Rebecca Sedwick was a victim of cyberbullying at the age of 12. Her death sparked a national conversation about how to best address cyberbullying. People began asking how parents could better manage their kids’ digital communications. “I’m aggravated that the parents aren’t doing what they are supposed to be doing,” Florida Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd told CNN during the investigation into Sedwick’s death.
But Trisha Prabhu, who, inspired by Sedwick’s case, created the anti-bullying app ReThink when she was just 13, found that it wasn’t necessarily the parents’ responsibility to manage their kids’ online presence; rather, it was important for teens themselves to understand that what they say to a peer could be devastating.
“Here we are, giving teenagers this incredible power to communicate as digital citizens. And quite frankly, they’re not really equipped to make those decisions,” Prabhu, now 17, says. Her app uses an algorithm that recognizes and flags offensive language before it’s sent via text message or posted online. “There are severe consequences and lifelong scars when someone is bullied, and cyberspace compounds the effects.”
Numerous studies have shown that the prefrontal cortex, the part of the brain that manages impulse control, develops during teenage years but matures later, when people reach their mid-20s. That lack of impulse control leads to words a teen aggressor might regret. It’s also inspired anti-bullying advocates to find ways to encourage teens to second-guess their online interactions.
Prabhu’s ReThink app, which has been pushed by the Los Angeles Police Department and other organizations, uses an algorithm that is able to recognize and flag offensive language, then halt the message from being sent, allowing the sender a second chance to evaluate what they’ve written.
ReThink’s linguistic models are able to tell the difference between a user complaining about the weather, say, versus a user who’s sending a threat to someone. So for example, typing out “I hate the rain” would not be flagged. But messaging “I hate you,” on the other hand, would trigger the app’s filtering tool, which pops up when the user hits send and asks, “Are you sure you want to post this message?”
The app is invaluable to organizations that have been looking to technology as a disruptor for negative online messaging. Initial trial runs of the app found that 93 percent of teens that use it changed their minds about sending a message. ReThink now has more than 1.1 million users around the U.S.
“All the app does is shoot a question back to you, and it helps give you another filter,” says Jane Clementi, whose son Tyler was a victim of suicide in 2010 after his college roommate outed him by posting a sex video online. “I always tell people to take a breath, reread what they’ve written and if it’s not building someone up, if it’s tearing them down, I would hope that they would reconsider what they’ve written or maybe even discard it.”
Jane and her husband, Joe, started the Clementi Foundation, a nonprofit dedicated to preventing the kind of bullying their son endured. The couple has endorsed the ReThink app and appointed Prabhu to the foundation’s board.
“Technology like the ReThink app gives you a second chance,” says Joe. “And you don’t always get a second chance on a lot of things.”
The 2017 AllStars program is produced in partnership with Comcast NBCUniversal and celebrates social entrepreneurs who are powering solutions with innovative technology. Visit NationSwell.com/AllStars from Oct. 2 to Nov. 2 to vote for your favorite AllStar. The winner will receive the AllStar Award, a $10,000 grant to help further his or her work advocating for change.
Correction: A previous version of this video incorrectly stated that Trisha Prabhu had already graduated from high school. She is currently a senior in high school. NationSwell apologizes for the error.
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Tag: Internet
The City That’s Turning Old Pay Phones into Wi-Fi Hotspots
New York City has a plan to revamp the antiquated pay phones dotting city streets throughout the five boroughs.
Mayor Bill De Blasio unveiled a plan to transform thousands of public phones into information booths that provide free Wi-Fi access, free calls to anywhere in the United States, complimentary phone charging and a touchscreen featuring access to city services. Dubbed LinkNYC, the nearly 10 feet tall booths will provide Wi-Fi range from 150 feet in any direction for up to 250 devices, according to the New York Times.
But don’t expect the typical slow, public Wi-Fi. The network will be 100 times faster than average municipal systems and more than 20 times faster than average home internet service in the city, according to the Department of Information Technology and Telecommunications. That means a two-hour movie could be potentially downloaded in about 30 seconds.
“It’s going to help us close the digital divide,” says Maya Wiley, counsel to Mayor De Blasio.
The city awarded the bid to build the kiosks to CityBridge, a conglomerate of companies, including Qualcomm and Titan, and plans to roll out the hotspots beginning of next year. Approximately 10,000 will be installed across the five boroughs, with a weekly check-in to ensure they haven’t been vandalized.
The city plans to pay for the program through advertising revenues from digital displays featured on the booths. De Blasio says, the program will come at “no-cost to taxpayers and generate more than $500 million in revenue for the city over the next 12 years.” CityBridge is planning to create a local agency for maintenance and repair, which will add to the 100 to 150 new full-time jobs expected to come with the LinkNYC program.
For those who still rely on old-fashioned pay phones, CityBridge said it plans to keep three existing “Superman pay phones” along the West End Avenue, where some traditional phone booths have endured.
“With this proposal for the fastest and largest municipal Wi-Fi network in the world — accessible to and free for all New Yorkers and visitors alike — we’re taking a critical step toward a more equal, open and connected city,” De Blasio says, “for every New Yorker, in every borough.”
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Soon You Can ‘Check Out’ the Internet Along with Your Library Book
New York and Chicago public library systems are getting a digital upgrade. Armed with nearly $1 million in grant funding, the two once-considered antiquated institutions are ramping up services by loaning out Internet to locals much like a library book.
The Knight Foundation awarded both the New York Public Library (NYPL) and the Chicago Public Library as a part of the annual News Challenge, which invites innovators to create solutions that enhances free expression on the Internet. The Chicago Public Library (CPL) received $400,000 for its “Internet to Go” pilot and the New York Public Library received $500,000 for the “Check Out the Internet” project. The two were among 19 winners this year that received a total of $3.4 million in grants.
New York’s well-worn library serves about 40 million walk-in visitors each year, according to New York Public Library President Tony Marx, and an estimated 27 percent of households are without access to Internet. To help patrons who rely on the physical library for access to computers, library officials decided to tap into a digital resource to extend services beyond business hours.
“People are sitting on our stoop to get leaked broadband,” Marx said. “And that’s when a light went off for us that said ‘No, we’ve got to do better than this.’”
NYPL will let patrons “check out” WiFi hotspots for up to one year at a time and is partnering with local initiatives to distribute the equipment including tech training classes, English as a Second Language (ESL) courses and other educational programs.
Last month NYPL launched a smaller scale pilot, dispersing 100 devices in four library branches, and officials are already amassing data on how patrons are interacting with the device and where and when they’re using it. The data will enrich the launch of the larger project in September, when NYPL plans to roll out loans to 10,000 homes across the city. While the larger launch comes with a $1 million price tag, Marx said NYPL is already discussing an additional $1.5 million with a potential investor to complete the project.
The information will also be useful for the State Library systems of Kansas and Maine, which NYPL is working with to determine how to implement a similar model in more rural areas.
But the library is not the only government institution hoping to help others plug in. Last month the New York’s Department of Information Technology and Telecommunications (DoITT) announced a plan to replace 7,300 pay phones with updated equipment including free WiFi hotspots as well as phone use. The city will award a bid to carry out the project by the year’s end, according to Government Technology.
In Chicago, library officials are targeting six neighborhoods with low Internet adoption rates (50 percent or less). CPL is also renting out laptops and tablets along with mobile hotspots, all of which can be on loan for up to three weeks at a time. Patrons can also use the library’s digital and information literacy services, which will be made available with the equipment.
The library has long been considered a community pillar, connecting and empowering people with knowledge. Rather than falling into the shadows of the digital revolution, more cities should take note of how these two major library systems are not only embracing the technology, but finding solutions to bridge the digital divide.
MORE: The Innovative Service Bringing the Digital Revolution to Libraries
Community-Owned Internet Access: How These Neighborhoods are Redesigning the Traditional Provider Model
As the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) edges towards a decision that could give Internet service providers permission to charge websites for bandwidth, some communities across the country are rallying together to create a different type of solution.
The high-profile debate between FCC members and broadcasters centers on a proposal allowing broadband companies like Comcast or Verizon to charge websites for special “fast lanes” in the final stage, or “last mile,” of service transmission. In other words, these mega-media conglomerates would be able to determine which sites loader faster or slower based on how much each content provider pays them.
Coupled with the timing of the Time Warner-Comcast merger, critics are concerned the FCC proposal would eliminate net neutrality — a set of rules that enables a free and open internet — altogether, as well as infringe on free press. Companies like Google, Facebook, Amazon and Microsoft have decried the proposal as “a grave threat to the Internet.”
MORE: Every Kid Needs an Internet Connection to Thrive in School. This District Has a Plan to Make It Happen
But the convoluted issue is even more complex for consumers, who can feel beholden to these Internet companies in order to remain plugged in. But that doesn’t have to be the case, as communities like Brooklyn’s Red Hook neighborhood, Kansas City, and St. Louis have illustrated.
Rather than joining the national protest, these three areas have separately launched community-supported broadband initiatives by educating themselves and creating local co-ops to sidestep the traditional Internet service providers, Slate reports. The model is based on community supported agriculture (CSA), or farm shares.
With CSAs, members of the community invest in advance to cover costs of an operation and receive shares of the farm’s profits throughout the crop season. As Slate points out, communities could adopt a similar blueprint in the case of broadband services and leverage purchasing-power to decide who is in control of delivering “last mile” service.
In Brooklyn, the youth nonprofit Red Hook Initiative has created a Digital Stewards program to operate and maintain a community wireless network. The group purchases its bandwidth from high speed Internet service company BKFiber, supporting a local business while training community members to sustain the project.
Kansas City’s Free Network Foundation launched a co-op that owns and operates a community wireless network through purchasing “middle-mile” bulk bandwidth. Meanwhile in St. Louis, WasabiNet has created a wireless mesh network comprised of interconnected wireless routers. Users have different levels of access depending on how much they pay.
Regardless of how the FCC decision pans out, the debate is a chance for communities to redefine the way we are connected by taking charge of their share of the Internet. As Slate smartly points out, Americans should seize this opportunity to create an online sense of their local community instead of relying on big broadband retailers to do the work for them.
Meet the Proud Mother Who Takes On a Cyberbully With Harsh Words but Forgiveness, Too
For all the wonderful things the Internet gives us — global communication, information at our fingertips, the opportunity to spread awareness — there’s also an awful flip side to the technology. And that’s the people who use the web to deliberately attack one another with a few simple (often, anonymous) keystrokes.
Unfortunately, Megan Davies Mennes, a mother of a one-year-old son with Down Syndrome, knows this all too well.
After the English teacher and blogger posted an Instagram photo of her son Quinn (who had just recovered from a week-long bout of illness) with the hashtag #downsyndrome, an anonymous commenter named @JusesCrustHD wrote, “Ugly.”
But Mennes didn’t let this cyber bully have the last word, writing a powerful open letter that was recently picked up by the Huffington Post. In her correspondence, she calls out the user for purposely seeking out the hashtag to make derogatory comments behind the anonymity of a screen name.
MORE: This Anti-Bullying Video Teaches Us the Power of Two Simple Words
The whole letter is definitely worth the read, but here is where she hits the nail on the head as to why Internet trolls aren’t worth anyone’s time or emotional distress: “I recognize that you want to see me get worked up about your little ‘joke.’ I’ll be honest; it’s hard not to be angry about it, but I can’t allow myself to carry that weight on my shoulders. I can’t allow myself to feel anything but sorry for an individual with so little tact. Because in end, you will be the one to face the consequences of your choices someday. There are few people in this world who tolerate that kind of backwards thinking, and you’ll eventually mouth off to the wrong person. My guess is that you already have, which is why you hide behind a screen name.”
She continues, “God knows there were plenty of cruel adolescent boys in my time: boys who took pleasure in pranks and jokes at others’ expense. There were even a few of them that were directed at me, but it gave me tough skin and I grew from the experience of facing such mistreatment. Maybe that’s why I’m willing to let this one go; I know where most of those boys ended up, and it’s nowhere I’d want to be. And as a teacher, I’ve seen kids like you crash and burn. Go outside. Read a book. Compliment someone. Most importantly, enlighten yourself; there’s already enough cruelty in this world, and anyone worth their salt should be striving to make this place better, not worse.”
DON’T MISS: The Brilliant But Simple Way This Teacher Stops Bullying
In the end, Mennes takes the high road and wishes the user the best: “I simply hope my own children learn to look past ignorant comments and actions and treat others with respect and dignity. We all deserve it, even you.”
Nonprofit Helps Grandma Understand What You Posted on Facebook Last Night
Your parents have already friended you, and now Grandma might too. A program sponsored by the AARP and the nonprofit Older Adults Technology Services aims to help low-income seniors get online. Each senior participating in the program in Washington D.C. received a free iPad and classes on how to use it, including tips on protecting privacy online, how to get started with social media, and how to manage and interact with the technology, especially for those with shaky hands or a phobia of pop-up windows. Many of the senior participants found that engaging with social media allowed them to get in touch with old friends, find information about their interests, and diminish loneliness and isolation. AARP and Older Adults Technology Services are running a similar class in Sioux Falls, S.D., and evaluating whether to launch it in other cities throughout the country.
Farmers’ Markets Around the Country Have Found Bitcoin’s Secret Good Side
At farmers’ markets, credit cards make transactions more convenient for customers who may not have cash on hand. But they’re not ideal for vendors, who have to forfeit a 3% transaction fee. Some farmers are therefore turning to the new digital currency, Bitcoin, which most people associate with online drug and weapon sales. Clinton Felsted from Provo, Utah, started using Bitcoin at his market and has enjoyed pocketing the 3% of each transaction he was previously losing. It might seem like a small fee, but for a “high-volume, low-profit” business like a farmers’ market, it accrues harshly. Bitcoin could make a significant difference in business, and aid the country’s growing local agriculture movement. Small businesses may especially benefit from Bitcoin: they’re young and nimble enough to take the risk of using a new currency.