ABSTRACT
The term cyberbullying was added to the Oxford English Dictionary (OED) in 2010. This respected volume defines the term as “the use of information technology to bully a person by sending or posting text or images of an intimidating or threatening nature” (https://www.oed.com/view/Entry/250879?redirectedFrom=cyberbullying#eid212385852). The OED indicates the first use of the term was in the Canberra Times in 1998, but the term was located in an earlier article in the New York Times in 1995 (Bauman, 2011). Many scholars and popular writers credit Bill Belsey, a Canadian who launched a cyberbullying website in 2003, with coining the term. His definition is: Cyberbullying involves the use of information and communication technologies to support deliberate, repeated, and hostile behavior by an individual or group that is intended to harm others (www.cyberbullying.ca). Variations on the definition have been used by a number of scholars and writers.
