A Safer Internet for All: Self-Care and Community Care in Online Spaces 

Dates: 14th-17th May

What is digital violence? How do our online communities replicate and amplify the complex racialized, gendered, and intersectional power dynamics of our offline communities? What are strategies for prevention and response? Digital violence has intensified since the beginning of the global pandemic. This array of harmful behavior includes (but isn’t limited to) sharing intimate images without consent; doxing; hijacking online events; impersonation; and cyberstalking. Digital violence impacts all communities, but new adults most commonly experience online abuse. This course will focus on you and your online communities. You will identify what online privacy protection is relevant and necessary to you. Your culminating project will then ask you to engage in the practice of visionary fiction to envision your ideal online community. What practices of care make an online community safe and inviting for people who are most vulnerable when participating? Our time together will inspire, empower, and energize us to create and participate in online communities characterized by strong cultures of consent and liberated participation in online spaces.

Instructor: Chelcie Juliet Rowell