Stephen Downes

Nancy Willard, who has been writing quality posts about related issues in discussion lists for years, is writing a series of articles on internet risks for children in Education World. The first item is a list of these risks. I think we need to look at this list fairly carefully. we need to ask, is the risk unique to the internet? Is the stress on the internet risk downplaying a real-life risk (for example, does it make children think that the risk of adult predators is higher on the internet than in the home, when the reverse is the case)? Is the risk even a risk, or is it just some sort of imposed morality (let's analyze - are teenage 'hook-ups' a real risk, or just morally frowned upon). I urge analysis before panic.