Youth and Digital Skills Symposium: Preparing young Canadians to make social, economic and cultural contributions
To explore the critical issue of promoting the importance of essential digital literacy and skills for Canadian youth, a one-day invitation-only Symposium was organized by the Information and Communications Technology Council (ICTC) and MediaSmarts in Ottawa on February 10, 2014. This summary report -- Youth and Digital Skills Symposium: Preparing young Canadians to make social, economic and cultural contributions -- encapsulates “what we heard”. It frames the challenges and opportunities and suggests ways forward as captured by the organizers.
From Consumer to Citizen: Digital Media and Youth Civic Engagement
A discussion paper focusing on the impact of media – especially interactive technology – on civic and political engagement for children and youth. It also looks at the ways in which educators can effectively integrate digital literacy into their classrooms to foster and support youth civic engagement.
Digital Literacy in Canada: From Inclusion to Transformation
The Digital Literacy in Canada discussion paper is a response to the Government of Canada's Digital Economy Consultation, launched in May 2010. The paper calls for federal leadership in the creation of a national digital literacy strategy to ensure all Canadians have the necessary skills to use digital technologies to their fullest potential.
Internet and Canada’s Future: Opportunities and Challenges
Canadian Internet Registration Authority (CIRA), along with its partners Media Awareness Network and the International Institute for Sustainable Development, released this report on the findings from the Canadian Internet Forum. This national consultation, which took place in February 2011 and was hosted by these three organizations, provided a venue where Canadians could express their thoughts on how the Internet should be run in Canada.
The Privacy Piece
Report on Privacy Competencies in Digital Literacy Programs in Canada, Britain, Australia, America, and Brazil
Mapping Digital Literacy Policy and Practice in the Canadian Education Landscape
To develop the Use, Understand & Create framework, we needed to first explore the digital literacy skills Canadian youth were already learning in different provinces and territories. Our discussion paper Mapping Digital Literacy Policy and Practice in the Canadian Landscape draws on policy and curriculum documents from across the country to synthesize key concepts and best practices in current digital literacy education. The discussion paper was made possible by financial contributions from Google Canada.
Young Canadians’ Experiences with Electronic Bullying
Although there has been research on offline bullying and the role of peers, there is limited research on peer intervention for online bullying. Researchers have expressed concerns that cyberbullying and online harassment might increase negative bystander behaviours because of the physical distance and the perceived anonymity of online communication. To better understand the relationship between peer intervention and electronic bullying amongst Canadian youth, MediaSmarts partnered with PREVNet and TELUS to examine the factors that influence the likelihood of young people intervening in online bullying scenarios; the helpfulness of different ways of intervening, and the motivation and barriers to intervening.
Digital Youth Summit 2015
To better understand the skills young Canadians need as citizens and future workers in the digital age, MediaSmarts and the Information and Communications Technology Council (ICTC) hosted a national Digital Youth Summit in Ottawa (October 22-23, 2015) to hear directly from secondary students on this topic. This report provides an overview of the important themes raised and discussed by the students during panel discussions, brainstorming sessions, Speakers’ Corner, and through evaluation forms.
The Digital Well-Being of Canadian Families
In this study, MediaSmarts conducted a survey of 825 parents of children from birth to 15 years old to learn more about their digital family life; specifically, the digital technology uses and activities of their children, their parenting style, and the opportunities and challenges that digital technology brings to parenting and family life in Canada. The results of this study emphasize that there is not a one-size-fits-all solution for digital well-being in families. However, one consistent pattern is the importance of digital literacy in tipping the scales in favour of the positive effects of digital technology use in Canadian families.