Education Not Legislation/Play Is Good
[SUMMARY—An interrelated double post.]
(WORLD) There is justifiably a lot of discussion around safeguarding young people online—ensuring there is an environment and level of digital media literacy in which to practice safe surfing.
Our clients commonly ask the following after we've introduced them to the fantastic online tools and platforms:
• What policies or safeguards do we have to put in place to protect us as a organisation/school/service/agency/brand?
• What policies or safeguards do we have to put in place to protect (our) young people?
• Are there any examples of good practice?
Relevant questions. Important stuff. Right questions, just at the wrong time.
As a professionals working with young people we must understand the possibilities and pitfalls before putting any frameworks in place. The problems many organisations face is their knowledge and media activities does not mirror what young people know or are doing. Add to this the mainstream media and their usual negative feature of anything to do with technology and young people then this discrepency gives rise to fear and in turn to frameworks of control (or sometimes simple blocks).
The problem is, the people who (attempt) to create leglisation are usually those who are far removed from the delivery—case in point:
So what to do?
Let your staff play. As children, play is the powerful mechanism by which we learn. As adults, play is something very separate from our professional lives—it is confined to leisure pursuits or activities.
Playing is essential to frame and contextualise our understanding of something. It's the best teaching tool. It's what we do in everyone one of our MediaSnackers training sessions—we create a space to play and question.
So when was the last time you played on a new website, an online platform or a piece of technology? If you're a manager, when was the last time you created time and space to enable your staff to play and gain a greater understanding of whatever it is you're responsible for?
The best way to understand something is to play. We become 'educated by stealth'. At least then, when it comes to providing answers to those important questions around safety and frameworks you're making a decision based on the actual rather than the perceived!
UPDATE: Just been sent details of this conference by a colleague—maybe it should've read: How do you balance safe and positive use of digital technologies with a EDUCATED approach?
We did try and contact the event organisers on the advertised email but it got bounced?
Related posts: To Ban Or Not To Ban, Policing Youth Online and Future Trends
Filed by DK on December 5 2007
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