I wanted to share this information to help support and inform your practice in using social software in your everyday practice. It has taken a great deal of time to collate the information for the risk assessment and policies as there are no current national guidelines on best practice. There is still a great deal of work to be completed in creating the young persons version of some of the policies.

The Risk Assessment and Policies are to be read in conjunction with your local Internet Service Provider. The below policy and guidance documents are to enable online digital youth outreach practice and should not be consider as official guidelines. Online Youth Outreach cannot be held accountable for the accuracy of the information within the document or the linked organisations referenced within the document. These policy and guidance documents are reviewed on a regular basis and updated accordingly. All the attached documents are in word format so you can easily copy, cut and paste the content.

Risk assessment

Contracting boundaries and expectations, Flowchart 1

Responding to inappropriate content posted on Facebook (profile/group/page), Flowchart 2

Child protection concerns

Initial assessment

Urgent Action to safeguard child/young person

Action Taken after Strategy Discussion

Online Youth Outreach Media Consent Form

Online Youth Outreach Policy Statement – Data Protection

Online Youth Outreach Moderation Policy

Online Youth Outreach Terms and Conditions (adult version)

Online Youth Outreach Privacy Policy

Online Youth Outreach Equal Opportunities & Disability Discrimination Policy

Online Youth Outreach Complaints and Enquiries Policy

I would value constructive comments and feedback is welcomed to continue the development and delivery of online digital youth outreach.

Please do not hesitate to contact me if you require any further information or have any questions.

Ofcom report highlights ‘multi-tasking media users’

Young people and adults are increasingly using social media within their everyday lives. The annual Communications Market Report says that the average person spends around 15 hours 45 minutes every day awake. Of this time, it says, the average person spends seven hours and five minutes “engaging in media and communications activities”. The report suggests that internet take-up has now reached 73% in the UK, the majority of which is fixed broadband.

Additionally the report says that the number of people using their phone to surf the web currently stands at 13.5m people. This has almost tripled since 2008, when the figure stood at 5.7m. It suggested that, in part, much of this increase had been driven by one site – Facebook – which accounts for 45% of all mobile web use in the UK, followed by Google at 8%.
However, a continued concern about online privacy still persists due to the limited privacy settings offered by Facebook. An article in The independent (Wed 19th August ’10) Google chief: My fears for Generation Facebook Eric Schmidt, the chief executive of Google, has issued a stark warning over the amount of personal data people leave on the internet and suggested that many of them will be forced one day to change their names in order to escape their cyber past.

The reality is even with privacy risks of personal and professional digital information being stolen or used during a possible future employer – people are still online using social network sites. Fear mongering the public about privacy issues is not addressing or resolving the situation. Young people and adults require appropriate, accessible and easy to understand information & educational opportunities to gain digital skills :

• How to use the privacy settings correctly on each social network sites.
• Who and how to report if they have been a victim of identity theft
• Who and how to report if they have received inappropriate digital content (racist, violent, sexually explicit or homophobic)
• How to advocate their right to request digital content that has been posted without their permission to be deleted and or de-tagged
• Review their personal social network sites and decide if any previous posted digital content should be removed or deleted.
• Reflect about what future digital content is appropriate to share in the future without it impacting their future aspirations.





CEOP offers a FREE half day training course http://www.thinkuknow.co.uk/teachers/training.aspx
Over the last three years over 4.5 million young people have been educated through the Thinkuknow programme, CEOP. However, there are over 11 million children and young people in the UK.

There is a clear gap in the market for a company to create the technology where you as an end user would be able to assign the right to use, copy or distribute information about yourself to people of your own choosing. This technology is already used in encrypted emails. I perceive the demand will be for encrypted social networking sites. The question is which company will offer this product? Facebook? Google? Consumer are not brand loyal to social network sites, this is evidence by the diminishing membership to Bebo & Myspace.

Helpful hyperlinks about privacy settings – Facebook

Facebook ‘Help Centre’ http://www.facebook.com/help/?ref=drop

Privacy settings – http://www.facebook.com/help/?page=419
Short article that explains how to change privacy settings on a Facebook profile. This article was correct when posted, however, Facebook regularly changes and modifies it’s privacy settings. I would invite you to review your privacy settings every month.

Webpages for young people & youth practitioners about online safety:
Think you Know – http://www.thinkuknow.co.uk/ 

CEOP – http://www.ceop.gov.uk/

Cybermentors – http://www.cybermentors.org.uk/ 

Digizen – http://www.digizen.org.uk/

UK Council for Child Internet Safety – http://clickcleverclicksafe.direct.gov.uk/index.html

Tim Davies and I were invited to deliver a 1 day training course for the ENGAGE project

which is a continuing professional development programme for European youth workers &

school teachers at the Bristol Watershed http://watershed.co.uk/engage/


Objectives of the ENGAGE European project:

To explore and understand this new ICT-enabled culture and explore how web 2.0 and

social media tools can help extend and enhance their practice. Delegates will test and

develop new approaches that use digital tools to help sustain young peopleʼs positive

engagement with each other and European society.





ENGAGE participants will:

1 Explore and develop innovative approaches to youth work that use digital tools to

help extend and sustain engagement with young people

2 Develop skills and literacies to become effective digital communicators and content

producers

3 Visit inspirational projects that use accessible communications technologies to help

empower young voices and meaningfully engage youth as active European citizens

4 Work together to develop applications and solutions that will support the

engagement of young people who face social, economic or cultural obstructions to

active civic participation





It was great fun getting to know each delegate, learn how they use current social software

and explore future aspirations. It was interesting to learn about the different attitudes to

ʻonline privacyʼ and ʻonline personal identity/expressionʼ. Some european countries are

very strict about sharing personal and private data while other countries were less

stringent about personal content being shared through social software.


We spent the morning exploring how young people use social software and learn how this

may differ in different European counties. We explored how to link a facebook profile to

flicker, e blogger and youtube. Also how to use the various functions on facebook;

customizing privacy settings (albums, videos and content), creating friends lists and best

practice to ʻbrandʼ and ʻpromoteʼ a profile/group/page.


We spent time reviewing safeguarding considerations when using social software tools to

facilitate and enable young peoples online engagement and participation. Then learning

the measures, tools and procedures that can be put in place to ʻreduceʼ and ʻminimiseʼ

these online risks. Additionally we reviewed youth work values and how to establish a

professional presence through social software tools.


I would like to thank every delegate who attend the session for participating in each of the

sessions. I learnt a great deal and now have more ideas to explore.





Click HERE to view the wordle for this post

Katie Bacon chatting about the recent work she’s been involved in recently for the last month. Preparing social media policies and procedures to create an ‘Online Youth Outreach’ group on Facebook. Members will include young people and adults. Katie also talking about ’sample’ research that’s being developed with young people to investigate how young people would like/perceive online youth work support & info about personal and professional issues.

Policies & procedures to be uploaded soon.

Thank you to everyone who attend the Social Media training course held on 18th &19th May. I had a fantastic time meeting each of you and learning about your organizational aspirations for using social software. Also exploring solutions to challenges in integrating social software into your everyday practice.

A big “thank you” to J. Dekelver, J. Hecke & S. Schurnans whom travelled from Brussels to attend the course. It was superb to learn about your and other europeans youth organisations practice in using social software. Thank you for your presentation on the INCULSO project: http://www.incluso.org/

Aims to deliver a verifiable proof that ICT, and more precisely, social software tools, can facilitate social inclusion of marginalized young people.

There is invitation for Youth Practitioner & Managers from the UK to attend:

International conference on eInculsion of Youth at Risk – 13th & 14th Sep’10

There is no entrance fee for the conference -Leuven (Arenberg Castle, Heverlee-Belgium)

Gathering international specialists in the field of social software use and improvement of social inclusion for disadvantaged youngsters. We expect also delegates from decision making groups such as governments and the European Commission.

Evaluation feedback from people who attend the OCN Level 2 Social Media Training course for Youth Practitioners & Managers (18th & 19th Mayʼ10)

“Iʼd like to thank Katie for running such an excellent course – sheʼs funny, engaging, make the subject totally alive & relevant, challenges your preconceptions and makes you really think about the risks & opportunities.

Excellent Training superbly delivered – I had a lot of expectations of these 2 days, and was not disappointed.”

Experiences that I enjoyed or valued from the training:

Opportunities to network & share good practice – shared learning is a powerful thing.

Will use Johariʼs window game and use at next staff meeting I enjoyed the group discussion and exploring the ethical consideration of different online interactions with young people

Great resources – gave me the opportunity to really feel that I the practical tools to create change in my workplace

Great resources, love the theory and practice ideas

The general discussion of experience among the group; opportunities & challenges

How I am thinking differently about using social media within my practice:

Developing a strategy rather than groping in the dark – thinking about how I can develop lateral communication & opportunities. Auditing current social media practice.

The importance of having clear guidelines and understanding of how young people use of social media.

Even more potential than I thought, itʼs happening anyway, with us or without use.

Thinking how we can do more to promote positive use of SNS within our projects to enable more participative monitoring/evaluation and modernize our work.

What I what to explore further:

Blended facilitation- learn how to better integrate online & offline activities/dialogue.

Using google maps and survey monkey to enhance my work Policy & protocols, need to create risk assessment for current social media work.

What helped my learning:

The safety online template/framework, the session on moderating/interpreting online dialogue.

Clear learning objective, good handouts and signposting to further reading.

Practical experience, then linking that to theory & practice – networking.

Lotʼs of conversation – people sharing experiences, fun group! Practical activities.

What hindered my learning:

Time – so much content to work through, just about copiable. However good value for money.

Could some of the training by accessible online to allow more time on the day.

The course is demanding due to the content that needs to be completed, however, everyone actively participated and contributed in the group discussions and activities, thank you for not sitting back! However, this may have been to the vast amount of sweets consumed over the 2 days, sugar high! (fruit was also offered – to comply with ECM, healthy eating!)

Thank to all the individuals who attended the Connected Generation conference. Tim Davies and I organised the conference as a space to explore what the digital world means for young people’s lives, and for youth work partice. It was a huge success, throughout the whole day there was a ‘buzz’ of energy and conversation taking place. For me personally it was lovely to put faces to names and learn more about peoples practice and aspirations in utilising social media within their organisation and everyday youthwork practice.

“A big shout out & thank you” to Becci (young person) for attending the conference and being ‘fearless’ in participating in the Presenter Q & A. She answered in a clear and concise manner – so professional. Also for co-facilitating the Online Participation Workshop and sharing her experience of an organisation using social media to engage and promote young peoples participation about local issues. Also to Adam (young person) for agreeing to allow a film interview to be shared during the workshop presentation.

(Parental permission was given for Becci’s & Adam’s attendance, participation and images to be used on UK Youth Online & Online Youth Outreach. )

Key discussion points I took away from the conference:
• Necessity to make the ‘time & space’ to listen and hear what young people are choosing to share online. They don’t necessarily need youth workers to offer solutions but rather an ‘online listening ear’ for them to share and explore their view, situation or choices in a non-oppressive online space.
• Understanding you target audience for online social media platforms and whenever possible inviting their active participation in the planning, cultivating and development of the ‘online space’ – Empowerment
• Are young people’s rights been included or excluded in the planning of organisational social media polices and risk assessment: safeguarding young people or organisational ‘brand’ protection?
• Theoretical context to online professional boundaries & online interactions – relating existing youth work practice, values and theories to online detached youth work practice
• How to promote, facilitate and enable young people with additional needs to participate in social media platforms.

Below is information about each of the presenters and workshop facilitators

Presenter Information

Tim Davies

Tim Davies is founder and Co-director of Practical Participation where he explores the impact of social technology on youth engagement, civic participation and social change. Tim is co-author of Youth Work and Social Networking (NYA, 2008), the report that led to the development of the Youth Work Online (.org.uk) network and a series of unConference events bringing together practitioners interested in exploring digital elements of work with young people. He has also written on youth participation and social media; using social networks in AIDs education, and positive youth development approaches to youth policy. Tim holds a first class degree in Politics, Philosophy and Economics from Oxford University and is currently studying for an MSc at the Oxford Internet Institute. He is a member of the UK Council on Child Internet Safety, and is supporting the development of the Youth Coalition on Internet Governance.

He blogs at http://www.timdavies.org.uk tweets http://www.twitter.com/timdavies/

Amy Sample Ward

My work focuses on the use of technology to connect with and engage people for positive social impact: that may be building community on or offline, empowering communities to take action, or collaborating across traditional barriers to make change. As such, I’ve worked with groups of all kinds, in many places of the world, reaching out to audiences of every type, age, interest, and purpose. There’s tremendous potential in using technology to engage youth, especially around education and social services. But, it’s also an audience that comes with a very small cushion for error. Digital engagement projects and services directed at youth need to be created with youth from the beginning and be strategically focused on impact and interaction. Relevant web links/online resource recommendations

- My blog: amysampleward.org

- My organization: netsquared.org

- Social by Social book: socialbysocial.com

Katie Bacon

Social media platforms create dynamic, variable and constantly evolving environments to engage with vulnerable young people and enable their participation in local issues and services. Katie Bacon a qualified and an experienced youth worker, who has pioneered models of online youth work and youth engagement with a diverse range of young people’s groups in Devon. Katie runs Online Youth Outreach and delivers accredited OCN Social Media training and capacity building in the use of the Internet in youth engagement settings to organizations across the UK. Katie has also been researching and developing methodologies and polices in the practical application of online social media platforms & social networking to engage vulnerable young people about local issues.

Online Youth Outreach http://www.katiebacon.co.uk/

Joanne Jopling

The way that young people communicate has changed and as part of my Youth work practice I have been working with young people online for the last five years, using MSN Messenger and Facebook. I feel its a valuable tool for youth workers to be using in the digital age and that we as workers need to be out there on the internet engaging with young people. My views and opinions change with experience of digital technology with regards to safety and what needs to be in place for youth workers and young people. In the workshop I will be sharing my learning and experiences of using this technology.

Website link www.gywop.org

Kieron Kirkland

Kieron Kirkland’s current work as a learning researcher for Futurelab includes leading the Greater Expectations project, which is exploring how digital technology can support young people to engage with their rights and entitlements, and researching the uses of computer games for learning. He has also published work on overcoming barriers to educational innovation, and the possibilities for the use of emerging technologies in educational settings.

Before joining Futurelab he developed and delivered theatre based education programmes as Practitioner-in-Residence for Shakespeare’s Globe, ran cognitive behavioral programmes for adult and young adult offenders with the Probation Service, and undertook research in India exploring Theatre as a methodology for social change.

Chris Morgan

I’m Chris Morgan, known usually under my psuedo family name of Mog. I work at the George Ewart Evans Centre for Storytelling (aptly shortened to GEECS) based at the University of Glamorgan in Cardiff. I am currently working as an outreach worker for the national Communities 2.0 project which aims to encourage all people in Wales to engage with and get the most out of new and emerging technologies. As part of the project we are engaged in setting up a national centre of excellence for digital storytelling and participatory media.

I have worked for many years as a community worker specifically within media both in Wales and Europe and I feel quite lucky to have landed very much on my feet doing what I like to do best; sharing and listening to the vast array of stories that pass by in human form every day, helping and encouraging the natural storyteller in all of us to capture and share their stories with others via computers, mobile phones, the internet or maybe even through taking the time to listen.

Steven Flower

Steven has a background in the third sector, working in various organizations and contexts over the past 10 years to enable better use of information technology tools. This has ranged from youth film making projects in Eastern Germany to IT recycling to founding a social enterprise to provide web services to the sector. Steven is currently technology enabler at Substance Coop, where he works on the Plings project – developing ways of promoting positive activities. Steven has a BA (Hons) in Communication Processes, and an MA in European Urban Cultures.

Web links: http://plings.net/ http://www.substance.coop

Dr Sangeet Bhullar, Executive Director, WISE KIDS

Sangeet is the Founder and Executive Director of WISE KIDS, a non-profit organisation providing innovative training programmes and consultancy in New Media, Internet and Mobile Technologies, Internet Proficiency, Literacy and Safety. An older Digital Native, trained as an Electrical Engineer, Sangeet believes strongly in the potential of Internet and Mobile technologies to transform education, youth, community and business development. Sangeet sits on a number of government and non-government groups promoting Digital Inclusion, Participation and Literacy. She can be found on Twitter as @sangeet.

http://www.wisekids.org.uk/connectedgeneration

Accredited OCN Social Media Training course for Youth Practitioners & Managers

Liverpool

Area – Runcorn, 12 min train ride from Liverpool central train station.

Date: Wednesay 2nd & Thursday 3rd June’10 – 10am-4.30pm

Training location: Grangeway Youth HUB, Grangeway, Runcorn, WA7 5HA

Belfast Northern Ireland

Date: Monday 21st & Tuesday 22nd June’10 – 10am-4.30pm

Training location: 14 College Square North, BELFAST, BT1 6AS

Website – http://www.youthaction.org

Edinburgh Scotland

Date: Wednesday 14th & Thursday 15th July’10 – 10am-4.30pm

Training location: Edinburgh Training Centre,16 St. Mary’s Street,Edinburgh,EH1 1SU

Website: http://www.edintrain.com

Collaboratively Katie Bacon and Tim Davies have been researching and developing methodologies and polices in the practical application of online social media platforms & social networking to engage young people about local issues. The training course below has been developed to bring together both the theory and practice of digital youth work. This is a practical ‘hands-on’ course, there is a great deal of content to work through each day.  A follow up e-mail for each day is forwarded to each attendee with all the presentation slides, notes, handouts and relevant links referenced to throughout the day.

Delegates can choose to attend one day training or both training sessions.

1 day Introduction to social media & social networking sites for Youth Professionals & Managers

Accreditation – OCN (South West Region) Level 2 – Credit 2

Learning outcomes:

Understand how to create a social network profile, change privacy settings, invite friends & change settings to control what information is displayed on front profile page & news feed.

Discussing & identifying opportunities and challenges for using social media in a professional context;

Understand how young people use social media

Understand the key issues to consider when involved in digital work with young people (informed consent, contracting boundaries, verifying identities, safeguarding, parental/career consent)

Learn how to create a short film clip, upload to Youtube and add annotations

Understand how to integrate social media into your work as a youth professional and devise a strategy for how to take this forward

Understand how to promote basic online safety and digital literacy;

1 day Intermediate Social Media & Social Networking course for Youth Professionals & Managers

Accreditation -OCN (South West Region) Level 2 – Credit 4 (if both days attended)

Learning outcomes:

Create an online group and event to promote a youth activity, service and/or an organisation

Understand how to utilise online social network ʻapplicationsʼ to enhance the online profile/ group functions to young people

Understand different social media consultation tools available online for online youth engagement/consultation

Understand how to create a young person online questionnaire and integrate into a social network profile youth

Understand how to facilitate an online discussion forum through a social network profile

Understand the key issues to consider with online consultations with young people (informed consent, communicating whom will have access to consultation data & evidencing what change if any has occurred)

Recognise & understand associate risks & safe guarding considerations with online consultations/forum discussions

Understand appropriate youth professional online interventions and signposting young people to local/online youth services

Katie Bacon is an experienced youth worker, who has pioneered models of online youth work and youth engagement with a diverse range of young people’s groups in Devon. Katie runs Online Youth Outreach and has delivering training and capacity building in the use of the Internet in youth engagement settings to organizations across the UK. Tim Davies is a specialist in social media, youth participation and online social networking, and is co-author of ‘Youth Work and Social Networking’ (NYA 2008) and ‘Social Media & Youth Participation in Local Democracy’ (LGIU, 2009) . Tim is also a member of the UK Council on Child Internet Safety, and currently a full-time student studying for an MSc in Social Science of the Internet at the Oxford Internet Institute.

Pricing:

Statutory Youth Professional – £125 per delegate per day (excluding VAT)

Voluntary Sector Youth Professional – £100 per delegate per day (excluding VAT)

I will charge be charged as I am VAT registered (17.5%)

To retain a booking, please email: info@katiebacon.co.uk

I would like to thank Jo Trelfa for inviting me to deliver a 2 hour presentation to the first
year Youth & Community students at Plymouth University, Tuesday 27th April. The current
module being studied is Interpersonal communication and group work. The emphasis of
the presentation needed to include: how students communicate with young people using
social media but also how they facilitate young people to use it themselves.

The presentation included:

• Intro to social software – brief overview of the internet, social media & social networking
• Evolution of online blogging – Howard Rheingold; Virtual Online Communities http://
www.rheingold.com/vc/book/intro.html
• Power & control – free press, increased online collective intelligence
• How young people use social software
• Online friendships and emotional attachment – Danah Boyd http://www.danah.org/
• Hanging Out, Messing Around, and Geeking Out: Kids Living and Learning with New
Media (John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation Series on Digital Media and
Learning)
• Exploration of four different youth workers approach to social software and online youth
outreach
• Group discussion: Differences between Personal & Professional interactions online,
Organisational online presence & What young people are requesting in their local youth
provisions
• Social software profile, group and page – functionality & restrictions
• How, when, where and why to engage with young people through social software
• Which persona (ego state) are young person presenting online? Carl Rogershumanistic
theory
• Transactional analysis, reviewing professional online responses to young people online
dialogue/behavior http://www.tastudent.org.uk/html/ta.htm
• Emotional Intelligence – social software = ‘online social interactions’ – individuals are
expressing and exploring their self identity, this involves emotional connections &
responses
• Cognitive Behavioral Therapy – understanding interactions of thoughts, behavior and
emotions= Online + offline world, both interconnected in young people’s lives
• Group discussion – Are the above theoretical model applicable to online youth detached
work?
• Creating digital content – digital storytelling & protecting young people identities
• Funding sources for creating digital content
• Exploring anti-oppressive practice: Thompsons PCS model http://youthworkcentral.tripod.com/aop_pcs.htm
• Examples of online forums and SNS sites
• Risk assessment – Polices & guidelines – examples of good practice
There was a great deal of discussion about how to establish and maintain professional
boundaries through social software platforms. The necessity to maintain face to face
contact with young people and not to exclude young people who don’t have access to the
internet.

Below is the reading list & Bibliography that informed the presentation:

Reading list for Session:

Boyd, D., Friends, Friendsters, and MySpace Top 8: Writing Community Into Being on Social
Network Sites (2006) Available from http://www.firstmonday.org/issues/issue11_12/boyd/
index.html

Goleman, D., Emotional Intelligence, 1996 Bloomsbury Paper

Rheingold, H., The Virtual Community (1994) Available http://www.well.com/~hlr/vcbook/
vcbookintro.html

Sanders, D., Wills, W., Cognitive Therapy an Introduction, 2005 Sage Press

Thompson, N., Anti-Discriminatory Practice (Third Edition), 2001
http://www.ssrg.org.uk/publications/rpp/2002/issue1/bookreviews4.pdf

Youth Work and Social Networking (NYA, 2009) – Available from http://blogs.nya.org.uk/ywsn/
Research report providing an overview of issues related to youth work engagement with social
network sites.

Social Media, Youth Participation in Local Democracy (LGIU, 2009)
A practical guide to using social media in youth participation.
https://member.lgiu.org.uk/csn/projects/Documents/Social%20Media%20Action%20Learning
%20Set%202010.pdf

Hanging Out, Messing Around, and Geeking Out: Kids Living and Learning with New Media
(MIT, 2009)
Report from a major US based research programme exploring young people’s informal learning
through digital media. Based on an interim report available at http://digitalyouth.ischool.berkeley.edu/

Children and the Internet (Sonia Livingstone, Polity Press, 2009)
Comprehensive overview of issues connected to young people’s use of the Internet.

How To Use Multimedia to Engage Children and Young People in Decision Making –
Available from http://www.participationworks.org.uk
A short practical guide to using multimedia and social media tools in participation settings.

Recommended websites to visit:

Youth Work Online – http://www.youthworkonline.org.uk
Youth Work Online is a network of 600 practitioners exploring the use of social media in work with
young people. The network is free to join and has a wealth of content that you can search through.

You can also use the network to keep your own reflective learning blog, or you can use the forum
to ask questions of other practitioners.

If you are interested in using social media in youth practice, you are encouraged to join and
participate in the network.

Online Youth Outreach – http://www.katiebacon.co.uk/ The website of course trainer, Katie Bacon, includes a range of shared resources in addition to those included in the appendix of this guide.

Youth Engagement and Social Media – http://www.practicalparticipation.co.uk/yes/
This online guide is being developed to include a full toolbox of approaches for using social media
in work with young people. You can find a range of additional resources on this site.

Tim Davies – http://www.timdavies.org.uk/
This is the personal blog of Tim Davies, an independent consultant and researcher from the UK,
writing about young people’s participation, social media and social change.
And also now MSc Student at the Oxford Internet Institute

Howard Reingold http://www.rheingold.com
The Social Media Classroom (we’ll call it SMC) includes a free and open-source (Drupal-based)
web service that provides teachers and learners with an integrated set of social media that each
course can use for its own purposes—integrated forum, blog, comment, wiki, chat, social
bookmarking, RSS, microblogging, widgets , and video commenting are the first set of tools. http://
socialmediaclassroom.com/index.php/

Bibliography

Abbott, C., (2007). e-Inclusion: Learning Difficulties and Digital Technologies (No. Report 15).
London: Futurelab.

Becta (2009)Harnessing Technology Review 2008: The role of technology and its impact on
education Coventry Becta. Available from www.becta.org.uk/publications/htreviewso8

Boyd, D.M., a Nicole B. Ellison, N.B.: Social Network Sites: Definition, History, and Scholarship.
(December 2007). Available from http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/cgi-bin/fulltext/117979376/HTMLSTART?
CRETRY=1&SRETRY=0

Boyd, d (2007). Analysis With Friends Like These. BBC Podcast (transcript available at
news.bbc.co.uk/nol/shared/spl/hi/programmes/analysis/transcripts/08_11_07.txt)

Child Exploitation Online Protection (2008-09) Annual Review. Available from www.ceop.gov.uk

Gibson, A., Courtney, N., Ward, A. S., Wilcox, D., Professor Holtham, C.: Social By Social.
NESTA. (2007) Available from http://www.socialbysocial.com

Helsper, E.J.: Digital Inclusion: An Analysis of Social Disadvantage and the Information Society.
Oxford Internet Institute. Department for Communities and Local Government. (October 2008)

Hyo, K., Jae Kim. G., Park, H., c Ronald E. Rice, R. E.: Configurations of Relationships in Different
Media: FtF, Email, Instant Messenger, Mobile Phone, and SMS. (August 2007). Available from
http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/cgi-bin/fulltext/117979351/HTMLSTART

Helsper, E.J.: Digital Inclusion: An Analysis of Social Disadvantage and the Information Society.
Oxford Internet Institute. Department for Communities and Local Government. (October 2008)

Light, A., Luckin, R.: Designing for social justice: people, technology, learning.(2008) Available
from www.futurelab.org.uk/openingeducation.

Santo,R., James, C., Davis, K., Katz, S., Burch, L., Joseph, B.: Meeting of Minds: Cross-
Generational Dialogue on the Ethics of Digital Life.The GoodPlay Project at Harvard University’s
Project Zero .(October 2009)

Schouten, A.P,: Adolescents’ online self-disclosure and self-presentation. Print Partners Ipskamp,
Enschede. Amsterdam (2007)

Valkenburg,P.M., Peter, J.: Online Communication and Adolescent Well-Being: Testing the
Stimulation Versus the Displacement Hypothesis.The Amsterdam School of Communications
Research (ASCoR) University of Amsterdam (August 2007) Available from http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/cgi-bin/fulltext/117979350/HTMLSTART

Zhao, S.: Do Internet Users Have More Social Ties? A Call for Differentiated Analyses of Internet
Use. (August 2006). Available from http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/cgi-bin/fulltext/118554170/
HTMLSTART

Zywica, J., Danowski, J.: The Faces of Facebookers: Investigating Social Enhancement and Social
Compensation Hypotheses; Predicting Facebook™ and Offline Popularity from Sociability and
Self-Esteem, and Mapping the Meanings of Popularity with Semantic Networks. (November 2008).
Available from http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/cgi-bin/fulltext/121527995/HTMLSTART

Presentation at Green Space Conference

Today I presented at the Green Space conference held in Bristol, Watershed.  Green Space is a registered charity working to improve parks and green spaces by raising awareness and involving communities http://www.green-space.org.uk.  They facilitate regional forums, which enable green space professionals to come together and share information, ideas and experiences.

They also orgainse the annual Love Parks Week, a national campaign that promotes the benefits of parks and green spaces to the general public and encourages people to get out and enjoy hundreds of events taking place in parks across the country during the third week of June each year. To find out more and check out what’s happening in your local area – http://www.loveparksweek.org.uk/

I was invited to present to delegates about how to utilise online social software sites to engage young people and promote upcoming events.  Also how to creatively use online social software sites to encourage them to express their views and experiences about their local park or green space.  Included in the presentation was information about online safety considerations, risk assessment polices and online safety information websites to signpost young people and work colleagues.  I learnt a great deal from the other presentations and would like to thank Green Space for their invitation to present at the conference.

Below is information about each presentation and workshops:

David Hopkins, National Programme Manager, Catch22
http://www.communityspacechallenge.org
Community Space Challenge is youth charity Catch22’s £8.3m five-year programme, which is funding 70 projects supporting young people in taking a leading role in transforming their local environment. David Hopkins will share learning from the projects and will present case studies that highlight how young people are contributing to the creation of new community gardens, nature trails and allotment sites across England.

Nigel Richardson, Outdoor Education Manager, London Borough of Tower Hamlets
http://amp.uk.net/home
Getting the right mix of facilities for different groups of young people can be a complex challenge that cannot be resolved through short-term consultation alone. Nigel Richardson from Tower Hamlets Urban Adventure Base will discuss how to work in partnership with young people and youth services to provide a range of activities and facilities with wide appeal.

Katie Bacon, Director, Online Youth Outreach Training
http://www.katiebacon.co.uk
The ever-growing popularity of social networking provides new ways to communicate with young people and encourage greater engagement and participation, making it possible to promote events, organise activities, recruit members and gather feedback online. Katie Bacon will share her experience to help delegates begin to explore the possibilities when using social media as a tool, and consider how to effectively and safely put this into practice.

Dr Natalie Djohari, Researcher, Substance
http://substance.coop http://wwwplings.net
Research has identified angling as an activity that has the potential to engage hard to reach young people and provide them with a sense of purpose and belonging. Using case studies, Dr Natalie Djohari will discuss how angling or similar activities could be delivered in parks and green spaces, and how to draw on the expertise of local specialist groups to increase the success of projects.

Workshop 1: Giving young people a voice

Amy Harrison, Education Manager, Architecture Centre, Bristol
http://www.architecturecentre.co.uk
Many parks professionals face the challenge of how to provide young people with the opportunity to get involved with improvements in their area. Amy Harrison will demonstrate the new Spaceshaper 9-14 toolkit, which was developed by CABE Space, Beam and the Bristol and Kent Architecture Centres to give young people the opportunity to voice their opinions on a space.

Workshop 2: Using parks as an educational space

Beth Jones, Project Officer, Schools in the Parks, Field Studies Council
http://field-studies-council.org
Attracting secondary schools to make use of local parks and green spaces as an educational resource can often prove challenging. This workshop will provide the opportunity to discover how the Schools in the Parks project delivers training to parks staff, environmental educators and volunteers so that they can work effectively with secondary schools to provide activities that support the national curriculum.

Workshop 3: Improving access for disabled young people
Iris Barner, Young Peoples Campaign’s Officer and Sally Waters, Public Affairs Manager, Whizz-Kidz
http://ww.whizz-kidz.org.uk
Ensuring a site is accessible for all young people is important. Iris Barner will discuss how to engage with disabled young people through consultations and increase their involvement in developing green spaces.

Site Tour 1: St Agnes Parks and St Paul’s Adventure Playground
This site tour will offer the opportunity to explore a new project to extend St Agnes Park across a pedestrian street into nearby St Paul’s Adventure Playground. Delegates will visit the site and discover how the new improvements maximise play opportunities for children and young people, enhancing the shared public space for all.

Accreditation – OCN (South West Region) Level 2

Date: Wednesday 28th April & Thursday 29th April 2010

Training venue: In Tuition Venue, 210 Borough High Street, London, SE1 1JX

Social media and social networking sites can amplify the positives and negatives of
everyday life for young people, and can expose them to new opportunities and new risks. These online digital tools can offer a diverse range of opportunities to engage with young people and promote their participation in local youth services. Explore both how to support young people as they engage in these environments; and learn how to practically and creatively use social media and social networking to enhance the delivery of young people service(s). Objective of the training course is to enable delegates to create a practical online strategy to integrate into their work supported with a professional qualification to evidence their understanding and learning.

Collaboratively Katie Bacon and Tim Davies have been researching and developing
methodologies and polices in the practical application of online social media platforms & social networking to engage young people about local issues. The training course below has been developed to bring together both the theory and practice of digital youth work.

Delegates can choose to attend one day training or both training sessions.

1 day Introduction to social media & social networking sites for Youth Professionals & Managers (Delivered by Katie Bacon)
Accreditation – OCN (South West Region) Level 2 – Credit 2
Date: Wednesday 28th April 2010 (10am-4.30pm)

Learning outcomes:

• Understand how to create a social network profile, change privacy settings, invite friends & change settings to control what information is displayed on front profile page & news feed.
• Discussing & identifying opportunities and challenges for using social media in a professional context;
• Understand how young people use social media
• Understand the key issues to consider when involved in digital work with young people (informed consent, contracting boundaries, verifying identities, safeguarding, parental/career consent)
• Learn how to create a short film clip, upload to Youtube and add annotations
• Understand how to integrate social media into your work as a youth professional and devise a strategy for how to take this forward
• Understand how to promote basic online safety and digital literacy;

1 day Intermediate Social Media & Social Networking course for Youth Professionals & Managers (Delivered by Katie Bacon & Tim Davies)
Accreditation -OCN (South West Region) Level 2 – Credit 4 (if both days attended)
Date: Wednesday 28th April & Thursday 29th April 2010 (10am-4.30pm)

Learning outcomes:

• Create an online group and event to promote a youth activity, service and/or an organisation
• Understand how to utilise online social network ʻapplicationsʼ to enhance the online profile/ group functions to young people
• Understand different social media consultation tools available online for online youth engagement/consultation
• Understand how to create a young person online questionnaire and integrate into a social network profile youth
• Understand how to create and facilitate an online discussion forum through a social network profile
• Understand the key issues to consider with online consultations with young people (informed consent, communicating whom will have access to consultation data & evidencing what change if any has occurred)
• Recognise & understand associate risks & safe guarding considerations with online consultations/forum discussions
• Understand appropriate youth professional online interventions and signposting young people to local/online youth services

Katie Bacon is an experienced youth worker, who has pioneered models of online youth work and youth engagement with a diverse range of young people’s groups in Devon. Katie runs Online Youth Outreach and has delivering training and capacity building in the use of the Internet in youth engagement settings to organizations across the UK. Tim Davies is a specialist in social media, youth participation and online social networking, and is co-author of ‘Youth Work and Social Networking’ (NYA 2008) and ‘Social Media & Youth Participation in Local Democracy’ (LGIU, 2009) . Tim is also a member of the UK Council on Child Internet Safety, and currently a full-time student studying for an MSc in Social Science of the Internet at the Oxford Internet Institute.

Pricing:
Statutory Youth Professional – £125 per delegate per day (excluding VAT)
Voluntary Sector Youth Professional – £100 per delegate per day (excluding VAT)

15% discount available off day 2 training’s costs for delegates booking both training dates

Directions & transport info to venue: http://www.roomhire.biz/location.html

To retain a booking, please email: info@katiebacon.co.uk