I Found It on the Internet, Coming of Age Online

by Frances Jacobson Harris

Today’s teens immerse themselves in the world of technology as never before. But texting, tweeting, chatting, blogging, and other social networking largely occur in a free-for-all environment of unbridled access; quality takes a backseat to quantity. To help librarians, educators, and parents step in to guide teens’ decision making, Frances Jacobson Harris offers a thoroughly updated edition of her classic book, including Advice on how to help young people make good decisions, especially in such thorny areas as music and media sharing Tools for formulating information and communication policies, with research and commentary on the latest technology Practical ways of dealing with the problematic issues of hacking, cheating, privacy, harassment, and access to inappropriate contentPacked with timely information, Harris’s book remains the best resource for being an effective technology mentor for students.

Genres: Nonfiction, Internet, Technology, Reference, Library Science

248 pages, Paperback

First published April 1, 2005

Reviews

[Salsabrarian]

The author describes how "information and communication technologies" (Internet, chat, IM, blogs, social networking) play a big role in teens' social lives and impact how they seek information (whether on a formal or informal basis). She discusses ways that librarians can teach teens to learn how to separate the online wheat from the chaff. Also, regulating teens' actions online goes beyond filters and rules of conduct. They must also learn online ethics in order to become intelligent citizens of the virtual world. To that end, librarians must accept and understand ICT as an essential part of library service.

[Kim · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book was read for a class on teens I'm the public library, but was written for school libraries,making it functionaly useless for class. Outside of that, the book repeated itself too much and the author clearly has some outdated views (like my professor). A big waste of money and time, so much so that I didn't finish the book. But since I had to sit through presentations about it, I don't feel that I really missed out.

[Kat · Rating 2 out of 5]

As someone who "came of age online" (i.e. Millenials, Generation Y, those born between 1980 and 2000), this book did offer me a great deal of insight. It told me things I already knew, but phrased in an academic style. That said, it wasn't inaccurate or overly philosophical/preachy. Probably good for school and academic librarians who do not belong to the above-mentioned age group or anyone writing on teens and the Internet who needs something to quote from.

[Polly Callahan]

p 18 can an individual school library add subject headings for a book so a student search has more chances to "hit"
p22 children/teens better @ recognition than recall given a list (or pyramid) of search terms, can recognize what they need
http:// www.tlsdelivers.com
p23 Kid's catalog
p27 open directory www.dmoz.org
p43 school librarians electronic disc. group www.eduref.org/lm_net/archive

[Erin · Rating 3 out of 5]

good but dated

[Elizabeth · Rating 2 out of 5]

It's okay. a very short read, but most of it pure common sense. don't let 12 year-olds look at porno sites, etc.