Feb 3, 2009

The Cybercitizen Challenge has been developed by Media Awareness Network (MNet), a non-profit education organization that has been pioneering media and Web literacy programs in Canada since 1996. MNet’s work is based on the belief that to be literate in the world today—to be able to "read" the messages that inform, entertain and sell to us daily—young people need critical thinking skills. This is especially true when it comes to the Internet.

Once these activities are completed, the girls are eligible for the Cybercitizen/Cybercitoyenne Challenge crest. You can purchase your crests at your local guide store or on-line at www.thegirlguidestore.ca.

About the challenge

The goal of the Cybercitizen Challenge is to help girls, at all levels of guiding, to be informed and responsible citizens of cyberspace. In particular, the challenge addresses five main issues girls and young women may encounter online:

• Safety: girls are made aware of how certain activities and behaviours may endanger their safety (Click here for a Guider Backgrounder on online safety.)
• Privacy: girls learn what may become of personal information they post online, and how to protect their privacy (Click here for a Guider Backgrounder on online privacy and marketing.)
• Marketing: girls learn about the techniques marketers use to target young people
• Authentication of online information: girls are provided with practical methods for telling if online information is true or not (Click here for a Guider Backgrounder on online authentication.)
• Ethics: girls reflect on the ethical aspects of their online activities— from cyber bullying to posting pictures (Click here for a Guider Backgrounder on online ethics.)

In general, each challenge activity addresses one of these issues, while the online educational games that we link to—Privacy Playground, CyberSense and Nonsense and Jo Cool Jo Fool—cover numerous topics.

All Challenge activities also come with backgrounders for leaders to help familiarize them with the issues that girls will be exploring. Click on the links above to access them.

Many of the activities require computers with Internet connections, while others can be completed without a computer. (In the table below, activities that require a computer are marked with an asterisk*.) If your meeting venue doesn’t have Internet-connected computers available, we encourage you to contact your neighborourhood library or school and ask if they could to host the activity. Keep in mind that school computer firewalls may restrict you from accessing some of the commercial Web sites that are used in the activities.

Finally, especially for younger girls, you may need to pair good readers with weaker readers, as many of the activities require reading skills.

Activities at a glance

To complete this challenge and earn a Cybercitizen crest, complete at least two activities for your branch of Guiding.

The exception is the Jo Cool & Jo Fool game (plus the accompanying quiz) which covers all the issues. Guides and Pathfinders can earn their Cybercitizen Challenge with this one activity.

Activities requiring a computer are marked with an asterisk*.

Sparks

Sparks must complete at least 2 of these activities to successfully complete the challenge.

1. CyberSense Poem:
   This poem provides girls with clear rules on what to do on the Internet when asked to give out their name. (Privacy and safety)
   
2. Masks and Avatars:
   Through the making of a mask, girls are introduced to the notion of identity in the Internet. Avatars –those characters you can create and play with in on sites such as Club Penguin – are lots of fun, but they can also complicate online relationships because of the “identity layers” they add. (Online ethics)
   
3. Co-Co Crunch*(Marketing):
   In this online educational game, a friendly cereal box named Co-Co asks for help in designing a Web site that will attract kids. As girls develop the perfect Web environment for Co-co, they learn how advertisers target kids online and how to recognize online marketing techniques. (Marketing)
   
4. It’s in the Box (Marketing):
   In this activity, girls deconstruct a cereal Web page in order to better understand the marketing techniques used to attract and engage them online. This is the offline alternative to the Co-Co Crunch activity. (Marketing)

Because it is unlikely that girls at this age would be researching projects online, there is no authentication of online information activity at the Sparks level.

Brownies

Brownies must complete at least 2 of these activities to successfully complete the challenge. The activities should look at two different topic areas.

1. Privacy Playground: The First Adventure of the Three CyberPigs*:
   In this online adventure, the CyberPigs learn about online marketing and protecting their privacy as they surf the Internet. (Safety, marketing and privacy)
   
2. CyberSense Poem:
   This poem provides girls with clear rules on what to do on the Internet when asked to give out personal information. (Privacy and safety)
3. Masks and Avatars:
   Through the making of a mask, girls are introduced to the notion of identity in the Internet. Avatars –those characters you can create and play with in on sites such as Club Penguin – are lots of fun, but they can also complicate online relationships because of the “identity layers” they add. (Online ethics)
4. It’s a Dog’s Life (Ethics):
   Through the story of a computer-savvy dog, girls are given the opportunity to develop an ethical approach to online communications. (Ethics)
5. Co-Co’s AdverSmarts*:
   In this online educational game, a friendly cereal box named Co-Co asks for help in designing a Web site that will attract kids. As girls develop the perfect Web environment for Co-co, they learn how advertisers target kids online and how to recognize online marketing techniques used in "advergames" and other immersive Web environments. (Marketing)
6. It’s in the Box:
   In this activity, girls deconstruct a cereal Web page in order to better understand the marketing techniques used to attract and engage them online. This is the offline alternative to the Co-Co Crunch activity. (Marketing)
7. CyberSense and Nonsense: The Second Adventure of the Three CyberPigs*:
   In this adventure, the CyberPigs explore the world of chat rooms and learn to distinguish between fact and fiction, and to detect bias and harmful stereotyping in online content. (Ethics and authentication of online information.)
8. Site Digging:
   Using pictures of Web pages about the swift fox, Brownies learn about the importance of asking “Who posted this information?” and “What kind of information is this?” when conducting online research. (Authentication of online information) Site Digging Handout

Guides

Guides must complete at least 2 of these activities to successfully complete the Challenge (with the exception of Jo Fool & Jo Cool). The activities should look at two different topic areas.

1. Privacy Playground: The First Adventure of the Three CyberPigs*:
   In this adventure, the CyberPigs learn about online marketing and about protecting their privacy as they surf the net. (Safety, marketing and privacy)
   
2. Jo Cool or Jo Fool: Interactive Module and Quiz on Critical Thinking for the Internet*:
   This interactive online game takes students through a series of mock sites that test their savvy surfing skills. The game ends with an online quiz that gives students an even more in-depth level of information. (Safety, marketing, privacy, ethics and authentication of information)
   
3. It’s a Dog’s Life:
   Through the story of a computer-savvy dog, girls are given the opportunity to develop an ethical approach to online communications. (Ethics)
   
4. Site Digging:
   Using pictures of Web pages about the swift fox, Guides learn about the importance of asking “Who posted this information?” and “What kind of information is this?” when conducting online research. (Authentication of online information) Site Digging Handout
   
5. CyberSense and Nonsense: The Second Adventure of the Three CyberPigs*:
   In this adventure, the CyberPigs explore the world of chat rooms and learn to distinguish between fact and fiction, and to detect bias and harmful stereotyping in online content. (Ethics and authentication of online information)

Pathfinders

Pathfinders must complete at least 2 of these activities to successfully complete the Challenge. The activities should look at three different topic areas.

1. Jo Cool or Jo Fool: Interactive Module and Quiz on Critical Thinking for the Internet*:
   This interactive online game takes students through a series of mock sites that test their savvy surfing skills. The game ends with an online quiz that gives students an even more in-depth level of information. (Safety, marketing, privacy, ethics and authentication of information)
   
2. In the Eye of the Beholder:
   In this activity girls use a self-questionnaire and participate in guided discussion to reflect on how their Internet activities may endanger their safety. (Safety)
   
3. Photos Galore:
   In this activity, girls take photos of each other using a cell phone, and discuss how sharing images, through cell phones or Internet postings, might compromise their privacy and safety and that of their friends. (Ethics and privacy)
   
4. The Money Trail*:
   This activity takes girls to marketing Web sites, where they look for online marketing gimmicks. In doing so, they learn about the subtle and not-so-subtle ways in which marketers engage young people with their products on the Internet. (Marketing)
   
5. Fact of Folly?:
   This activity helps to raise awareness about the importance of double-checking what you find when surfing the Internet and provides strategies for telling if online information is true. (Authenticating online information)

Rangers

Rangers must complete at least 2 of these activities to successfully complete the Challenge (with the exception of Jo Fool & Jo Cool). The activities should look at three different topic areas.

1. Privacy Pitfalls:
   In this activity, Rangers will be looking at the ways that commercial Web sites collect personal information from kids and what makes a responsible privacy policy. (Privacy)
2. In the Eye of the Beholder:
   In this activity girls use a self-questionnaire and participate in guided discussion to reflect on how their Internet activities may endanger their safety. (Safety)
3. Photos Galore:
   In this activity, girls take photos of each other with a cell phone, and discuss how sharing images, through cell phones or Internet postings, might compromise their privacy and that of their friends. (Ethics and privacy)
4. The Money Trail*:
   This activity takes girls to marketing Web sites, where they look for online marketing gimmicks. In doing so, they learn about the subtle and not-so-subtle ways in which marketers engage young people with their products on the Internet. (Marketing)
5. Fact of Folly?:
   This activity helps to raise awareness about the importance of double-checking what you find when surfing the Internet and provides strategies for telling if online information is true. (Authenticating online information)