In October a new poster campaign was launched to help very young children, their families and school communities to connect with NZ’s Cybersafety Ambassador Hector Protector® on the Hector’s World™ website www.hectorsworld.com. 

 

Kaiser Family Foundation (USA) research published in 2006 found that 4% of children age 2-3 and 13% of 4-6 year olds use a computer daily and 10% of 4-6 yr-olds visit websites by themselves. This same study found that 69% of 0-6 year olds currently live in a home with internet access.

 

Commissioner of Police Howard Broad commended the campaign as “a critical step to inform schools and families with young children about Hector’s World™.”

 

The new posters (pictured above) were distributed to every registered early childhood service and primary school in New Zealand along with a letter from Education Minister Steve Maharey and the NetSafe resource order form.

 

Offered in both Te Reo Maori and in English, the posters are available free of charge* through the NetSafe Contact Centre on 0508 NETSAFE (0508 638 723) or queries@netsafe.org.nz. 

 

*Postage charges apply to packages containing 50+ items.
 Hector Protector® is an animated bottlenose dolphin who, along with his underwater friends helps children learn about how to keep safe on the internet and with mobile phones. The Hector’s World site hosts a range of free animated resources which use entertainment to get across complex safety messages.

NetSafe has moved from Queen Street in Auckland’s CBD, to new offices at level 3, 130 Broadway Newmarket. 

 

Operations Manager Lee Chisholm says “the new offices have better parking facilities for our visitors, and the building itself is significantly more attractive financially”. 

The new offices have been customised to suit NetSafe’s needs and include a large meeting and training space.  “We hope people feel free to drop in and say hi and take a look around” says Lee. 

 

Early in the New Year, NetSafe will hold an open day for visitors to come by and take a look at the new offices. 

NetSafe’s new Post Office Box number is PO Box 9386, Newmarket 1149, New Zealand and you can always reach us on 0508 NETSAFE (0508 638 723) or (09) 362 0971.

 

NetSafe has recently joined popular social networking site Bebo.com to encourage more young people to access our help and information service. Since establishing the page in late 2007, over 100 young people have signed up as an online ‘friend’ of NetSafe’s, meaning they can access our Contact Centre staff instantaneously through the site with a click of a button.

Check out www.bebo.com/netsafe and send a link to young people you know.

Holiday safety for children no longer just means addressing sunsense and watersafety, but also making sure their online safety skills are ready to go as they connect, download, upload and surf through their way through the holidays. NetSafe Operations Manager Lee Chisholm (pictured) looks at keeping children safe online over the holiday season.

 

School holidays can mean your children are on the computer, their mobile phone or gaming console even more than usual, chatting to friends, hanging out on Bebo, watching and posting video clips on YouTube, or playing games. These days a child with technology is most likely a child connected to the rest of the world.

 

While many parents are aware that the online environment can bring strangers into their children’s chat environments, it’s important to understand other online risks as well. Preliminary results from NetSafe research in 2007 suggests that as many as 20-40% of young people experience cyberbullying. Additionally, malicious software is often found in free downloads of music, movies, games and screensavers which target young people. Restricted material like pornography and violence is freely available online, along with other material which parents might deem inappropriate, anti-social or dangerous.

 

It can be tempting to try to shut out all possibility of risk and either remove the technology or use filtering and monitoring programs to block unwanted sites and keep a check on what children are doing. Realistically though, all a child has to do is use a proxy server (like hidemyass.com) or go next door to a friend’s house, library or internet café to get around most technological restrictions.

 

So how can parents encourage children to take advantage of all the benefits global connectedness brings while minimizing and managing the possible problems which can surface especially when young people have more time than usual on their hands?

 

Tips for parents to keep their children safer online:
• Get involved in your child’s online life (NetSafe recommends that children under 8 have an adult with them online)

• Check in with them about online and offline friends

• Find out how they and their friends help each other deal with online problems

• Ask them to show you what they like doing online (don’t be afraid if you don’t know how to use the technology as well as they do –they may enjoy being the ones to show you!)

• Try to keep calm if there are online issues (kids often stop talking to adults if they think parents will react badly or take away the technology) 

• Find out about online risks, (learn about how to stop cyberbullying/textbullying and harassment, spot online grooming, avoid malware) and discuss how your children are currently managing those risks.

• Visit www.netsafe.org.nz and www.hectorsworld.com for up-to-date and interactive education about keeping young people safe online.

 

 

While on holiday this summer, be aware of what your out-of-office reply says about you and your business. It can be more security conscious to only talk about your own actions over the holidays, rather than saying that your office will be unattended so as to avoid giving would-be fraudsters and burglars useful information. It can also pay to remember that out-of-office replies can let spammers know your address is live - and you may get more spam as a result. 

 

NetSafe has been working collaboratively with the Ministry of Education's Early Childhood Unit throughout 2007 to increase awareness of cybersafety and online security in the early childhood sector.

 

NetSafe Education Sector Manager Richard Beach says “2007 has seen us continue to support early childhood sector in a number of ways. Last year we released free templates for services to use to help them to set up cybersafety use agreements and policies. Earlier this year we launched an online training module for services wanting to learn about cybersafety and security. And just this month we have mailed out safety and security information to over four and a half thousand services and playgroups in New Zealand.”

 

The most recent mail out included the Net basics and First Steps to Cybersafety  pamphlets (pictured) in a bid to help raise awareness of the need for services to address safety and security for their centre. 

 

ICT like computers and digital cameras are now commonly used to enhance childrens’ learning, and to help with the administration of services.  Security of that ICT is important in protecting the children themselves as well as their family’s information which may be stored on a computer.

 

“Any computer used for the business or with children should have regularly updated firewall, anti-virus and anti-spyware software, as well as an operating system which is kept up-to-date (patched).  At NetSafe, we call these measures the Net basics, and much like a warrant of fitness for your car, your computer is not safe to hit the information superhighway without them” says Richard.

 

To further support early childhood services, NetSafe will be sending out the NetSafe Kit for ECE services in early 2008.  This kit will provide comprehensive guidance on topics such as developing an information communication technology (ICT) policy, information security, and educating young children to be safe users of ICT. The kit will be free and will include useful strategies, templates, checklists and links to other resources.

 

For more information about how NetSafe can support cybersafety in your early childhood service or playgroup, contact NetSafe’s Contact Centre on queries@netsafe.org.nz

A new mobile that is compatible with the Vodafone NZ network has been launched recently for 'very young children'. The Teddyfone is designed as a first mobile phone and has limited functionality to reduce the ways a child can use it. The phone allows the child to dial four (pre-set) numbers, has limited text capability, and includes parental monitoring capability using GPS. NetSafe has reservations about parental monitoring - see Executive Director's Message.

New internet browser foils internet ‘history’ function
Freeserve has launched a new internet browser that allows people to 'surf the internet without leaving a history of websites visited' and stops personal details being left on the computers they use to access the internet.

 

The browser is Free and does not require any installation or registration and does not save information from any websites visited while using it. Cache, history, cookies and auto-complete forms are all automatically deleted.

In July, NetSafe farewelled Jess Pettersen and welcomed Jani Rayner to the Contact Centre team.  Read on to take a look at a few of the queries Contact Centre staff have fielded recently.

 

 

NetSafe Contact Centre staff regularly deal with a wide range of queries related to the online environment, and ICT (Information and Communication Technology).

 

Some recent queries have included:

 

• Fake suicides on Social Networking Sites
We received two separate queries where people underwent the traumatic experience of losing a close online friend to suicide, only to find out later that the friend never existed. The loss for people in this situation can feel totally real, and the betrayal of trust can be overwhelming. Several of the young people involved in these cases then became suicidal themselves requiring specialist support.  Click here to see a 60 minutes clip on similar cases.

 

• Ex-staff member hacks into website
A company discovered that someone had logged onto their website – using the correct username and password – and changed the settings so that orders weren’t being received (potentially costing the company hundreds of dollars). They suspected a staff member who was recently dismissed, but because everyone had shared a logon, they were unable to prove who was responsible.

 

• Advice on where to report child pornography
We received several queries from people seeking advice on reporting pornographic images containing children. Images that appear to come from NZ (i.e., a .nz website address) can be reported to the Department of Internal Affairs (DIA, www.dia.govt.nz), and images that come from outside NZ can be reported to the Internet Watch Foundation (IWF). It’s important that people do not send the material onto others for their opinion, as this could be considered as distribution of objectionable material, under NZ law.

• Schools ask about parental consent to post students’ images and work online
Several schools have asked us about guidelines for posting images of students and their work online. NetSafe can provide a parental consent template to any school, which emphasises the internet as a ‘global information system’, to ensure that parents are giving informed consent. Schools who wish to post school newsletters online should look at them closely, as they often contain a lot of information which can be used to identify individual children.

 

• Are internet cafés safe?
Internet cafés can be very convenient, especially when traveling, but there is simply no way of knowing if they are safe (i.e., free of malware), so our advice is to avoid using them for anything private, e.g., internet banking, email, etc. Setting up phone banking, or automatic payments, can limit the need to use these services while away. Taking a laptop can help too, but people need to be careful when using wireless hotspots, that they are legitimate and secure.

 

 

 

 

 

New versions of the Hector’s World Safety Button™ were launched at a Hector’s World™ celebration hosted by Hon Luamanuvao Winnie Laban at Parliament in October. 

 

Speakers at the event included (pictured from left to right) Murray Brown Leader of E-Learning Unit at the Ministry of Education, Liz Butterfield – Managing Director of Hector’s World™ Limited, Commissioner of Police Howard Broad, Hon Luamanuvao Winnie Laban, and Microsoft’s Director of Innovation Brett Roberts. 

In a speech outlining the Digital Strategy Community Partnership Fund’s relationship with Hector’s World™, the Minister Laban applauded the new Hector’s World Safety Button™ as a tool which allowed younger children to “regulate their own surfing in a positive and responsible way”.

 

The Commissioner of Police spoke about his relationship with Hector’s World™ and the important role he played in establishing the characteristics of Hector’s World’s™ Police Constable Solosolave.  Speaking about Hector’s World™ education as important cybercrime prevention for our younger children he said “hiding reality away won’t help in the end.  Children need to know from a very young age that risks exist.  We need to teach them thoughtful, critical thinking skills so they know how to deal with risks when they are confronted with them. And that’s what Hector’s World™ achieves.”

 

The Buttons launched included a Simple XP version, a Deluxe XP version and a Vista version which installs itself into Parental Controls.  The Deluxe XP version of the Hector’s World Safety Button™ will be available in a variety of languages including Te Reo Maori, Tongan, Portuguese, Chinese and Samoan and also includes a ‘Settings’ function which makes it more accessible to children living with visual impairment. 

 

The Vista version of the Button is one of the first programs to be integrated into Microsoft’s Vista Parental Controls.  Brett Roberts, Microsoft’s Director of Innovation said "Microsoft takes cybersafety extremely seriously and is proud to be a Foundation Sponsor of Hector's World™”.  “We believe Hector's World™ is not only a great safety net, but it also empowers parents to initiate an important discussion with their children about online behaviour."

The Hector’s World Safety Button™ is a free simple executable file which installs a small swimming animated character (pictured) on the top right of a computer screen.  When a child sees something upsetting, they can click on the animated character and a screensaver covers the screen with a stunning underwater scene, which includes a message encouraging the child to get adult help.

 

The new versions of Safety Button include:
• A simple Windows version (suitable for Windows 2000 - Windows XP operating systems)

• A deluxe Windows XP version which includes multi language and multi character options

• A Vista version which inserts itself into Parental Controls.

A Mac OS10 version is still in development and will be released later this year.

All new Hector’s World Safety Buttons™ are suitable for stand alone or networked computers (like those found in schools and libraries).

 

 

 

 

 

 

Teaching texting to the masses
With community education classes set to begin around the country in the New Year, a course being offered through Hutt Valley High School has caught NetSafe’s eye. ‘Text Like a Teen’ began in 2007 by community educator Claire Farrell and her teenaged daughters, Hannah and Katie, after the trio observed that older generations could benefit from the skills and knowledge of text-savvy teens.

 

Senior Net, a community organisation that teaches technology to elderly people, has recently adopted the idea for use with their members. However, the Farrells’ course remains popular with adults of all ages, with most in the 30 to 40 age bracket.

In addition to learning how to maximise the functionality of their phones, attendees are taught text language (without the stresses of texts or exams).

 

You can read more about community education at Hutt Valley High School at http://www.hvhs.school.nz/pages/communityed/comed.html, or contact your local secondary school to find out about community education courses in your area.

Source: http://www.nzherald.co.nz/category/story.cfm?c_id=93&objectid=10388969

Typo-squatting on the rise
A new report from McAfee suggests that the practice of ‘typo-squatting’ – using common misspellings of popular brands, products or people in order to redirect surfers to alternative websites – is on the rise.

 

Once on the incorrect page, users may be led through a series of click-through advertisements to generate revenue for the typo-squatter, or may be tricked by a seemingly legitimate-looking webpage into entering their personal details (like login or password information) which is then harvested.

 

Popular sites such as Google, Youtube and Wikipedia are amongst the most popular typo-squatting sites.  Children's sites are also heavily targeted, with more than 60 of the most squatted sites having been designed to appeal to the under 18 demographic who may be more likely to click on links and quizzes.
The report estimates that a typical consumer who misspells a popular website address has a one-in-14 chance of landing at a typo-squatter site.
Source: http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=5&objectid=10477751

Flirting and cybersex provide latest social engineering lure
Russian website Cyberlover.ru provides software which can be used in chat environments and social networking sites to elicit personal information from women online. The software is able to chat, flirt and have cybersex with up to 10 women at a time and is apparently so convincing that people cannot tell that it isn’t a real person chatting with them. The software’s settings can be changed to attract men, persuade people to visit a website or encourage them to top up mobile telephone credit.
Source: http://www.nzherald.co.nz/topic/story.cfm?c_id=137&objectid=10482322&ref=rss

 

An initiative from the NetSafe education team has seen attendance at parent education evenings at schools throughout NZ soar in recent months.

 

Educating the parent body is a core component of the NetSafe Program for Schools, as part of ensuring that schools have a comprehensive plan in place that caters for the whole school community. In NetSafe’s experience, schools can sometimes struggle to compete with the busy schedules of their otherwise committed parent body. While our educators have always been happy to speak to a group of any size, the bigger the group the more we are able to spread the cybersafety message and meet our goal of educating all New Zealanders.

 

NetSafe’s Family Cybersafety Forums are just one new venture that the education team is implementing for the 2008 school year. Unlike traditional parent information evenings, the forums utilize the knowledge and skills of students themselves to educate parents about the online environment. With the guidance of NetSafe staff, students outline the precautions they are already taking to minimize online risks such as cyberbullying, before NetSafe staff summarise with even more useful tips and advice.

 

We have had resounding success with the forums to date, with schools commenting on the interest that parents show in learning from their own children, and the depth of information and insight they’re able to gain from getting first-hand experience of what their young people are doing online. The packed staff rooms and school halls our education team is greeted with at each forum are also testament to their effectiveness!

 

More information about holding a Family Cybersafety Forum at your school in the New Year, contact Education Sector Manager Richard Beach at richardb@netsafe.org.nz.

 

 

NetSafe is in the final stages of developing 'The NetSafe Cybercitizenship Matrix' for use in early childhood services, primary and secondary schools. The Matrix will provide guidance to educators as they integrate cybercitizenship* education across the curriculum.

Education Sector Manager Richard Beach (pictured) says “the recently released New Zealand Curriculum provides ample opportunity for educators to incorporate aspects of safe and responsible ICT use into their programs.  The NetSafe Cybercitizenship Matrix draws on these opportunities, and will assist schools and early childhood services ensure that children learn to use ICT confidently and ethically, and become the best possible cybercitizens of tomorrow".

The NetSafe Cybercitizenship Matrix offers a learning pathway of developmentally appropriate skills along with suggested learning activities all of which aim to help develop cybercitizens who manage ICT with integrity and confidence.
Richard says “it is widely accepted among the cybersafety fraternity that the most effective way of teaching cybercitizenship is to integrate learning into existing curriculum at every possibility.”

As an online resource, the matrix will provide links to resources from NetSafe, Hector’s World™ and other organisations, as well as advice on how these resources could be utilised within cybercitizenship education.

NetSafe has just distributed the Cybercitizenship Matrix to members for consultation and feedback is due in end of December.
 * Cybercitizens manage their use of ICT with integrity and confidence

 

Does every person who uses a computer in your home or school have their own individual user account?

 

Individual user accounts (with strong passwords) are a great way to improve security and ensure that private files and documents are kept just that.

 

If children are using the computer, setting up individual user accounts can also be a positive way to begin an ongoing dialogue about a child’s use of ICT. Encouraging children to set strong passwords and to only share their password with their caregiver or teacher is a great first step to the fundamentals of online safety.

 

Microsoft users can learn more about setting up individual user accounts at http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/publisher/HA011886291033.aspx.

Click here to learn more about setting strong passwords.

 

Give a man a fish, feed him for a day…teach a man to fish, feed him for life.

 

Almost everybody knows this ancient Chinese proverb. It is a popular and heavily used - and not just because it features clever alliteration and subtle variation within repetition. It’s a popular proverb because it beautifully articulates a basic truth. In the long term, we best serve people by giving them the skills to look after themselves.

 

The need to eat does not go away, and neither will the information age. I think we can now safely say that the information age is not “just a phase”. We won’t wake up tomorrow and find that nobody owns a mobile phone or that the internet no longer connects us.

 

Just as these technologies will not go away, nor will the ways they have altered the social and political landscape. People are more connected. Information flows more freely. The whole world got on the online train, including people we’d rather not travel with – and they aren’t getting off.

 

There’s a good reason the proverb does not say, “give a man a fishing rod”. It is important that we accept the limitations of technology we use to protect young people online. Products such as parental controls and filters allow us to erect temporary barriers, but eventually everybody will have to learn to operate in the information age.

 

It is therefore our duty to prepare young people to operate in this new environment. We need to provide them with skills to navigate this sea of information and connectedness that they will grow up in. We need to ensure that they know who and what they can trust online.

 

To achieve that, we’re going to need young people to trust us. It is with some despair that I read information about new products that enable parents to covertly monitor their children. Surely covert monitoring is a relationship time bomb. When the time comes to act on the information covertly gathered, the realisation that they have been spied on by their own parents will be extremely damaging.

 

The process of parents empowering their children to grow and face challenges is older than the proverb this piece opened with. I accept that the information age has really complicated the process, but I don’t accept that the parent/child relationship has fundamentally changed.

 

I know the updated proverb doesn’t have the same ring to it but…

If we block, monitor, and survey our children, we may keep them safe today – but if we teach them critical thinking skills, we’ll protect them for life.

 

Merry Christmas and a happy and safe new year from the team at NetSafe. 

 

2008: The year of the bottlenose dolphin

Hector’s World™ Ltd. (HWL) moved out of NetSafe in May of 2006 and took up residence at the business start-up programme The ICEHOUSE.  The first day there, I sat at my new desk with an upbeat dolphin, a highly organised clam, an enthusiastic techno-crab and other helpful creatures wondering how we were going to grow this NetSafe cybersafety resource into an independent business subsidiary and a global educational phenomenon.  Just a bit overwhelming… 

While HWL development proceeded at the Icehouse, ECE centres across the country were integrating ICT, Disney bought Club Penguin (a social networking site for young children), mobile phone models for young children were being marketed to parents, and a major global toy company was starting to market an online product for children as young as 3 year olds.  The very real need for cybersafety education for the very young was accelerating rapidly.

And now Hector’s World™ is ‘out there’ and delivering outstanding content.  We have stunning, free online content, rave reviews from overseas education researchers, a growing list of national and international partners and palpable excitement about the power of this innovative resource. Many individuals and organisations in New Zealand have generously given financial help and expertise during this development and helped us with promotion.

Even though many challenges still lie ahead, I predict that in 2008 we will have our ‘tipping point’ and our dream of a viable global social venture will become a wonderful reality.  That’s why I think 2008 is going to be the year of the dolphin.  I hope all those who have helped so generously will enjoy watching the magic unfold in the new year.

 

Hector’s World™ and the New Zealand Police Youth Education Service are meeting in early 2008 to begin integrating Hector’s World™ online safety education into the Keeping Ourselves Safe and Kia Kaha Police Education programs in schools.

 

Gill Palmer, Curriculum Officer for the Police Youth Education Service (YES) says “YES is very concerned about the safety and wellbeing of children and young people, this includes safety in cyberspace. We see Hector’s World™ as a great tool in preventing cyber-crime.”

 

Managing Director of Hector’s World™ Liz Butterfield says “Hector’s World™ has really valued YES’s input at various stages in the development of our resources. With the help of YES, we can now make sure even more young children have access to online safety education”.

NetSafe has been working with the Police Youth Education Service for many years and values the positive impact YES has on online safety for children and young people.

 

 

A: In 1990 I had the opportunity to serve as an apprentice in an Auckland based animation studio that was producing television animation for Warner Bros and Disney. I had no idea what I was in for and was completely unprepared for the gargantuan can of worms I was about to open … Not only did I have to produce a good solid cartoon image - I had to produce THOUSANDS of good solid cartoon images that worked together seamlessly to create something that would sit comfortable on tv sets around the world. Structure, composition, line of action, flow proportion, keeping on model, layout, acting, timing, dialogue, lip sync, model sheets, exposure sheets, panning, trucking, camera angles, field guides, registration, retakes…………..AHHHHH! I was flipping drawings in my dreams! I stuck with it though, and worked my way up through the studio. I eventually left there to pursue my own studio and as a result, ended up working in many different situations with a variety of talented artists and clients.

 

A: It was the concept of treating the ocean as a metaphor for the internet that created the solid platform on which the characters could evolve. Then, we had to come to terms with what we needed each character to achieve. It was only when we understood this that the pieces started to fall into place.

 

When you’re designing characters, you may start off with a simple idea, or a drawing, or a voice, or a personality trait or any number of things. The real craft comes into it when you have to mix all the elements together in a way that gives birth to a living, breathing, believable character the audience is capable of forming an emotional bond with. You achieve that and you’ve got an invaluable conduit for delivering effective education.

 

Take Hector for example, we knew that Hector needed to be the primary source of education so we wanted to make him appealing and believable – someone the audience would relate to and trust. In all his dealings, Hector needed to display character traits inherent in a positive role model. At the same time, Hector couldn’t be a one dimensional ‘perfect’ character. I felt it was important for the audience to learn as Hector learned, perhaps even run a step ahead of him. His strength of character and problem solving abilities were going to be key to helping the audience interpret the cybersafety education and apply that education in a practical way.  From casting his voice to choosing his colours, every element of Hector’s design was carefully measured against the checklist of personality traits and desired outcomes. All the characters go through a similar process.

 

 

A: Hector’s World™ is compiled using a combination of traditional hand-drawn 2D animation and production techniques based on those pioneered by Hanna-Barbera in the 1960s.  If you consider that for every second a character appears on screen, an average of around 12 full-colour animation drawings need to be produced, you’ll begin to appreciate just how expensive and time consuming animation can be. Today we have the advantage of digital colouring and compiling.
Inkspot Digital took a leaf out of Hanna-Barbera’s book and developed a library system of animation components that could be reused to create new animation sequences. However, advances in technology can only take you so far. Traditional crafts still dominate the animation process. Everything from writing and voice acting, to storyboarding and soundtrack composition all still require the talents of dedicated artists and administrators committed to producing a quality product.

 

Q: What is it like being the ‘Sesame Street of the digital age’, combining animation and cybersafety education?
 
A: We realised that getting the right balance between the education elements and the entertainment factor of the show was imperative. We knew what we had to hit in terms of the education points. We knew that they had to be measurable and effective and we understood that the entertainment aspect was primarily the delivery mechanism that would tie it all together. Keeping all these elements in balance was one of the most difficult aspects of the production – but we got there, I think.

 

A: What really excites me about Hector’s World™ is the opportunity to play a key creative role in the development of an effective character-based education programme that does more than simply impart knowledge. We’re creating role models for our newest cybercitizens and showing them how to navigate the vast realm of the internet safely and responsibly.

The people involved in this project are also pretty amazing. I’ve had the great privilege of working with some incredible, passionate people who are committed to making a real difference in this world. You can’t help but be inspired by that.    

 

 

New Zealand consumer watchdog Fair Go has detailed a few cases in recent weeks where Vodafone customers have been able to go over their ‘credit limit’ amount despite having a an agreement in place with the phone company to restrict services to under a dollar amount.  The Vodafone ‘Credit Limit’ service is no longer in operation and NetSafe encourages all users to rigorously monitor the use of their phones, particularly when using them to access the internet as this can incur significant cost. Those ‘free’ downloads may turn out to not be as free as you think!

 

NetSafe has continued to build upon its research relationship with Ilene and Michael Berson of the College of Education at the University of South Florida. In July 2007, Ilene and Michael Berson, Donald Falls, and Shreya Desai, presented at the James F. Ackerman Colloquium at Purdue University. The 2007 Colloquium theme was “Educating for Citizenship in Digital and Synthetic Worlds: Privacy, Protection, and Participation”. NetSafe’s Research Manager, John Fenaughty collaborated (in absentee) in the development of the presentation: “An Analysis of Electronic Media to Prepare Children and Youth for Safe and Ethical Practices in Digital Environments”.

 

Cybersafety issues, existing (or beginning) as they do in Cyberspace, have increasingly been addressed via this same electronic medium.  Electronic media offer great opportunities to develop effective intervention to address the range of cybersafety issues. However, the Bersons, Falls, and Desai point out that children and young people have particular developmental needs that require consideration by those developing electronic safety-directed electronic media. The key issue centres on the cognitive and emotional development of children and young people. This development affects decision making. Decision making in Cyberspace plays a major role in risk exposure and risk management. In order to maximise the benefits of electronic media, the Bersons developed a rubric for conceptualising key issues in using electronic media to promote Cybersafety messages to children.

 

The rubric is an exciting development. It offers a useful, coherent and valid way to assess and develop Cybersafety media for children. Part of the Hectors World™ project was assessed by independent reviewers using the rubric. The results were very positive, so much so that in the presentation Hector’s World™ received a special case study!

 

Dr Michael J. Berson and Dr Ilene R. Berson made this comment about the results:

 

“In our analysis of cybersafety initiatives in schools Hector's World was identified as the most appealing and exciting materials to successfully engage children in assessing risky situations, developing appropriate coping techniques, and practicing responsible decision making online. Hector’s World’s episodes not only foster protective factors through a variety of strategies, but they also address risk factors by promoting and modeling behavior changes with friendly and engaging characters. Students have repeated opportunity to rehearse clear and specific skills that promote decision making, perspective-taking, alternative solutions, and positive peer interactions via high quality instructional resources that can be used by parents, educators, community safety officers, and other child-serving professionals.”

 

More information about the rubric will be available upon the publication of the associated article. If you’d like to know more about the Rubric please feel free to contact John Fenaughty who will be able to liaise with the Bersons regarding your questions.