“Scientia potentia est” (Knowledge Is Power). This quote is
most contributed to Sir Francis Bacon, a philosopher of scientific knowledge.
Communities have the ability to help themselves if they knew how to protect
their data security. I did a presentation, through Mozilla’s Web Literacy
curriculum, to a group of teens at the library I worked at. This photo reminds
me every day that young adults from high school to college need more web literacy
security workshops.
I believe that I could do more workshops to college students
in my current position at a community college. This generation post so much
about their lives and they don’t see how their current and future activities
can be compromised. Back to this presentation, I saw how the teens became
enraged that their life was used for profit and this photo showed that this
teen felt used attacked by these hacks and wanted her life back. When I took
this photo, I knew then that she had every right to have her activities secured
but she needed to know how to have the skills to keep her privacy secured too.
Mozilla Web Literacy has free online competencies that
allows individuals to obtain “entry level” knowledge on how to protect
themselves. I utilized Mozilla’s web literacy information to help teens see how
their rights online can be compromised. I am so honored that the teen pictured
below showed the world her right to keep her privacy secured. This picture
symbolizes to me a desire for communities to know about how they can protect
themselves. I would like to create more workshops for college age students to “examine
and understand the consequences of sharing data online.”
Offering knowledge creates a conversation and the ability
the change lives. I believe that by offering different workshops revolving
around web security will be a win-win scenario. This photo is my inspiration
and I know that I can find college students to have a conversation about
security. I know that giving knowledge is one way to help secure their privacy.
I plan to have an online event on our department’s Facebook page and this will
help serve as a vehicle of communication to our students. At this community
college, all adults (18+) will be welcomed to my workshops. During my
workshops, I will have participants apply what they learned. What makes Mozilla’s
web literacy workshops unique is how participants usually have an instant
desire to start creating a safety net around their social sites. College
students usually do not have the energy to apply what they learned, but I
believe that I could help others with this type of workshop. What started as a teen
holding up a sign stating, “I really don’t want anyone to know my location or
sites I look at”, my intention is to promote what Sir Francis Bacon said about
knowledge. Knowledge gives back the power and comes full circle to help others,
like this teen, to help themselves. Knowledge is indeed power and I want to
bring that hope to them.
