February 7, 2008 == MEDIA ADVISORY
Summary: A Calvin senior has authored a Web safety booklet with specific
advice for parents.
Full story see
http://www.calvin.edu/news/releases/2007-08/knapper-web-guide.htm
A Calvin senior has authored a Web safety booklet for the Michigan Family
Forum (MFF).
Nate Knapper, 22, a communications and political science major from Clarkston,
Michigan, spent his summer internship with MFF authoring the Family Guide to
Web Safety.
“Their old internet safety guide was fairly outdated," Knapper said, "and it
didn’t include all of the modern Web topics like the social networking sites
and blogging. It had some things about chat rooms, which hardly anyone uses
anymore. It’s all instant messaging and Facebook now.”
The new guide contains sections on e-mailing, chatting and instant messaging;
social networking, such as Facebook-ing or blogging; online video gaming and
gambling; internet file sharing; video sharing and online shopping and
auctions. Each section gives definitions of various Web activities and outlines
the risks to children who participate online.
The book also includes tips and resources for parents on file searching,
content filtering, safety tips, purchasing precautions, a cyber safety
contract, information on the Michigan Cyber Safety Initiative, common Web
acronyms and additional resources.
Knapper is pleased with the finished product, which will be distributed to
churches and schools throughout the state.
While he was working for the Family Forum in Lansing, Knapper was also serving
a stint in the Michigan Attorney General’s office, working under the director
of the state Department of Homeland Security. In that internship, he helped to
research and format the Michigan Public Health Law Bench Book.
The Homeland Security internship also led Knapper to Washington during Interim
to get acquainted with the operations of that office on a federal level. “I
had fulfilled all of my Calvin Interim requirements, and this was something I
really wanted to do,” he said.
In an internship last summer with Michigan State Legislature, Knapper created
an intern development program “Curriculum Beyond the Classroom,” for which
he was honored with a trio of prestigious awards: the Congressman Paul Henry
Integrity Award, the Daniel Rosenthal Legislative Intern Award and the Frank
M. Fitzgerald Public Service Award.
Though his internship experiences have given him plenty of experience in
government, Knapper is eyeing a career in the intelligence community after
graduation. “I love James Bond,” he explained. “I’m a big fan.”
-end-
Received on Thu Feb 7 10:34:18 2008
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