Episode 6 of the Digital Public Interest Collective

Online Abuse and Education podcast: Two conversations with Dr. Wanda Cassidy and Dr. George Veletsianos

Episode description:

This episode explores the impacts of online abuse on academic work. Professors Cassidy and Veletsianos each have explored online abuse in education. Cassidy explores how cyber bullying impacts students and faculty in both higher education and public education (K-12). Veletsianos has explored how online abuse impacts scholars in institutions of higher education. Cassidy commented on the overlap between gender, race, and incidents of online abuse or cyber bullying, and showed that online abuse or cyber bullying is not confined to youth or children, but impacts adults as well. And the stakes are high. As Veletsianos points out, online abuse has chilling effects which can leave the public less informed and have profound educational impacts even leading to misinformation. What we were really struck by in this episode was the similarities between the ways Cassidy and Veletsianos both advocate for more care and support to help address online abuse or cyber bullying. Cassidy uses the term “cyber kindness” as a way to mitigate online abuse. Both also emphasize the power of education as a way to address online abuse at every level.

Hosted by Dr. Chandell Gosse, Dr. Victoria O’Meara and Andrea Galizia

Music by hungry hearts: https://hungryheartsrock.bandcamp.com/