Young people today spend large amounts of time sharing parts of their personal lives online playing games, “checking in” with geolocation apps, posting photos and catching up with friends through social media. But despite this openness, privacy does indeed matter to youth, especially with their online actions being increasingly monitored by parents, educators, and corporations.
Under the theme Privacy Matters, the seventh annual Media Literacy Week (November 5-9, 2012) is encouraging parents, teachers and community leaders across Canada to join together to help youth develop the knowledge and skills they need to better manage their personal information online.
Get involved!
Lead partners MediaSmarts and the Canadian Teachers’ Federation are working with over 70 collaborators who are planning activities in recognition of the week in schools and communities across the country.
There are many ways to get involved in the week:
- For starters take a look at our newly updated Privacy section for games, lesson plans, tip sheets, articles; and parent tutorials.
- If you’d like to know what’s happening in your community, visit the Events Calendar.
- Or you can join MediaSmarts for these online events:
- Tweet chat on youth privacy: Tuesday November 6 at noon EST
- Webinar on online privacy hosted by NAMLE and MediaSmarts: Wednesday November 7th, at 7pm EST
We want to know what you’ll be doing to mark Media Literacy Week this year. Whether you’re using our resources at home or hosting an event, we’d love to hear about it. Send us an e-mail at mlw@mediasmarts.ca or tweet at us @mediasmarts using the hash tag #MLW2012.
Remember that Media Literacy Week is a catalyst for getting everyone thinking about the importance of digital and media literacy. We hope activities will continue throughout the year to empower youth with the skills they need for informed and wise media use.
For more information about Media Literacy Week, its supporters and collaborators, visit www.medialiteracyweek.ca.