Playing It Safe

When my family and I get off the plane in a new country that we've never visited before, we often stick out like sore thumbs.  It makes sense since we're not so sure of how things work.  Not only that, we often look different than those around us. As a result, people approach us with offers of help and suggestions on what to do.  The problem is we just don't know who to trust.  That's why whenever I travel to a new place, I always keep safety in the back of my mind.

It's the same for the internet.  We've now extended our learning into cyberspace with our blog work, which has some great benefits, but it's also worth spending time thinking about how to keep safe and protect ourselves from the unexpected.

We've already done some important work on this with our POST filters.  We learned to "think before you post" by defining the following with everything we put online:

• P--Purpose
• O--Offer new insight
• S--Skillful writing
• T--The Core Values

When researching other ways to be safe online, I came across this video and list of tips from commonsense media.

Rules of the Road for Kids

1. Guard your privacy. What people know about you is up to you.

2. Protect your reputation. Self-reflect before you self-reveal. What’s funny or edgy today could cost you tomorrow.

3. Nothing is private online. Anything you say or do can be copied, pasted, and sent to gazillions of people without your permission.

4. Assume everyone is watching. There’s a huge, vast audience out there. If someone is your friend’s friend, they can see everything.

5. Apply the Golden Rule. If you don’t want it done to you, don’t do it to someone else.

6. Watch the clock.  Don't spend too much time looking at screens.

7. Choose wisely. Not all content is appropriate. You know what we mean.

8. Don't hide. Using anonymity to cloak your actions doesn’t turn you into a trustworthy, responsible human being.

9. Think about what you see. Just because it’s online doesn’t make it true.

10. Be smart, be safe. Not everyone is who they say they are. But you know that.

I cannot emphasize enough how important it is to protect your reputation and be safe online.  It's why we ask you not to publish your last name.  It's why we don't want you publish photos that misrepresent you or those close to you.  It's also why I'm asking you to make an avatar.  

Any guesses on who this might be?

I'm not talking about the movie.  I'm talking about a graphic representation of yourself.  To protect our own image, we can create avatars to be our online picture.  We can add it as our blogger profile picture, and it will show up when we leave comments on other peoples' blogs.  Let's try it out.  Here are some simple avatar makers that are fun to use.  See if you can capture your image and maybe even something you like to do with an object or piece of clothing.  Once you have one you like, take a screen shot of it and upload it to your blogger profile.

http://www.reasonablyclever.com/mini-mizers/mini-mizer-2-0/
http://www.blogcdn.com/www.joystiq.com/media/2006/10/mii.swf
http://clayyourself.com/
http://www.buildyourwildself.com/
http://www.manga.com/content/avatar-face-maker

Photo Credit: <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/10324217@N08/3217044145/">maria.benitezmontero</a> via <a href="http://compfight.com">Compfight</a> <a href="http://www.flickr.com/help/general/#147">cc</a>