A workshop on Online Safety (#SocialSurfing) was organized at Rangghar by the Digital Literacy Cell of Dibrugarh University on 22nd August, 2017 in association with the Centre for Social Research(CSR), New Delhi. CSR is a non-profit organization which has been conducting this #SocialSurfing workshop since 2015 in partnership with Facebook across the Colleges and Universities in India initiating direct interaction on online safety with about 15000 students.
The workshop began with a welcome note by Professor Surajit Borkotokey, Chairperson, Digital Literacy Cell. Prof Borkotokey welcomed all the participants from the University and Resource Persons from the CSR to the workshop and highlighted the importance of online safety in the present digital world. The day long workshop was conducted in three sessions, each session being of two hours duration. The first session was for the post-graduate students of the School of Humanities and Social Science and School of Education. The second session was for the post-graduate students of the School of Science and Engineering, School of Earth and Atmospheric Science and School of Commerce and Management. The third session was attended by the undergraduate students of different Schools of Studies of Dibrugarh University. A large number of students from all the Schools of Studies actively participated in the workshop.
The workshop primarily focussed on the online safety mechanisms that are devised to control the information shared by the users in the virtual spaces. Information and solutions to concerns like Trolling, Cyber Bullying, Harassment, Fake News etc were shared with the students who constitute the major force of social media users today. There were a few activities during the workshop through which the importance of communication and the use of social media for social cause were emphasized. Mr Vikram Sheoran and Ms Pratishtha Arora, the resource persons from the CSR made the workshop very interactive by involving the students in the activities filled with fun and humour. Video Clips and PPTs were used during the workshop to make students aware of the best practices and security settings that are available in Social Networking sites like Facebook.
At the end of the workshop, Mr Gunadeep Chetia, Coordinator of the Digital Literacy Cell offered Vote of Thanks to the Resource Persons, Participants and the University Authority for helping in successfully conducting this workshop. He was presented a handbook on online safety by the Resource Persons from CSR for future reference.
