Full Text of SR0545 095th General Assembly
SR0545 95TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY
|
|
|
SR0545 |
|
LRB095 15257 NHT 41242 r |
|
| 1 |
| SENATE RESOLUTION
| 2 |
| WHEREAS, Social networking and social media are the latest | 3 |
| wave in Internet uses; Internet usage has evolved quickly from | 4 |
| simple e-mail, banking, and shopping to a place to meet | 5 |
| friends, share interests and activities, and find and interact | 6 |
| with others with similar interests; the drive to be part of a | 7 |
| group is a strong motivator; and
| 8 |
| WHEREAS, Social network sites are designed to allow | 9 |
| interaction between users who share interests, skills, or some | 10 |
| other commonality and to build cooperative activities; | 11 |
| according to the Wharton School's online business journal, over | 12 |
| 300 social networking sites existed in 2006; social networks | 13 |
| have become a source for community collaboration on a worldwide | 14 |
| scale; and
| 15 |
| WHEREAS, Social media sites allow people to share content | 16 |
| they have uploaded on sites like Wikipedia (a cooperative | 17 |
| encyclopedia), Flickr (photo sharing), and YouTube (video | 18 |
| sharing); and
| 19 |
| WHEREAS, Wikipedia has given birth to a similar function | 20 |
| used in schools to promote teamwork, YouTube allows an outlet | 21 |
| for youngsters' creative talents, and Flickr allows the sharing | 22 |
| of photos with friends and relatives, particularly with |
|
|
|
SR0545 |
- 2 - |
LRB095 15257 NHT 41242 r |
|
| 1 |
| grandparents; and
| 2 |
| WHEREAS, A recent study prepared for the Online Computer | 3 |
| Library Center (OCLC) by Harris Interactive, Inc., quotes from | 4 |
| Time Magazine's December 13, 2006 article, "Time's Person of | 5 |
| the Year: You", by Lev Grossman: "The new Web is a very | 6 |
| different thing. It is a tool for bringing together the small | 7 |
| contributions of millions of people and making them matter."; | 8 |
| and
| 9 |
| WHEREAS, Among the 14 to 21-year age group of Internet | 10 |
| users surveyed, 75% have been online for 4 years or more, about | 11 |
| a quarter of their lives; to quote from the OCLC study, 20% of | 12 |
| all surveyed and 32% of the Americans surveyed "have used a | 13 |
| social media site and created or contributed to others' web | 14 |
| pages; 17% have blogged or written an online diary/journal"; | 15 |
| and
| 16 |
| WHEREAS, About 37% of Americans surveyed have used a social | 17 |
| networking site, the largest percentage within the countries | 18 |
| surveyed; today it is easier for the non-technical user to post | 19 |
| on a blog, build a web page, contribute to a social media site, | 20 |
| or interact on a social network site; and
| 21 |
| WHEREAS, This same study, "Sharing, Privacy and Trust in | 22 |
| our Networked World", pinpointed MySpace as the most used |
|
|
|
SR0545 |
- 3 - |
LRB095 15257 NHT 41242 r |
|
| 1 |
| social networking site among the countries surveyed, excluding | 2 |
| Japan, in which Mixi was the most used; both are used heavily | 3 |
| by users under the age of 50 and very little by those over 50; | 4 |
| among social media sites, YouTube was the most frequently used | 5 |
| site and used in much the same proportions; and
| 6 |
| WHEREAS, Every new technology comes with the need to learn | 7 |
| to use it safely; the introduction of the automobile 100 years | 8 |
| ago required the world's populations to adopt a new lifestyle; | 9 |
| the Internet has created a similar global lifestyle shift and | 10 |
| is still evolving; Internet use for e-mail, information | 11 |
| searching, and on-line ordering and banking is now commonplace; | 12 |
| social networking has gained widespread use since 2005, but | 13 |
| privacy and participation on social networking sites differ | 14 |
| from that understood in earlier uses of the Internet; and
| 15 |
| WHEREAS, Of importance to the Senate is that the OCLC study | 16 |
| found that users of social networking will share interest | 17 |
| information, but are less likely to share contact information; | 18 |
| while on a commercial site, 73% will share surnames and 50% | 19 |
| will share telephone numbers; on a social networking site, only | 20 |
| 46% will share surnames and 12% will share telephone numbers; | 21 |
| on social media sites, the numbers are even lower; even so, it | 22 |
| is urgent that all Internet users understand the risks of | 23 |
| sharing personal information, and so it was encouraging to find | 24 |
| that 85% of those surveyed in the OCLC study understood that |
|
|
|
SR0545 |
- 4 - |
LRB095 15257 NHT 41242 r |
|
| 1 |
| use of social networking sites was not reasonably private and | 2 |
| that youths were less likely than older age groups to feel that | 3 |
| their Internet activities were private; and
| 4 |
| WHEREAS, The Illinois Library Association (ILA) is to be | 5 |
| commended for partnering with MySpace to produce and distribute | 6 |
| cyber safety bookmarks through public libraries nationwide and | 7 |
| particularly in this State; this trio of bookmarks lists | 8 |
| methods for dealing with cyber bullying, gives tips for parents | 9 |
| on social networking safety, and emphasizes safe blogging | 10 |
| practices; the bookmarks are available from ILA, and the Senate | 11 |
| recommends that every school in this State use these or the | 12 |
| information and videos available on other sites to begin a | 13 |
| discussion with youngsters; and
| 14 |
| WHEREAS, In the State of Virginia, the Department of | 15 |
| Education has produced an excellent handbook to guide schools | 16 |
| in Internet safety instruction, which can be found on its | 17 |
| website; and
| 18 |
| WHEREAS, Social networking and social media sites are not a | 19 |
| fad, but rather a part of every student's learning experience; | 20 |
| and
| 21 |
| WHEREAS, Social networking and social media sites are | 22 |
| merely a step in the continued evolution of the Internet, and |
|
|
|
SR0545 |
- 5 - |
LRB095 15257 NHT 41242 r |
|
| 1 |
| our youngsters and their parents need help to cope with this | 2 |
| swiftly changing environment; therefore, be it
| 3 |
| RESOLVED, BY THE SENATE OF THE NINETY-FIFTH GENERAL | 4 |
| ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that the Senate urges | 5 |
| schools and public libraries to use available information to | 6 |
| provide Internet safety education to the children and parents | 7 |
| of this State; and be it further
| 8 |
| RESOLVED, That suitable copies of this resolution be | 9 |
| delivered to the State Board of Education and the Illinois | 10 |
| Library Association.
|
|