Young people today consume large amounts of information through various media outlets and simultaneously create and distribute their own messages via information and communication technologies. In doing so, these ‘digital natives’ are often exposed to violent, racist or other deleterious messages.  Additionally, these digital citizens must navigate issues of information security, privacy, and identity theft.  Because efforts to control access to information and exposure to these risks are fraught with difficulties, the most effective way to safeguard students and young citizens is through education.

With the advent of the Web, there is broad access to the world, but users often lack the cultural sensitivity that can foster collaboration in a global community. Young people are especially prone to misperceive the perspectives and opinions of others. Children and youth need instruction on the application of skills for critical analysis and ethical decision making as citizens in a digital world.  Education for such “cybercitizenship’ is a natural extension of the citizenship education role the social studies have always played in school curricula.  Lessons in cybercitizenship, for example, might address the problematic aspects of the Internet and enhance critical skills for managing these challenges.  These lessons might also mean, however, extending the same sorts of skills needed by effective citizens to the digital ‘civic space’.  Perhaps nowhere is the intersection of these issues more prevalent than in the quickly-emerging ‘synthetic worlds’ of massively multiplayer online role playing games (MMORPGs).

The second James F. Ackerman Colloquium on Technology and Citizenship is entitled: Educating for Citizenship in Digital and Synthetic Worlds: Privacy, Protection and Participation. The goal is to engage participants in discussions related, but not limited to: (1) the role of technology in the development of knowledge and skills required by citizens in an increasingly digital and global world, demonstrating connections between everyday individual actions and global well-being, (2) the tension between the constitutional right to freedom of speech and the protection of young people online, (3) operationalizing privacy in a digital age, and (4) the potential of social networking and MMORPGs for citizenship education . Additional topics/themes might include:  Ethics, the Internet, and the Role of the Citizen; The Intersection of Citizenship, Consumerism, and Democracy; the social, civic, and economic impact of the inequities in access and quality of exposure to digital resources, etc.  The colloquium will also provide a unique opportunity to interact with a relatively small circle of scholars and researchers working in this area in order to discuss our common interests and take stock of the current state of this field of study.

The colloquium is sponsored by the James F. Ackerman Center for Democratic Citizenship.

We look forward to an exciting and productive meeting!!