Q What problem is the Digital Citizenship Summit solving?

A. The Digital Citizenship Summit is one of the single most effective ways to connect thought leaders and experts  to citizens who want to take positive action in their communities.  We educate, empower and engage  parents, students, K-12 professionals, college/graduate-level students and professors, library/media specialists and the technology industry in meaningful, actionable conversations.  We bring diverse groups and new voices to the table to share ideas and begin collaboration across silos.Often ,we hear that our Summits sparked crucial conversations that may have never taken place before. In short, being  inclusive is baked into our DNA. 

Q Does the Digital Citizenship Summit include media literacy? 

A. The reason why the Digital Citizenship Summit runs with the tagline of “safe, savvy, ethical” is because we wanted to move away from solely focusing on online safety and ensure that topics like media literacy are properly incorporated.The concept of digital citizenship is based on nine elements, developed by Dr. Mike Ribble. Here is how they are covered by safe, savvy, ethical:

• Safe: Security, Communication, Commerce

• Savvy: Literacy, Access, Health

• Ethical: Rights & Responsibilities, Law, Etiquette

Q. Who are some of the partners you work with nationally?

A. The Digital Citizenship Summit works with the top minds in the industry, including national organizations that have had a strong positive influence on the digital community including the Family Online Safety Institute (FOSI), Common Sense Media, NAMLE, and iKeepSafe.

One of our major distinctions is a completely new dissemination model. We're here to connect people, schools and towns to ways in which they can take positive action. How do we do that? In person and online. Learn more: 

We connect silos and empower citizens to transform their communities, their actions and ultimately, be the positive digital change we all want to see. We hope to engage as many people as possible That's why we hold Digital Citizenship Summits around the globe and collaborate on projects in cities nationally.

Q. How Is a Digital Citizenship Summit different than other events, such as workshops or chats held for educators, the tech industry or community safety experts? 

A. Interest in digital citizenship is on the rise, but events being planned for students, parents, and educators vary in quality. Educators often bring together materials based on what they have available from their own resources. We provide save, savvy and ethical tools, partners and experts and offer key follow-up to help you keep updated post-Summit. 

We help to fully integrate digital life into real life—at schools and through programs that bring people together to connect.  It sounds simple but it hasn't happened before! We are proud to offer this expertise and share our knowledge and resources in a streamlined, practical way.

Our focus is on what to encourage—not only what to avoid. We are continually highlighting the positive and practical; Summits present both the data and the do-able.

One key goal of the Digital Citizenship Summit is to connect existing stakeholders and new voices. We provide a high-level of expertise and a well-tested yet flexible template for groups across the country to hold quality events (in person and online), focused on how digital citizens can be safe, savvy and ethical in their use of technology and social media. 

Q. How is Digital Citizenship Summit is focused on empowerment? 

A. There are a lot of events on online safety, but many of them seem to fall under the stranger/danger approach. The Digital Citizenship Summit is  not about disengaging (which may happen with stranger/danger approaches), but engaging differently. We launched the digcitsummitEDU events this year as a way to ensure that student voice is represented and to elevate student voice, so that pre-teens, teens and young adults are equal stakeholders.