can signal

identity:

•Who you are friends with

•What you write in your status

•The pictures you put up of yourself

•The content you share

•The things you ‘like’

•The comments you make on other people’s content

Facebook has become central to identity building:

•It has become a vital conduit through which CYP build, negotiate and project their identities

•With many CYP who are less socially confident, using it in some cases more than the real world to do so (keyboard warriors)

•Facebook is a particularly powerful identity tool as it allows a public expression of identity to reach a wide audience

However, CYP recognise that there are two key risks with social networking services

• CYP recognise that cyberbullying happens

• Have either experienced it themselves, through friends, or witnessed it

• Recognise that it can happen easily, quickly and can rapidly escalate

• Often involves a significant number of people

• CYP recognise that cyberbullying happens

• Have either experienced it themselves, through friends, or witnessed it

• Recognise that it can happen easily, quickly and can rapidly escalate

• Often involves a significant number of people

• CYP are aware that they potentially ‘open themselves up’ to other people

• Some degree of risk to personal safety is acknowledged, although mostly confined to the extremes

• There is a strong feeling that there are a lot of ‘weirdos’ / undesirables out there

• CYP are aware that they potentially ‘open themselves up’ to other people

• Some degree of risk to personal safety is acknowledged, although mostly confined to the extremes

• There is a strong feeling that there are a lot of ‘weirdos’ / undesirables out there

Cyberbullying Privacy

Privacy risks

• Personal information“There is no way I’d ever give out my personal information over the

internet. I don’t have my phone number on there, or my address, that’s

just stupid.”

“When people check-in at home it just makes me laugh. They’re so stupid,

now everyone knows where they live.”

• Digital footprint“You don’t really think about that. It’s sort of far away and I’m sure when

we’re older and have to get jobs and that we might need to think about it,

but right now it doesn’t really matter.”

Risks

• Contact“If you just use your common sense and don’t do things like make friends with complete randoms, then you’ll be fine. Make everything private and you don’t have much to worry about.”

• Content“Sometimes I do see naughty things but I just click the red

cross straight away.”

“I’ve found heaps of funny stuff that I wouldn’t tell my mum about but it’s funny to send to people from school to try and gross them out.”

Role of peers• Peer influence is often greater than that of parents or siblings.

“Lots of the things I do on the internet is stuff my friends all do too. Sometimes we even do things online together.”

• Examples of online behaviour that can be influenced by peers include:

> the type of content consumed

> the manner of interacting online with others

> the level of online ‘sharing’ undertaken, including posts and geo-spatial social networking

> the likelihood of making contact with others, including strangers

Education needs• As CYP age their exposure to new education materials

diminishes as does their interest in the subject matter.

• Perception among research participants that when it comes to cybersafety they “know it all.”

• Older teenagers felt that there was a need to present cybersafety education in new, interesting, and personally relevant ways.

•  The emergence of new technologies – geo-spatial and mobile social networking – requires tailored cybersafety education programs in order to effectively reach CYP.

Overview

Educate

Inform

Empower

Educators

Young people

Parents

Engage

Research

Information & advice services

Counselling services

Resources for young people

Teaching resources

Professional development programs

Parent resources

Tagged

• Cyberbullying and sexting

• Digital reputation

• Digital citizenship

• Role of peers

Tagged

THANK YOU

Email: cybersmart@acma.gov.au

Direct: rosalie.oneale@acma.gov.au

Direct: matthew.dobson@acma.gov.au

Website: www.cybersmart.gov.au

Twitter: http://twitter.com/CybersmartACMA