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Comment by Paul Richardson on February 20, 2010 at 11:14

Hi,
I apologise for my late entrance here. It is great to have an opportunity to follow up on some of the fascinating discussions which took place in Swansea and Bangor. As someone who supports adult education, I have a particular interest in online behaviour, because I think that adults as well as kids need to be Wise!
By the way, I have just been reading a report about a case of 'cyberbullying' which I think nicely indicates the complexities of this topic. I think that there is more than one error here, and more than one wronged party. See what you think...
http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/news/2010/02/student-suspended-f...

This might make an interesting case study to use in a workshop..

Paul

Comment by katie bacon on February 2, 2010 at 10:45

Hello! My name is Katie Bacon, sooooooooo impressed by all the great footage from the yesterday's conference. Really good to see young people and adults views of the days learning and future aspirations. I'm really excited by the work in Wales, as I used to live and go to school in Pembrokeshire. Go on Wales this saturday (rugby!)
Let me introduce myself, my name is Katie Bacon for the last 2 years Tim Davies and myself have been researching and developing methodologies and polices in the practical application of online social media platforms to gain the views of vulnerable young people. I have successfully engaged and enabled young people to express their views online and participate with local decision makers in Devon to contribute to the delivery of Devon Children's & Young peoples Plan. Relevant information/links and docs have been uploaded to my webpagehttp://www.katiebacon.co.uk

I initially started exploring social media to engage with young people over 3 years age, due to working with homeless young people with transient lifestyles I discovered that their e-mail account (social media profile account) stayed constant and enable me to maintain contact with them to encourage them to access local youth support services.

Below is further information about my work and practice in digital youth engagement online:
Relevant information/links and documents have been uploaded to my webpage http://www.katiebacon.co.uk/. When I initially started exploring utilising social media within my practice there was little accessible information, hence I collated my learning and set up my webpage. A synopsis of my professional practice can also be located on the webpage.

I'm currently preparing a research consultation to explore with young people and youth professionals about how youth professional should interact/communicate/signposting online through social media platforms. While also exploring the issues of eSafeguarding/informed consent/interpreting online dialogue/how to display positive unconditional regard/empathy etc. I'm currently reviewing polices for online counseling best practice.

Also about to explore with The Eddystone Trust: services they offer (predominantly support for people living with and affected by HIV / AIDS) and deliver workforce training to a range of professionals on working with young people with sex and relationships issues. Methodologies in utilising the online social media platforms for young gay and bisexual men in rural areas and offering them a credible and safe space without necessarily exposing young men to the more sexually aggressive and explicit sites such as Gaydar.com.

I have co-written with Tim Davies a 2 day Social media training course for youth professionals. Below is the course content (the course is due to be certificated by CPD - Continuous Professional Development)

Learn how young people use social media
Explore how new social media approaches to engage with young people could be used within your practice/organisation
Develop practical skills in the use of social media tools (the afternoon session will be dedicated to getting ‘hands –on experience’
Identify practical ways to support young people to be safe online
Find ways of applying your professionals skills and values to new digital environments.
Learning outcomes:
Aware of how young people are engaging with social media;
Aware of a range of different methods for using social media in work with young people
Aware of the key issues to consider when involved in digital work with young people
Confident to explore and pick up new practical skills for digital work with young people
Strategies for taking forwards the use of social media in your organisation

Tim Davies and I have also co-written a training manual 'Practical guide for youth practitioners in utilising social media with young people to supplement the training course.

Be good to have a conversation, my skype contact details are: davidkatiebacon
Look forward to hearing from you.

Comment by Sangeet Bhullar on February 2, 2010 at 0:14

Thanks Tim, for getting the ball rolling! Hi all - I'm Sangeet, founder of WISE KIDS in Wales. WISE KIDS promotes Digital Literacy, Participation and Innovation through our training programmes and consultancy. We believe strongly that New Media and Web technologies have the potential to transform education, youth, community and personal devepment... we also believe that we need to be pro-active in ensuring that young and old alike have the necessary understanding, knowledge and skills to be safe in their online and digital lives; finally we feel it is really important that we enable and enagage with all sections of society to ensure 'digital inclusion'. I can be found on Twitter at @sangeet

Comment by Tim Davies on February 1, 2010 at 8:58

Hello! I'll start the introductions...

I'm Tim. I'm mostly to be found blogging here and on Twitter here. Right now I'm a full time MSc Student at the Oxford Internet Institute studying 'Social Science of the Internet' - with a focus on open data but I also run Practical Participation, a consultancy working on children's rights, youth participation and social technology, and convene the Youth Work Online Network