Exploring power and fear (and request for help)

Currently I am exploring the theme of inclusion, but not in the traditional approach of accessibility. I want to explore some of the psychological reasons why people (but particularly volunteers) don't use the online world. Here's what I am thinking.......(in no particular formulated order, and still in exploration mode)

Firstly, the reasoning behind encouraging people to be online, is that as a values based organisation, who work alongside young people, we need to be where they are. And part of their space is online. And as citizens we have a duty to exhibit our values in all spaces. Especially nowadays when the news is populate with stories of risk and dangers and horrible people. You could be forgiven for thinking that the online world was really some kind of post apocalyptic mad max/trainspotting mash up. If good people didn't rock up online, then we would be leaving it to all the bad people. And I am a bit of a positivist, so I don't think that's what we should be doing. Throughout my life I have strived to be a role model to others, young and old. To be respectful, open and trusting. To believe the best in people and encourage and support them. I believe that the 'open landscape' that is the online world, the web, whatever you want to call it is a place we need to be. 


So what stops people? Well, it probably doesn't help that media stories are full of risks and dangers and bad people. If you believed the news then you would think that the online world was the worst place in the world to visit, so why bother. There is of course the fear of the unknown, and the fear that you don't have the knowledge or the skills. But these can be learned. I want to explore some of the more psychological reasons behind the barriers to engage. 


My hypothesis that the same fears that drive us in the 'offline' world drive us in the online world. That the way we empower people in the offline world, is the same as the online world. That overcoming fear and taking away someone's sense of powerlessness is the first step in engagement. 
Now I don't know f this is right or not - so if you know of any research that explores issues of fear or power in the online world, or you have your own opinions and thoughts, please let me know. 
(If you think I am barking up the wrong tree, then be nice to me when you tell me.)


In order to narrow down my project scope, because this could be rather large investigation, I have chosen to focus on three areas - confidence, safety and identity (see the start of my project planning) within the lens of fear and power.

Identity. Being online makes us vulnerable. People don't like being vulnerable.Also in our everyday lives we general don't think a lot about our identity. In the online landscape we have to, because it can be more permanent. So we go from the extremes of complete anonymity to disinhibition (basically a complete lack of constraint). So there is fear and fearlessness.  So if we want to empower people then we need to help them understand their identity, especially in the context of a values based organisation, and explore with them what identity means, but also how to manage this in a different environment. And this is no different to the offline world. I always use the example of what we wear. the way we act and what we wear are often very different at work, to at home. Therefore we do manage our identity, but we are maybe less conscious of doing it. I think values help a great deal here.

Safety. For ourselves and for others. How do we traverse the risks and dangers of the online world. Should we be risk averse, or should we be risk-embracing? Naturally Scouting is an organisation that is risk-embracing, and so we spend a huge amount of time understanding those risks and responding. If the online world is a 'new place', then we need to help people understand some of those risks and how to mitigate them. 

Confidence. I think for me this is more about the overall approach of feeling empowered and having the knowledge and the skills, and the belief in oneself, and potentially of others. 

So here's the part where you can help?

What are your thoughts about fear and power being psychological barriers to inclusion? Is there any research that might be useful for me to look at? Is this an area that you are interested or have done some work in?

I look forward to talking. 

Rocking all over my mind

my brain last friday looked a little like this I think - i was ready to pop!

So, I changed my mind. Which meant a whole new set of brainstorming activities. On the plane over to the Isle of Man I therefore wrote about ten pages worth of maps and scribbles to try and get everything out. (The man sat next to me must have thought be some kind of psycho as I kept flipping pages backwards and forwards. )

For me the act of writing things down, helps me to take control and organise my thoughts (there is that power motive again!). When writing assignments this often means physical mindmapping, where I write on lots of bits of paper then cross things off or  screw up the bits that aren't really relevant. Learning by doing you see - I need some tangibility (that's probably a made up word). 

So as being a Networked practitioner is all about trying out new tools, I have done a bit of mind mapping. All of this is meant to help me get to my project overview/plan. Don't worry, I will be sharing that too - and hoping for some comments and ideas!

Stage one - the overview of project

At this first point I was trying to think about the reasons behind and why volunteers don't use social media. Despite the physical constraints, like not having access or skills, I felt there was an overwhelming amount of psychological reasons. This is partly because the media tells us a lot about the scary bad stuff going on, and because e-safety has always been about sexual perpetrators and strangers coming to abduct your kids.  In some ways I was starting backwards with this, as I know what my advice is, so I needed to unpick some of the reasons and link it to the advice. 

Key words
I then went back and tried to link up some of the keywords, especially as they related to topics that we have already started to explore in the module.

As you can see, there are some links starting to form with some of the core areas, which include things like identity, power etc.

Psychological barriers
I then wanted to brainstorm some more and think a bit about these barriers through the idea of openness making you vulnerable. And I think this is the key point. Openness means that you have to take risks, face fear, be trusting...and to do that you need to feel empowered - or in control - or (new word here) self-efficacy - in other words it's what you believe you can do.

There are probably loads of other nodes that I could add on here but I like the idea of these three core barriers around identity, safety and confidence which link into the issues of fear, power and trust. You will also see that I have started looking out how the values of scouting help to empower, but suggesting to volunteers that it's part of what we already do and therefore if we journey into the open landscape, we can following the same values and paths.

Next stop, first draft of the project plan....will be needing your help.

working on a project title....Be Prepared

My job (hence my context)
I work for The Scout Association at Headquarters. My job is National Development Officer

(Safeguarding). Basically a large part of what I do is develop resources and training for volunteers to help them understand their roles and responsibilities within Scouting in regards to Safeguarding (Child protection, anti-bullying, safer recruitment). So I spend a lot of my time out and about meeting and working with volunteers and training trainers who will go on to deliver safeguarding training to volunteers across the country. It truly is an amazing organisation which can't really be paid justice to in a few words. Having worked for the organisation for nearly 7 years I am proud to be a Scout and share the values of the organisation.

My project
My project will be based on work that I already do around empowering adult volunteers in Scouting to use social media in a safe and fun way. For me safeguarding is about enabling people to do things, rather than stopping them - empowering rather than scaring.

You wouldn't climb a mountain...... without being prepared, and so you shouldn't use social media without doing the same!
Currently I offer guidance on a weekly basis about how to use social media safely, and so for my project I want to explore this, and link in research as well as create a multimedia artifact that can be used in work. 


Open education in an open landscape
Looking through the lens of 'inclusion', my project is focused on why adults don't want to use social media or why they feel social media doesn't include them. There are of course some physical barriers like internet access and personal knowledge and skills. However I think that the psychological barriers are the main thing that is making volunteers feel powerless or afraid to use social media. The media today is constantly telling us what a dangerous place the internet is, and e-safety messages for young people are about the risks and the harm that may befall them. For adults working with young people this makes the internet a scary place, especially as for some it's not their natural environment. So we need to help them understand that it doesn't have to be scary, and they can prepare for it in the same way as they would prepare for other 'scary' scouting activities (like climbing).

If we want them to use social media then we need to empower them by addressing their fears and giving them the skills. This will involve looking at the risks and helping them to see both the good and the bad of openness, and helping them to manage their own identities.

Psychological barriers = confidence (power), safety, identity. 
Self-efficacy= make them believe they can do it by adopting a scouting approach (values, preparation, risk assessment and openness)

Key messages:

• Social media doesn't have to be scary
• Use the skills and processes already have to undertake the activity
• Values-driven approach
• Take ownership of identity
• Stay safe by mitigating risk, behaving appropriately

Outcome - Volunteers do amazing things with young people everyday, and we help them overcome their fear of the online world and help them to be part of the open landscape, exhibiting their values and being appropriate roles models and effective 'digital' citizens.