I received this Tweet from colleague and Blog Alliance member Mark Bethune this morning, and haven’t been able to stop thinking about it since. I have a free prep, it is Friday, and I am going for it. As always, these thoughts have not been formally vetted and are rolling off the top of my head. Please humor me and play along, perhaps if you contribute, someday, I will actually write a post that resembles a flushed out thought. In the meantime, let the stream of consciousness roll, but first the Tweet:

Internet safety and students- I have been meaning to write on this topic for some time now, because honestly I don’t see what all the hype is about. I don’t understand what, exactly it is, that everyone is so afraid of. Maybe I am a bit naïve, no I am naïve there is no doubt about that, but I don’t see the danger. I am often left asking, “What exactly are parents, teachers, and schoolboards afraid will happen if Jane mentions that her last name is Doe and that she lives in Wisconsin? What will happen if she posts a picture of herself at a basketball game, or posts a video of her science project?” Before you start educating me on digital footprints and lasting impressions, I am not saying that we allow students a wild Facebook inspired free-for-all. I am simply saying that instead of telling student not to share anything personal, we speak with them about what to post why, and the effects it will have on them and their communities.

Ah, but there is the fear of the cyber-predator! Apparently there are bands of lascivious perverts trolling the Internet hoping to find innocent children who have made the mistake of sharing too much information about themselves. Then what? Are we worried that these faceless pedophiles will scour the earth, hunting down our children to snatch them away? Your child is more likely to be stalked and abducted by a stranger who stands outside their school and follows you home in your car than by some one finding information about them online.

Am I being too daft? Of course. Yes, I agree that children should be careful with what they share, they should be aware of the dangers of living a life online, not for the sake of being abducted, but of how it affects their identity and who they are. There many important conversations to be had about the impact of children sharing and living online, but they should not revolve around the danger of cyber-predators, because let’s face it most cases of kidnapping, sexual assault and even murder are done by people your children know. As I mentioned in the beginning, perhaps I am naïve. I have had a blog for my daughter since she was born as a way to stay in touch with her family around the world. I could have password protected it, but I chose not to because I think she is a dynamic amazing human being and I enjoy sharing her experiences with others. I think her spirit and developing voice have a place in the world. I feel that her character is contagious and I am proud of her. As she gets older, however, I am thinking more about whether it has been fair of me to choose to share so much of her life online without her consent. These are the issues I would like to discuss about sharing student work online, not safety, but that is a separate post.

I work with middle school kids, so my experience is with them. I am not sure how elementary teachers feel about posting pictures and names of students online but as a parent of a young child I would like my daughter’s teachers to be having these conversations with her in school, so we can decide as a family what we share and why and with whom. Her teacher recently created a blog for their classroom and her grandmother is ecstatic. Am I really worried that someone will find this blog buried in the haystack of other blogs and track her down? Is this really the concern? I just don’t see it. There is also the question of what a stranger could do with her photographs and yes this is disturbing. Alec Couros wrote a great post about this exact issue last year, I suggest you take a look. I am not sure this post is the place to flush out my thoughts on that, will try to get to it soon.

In closing, let me say that the most rewarding experiences I have had online, the most authentic and personal relationships have been because I shared more than I should have. The relationships I have built and maintain are rooted in the fact that I am more than a teacher who blogs. I am a full human being and I try to share that with the web. Different people connect to different aspects of my identity and I find this inspiring. If we want to teach students to truly connect and learn to become networked, how can we expect them to only share slices of themselves? How can we except them to make meaningful connections if all they write about is school, and only share the most mundane parts of their personalities? Why not allow them to create a youtube account, or post pictures on Flickr, to blog, to tweet, and see who they find? Sure they need our guidance, but they do not need our paranoia. If we want them to be global digital citizens then we have to allow them the freedom to be themselves. At a recent conference with Julie Lindsay we came up with some definitions of what a digital global citizen looks like:

• Someone who is open and curious.
• Someone who knows his or her identity is aware of their digital footprint and actively explores, creates, and promotes it
• Someone who is aware and mindful of themselves, their community and the big picture of the world around them.
• Someone who can communicate their views, feelings, and ideas respectfully and responsibly online.

My question is how can we expect students to be these things and afraid at the same time? We need to teach and guide our students to be open and share responsibly, but not shackle them with fear. It’s a lot like real life really. But please tell me I’m wrong. Convince me to be afraid…