(chinadaily.com.cn)
Updated: 2007-12-14 19:24

Moderator: Some netizens want to know what kind of work the I Keep Safe coalition has done in the past year.

Mrs Leavitt: We have been distributing our books, this is a big project, into elementary schools. It's free curriculum and educational resources for teachers.

Mrs Leavitt: The first book talks about how what you see online is not necessarily real life, it's not necessarily true. The dog says, in this book, "I want to meet you. I'm a little kitty cat just like you."

Mrs Leavitt: And also, don't meet Internet strangers in real life, because you don't know who they are.

Mrs Leavitt: The second book talks about cyber buying, which is something that is happening in American middle schools and something that parents need to be aware of.

Moderator: What is your plan next year? What type of work will you do?

Mrs Leavitt: This year and next year, to tell you a little more for the teens, we have just completed a tutorial about social networking and cyber bullying, and we are doing more focus with the secondary schools in these issues.

Moderator: Here are some figures from the Internet Information Center in China: Among 36 million senior high school students in China, there are over 18 million netizens, and among 60 million junior middle school students, the number of the netizens is over 10 million. Who do you think is the best door keeper in terms of Internet safety: the young people themselves, parents, teachers, or outside sources?

Mrs Leavitt: All of us have a role, absolutely. Clearly, learning at school, not just how to keyboard, but learning safety skills. We call it "cyber ethics," the skills about how to use the Internet wisely and appropriately. Parents, when they're home, they must be alert to this and address issues. The goal is to have the students, the young people, understand and be aware, so that when they go to college or as they get older, they have this internal wisdom and they can be very wise individually about computer use.

Moderator: We are very glad to have Mrs. Leavitt today. So, Mrs. Leavitt, would you please say a few words to the netizens who are with us?

Mrs Leavitt: A very positive message about technology. 21st century skills connect us with the world, communication is so important, and also in our education to learn and to understand the world is so important. And with all of these benefits we do have to remember to be wise, to have safe practices, and to implement safety strategies and be good net citizens. Be the same person online as you are offline. That means treat others with respect.

Moderator: Thank you, Mrs. Leavitt. Thank you for coming to our program. We are very glad to hear about the current situation of American youth surfing the Internet from you today. Also, another good news is this book. It’s very interesting and we expect to see the Chinese version as soon as possible.

Mrs Leavitt: Yes, and with the book comes an animated CD. So the animated cartoon makes it very fun for students to learn.

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