1. Carrie James Project Zero Harvard Graduate School of Education
Disconnected:
Youth, New Media, & the Ethics Gap
Carrie James
Project Zero
Harvard Graduate School of Education

3. agenda
stories a bit of background participation mindsets ways of thinking, blind spots & disconnects conscientious connectivity discussion

4. ethics & digital life: two & a half stories

5. “No More West Indian American Detail” facebook page

6. Steubenville, Ohio

7. “A Needed Response” to Steubenville
“A Needed Response” to Steubenville
Samantha Stendal

9. the Good Play project key questions
how do young people think about their online lives?
to whom do they feel responsible online?
how do they respond to moral & ethical dilemmas?
research
qualitative interviews
over 100 youth, ages 10-25
40 adults, mean age 42
educational resources partners
Common Sense Media
Project New Media Literacies (USC)
Photo: YouMedia, Chicago Public Library

10. how youth (and adults)
think about the moral & ethical dimensions of privacy, property, & participation in networked publics

11. participation mindsets

12. online participation (speech)
youth mindsets toward
online participation (speech)
“play nice”
“it’s a community”
“will I get into trouble?”
“it’s just the internet”
I think of it as you talk to someone on Facebook as you would talk to them in person. And same thing online. You don't treat someone like a jerk because you're behind the microphone… Some people use [social network sites] as an attack system, just to attack people and then cower away because they can't do it in real life.
Trey, age 15

13. online participation (speech)
youth mindsets toward
online participation (speech)
“play nice”
“it’s a community”
“will I get into trouble?”
“it’s just the internet”
[I’m responsible to] anyone who uses Facebook and my profile or whatever. If I have something bad or offensive on there, it affects everyone.
Trey, age 15

14. online participation (speech)
youth mindsets toward
online participation (speech)
“play nice”
“it’s a community”
“will I get into trouble?”
“it’s just the internet”
“Somebody will tell the teacher, and they’ll get in trouble.”
Danielle, age 13

15. “it’s just the internet”
On the Internet…each person feels .001 percent responsible. They’re more like ‘I'm on the Internet, there's really nothing I can do. I know nothing about this person, so I'm just going to stand back and be a casual observer.’ And the Internet does turn a lot of interaction into casual observation or, at best, interested but still removed.
Most of the time when people see something online, their main reaction is to laugh because most of the stuff on the Internet you have no sway over at all, so you just laugh and move on.
John, age 19

16. ability / sensitivity / inclination
ways of thinking
self-focused / consequence thinking :
thinking about one’s actions in an individualistic, consequence-driven way (“What’s in it for me?” “Will I get into trouble?”)
moral thinking :
thinking about interpersonal relations or known others (“Play nice”)
ethical thinking :
thinking about the impact of one’s choices for a larger group, community, world
(“It’s a community”)
ability / sensitivity / inclination
Dispositional perspectives on thinking (Perkins, D., Tishman, S., Ritchhart, R. et al “Intelligence in the Wild,” Educational Psychology Review)
Moral sensitivity, moral motivation (Rest et al., Post-Conventional Moral Thinking)

17. thinking shortfalls “blind spots” “disconnects” digital qualities
failures of…
sensitivity
inclination
agency
digital qualities
habits of connectivity
peer norms
supports / role models / messages
Photo: sssteve.o, Flickr, Creative Commons BY-NC-SA 2.0
Photo: benandbessy, Flickr, Creative Commons BY-NC-SA 2.0

19. conscientious connectivity

20. conscientious connectivity
reflection about spheres of responsibility
ethical thinking skills: perspective-taking, roles & responsibilities thinking, community thinking
ethical thinking dispositions: ethical sensitivity, motivation, & agency

21. ethical thinking dispositions
ethical sensitivity
alertness to moral & ethical dilemmas
ethical motivation
an inclination to grapple with the dilemmas
ethical agency
a sense of efficacy
“ethics spotting”
perspective-taking
debating
reflecting on values
mirror tests
inspiring
envisioning

22. ethical agency

23. Out of Eden Learn

24. authentic and respectful engagement
Community Guidelines
Be Yourself
Be Respectful
Be Reflective
Speak Up
Be Compassionate
Listen Carefully
Engage Thoughtfully
goals:
authentic and respectful engagement

25. Appreciate: Share what you like or value in the post you've read
Appreciate: Share what you like or value in the post you've read. Be specific.
Probe: Probe for more details. Ask questions that will help give you more insight into the other person's perspective.  
Snip: Cut and paste a phrase or sentence from the original post into your comment. Combine with an Appreciation or Probe. 
Reflect back: Say what you think you're hearing. "What I hear you saying is… Is that what you're trying to say?" The goal here is to confirm your interpretation and get “on the same page.”
Connect: Make a connection between something in the post and your own experiences, feelings, or interests.
Extend: Describe how the post extended your thoughts in new directions or gave you a new perspective.
online
dialogue
moves
Sloan, Chris. Comment as Genre. Youth Voices: A National Writing Project community.
Winiecki, Donald J. (1999). Keeping the thread: Adapting conversational practice to help distance students and instructors manage discussions in an asynchronous learning network. DEOSNEWS, 9 (2), Available:

27. discussion

28. thank you mitpress.mit.edu/books/disconnected www.thegoodproject.org
for more information:
mitpress.mit.edu/books/disconnected
to continue the conversation:
carrie_james