IGF 2012 Workshop Proposal :: (No: 195) Citizenship in the digital era - meeting the challenges, empowering children

Status:

IGF Theme(s) for workshop: Security, Openness and Privacy

Main theme question address by workshop: Question 2

Concise description of the proposed workshop:

In the real world parents and teachers help children understand the importance of being kind to others, of accepting difference and engaging constructively with wider society. Children are taught to think about other people’s feelings when communicating with them and to consider the well-being of other people. In the real world the face-to-face communication ensures a certain code of conduct when talking to and interacting with other people. That is, a way of behaviour that respects the person you are talking to by taking into account his/her feelings. These values remain constant in the virtual world, even if the vocabulary has to adapt to take account of a different environment. However, peer pressure and the apparent promise of anonymity can encourage anti-social forms of behaviour which can be highly destructive or dangerous. Examples show that when children are sitting behind the screen they sometimes forget that the person in the other end has feelings too, and that rude and offensive behavior can affect the other person just as hard as when talking face-to-face. What responsibility does each of the actors in the online space have to accentuate and reinforce the positive and for helping children and young people to steer clear of the negative?

Background Paper:


Name of the organiser(s) of the workshop and their affiliation to various stakeholder groups:

European NGO Alliance for Child Safety Online (eNACSO)

 

Have you, or any of your co-organisers, organised an IGF workshop before?: Yes

Please provide link(s) to workshop(s) or report(s):

http://www.intgovforum.org/cms/component/chronocontact/?chronoformname=Workshops2011View&wspid=2
http://www.intgovforum.org/cms/component/chronocontact/?chronoformname=WSProposals2010View&wspid=37
http://www.intgovforum.org/cms/index.php/component/chronocontact/?chronoformname=Workshopsreports2009View&curr=1&wr=24

 

Provide the names and affiliations of the panellists you are planning to invite:

Moderator: an MEP or a Commission person?
eNACSO - John Carr
industry rep - any ideas? Telecom Italia/Telefonica
Azerbaijani children's organization
Larry Magid - Connect Safely (USA)

Name of Remote Moderator(s):

Marie Bach Drivsholm