Youth-Driven Information Privacy Education Campaign 2015-16: Digital Trust Foundation Final Grant Report
Author: Walker, Kristen L.
Date: 2016-00-00
Type: Reports - Research
Subjects: Middle School Students,Privacy,Information Utilization,Internet,Social Media,Marketing,Youth Programs,Information Literacy,Computer Literacy,Critical Thinking,Communication Skills,Undergraduate Students,Knowledge Level,Web Sites,Computer Mediated Communication,Risk,Users (Information),Incidence,Homework,Assignments,Focus Groups,Student Surveys,Parent Surveys,Teacher Surveys,Interviews,Online Searching,Child Safety

This project involved the development of a comprehensive and educational social marketing communications plan designed to help educate middle-school-aged youth about information use and abuse online. We achieved our goal of enhancing digital information literacy while developing critical thinking and creative communication skills for middle-school-aged children and the college undergraduates who worked with them on this project. Under the guidance of the principal investigators, the undergraduates worked with middle-school-aged youth in Los Angeles County to research and assess youth knowledge of issues they face online, develop potential solutions, and implement those solutions in an educational social media marketing campaign designed to enhance the digital literacy and responsible behavior of middle-school-aged youth (http://digitaltrustfoundation.org/strategy-1-2-grants/). The research used to create the marketing campaigns involved middle school youth, parents/caregivers of middle-school-aged children, and middle-school teachers and led to key findings and a website for digital literacy education at: http://www.youthprivacyprotection.org. The underlying theme identified by the research team is a permanence paradox: when an individual engages in online information exchanges without mediating the risk, due to a lack of knowledge of the long-term value of their personal information. Key Findings: (a) Middle school youth are increasingly online, unaware their digital information exchanges form permanent profiles; (b) The general lack of awareness of the risks of exchanging information online (personal information may be shared with data brokers and other third parties) among college undergraduates, middle school youth, parents/caregivers, and educators; (c) An evolving online presence of middle school youth under the age of 13 at school and home (an increased use/ownership of devices by youth under the age of 13); (d) Parents, educators, and older siblings act as significant influencers and enablers of device use and online activities (eg allowing and creating social media accounts for their children under the age of 13); (e) An increase in device use/online activity (particularly social media, that target adults) illustrating the 7th grade technology leap; and (f) An increasing use of online sites such as YouTube for homework assignments, intensifies the vulnerability of middle school youth. The following are appended: (1) IRB Approval Forms; (2) Focus Group Moderator Guide; (3) Middle School Children's Survey; (4) Middle School Parents' Survey; (5) Middle-School Teachers' Survey; (6) Interview Guide used for One-to-One Depth Interviews with Parents; (7) Poster Presented at American Marketing Association Educators Conference Las Vegas, NV February 26,2016; (8) Poster Presented at American Marketing Association International Collegiate Conference New Orleans, LA March 2016; and (9) Grant Press and Publicity. [The following research assistants contributed to this report: (1) Charissa Clark; (2) Kimberly Khieu; and (3) Andres Nieto.]