I was in Naperville, Illinois about two weeks ago for a cyberbullying summit sponsored by the Illinois Attorney General’s Office.  The audience was comprised of select stakeholders in education, law enforcement, and technology industry.  The most relevant companies and constituencies were there.  Attorney General Lisa Madigan was on hand to kick the event off with some opening remarks.  Michelle Collins from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) followed with some general comments about cyberbullying and sexting and highlighted some of the efforts of the NCMEC in online safety education and prevention.  Next, I participated in a panel of experts along with Hemanshu Nigam from MySpace, Andrew Chaulk from the Vermont Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) task force, and Nancy Willard from the Center for Safe and Responsible Internet Use.  We each provided a short introduction to our background and initiatives, then opened it up to the audience for questions and discussion.  As expected, it was a great discussion.

During lunch, Sarah Migas from the Illinois AG’s office described their efforts to educate youth, parents, educators and others about online safety issues.  In the afternoon we all were broken up into smaller groups to discuss in depth a particular scenario.  My group (Go Red Team!) discussed a sexting case from a few months ago.  We brainstormed possible prevention and response solutions and then presented our analysis to the larger group as a whole.  All in all it was a great event.

It is essential to bring all of these players together on a regular basis to develop a coordinated community response to cyberbullying.  Having pretty much everyone at the table really made for some interesting discussions.  The Illinois AG’s office is very much ahead of the curve with respect to these issues.  Stay tuned for more great resources from this group in the future.

I just got back from presenting at the Jostens Renaissance National Conference in Orlando.  As I wrote about after attending this conference last year, these folks really know how to have a good time!  The energy was just amazing.  There were once again over 1100 educators and high achieving students from around North America in attendance which created an electric atmosphere.  (The fact that it filled up in this economy tells you how great it is!)  Not only that, but everyone who attended one of my presentations seemed genuinely interested in learning about preventing and responding to cyberbullying.  I look forward to continuing to work with many of these folks in the future.

I’m going to be in Washington, DC on Wednesday, December 10th and Thursday, December 11th for the Family Online Safety Institute’s annual conference, where I’ll be participating in a formal roundtable to discuss cyberbullying prevention and response and Internet safety issues.  I am really looking forward to this, as many top practitioners and authors in this field will be there.  It will be excellent to see and catch up with Anne Collier, Larry Magid, Nancy Willard, Michelle Ybarra, Sonia Livingstone, Janis Wolak, and Sam McQuade, and to talk technological strategies and solutions with some of the heavy-hitting corporations in the communications and social media stratosphere.  Look me up or set something up with me - I’ll be at the conference hotel in the early evening on the 10th for a reception dinner, and then milling about attending presentations and networking throughout the day before my 4:30pm roundtable on Thursday.

Both Sameer and I will be at the Ophelia Project National Conference in Evanston, IL, Thursday and Friday this week (Oct. 16-17) talking about cyberbullying.  We will be presenting a couple of breakout sessions covering issues related to preventing and responding to cyberbullying incidents and legal issues facing educators.  If you are there, stop by and say hi!

I just got back from the Jostens Renaissance National Conference. WOW. The energy at this conference was electric. Over 1,100 educators and superstar students from around the country met up in Phoenix to discuss various issues relating to teaching, learning, culture, and motivation (just to name a few). I covered a basic overview of cyberbullying and other issues related to adolescent use of technology in a couple of breakout sessions. In addition to the learning that was taking place, there was also a heavy dose of fun. These folks were a riot to hang out with. It is really inspiring to be around people who are passionate about their jobs. Kudos to Jostens for putting on such an amazing event.

It was a great honor to speak at the National Press Club yesterday. A lot of interesting questions were asked…for example, what is the role of the school nurse in cyberbullying incidents, because they are a trusted figure in whom youth are confiding…how often does cyberbullying occur as a part of dating violence…is cyberbullying simply part of a general cultural trend of social aggression to be compartmentalized like road rage, or is it so much more…. Fascinating stuff. As promised - here is a picture of me with the most recognizable face in crime-fighting, McGruff!

I will be at the Jostens Renaissance National Conference presenting on cyberbullying on July 12th, 2008. More details about the conference can be found here. I’ll post more information in the near future!