Digiteen Project: Global Digital Citizenship Collaboration and Education

The Digiteen™ Project is a global hands-on project for, upper elementary, middle and early high school students, (typically Grade 4-9, 8-15 year old) which was founded by Julie Lindsay (now in Beijing, China) and Vicki Davis (Camilla, GA USA) in 2008. This project studies digital citizenship with students researching current topics, writing a collaborative report on a wiki, and performing and documenting offline action educational projects to promote effective digital citizenship at their local schools. The purpose of the project is to educate on and promote effective Digital Citizenship and responsible online choices as well as immersing students into an educational community for learning and collaborating. 

Recently, a Digiteen student posted this video to ignite a discussion...

[ This is was written by a student participant in the current Digiteen project from Georgia, USA. ]
Over the past few days, I have learned many things about internet safety. The three most influential tips I have been taught are the ones listed below.
1) As citizens, we should never post anything on the net that could ruin our reputation as well as our chances of getting into the college of our choice. Several examples of things that are inappropriate to post are suggestive or insulting photographs and threatening or rude comments and messages.
Click here for the University of Wisconsin's "Netiquette" guide.
2) We should never give any personal information out on the web. This could be an easy way to let dangerous people into our lives. Also, the giving out of personal information could ruin our lives forever. Someone who knows how to access the personal information posted could use the credit card number given to purchase various things for themselves. This person could also get the address, telephone number, and other contact information and use this against the person who carelessly gave these details. It is very wise to make sure that the website asking for information is a reliable one.
Click here for NSIT's tips on how to avoid giving out personal information.
3) If a stranger tries to contact us on the web, we should never respond. By responding, this makes it easier to be a victim of cyberspace bullying or even worse, stalking. Also by responding, it makes the person attempting to contact us believe that we are vulnerable. When put in this situation, we as citizens should be wise enough to completely ignore this person and if possible, block them.
A major problem for people online seems to be the lack of knowledge. A solution I would offer to this problem would be for people to take an online safety class. This would put a stop to many problems such as identity theft and online bullying. I would also recommend for citizens to read helpful books and articles on internet safety.
Click here for a very informative web page that provides tips for teens online.
The group assignment that I volunteered for is Literacy and Freedom/Customization. I feel that this will be a great group for me to be in because, as a teenager, I understand the want to have freedom as well as the want to customize our own belongings by using things such as cell phone cases, layouts for our social networking pages, and even by choosing our own clothing.
I feel that by working with students from other countries, I will be able to understand that even though we are from different places, we teens are just alike. While learning our common interests, I will also be able to learn our differences. This is a great opportunity to make new friends and I am thankful to be a part of this!