Abstract:

Nowadays, social networking is a prevalent way of communication on the Internet. Using social media people can share thoughts, information, pictures or real-time video. However, their users hardly ever realize that the personal information collected from these platforms may be used for purposes beyond those for which the information was provided. Considering this, we decided to improve the awareness of this issue and developed an online workshop on privacy using Social Lab. Social Lab is a simulated social network where a set of social engineering challenges are offered to learn about privacy in a practical manner. It mimics most of the features of a real social network (public / private messages, friendship requests, pictures, fan pages, etc.) to create a “social sandbox” where users can play without harming the privacy of real people. Currently, Social Lab provides a 10-level privacy challenge of increasing difficulty. All levels are automated profiles with fake personal information. Social Lab can be used either by occasional players or as an activity in the context of a workshop on privacy. In this work we present a set of learning materials (presentations, video-tutorials, references) to ease the creation of online, offline or blended learning workshops on privacy with an strong emphasis on the practice.

Keywords:

Educational programs, educational technology, learning, social networks, privacy, security.