Stephen Downes

According to the blurb, "this report (82 page PDF) shares findings from MediaSmarts' four-year intervention research project... which developed and evaluated the Resilience through DigitalSmarts program. Delivered in shelters and transitional homes across Canada, the program provides trauma- and violence-informed digital media literacy training." This sort of reading is important for everyone because, as they say on the internet, YMMV. My own online experience is trouble-free. I have never had to worry about Technology-facilitated violence and abuse (TFVA). But "the impacts of TFVA also vary depending on social circumstances, including gender, age, race, sexuality, class, ability, and location. Women and girls are disproportionately impacted by all forms of intimate partner violence, including TFVA." Before I talk about what we can do online (and I do talk about such things, a lot) I need to have an understanding of how other, less privileged, people experience the online environment, and how organizations like MediaSmarts help them manage. To do anything else would be irresponsible.