Whether you’re a parent, a teacher, a teen, or just curious about digital literacy and citizenship, Google and its partners have a list of resources to help you get to know the web.

google-online-safety-road-show

Google Safety Center

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Whether you’re a parent, a teacher, a teen, or just curious about digital literacy and citizenship, you’ve come to the right place. Google and our partners have compiled a short list of helpful resources for getting to know the web. Read on, and continue to explore the wonders of the web with us.

Resources for everyone

  • Bust those technical termsThe web can be confusing, and even the savviest Internet user has come across terms that don’t make sense. Like “WPA2.” Or “IP address.” Or “spyware.” We’ve made a list of some common technical words and explained them here as simply and accurately as we can.
  • Becoming tech-savvyExplore Internet 101 and learn more about the web and beyond.
  • Good to Know YouTube channelWant to see more videos about privacy and security? Take a look through our YouTube channel.
  • Inside SearchDiscover all the features and tricks to master Google search. Get information on Google’s newest search features and learn tips for beginners, pros, and everyone in between.
  • YouTube Safety CenterLearn how to flag videos that violate our Community Guidelines, keep personal videos private, and block users whose comments or messages bother you.
  • 20 Things I LearnedDo you have questions about web but were too afraid to ask? We have the book for you. Learn about the web and browsers in this interactive experience created by Google.
  • OnGuardOnline.gov safety videosThe Federal Trade Commission has released a series of video tips to help you protect your personal information online. The videos are available at OnGuardOnline.gov, the federal government’s site to help computer users be safe, secure, and responsible. Here are some examples:
    • Computer Security provides simple steps to help you protect yourself and your computer from scammers, hackers, and identity thieves.
    • Online Shopping Tips can help you get the best deal and avoid unnecessary hassles.
    • Protect Your Computer from Malware provides tips on how to avoid, detect, and remove viruses and spyware that were installed on your computer without your consent.
  • Digital Literacy Portal for the entire familyAs more of our life happens online, Internet skills are becoming crucial to living responsibly. What skills do you need to navigate Internet society? How can parents and educators teach themselves, their families, and their communities about important topics like identity protection, fraud detection, and digital citizenship?ThinkB4U is a collaboration between Google and safety experts Common Sense Media, ConnectSafely, and the National Consumers League. Together, we are tackling some of the biggest learning curves thrown at the average user in a fun and interactive way.There’s still a long way to go to achieve digital literacy for everyone, but we hope that projects like ThinkB4U will boost advocacy for online safety education, the importance of which is invaluable in our deeply connected world.
  • Download our Safety Center bookletOur top tips for staying safe and secure online in a format that you can print and keep.

Resources for parents

  • Now You KnowCheck out videos created for youth, by youth on topics like cyber-wellness, security, and privacy.
  • A Good Digital ParentingA Good Digital Parenting is a project of the Family Online Safety Institute (FOSI) designed to help parents, teachers, and teens connect, share, and do good online.
  • Teach Parents TechTeach Parents Tech lets you select from more than 50 basic how-to videos to send to Mom, Dad, your old college roommate, your neighbor, and anyone else who could use a little help with tech tasks—whether it’s how to copy and paste or how to share a big file.
  • Get Your Folks OnlineGet Your Folks Online, a partnership between Age Action and Google, provides several interactive courses on the basics of the Internet.

Resources for students

  • Online Safety RoadshowLike Drivers Ed for the web, the Online Safety Roadshow is a 45-minute digital citizenship assembly for teens that shares tips and tricks for being safe and smart online.

Resources for educators

  • Google Digital Literacy and Citizenship CurriculumTeach your students to be safe and smart online. We’ve teamed up with online safety experts iKeepSafe to develop a curriculum that educators can use in the classroom to teach what it means to be a responsible online citizen.The curriculum is designed to be interactive and discussion-filled, and to allow students to learn through hands-on and scenario-based activities. On this site, you’ll find a resource booklet for both educators and students that can be downloaded in PDF form, presentations to accompany the lesson, and animated videos to help frame the conversation.
  • Online Safety Roadshow ActivityThese handouts complement our Online Safety Roadshow to continue the conversation in the classroom.

 

 

 

 

 

Gov.uk: A checklist for digital inclusion – if we do these things, we’re doing digital inclusion

checklist-for-digital-inclusion

Or visit this link directly: https://gds.blog.gov.uk/2014/01/13/a-checklist-for-digital-inclusion-if-we-do-these-things-were-doing-digital-inclusion/

As with most of our work at the Government Digital Service, we release things early for review and comment. The digital inclusion team, set up last year,would like to share and get your feedback on an alpha version of a checklist for digital inclusion.

We first mentioned a set of principles (we’re now calling it a checklist) when we published action 15 of the Government Digital Strategy. Over the last three months, this checklist has been developed in collaboration with partners from across government, private, voluntary and public sectors.

The intention is for the checklist to act as a guide for any organisation involved in helping people go online. In other words, if you do these things, you’re doing digital inclusion. Alongside each of the six checklist items, we have included an illustrative example of what works and a potential action that could be included in the upcoming digital inclusion strategy.

Checklist Overview

1.  Start with user needs – not our own
2.  Improve access – stop making things difficult
3.  Motivate people – find something they care about
4.  Keep it safe – build trust
5.  Work with others – don’t do it alone
6.  Focus on wider outcomes – measure performance

We want to hear from you

We are looking for feedback on the checklist from organisations and individuals who are involved in helping people, small businesses and small charities go online. We are keen to hear other examples from you  that illustrate great digital inclusion in action. We also want to know what actions we should be taking. Like those we have identified from the examples here, please let us know what you would do.

 

 

Throughout Africa – business analytics toolkit for tech hubs: lessons learned from infoDev’s mLabs and mHubs.

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About infoDev:  infoDev is a multi-donor program in the World Bank Group that supports entrepreneurs in developing economies. We oversee a global network of business incubators and innovation hubs for climate technology, agribusiness, and digital entrepreneurs. We also publish educational resources on topics like crowdfunding, angel investing, and business incubator management.

Business analytics toolkit

The toolkit is especially useful for current and future mLab and mHub managers. mLabs and mHubs are tech hubs established through grants administered by the infoDev Digital Entrepreneurship Program infoDev is committed to supporting the analytical capacities of mLabs and mHubs. This toolkit is part of that agenda. It will help grantees to improve local implementation while setting a common framework on how to collaborate with infoDev on business analytics and performance measurements.

The third target audience is mobile innovation specialists at other World Bank units and other development organizations, who design impact and measurement frameworks for tech hubs. Given the recent rise in numbers of tech hubs, international development organizations are exploring if and how they can be employed to achieve socio-economic development impact goals. In particular, tech hubs’ flexibility and diverse potential effects have sparked interest but have also caused problems for specific and concrete analysis and projection of hubs’ effects and impact. This toolkit addresses this complication. All elements of the toolkit that speak of infoDev’s role in facilitating and coordinating with mLabs or mHubs on business analytics processes can be seen as use cases with potential for replication and adaptation by practitioners and decision makers of other development organizations, including relevant units of the World Bank.

What led infoDev to develop this Toolkit?

Tech hub numbers are burgeoning in developing countries, helping information and communication technology (ICT) developers and entrepreneurs to network, innovate, and start businesses. Set foot into a top-tier hub and you will be struck by the buzz and excitement that have infused local entrepreneurial communities within just a few years.

infoDev was at the forefront of the movement when, in 2011, it launched two different kinds of tech hubs to enable entrepreneurship in local mobile application and software markets: mobile application labs (mLabs) and mobile social networking hubs (mHubs). mLabs and mHubs were pilot mobile innovation support programs. The immediate goal was to help infoDev learn from experimentation how the innovation pioneer gap could be bridged through tech hubs. infoDev has since made great strides learning lessons, making evaluations and publishing knowledge products. Each mLab and mHub operated on different business models tailored to the needs of local markets, which increased the number of real-world experiments that infoDev could learn from.

This Business Analytics Toolkit will help you:

1)      Understand how to conduct performance measurement for an mLab or mHub, or other tech hubs

2)      Improve your planning, lesson learning, and delivery over time

3)      Collect data needed to communicate to potential investors and partners.

The Toolkit:

  • Is oriented towards tech hub managers but is also useful for others interested in the design of tech hubs
  • Provides a brief description of what led infoDev to put together this toolkit
  • Makes the case for the relevance of rigorous business analytics
  • Categorizes tech hub business models and outlines the consequences of business model selection for business analytics strategies
  • Highlights important considerations for tech hubs that are funded by governments and donors, including international development organizations such as infoDev
  • Gives detailed guidance on how a good business analytics approach can be developed and indicators selected in a performance measurement system
  • Provides instructions on how tech hubs can use business analytics and performance measurement in a continuous process
  • Briefly outlines how mLabs and mHubs can engage with infoDev once they have a sound business analytics approach in place

This is version 1.0 of this toolkit, and you are encouraged to help improve future versions by submitting your feedback to infoDev.

 

 

 

 

 

Get Your Free “Holiday Technology Coupons”

From our friends at A Platform for Good – it’s the perfect holiday gift! Click on the link to surprise your “friendly adults” with the gift of knowledge for the holidays!

http://www.aplatformforgood.org/pages/holiday-technology-coupons

And endorsed by your friends at Net Literacy. Happy “Digital Literacy” Holidays!

Houston Public Libraries Base Their Computer and Safety Training on Net Literacy’s Content

Net Literacy’s computer, Internet, email, safety, and social networking training manuals are available to all schools, nonprofits, and parents that use them for teaching.

For profit organizations that use our content for noble reasons can also use or repurpose them. As an example, Google Russia used our computer, Internet, email, and social networking training manuals as the basis of their training manual which can be viewed by clicking here. Google’s credit to Net Literacy is on the second slide.

We’re proud that Houston Public Libraries has done similarly. Their training programs are viewable by clicking on the two documents below. Houston Public Library’s credit to Net Literacy is on the first slide via their including our website’s name.

Houston Public Library Computer Basics

Houston Public Library New Computer Security

Please email me at [email protected] if you have questions or if you are interested in repurposing or white labeling Net Literacy’s content. There is no cost for this service – we do not charge any nonprofit that promotes digital literacy and digital inclusion. Net Literacy is proud that we’ve never charged anyone for any of our products or services.

A Platform for Good Shows How Millennials Use Technology for Good!

Did you know that 84% of Millennials who made a donation to an organization last year gave or wanted to give online?

What about that 80% of social media-using teens say they have defended victims of online harassment?

Did you know that 84% of Millennials who made a donation to an organization last year gave or wanted to give online?

This cool new infographic shows how teens and twenty-something’s are using their devices for good.

Check it out at 

 

UK Website “Know The Net” Cites Net Literacy’s Student Created Videos as a Top Resource

Click on this link to find additional resources from “Know The Net” – http://www.knowthenet.org.uk/knowledge-centre/advice-parents/resource-list

Click on this link to download the PDF from “Know The Net” entitled “Net Speak” – http://www.netliteracy.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/NetSpeak-PDF-2013.pdf

Net SpeakNetSpeak PDF 2013

Net Literacy Encourages Everyone to Enter the “What I Wish My Parents Knew” 60 Second Sweepstakes!

If you’re a student (ages 13-21) and have about 60 seconds, you can submit 140 characters about what YOU wish your parents knew about technology. The prize – an Xbox Kinect! Net Literacy is a proud supporter of the Family Online Safety Institute and a Platform for Good.

Make a difference and add to the thoughtful discourse on the Web – just click on the image below!

What I Wish My Parents Knew Sweepstakes!