Thread by @peterwsinger

Excited to share with you a major new report from myself and a team of education+ technology experts on what we can do about mis/disinfo:

Teaching Cyber Citizenship:

Bridging Education and National Security to Build Resilience to New Online Threats
newamerica.org/education-poli…

The online world has been a crucial tool for education and connection, especially during the pandemic. But it has also spread a new kind of threat. Viral misinformation, deliberately spread disinformation, conspiracy theories, and hate speech run rampant.

The resulting problems have harmed everything from our democracy, culminating in the events of January 6th, to our public health, where an “infodemic” of false information about COVID continues to cost lives and hurt vaccination efforts.

While the efforts to battle and research this problem (some 460 thinktank, university, task force projects!) typically focus on the role of the platform companies and intelligence agencies etc, we’ve largely left our youth defenseless.

This is despite the fact that experts believe that raising the skills and awareness of those targeted by these attacks is among the best responses, and teachers are desperate for help.

So @NewAmerica @MediaLiteracyEd and @CyberSecurityFL teamed up to work on this, with the report capturing state of the field, the research and what could be done
newamerica.org/education-poli…

It is notable in that it brings together the insights of experts in areas that range from education policy to information warfare, who sought the ideas of people who ranged from NSA officials to high school teachers.

We lay out the need for a new approach, which we call “Cyber Citizenship.”
The concept blends the new skills that we all need in media and digital literacy, with the growing responsibilities of digital citizenship and civics, and the threat awareness of the cybersecurity field.

Even more, we don't just identify the key policy actions that could both aid our teachers + better secure our nation. We are launching a new online portal, where such K-12 teaching tools and curriculum to identify and resist mis/disinfo will all be gathered for the first time.

It is exciting in that, unlike a lot of the proposals/heated debate on what to do about various internet harms, this approach to aid our teachers and kids, and thus our broader democracy and public health, is nonpartisan, doable, and longterm in its effect.

It is also personally exciting to share it with all of you.

A lot of you know me for my future of war, cyber and useful fiction writing, but this is what I've been working on for last year, much of it behind the scenes, from launching the project, fundraising, to now research+writing on ed policy with great partners like @LisaGuernsey