[LINK] How NetAlert accentuated the negative

[Jan Whitaker]

At 08:44 AM 12/01/2008, Antony Barry wrote:

>Research obtained under freedom of information laws raises questions
>about the accuracy of the Howard government's pre-election
>advertising campaign on internet safety, writes PETER MARES on our
>partner website, Creative Economy


[cc'd to Senator Conroy to support my earlier messages about the 
wrong-headedness of this latest filtering attempt]

Lesson to new govt: use quotes from the research, preferably 
including the exact data as well, and do NOT spin the data to fit 
your agenda. You will be found out.


from the full article: 
http://www.creative.org.au/webboard/results.chtml?filename_num=187479
[for some reason I couldn't get the link Tony posted to come up, even 
after allowing js to run on the apo page}

[snip]
The survey data provides only partial support for the NetAlert 
campaign warning that "playing online can lead to straying online" 
and the accompanying statistic that "almost half of 11 to 14 year old 
children said they had viewed websites their parents would find 
alarming." Again the survey questions were posed using a different 
form of words. Children and adolescents were asked whether they had 
accidentally viewed websites that "mum or dad (or a guardian) 
wouldn't want you to see?" While 43 per cent of respondents answered 
"yes" to this question there is no evidence how long they stayed on 
the site or whether they immediately closed out of it. Only 12 per 
cent said of survey respondents said that they had "deliberately" 
visited a site that "mum or dad wouldn't want you to go to."

Burns says the overall picture that emerges from the Wallis Group 
research is far more positive than the messages of "danger, risk and 
fear" that characterised the NetAlert campaign. When asked what sort 
of things they do on the internet, for example, children and 
teenagers cited looking "for information for homework or study" ahead 
of all other activities, including playing games, chatting and messaging.

The survey also revealed that well before the NetAlert campaign 
almost three quarters of parents had already talked to their children 
about "keeping safe online," which Dr Burns describes as "an 
amazingly positive finding."

==
I don't know if the previous govt release was being mischievous 
necessarily. Some people reword text in releases and reports for some 
reason of 'making it in their own words', not realising the meaning 
can change as a result. Wow, listen to me giving the benefit of the 
doubt! anyway, misleading they were.




Jan Whitaker
JLWhitaker Associates, Melbourne Victoria
jwhit at janwhitaker.com
business: http://www.janwhitaker.com
personal: http://www.janwhitaker.com/personal/
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