Professor Garfield

Professor Garfield Cyber Bullying: For iPad and iPhone OS 3.2 or later

Garfield and Friends go to work educating the 4 and up crowd on cyber bullying with a story that puts the very cute Nermal in the victim’s seat. The whole thing is rather adorable and grants a certain gravity to the lesson it imparts without ever aiming at scary. Most importantly, it looks to teach kids early on not only how to best deal with a bully, but how to avoid becoming one.

STOP Cyber Bullying: A website created by the Wired Safety Group, a non-profit internet safety organization out of Washington, D.C.

Stop Cyber Bullying is more of an informational resource than an interactive means of dealing with cyber bullies. Nevertheless, this site presents some solid strategies. One of its best features is that it breaks down its audience: the homepage asks a viewer to identify as 7–10, 11–13, 14–17, parent, teacher, or law enforcement. From there kids can take a quiz that places them along a continuum of cyber saint to cyber bully based on answers about their online behavior and adults can find some fairly staid advice on how to prevent and/or deal with bullies.

National Crime Prevention Council: Public awareness campaign online and on TV

I am not sure that McGruff is a particularly hip spokesperson (you remember, the dog in the trench coat), but the National Crime Prevention Council does a good job of raising awareness about cyber bullying by reaching out to kids. I’m a fan of the PSAs that are part of the Delete Cyber Bullying Campaign. My favorite thing about McGruff’s Shrink the Cyber Bully game? In the simulated IM conversation “Don’t respond” is an answer (spoiler,the right one) to some of the would-be bully’s more heinous remarks.

Over the Line?: Website, App for Facebook and iPhone

There are a couple of things I like about this system. For one, it works in degrees rather than black and white. As much as cyber bullying is a serious problem, it is important register a difference between just sort of rude and truly offensive. Additionally, the site places teens in a community of their peers, so they might be more eager to share their experiences than on a site with even the impression of authority. That said, I spent some time on this site and while there are posts that have to do with cyber bullying or concerns of online privacy, they are surprisingly rare. For the most part teens come here to seek answers to complicated social situations that could not possibly be adequately addressed with the sites “under,” “over,” and “on” the line rating system. While it is good for teens to have a place to vent, there is a whole aspect to this idea that, I admit, I don’t understand. The site opens with the question, “Ever typed something you wouldn’t say in person?” suggesting that you use this forum to in effect check yourself before, well, you know. To me it sounds like asking for second opinions is a little redundant to logging on. If you need to seek out others to know if something you want to share online is too mean, it probably is.

On the other hand, if someone has done something to you online that hurt your feelings, no amount of voting is required to legitimize those feelings. Clearly this campaign has its heart in the right place and I would be happy to be proven wrong if it helps teens “define the line between innocent and inappropriate.” I have some concern, however, that this particular game-like strategy ultimately encourages them to walk that line and could just as easily be put to use as a sort of digital yo-mama meter, providing bragging rights to those who cross it.

I should disclose my own bias on the matter. Over The Line? is an MTV campaign. It’s hard not to be critical of the efforts toward social consciousness sponsored by the people who bring us Jersey Shore, Laguna Beach, The Hills, and The Real World—shows that feed on the rumor-filled, high-drama antics of teen (or slightly post-teen) life. Contributing to a culture that glamorizes ‘cat fights’ and finds excitement in the emotional confusion of young people is pretty much the MO of MTV. So, no, I am not particularly interested in hearing how the network is helping some young people cope with the same brand of heartache that turns other teens into stars.

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What happened to Tyler Clementi was indeed online and malicious, but it was first and foremost a gross, and illegal, invasion of privacy. Nevertheless, his tragedy reminds us that the web is not a world removed. The way we behave online resonates in real life. More than viruses, identity theft, or any of the threats perpetrated by the few that we face online, the term cyber bullying defines those negative aspects of digital life that we do unto one another. Hopefully, our present state of increased awareness can be extended into a more permanent culture of online responsibility. In the meantime, any resource that aims at prevention through education or helps people find solace without becoming bullies themselves is okay by me.

–Sarah Brown

We opened our 2nd day of camp with a presentation from Daniela Capistrano. The LAMPers immediately lit up when she told them she worked for MTV News. She was gracious enough to answer some questions about their favorite shows, celebrities and musicians – and even a tough question (“How and why do they come up with all the spin-off shows?”). She spent the majority of her presentation telling our LAMPers about other great organizations in New York City (Ghetto Film School, Starting Artists, and The Point) that allow youth to explore their creative aspirations in media careers.

Many hands went up when she asked who would like to have a job working in the various media. Thanks so much, Daniela, for your presentation and your help throughout LAMPcamp.

We then broke back up into our Girls and Boys camps, allowing us to pursue some very incredible dialogue about issues that impact their respective gender and how the various media they encounter reinforce, define and propogate these issues.

I was with the boys, so i can only report on what it was we did. Our main male LAMPcamp counselor put together an incredible media montage of various video and images that really got the discussion rolling. Images of Mike Tyson contrasted with Michael Jackson, or Christopher Reeves in his ‘Superman’ uniform with images of him in his wheelchair after his accident, or Wesley Snipes all muscled out as the main character in the movie “Blade” next to an image of Mr. Snipes in drag in the movie “To Wong Foo”.

We asked our boys “What makes a man?” And a fantastic discussion grew from there, as they talked about their own experiences and opinions and openly addressed topics that in other circumstances wouldn’t be comfortable to tackle (i.e. boys who want to dress up like girls). Some of it was received with laughter, some of it with some very serious tones – but all of it was simply a thrill to be a part of as afterward the LAMPers declared how much fun and educational that was.

We then broke out into our smaller groups and started working again on our group media topics. These projects are really going to be fantastic as we can see how the discussion on gender really is going to play out in them.

Some of the more profound moments from the 2nd day:
- It was declared that most of the boys weren’t comfortable with seeing two guys kiss (that it somehow made them less of a man), but thought there was an incredible double-standard that it seems so socially acceptable if two girls were to embrace (which had no impact on how they were viewed as women).

- After just shooting two takes of one shot for their “Thriller” tribute video, the LAMPers declared “Man, if it takes this long just to do two shots for a 5 minute video, no wonder movies take so long to get made and are so expensive.”

- Going through some camera tricks to show them how they can get some cool effects, one LAMPer said,”You’re gonna ruin all the illusions of movies for me.”

Tomorrow, we’re going to chat about their mobile devices, their digital lives and the best practices for how to have a positive online, digital experience. We hope to go into more detail about the private social network we created for LAMPcamp and how we want this to go beyond the completion of LAMPcamp at the end of the week.

I always felt the fear factor was higher than it needed to be, and that fair use provisions of the U.S. copyright code were not examined and discussed as widely as they should be among the students and faculty. In part this is understandable because, as the Utne Reader’s recent online article, “How Fair use Got its Groove Back,” points out, fair use provisions are vague, and most of us in media education are encouraged to fear for our legal lives. As a faculty adviser myself, I’ve been more liberal in my encouragement that MFA students include those few seconds of footage or that still image where it would help make an important point in the documentary. After all, as author Julie Hanus suggests in the Utne piece, how can you engage in (very necessary) media criticism if you cannot invoke the media productions themselves? It really can’t be done.

Educators need to be bold, and need to challenge media producers as well as outdated copyright law itself. After all, media scholar and producer Sut Jhally boldly challenged big corporate media when he produced his first video in the Dreamworlds series with the Media Education Foundation. The Dreamworlds productions use clips from years of televised music videos to scrutinize the sexualized images of girls and women. At first MTV went after Jhally, but their legal case essentially went nowhere. It was a gigantic coup for media educators and critics, but it didn’t quell the fears of most media educators. Too bad. Someone needed to take this on as a full-time project. Especially now that digital media are fodder for so much more media, and so much more media criticism.

Now we have that project. American University’s Center for Social Media (see their document “Code of Best Practices in Fair Use”) is taking on the whole issue of fair use and copyright law on behalf of media educators and artists. People like the Center’s Patricia Aufderheide and Temple University’s Renee Hobbs are taking bold steps on behalf of those of us who are impassioned by the need for media literacy, which includes the need to use examples of media language to critique that language, with the goal of developing critical faculties among the youth and adults we’re committed to educating. And that’s our commitment at the LAMP.

There’s a lot at stake here, and in this media saturated environment, we’ve got to be bold, not cowed. We’re media literacy educators. If we can’t take on big media ourselves, how can we possibly teach others to do the same?

–Katherine Fry

You can check it out right here:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e4ZBzMOV9Js

My first reaction was to be really angry about it.  And that reaction hasn’t changed after two days.  In this PSA we’re taken from soft porn to almost snuff.  I get the point they’re trying to make, but instead of giving me something serious to consider, it makes me want to strangle the producers.  But I’m a much older woman than those targeted by this PSA.  I guess being much older gives me the breadth and history of seeing images of women where sex and violence (from men) come together, putting women in a completely powerless position (and how much more powerless can you get than dying?).  It’s a sequence that, culturally, we’re used to seeing.  I’m sure that’s why they thought it would make an impact.    I’m trying to imagine a similar type of commercial that might be used if the point being made was that young heterosexual men was the fastest growing segment of the population being infected with HIV.

I can’t imagine the producers would merely switch the roles.  That wouldn’t work because we’re not used to seeing young beautiful women shooting young men after having consensual sex with them.  It would seem bizarre, and that’s what would stick with people, not the message about HIV.  But here, the message will likely stick–for those who aren’t critical about the gender and sex implications– because the imagery makes sense on some sort of ghastly, historically reinforced, culturally-relevant level.  I abhor the history behind these images as much as the images themselves.

Katherine Fry

You know how when you visit Google on various holidays, they’ve done something really fun with their logo to commemorate the occasion?  With their contest, Doodle 4 Google, kids from kindergarten through 12th grade are invited to have some fun with their logo using the open-ended theme of, “What if…?”.  A panel of judges will pick 40 of their favorites, and then the general public votes for 4 national finalists, and one overall winner is selected from that group.  The school attended by the student with the winning entry will win a $25,000 grant towards the establishment or improvement of a computer lab, while the individual winner will receive a $10,000 college scholarship, a laptop, a trip to the Googleplex and a t-shirt with their drawing printed on it.  The folks at Google have even come up with ways to incorporate their contest into existing lesson plans for all age groups.  If your school, or your child’s school, is not yet participating, you have until March 28th to register.  Be sure to visit the contest’s website for details.

Grammy-winning artist Common is at the front of a contest with MTV’s It’s Your [Sex] Life campaign.  The contest, called A:Minute, asks anyone between the ages of 13 and 25 to write one minute of original lyrics in any musical style about why people should get tested for HIV.  Common will then perform the winning lyrics on all MTV networks.  In addition to MTV, the Kaiser Family Foundation and the Common Ground Foundation are also sponsoring the contest.  Lyrics can be submitted by video, audio or in writing, but they have to be in by midnight on March 27–exactly one month from today.

Well, what are you waiting for?  Pick up those markers, paper, pens, crayons, mics and cameras and get going!