NEWS Federal Communications Commission 445 12th Street, S.W. Washington, D. C. 20554 This is an unofficial announcement of Commission action. Release of the full text of a Commission order constitutes official action. See MCI v. FCC. 515 F 2d 385 (D.C. Circ 1974). News Media Information 202 / 418-0500 Internet: http://www.fcc.gov TTY: 1-888-835-5322 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: NEWS MEDIA CONTACT: September 2, 2011 Neil Grace, (202) 418-0506 Email: Neil.Grace@fcc.gov FCC CROWDSOURCES QUESTIONS FROM PARENTS, EDUCATORS & OTHERS AHEAD OF “BACK TO SCHOOL IN A DIGITAL WORLD” A conversation about the opportunities and challenges of digital technology use by teens; Forum will feature parents and members of the education community including FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski and experts from MTV, Common Sense Media, Family Online Safety Institute, Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies and the Columbia Heights Educational Campus Washington, D.C. – On Thursday, September 8th, the Federal Communications Commission will host Back to School in a Digital World, a forum bringing together parents, educators and experts to discuss the opportunities and challenges around technology use by adolescents. Recent surveys show that nearly three quarters of online teens use social network sites and, on average, teenagers send one text message every ten minutes during waking hours. The event will highlight questions from parents, educators and others from across the country. The FCC has set up a crowdsourcing site to help collect some of the most common questions from parents on this important topic: http://fcc.us/digitalparent. Anyone can participate by submitting a question or voting for questions. In addition, the event will feature multimedia video presentations and interactive segments with the live school audience. The forum will be webcast live on www.fcc.gov/live. Parents will also be able to send in questions during the forum at livequestions@fcc.gov or tweet their questions to #fcclive. The crowdsourcing site for the event reads: “We want to hear from you. As parents, tell us your burning questions – the ones you talk most about with your friends, family, teachers and others – surrounding issues related to your child’s online and digital experiences, at home, at school, on mobile phones, tablets and other devices. We have assembled an impressive slate of experts who will answer your questions at a special event on September 8th in Washington, D.C. – “Back to School in a Digital World.” You can watch online at www.fcc.gov/live - and we’ll be posting answers and responses on our blog after the event, too. While this event will focus mainly on teenagers, we’ll also be announcing other events focused more closely on the unique opportunities and challenges of other age groups. So feel free to give us your questions now, and one way or another, we’ll respond!” The panel discussion will feature brief opening remarks by FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski. WHEN: Thursday, September 8, 2011 10:00AM – 11:15AM Eastern WHERE: Columbia Heights Educational Campus Main Auditorium 3101 16th Street NW Washington, D.C. PANELISTS: Julius Genachowski, Chairman, Federal Communications Commission Jason Rzepka, Vice President of Public Policy, MTV Alan Simpson, Vice President of Policy, Common Sense Media Nicole Turner-Lee, VP & Director, Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies Stephen Balkam, CEO, Family Online Safety Institute (FOSI) René Cadogan, Bilingual Counselor, Columbia Heights Educational Campus Back to School in a Digital World is free and open to the public. Due to limited seating, those attending are asked to pre-register by submitting their name, organizational affiliation and phone number to Roger.Goldblatt@FCC.gov. PRESS SHOULD REGISTER BY EMAILING Neil.Grace@FCC.gov. Reasonable accommodations for persons with disabilities are available upon request. Please e-mail fcc504@fcc.gov or call the Consumer & Governmental Affairs Bureau at 202-418-0530 (voice), 202-418- 0432 (TTY) with your contact information, should FCC staff need to contact you, and a detailed description of the accommodation you require. Requests should be made as early as possible, as last minute requests may be impossible to fulfill. --FCC--