Students Are Key to FIT’s Cyber Civility Program

Students are vulnerable to cybercrime and cyberbullying, and FIT is doing something about it — with the help of students themselves.

FIT’s Division of Information Technology (IT) partnered with the college’s Jay and Patty Baker School of Business and Technology to bring students into the process of addressing cybersafety (how to keep one’s information safe online) and cyberbullying (helping students avoid being the victims of online harassment and providing tools for dealing with it).

Students from the Campaign Workshop and Special Event Marketing classes, taught by Advertising Marketing and Communications Associate Chair Loretta Volpe, as well as Video Studio Production, taught by Professor Michael Cokkinos, have to date:

  • created collateral around the college’s second annual Cybersafe Day event, Tuesday, April 17, in the Katie Murphy Amphitheatre, including an advertising campaign, a slogan (“Be Aware of What You Share”), premium giveaways, and interactive game opportunities. The day’s activities include presentations, training, student projects, and speaker panels on topics related to information security and cyber civility. The FIT community is encouraged to attend.
  • created two events for the cyberbullying initiative, including an advertising campaign and slogan (“Don’t Be Mean Behind the Screen”) and several video pieces around the issues, including “Don’t Roast Me, Boast Me” which addresses the practice of online roasting and suggests replacing negative comments with positive ones; a panel event about cyber-bullying; and a student movie night featuring a film called “Cyberbully.”
  • engaged FIT “micro-influencers,” bloggers with FIT student followers.

Plans for the future include broadening the initiative to include other departments within the college.