Safer Internet Day Awareness Campaign
As the use of the internet increases and the importance of being digitally self-aware rises ever so rapidly, an organization named Insafe has organized an international event known as Safer Internet Day which revolves around the promotion of safer, more responsible use of online technology especially amongst young people across the world. To do their part in the progress of their community, the students of the sixth form at The Westminster School, Dubai conducted a seminar on the 11th of February2014 in their school for students from years 7 to 11 to raise awareness on this matter.
The entire event was pre-planned by the digital leader and the sixth form’s digital hub team who conducted meetings both physically as well as digitally making use of Google docs, instant messaging apps, etc. to put together a very interactive session for the students with the help of a blog
http://sidattws.weebly.com/ that was created solely for the purpose of this event, informative videos and interactive platforms like Padlet http://padlet.com/wall/insafe wherein the students attending the event could also post their views and queries. The tasks were effectively split among the students in order to ensure that none of the students were overburdened, as the main aim was to ensure quality over quantity. The speakers who would address the audience were Nasim Mirzajani, Maaz Irfan, Asma Sohail, Samiya Rahmat, Omar Mohamed Ghanem and Ali Murtaza while the students who maintained the hardware and video editing and other such duties were Aarshia D’Mello and Mashira Ashraf.
As planned, the session was initiated by Nasim Mirzajani, who introduced the agenda of the day to the students, gave them a brief overview of the importance of personal safety on the internet and emphasized the need to recognize their rights and responsibilities as citizens of the virtual world just as is done in the physical world.
During the course of the hour-and-a-half long session, numerous topics – many of which the students present for the session were previously oblivious of – were covered. The audience members were asked to fill out an online form and quiz after signing in through a portal to the student-made blog. However, much to their dismay, they later discovered that, out of the entire crowd of students present, only one scored a prestigious five on five in the quiz which led them to the realization that they weren’t as informed about safety on the internet as they had thought.
Maaz Irfan then introduced several new topics such as digital footprint, identity theft due to phishing and pharming scams and e-portfolios. The students were also brought to the realization that although their time is divided between two very different worlds – the virtual and the real – which are visibly separated by a broad line, their actions can translate from the virtual to the real world easily. This can be particularly catastrophic if the person’s identity and information were pinched by someone who does not have the authority to access your information. This would be especially troublesome if the person who gained access to your details was a ‘creep’ – as humorously worded by Ali Murtaza – and intends to devastate your future and social life. The students were also made aware of the fact that their personal data is irretrievably stored within the social networking sites and a simple, meagre security breach is all it takes for their entire lives to be made public and accessible to internet users all over the globe. He also discussed the hazards associated with free public Wi-Fi that is used liberally and gratefully accepted by most people, and how naïve our computers can be in failing to identify the potentially unsafe ones.
This was followed by Omar Mohamed Ghanem who went on to discuss the nine elements of digital citizenship in detail, many of which the students were already aware of, but never bothered to follow. And the final section, the one that most students agreed was the biggest problem arising from the use of the internet today, was conducted by Samiya Rahmat who initiated the discussion on cyberbullying on a Padlet wall. The fact that it was almost completely filled in a matter of minutes proved that though it is not acknowledged by many, cyberbullying has become ubiquitous due to the anonymity provided by sites such as ask.fm. One pivotal point of realization during the whole session was when the students were made to realize that in all their online arguments and fights, they could inadvertently be the bullies.
As a grand finale of sorts, the students were informed that the plain-looking sign up page we signed into at the beginning of the session wasa sham site, and that all of their login details were traced back and stored onto one of the computers. This turn of events helped them come to terms with the fact that one can never be too safe when using the internet and that no matter who it may be, even if they may seem trustworthy, there will always be risks that arise from the use of the internet.
The entire event was pre-planned by the digital leader and the sixth form’s digital hub team who conducted meetings both physically as well as digitally making use of Google docs, instant messaging apps, etc. to put together a very interactive session for the students with the help of a blog
http://sidattws.weebly.com/ that was created solely for the purpose of this event, informative videos and interactive platforms like Padlet http://padlet.com/wall/insafe wherein the students attending the event could also post their views and queries. The tasks were effectively split among the students in order to ensure that none of the students were overburdened, as the main aim was to ensure quality over quantity. The speakers who would address the audience were Nasim Mirzajani, Maaz Irfan, Asma Sohail, Samiya Rahmat, Omar Mohamed Ghanem and Ali Murtaza while the students who maintained the hardware and video editing and other such duties were Aarshia D’Mello and Mashira Ashraf.
As planned, the session was initiated by Nasim Mirzajani, who introduced the agenda of the day to the students, gave them a brief overview of the importance of personal safety on the internet and emphasized the need to recognize their rights and responsibilities as citizens of the virtual world just as is done in the physical world.
During the course of the hour-and-a-half long session, numerous topics – many of which the students present for the session were previously oblivious of – were covered. The audience members were asked to fill out an online form and quiz after signing in through a portal to the student-made blog. However, much to their dismay, they later discovered that, out of the entire crowd of students present, only one scored a prestigious five on five in the quiz which led them to the realization that they weren’t as informed about safety on the internet as they had thought.
Maaz Irfan then introduced several new topics such as digital footprint, identity theft due to phishing and pharming scams and e-portfolios. The students were also brought to the realization that although their time is divided between two very different worlds – the virtual and the real – which are visibly separated by a broad line, their actions can translate from the virtual to the real world easily. This can be particularly catastrophic if the person’s identity and information were pinched by someone who does not have the authority to access your information. This would be especially troublesome if the person who gained access to your details was a ‘creep’ – as humorously worded by Ali Murtaza – and intends to devastate your future and social life. The students were also made aware of the fact that their personal data is irretrievably stored within the social networking sites and a simple, meagre security breach is all it takes for their entire lives to be made public and accessible to internet users all over the globe. He also discussed the hazards associated with free public Wi-Fi that is used liberally and gratefully accepted by most people, and how naïve our computers can be in failing to identify the potentially unsafe ones.
This was followed by Omar Mohamed Ghanem who went on to discuss the nine elements of digital citizenship in detail, many of which the students were already aware of, but never bothered to follow. And the final section, the one that most students agreed was the biggest problem arising from the use of the internet today, was conducted by Samiya Rahmat who initiated the discussion on cyberbullying on a Padlet wall. The fact that it was almost completely filled in a matter of minutes proved that though it is not acknowledged by many, cyberbullying has become ubiquitous due to the anonymity provided by sites such as ask.fm. One pivotal point of realization during the whole session was when the students were made to realize that in all their online arguments and fights, they could inadvertently be the bullies.
As a grand finale of sorts, the students were informed that the plain-looking sign up page we signed into at the beginning of the session wasa sham site, and that all of their login details were traced back and stored onto one of the computers. This turn of events helped them come to terms with the fact that one can never be too safe when using the internet and that no matter who it may be, even if they may seem trustworthy, there will always be risks that arise from the use of the internet.