With the impending Facebook IPO just around the corner (and don't you just love the fact that Facebook makes all its money from us as users yet our access to its shares will be nonexistent - that's another story) a few interesting numbers have been released in the run up to the share listing.

These numbers highlight the size of Facebook and why social networking needs to understood by educators and school communities but more importantly thinking around where it might fit, what tools we could use and how we could use it to enhance learning and interaction. Children are accessing social networks in greater ever numbers, this will be a tool our children will need to know how to use effectively and efficiently with a clear understanding of how to manage the different views into our lives (personal, professional, social).

Something to think about.

Mashable Blog Article "Facebook Now has 901 Million Users" 23rd April 2012

It has been an interesting few weeks in regards to online and social issues and information.

Recently an historic NSW court ruling in Australia found a jilted male lover responsible for posting private and personal images of his ex partner online (6 images in total). This is only one of a handful of cases where a successful prosecution has been carried out. When talking with older students about cyber safety it interesting to have some very challenging conversations about the responsibilities around online actions. Many students and adults that are confident online users are aware of the social and reputation consequences of inappropriate postings online; however many see no real legal consequences for these decisions and whilst we need to be careful of over legislating rules and regulations we need to ensure that society as a whole sets better expectations around what is acceptable or not.

For me this is where our parenting skills disappear, because they become absent in regards to engaging with their children when they are online or using various forms of technology. All the technological tools available our children means they can quickly and easily become engaged, involved and focused which generally means they are quiet and not annoying parents. For parents many have no interest, understanding or self confidence with the use of technology, games or activities our children are engaged in but this is no excuse. We have to start making time to watch, listen and talk with our children about what they do online. We need to be careful about applying our personal judgements around what our children consider fun and interesting, we do need to provide knowledge and skills so our children make smart and informed decisions and we need to provide clear guidelines about what is acceptable to share online about yourself and others and what is not.

Make time this week to find out 3 things you child likes to do online or with technology that you did not know before.

Ref The Age Article "Man jailed over nude Facebook photos" 22nd April 2012

The BeeBot is a great tool for teachers and students in the early years to build and develop programming skills and directional language skills through the use of the direction keypad located on the top of the BeeBot.

Teachers and students now have the opportunity to practice and develop skills virtually before mapping and planning their own activities with the real thing. The BeeBot App has recently been released and offers 12 different levels that grow in complexity. Each level is timed and the faster it is completed the more stars a player gets. The levels are set in a garden setting and will appeal from age 4 upwards.

Whilst this is a free app it would be great to see more levels developed to try, but even better would be the ability for teachers/students to build their own levels and even share what they build with other people. Hopefully these developments are in the pipeline and not just an add on.

BeeBot App: iTunes Link

Over the past 10 weeks I have been involved in a large number of Cyber Smart presentations to parents, students and teachers. Over time I have found with the speed at which sites change and information is updated means that emailing links out to participants is sometimes not the most effective method.

This page contains all the current sites and information covered in my presentation as well as large number of other sites that you might find of value. This page will be updated over time so that it remains relevant. If you have any questions or would like to follow up any further information please do not hesitate to contact me: tony@itmadesimple.com

Sites - General Information and Help

Google Online Safety -  http://www.google.com/goodtoknow/online-safety/

Australian Government - http://www.netalert.gov.au/home.html

NZ NetSafe - http://www.netsafe.org.nz/keeping_safe.php?sectionID=parents

Childnet International - http://www.childnet-int.org/

ThinkuKnow - http://www.thinkuknow.com/

Cyber Safety Sites for Children and Parents

Parents - http://www.cybersmart.gov.au/en/Parents.aspx

Hectors World - http://www.cybersmart.gov.au/Young%20Kids/Hectors%20World.aspx
A site for young children to explore online safety.

CyberQuoll - http://www.cybersmart.gov.au/Kids/Fun%20things%20to%20do/Cyberquoll.aspx
This site is for primary aged students.

CyberNetrix - http://www.cybersmart.gov.au/cybernetrix/index.html
A site for teenagers to learn how to be smart online.

Super Clubs Plus - http://www.superclubsplus.com.au/
An environment for students to learn about online social networks

CyberBullying

Facts about Cyberbullying
http://www.familysafecomputers.org/bullying.htm

Tips on how to respond - Parents
http://www.adl.org/education/cyberbullying/tips.asp#family

What is CYBERBULLYING?
http://www.stopcyberbullying.org/what_is_cyberbullying_exactly.html

Types of Cyberbullies
http://www.stopcyberbullying.org/educators/howdoyouhandleacyberbully.html

Quick Guide to Responding - Parents
http://www.stopcyberbullying.org/parents/guide.html

Texting Glossary features thousands of relevant and up to date terms.
http://www.dtxtrapp.com/glossary.htm

Family Safety resources

Google Family Safety
http://www.google.com.au/familysafety/

FaceBoook Family Safety
https://www.facebook.com/safety

Scams and Tricks via FaceBook - what to avoid
http://facecrooks.com/

Online Privacy
http://www.microsoft.com/security/online-privacy/reputation.aspx#findout

Google Jargon Busters
http://www.google.com/goodtoknow/jargon/#cookie

Australian Government - Easy guide
http://www.dbcde.gov.au/easyguide/social_networking

Google Privacy Tools
http://www.google.com/intl/en/privacy/tools.html

Chat Acronyms
http://www.netlingo.com/acronyms.php

Digital Reputation Management
Remove content from the web:  http://www.google.com/support/webmasters/bin/answer.py?answer=164734


Surf Safely with Browsers

The Facts about Search Engines
http://www.familysafecomputers.org/searchengines.htm

Google Safe Browsing
http://www.google.com/tools/firefox/safebrowsing/

Parental Control Toolbar: Free Filtering Tool
http://www.parentalcontrolbar.org/

How to use Parental Controls on IE Explorer
http://www.ehow.com/how_2033277_use-parental-controls.html

KID-FRIENDLY SITES
http://www.bewebaware.ca/english/KidFriendlySearchEngines.aspx

Web Surfing Tips
http://www.commonsense.com/internet-safety-guide/web-surfing.php

SAFETY FIRST - INTERNET EXPLORER @ HOW STUFF WORKS
http://computer.howstuffworks.com/internet-explorer-82.htm

INTERNET EXPLORER VS. FIREFOX: WHICH IS SAFER?
http://itmanagement.earthweb.com/secu/article.php/3698606

SAFE SURFING TIPS FOR TEENS
http://kidshealth.org/teen/safety/safebasics/internet_safety.html

Google Safe Search
http://www.google.com/safesearch_help.html


Social Media
Parenting with the Digital Generation (Article) - http://mashable.com/2010/05/13/parenting-social-media/

Videos
The following sites have a range of video content that you may be interested in watching and even later watching with your child/ren if you deem it appropriate:

Common Sense Media Advice Videos
http://www.commonsensemedia.org/video/advice

PBS - Growing up online
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/kidsonline/

Cyber Bullying - a view of this issue from the student view - great for children to watch
http://www.digizen.org/cyberbullying/fullFilm.aspx

Exposed - a view of the issue of sexting and its consequences.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4ovR3FF_6us

ThinkUKnow - make sure you know who you are talking too.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nDBDUX7KPT0&feature=fvwrel

Megan's Story -
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DwKgg35YbC4&feature=relmfu

TalhotBlond
ABC aired an interesting documentary called "Talhotblond " around an online chatting event that will make you think about the conversations we need to have with our children, even other adults about chatting and communicating online.
The website for the documentary can be found here: http://www.talhotblond.com/
* Please note this documentary contains adult content and language and is not suitable for children.

Online Books
Kids and Video Games
http://www.videogamesandkids.com/index.html

Student Links
20 Things I Learned Online
http://www.20thingsilearned.com/en-US

Password Bird
http://www.passwordbird.com

Protecting your PC
Lastly the following are the products I spoke about in regards to having on your computer to avoid viruses. All these products are free and do a very good job when used together, if you have Norton or McAfee or any other commercial product - please do not download the first product called AVG - as this performs the same task.

AVG - this program runs as a virus protection option and will scan email and software loaded onto your computer.
Product Information:: http://free.grisoft.com/
Download software:: http://free.grisoft.com/ww.download?prd=afe

Spybot - this program checks and removes any malicious software from your browsers, it also helps to scan common locations on your computer for items that should not be there.
Product Information:: http://www.safer-networking.org/en/index.html
Download software:: http://www.safer-networking.org/en/mirrors/index.html

AdAware - this program also checks your internet browser for malicious software.
Product Information:: http://www.lavasoftusa.com/
Download software:: http://www.download.com/Ad-Aware-2007/3000-8022_4-10045910.html?part=dl-ad-aware&subj=dl&tag=top5&cdlPid=10837062

Windows Defender
Site: http://www.microsoft.com/windows/products/winfamily/defender/default.mspx
Microsoft recently released this free tool that will do many of the functions the programs above provide - this tool is highly recommended. However please note that you must have a valid copy of windows to install this application.

The key with these tools is that you need to scan your computer based on your usage - if the internet is used a lot then scan with Spybot and AdAware every fortnight - if the internet is only used a low or moderate amount then scan once a month. if you are every concerned with anything on the computer then run a scan just to be sure. These products are designed to simply help eliminate viruses and unwanted software on your computer.

One other tool to have a look at is Norton Online Family : http://onlinefamilyinfo.norton.com/ - more information on this product can be found here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OnlineFamily.Norton

Or check out the K9 Web Protection tool: http://www1.k9webprotection.com/

Online Smarts and Online awareness are issues very close to my heart. I have recently found the following video that includes some very interesting statistics about student and parent awareness of online use and applications. These statistics fit very closely with a report recently released about Children's online use titled "Risks and safety for Australian children on the internet" compiled from the AU kids Online Survey (pdf Link).

The report is an interesting one in that it tells a compelling story about the way our children are using the internet and online resources and the what we as parents think about that use. Although the survey is only taken from 400 students I would tend to agree with the percentages published.

This year I would have talked or worked with around 4500 students from grade Perp/Kinder to Year 12 and I always ask questions about online/mobile usage and application. What was reported fits with what I have experienced first hand with students and teachers. For those interested this survey of Australian children is based on the developments and research conducted in Europe with more information available on the EU Kids Online Website.

Back to the video one of the reasons I like this clip is that it presents information and responses to questions that teachers and parents can use with students to start discussions. It is also a great way for students to ask questions of their own online behaviour and that of their friends. This video helps develop awareness of the challenges we all face when going online, the perceptions we have and assumptions we all make about what our children do. The thing I like most about this video is that it states what I have always believed and presented - 'Now is the time to talk to your kids" and if this clip helps start that process then that is simple perfect.

Links from the video clip:

• Family Online Safety Institute: http://www.fosi.org/
• Family Online Safety Contract: http://goo.gl/URJuv (shortened link to pdf file)
• Social Networking sites and our lives: http://goo.gl/rHy4T
• Recommendations on Safety Initiatives: http://goo.gl/fxEkF (shortened link to pdf file)
• Teen, Kindness and Cruelty on Social Network Sites: http://goo.gl/vUem0
• The State of K-12 Cyberethics, Cybersafety and Cybersecurity Curriculum in the US: http://goo.gl/JIaRF (shortened link to pdf file)
• High-Wire Act: Cyber-safety and the Young: http://www.aph.gov.au/house/committee/jscc/report.htm
• Who Needs Parental Controls?: http://www.fosi.org/research/900-who-needs-parental-controls.html
• Social Networking, Age and Privacy: http://goo.gl/ee0Vv (shortened link to pdf file)
• Who Bullies and Who is Bullied Online?: http://goo.gl/trp04 (shortened link to pdf file)
• Uk Children's media literacy: http://goo.gl/p3jm2

If you are after more links and resources please visit and join my Diigo group "Online Smarts".