© Childnet International 2006 West Midlands Regional Broadband Consortium Conference Nov 06 Stephen Carrick-Davies Childnet International Social Networking Implications for Child Online Safety CONFERENCE

© Childnet International 2006 West Midlands Regional Broadband Consortium Conference Nov 06 2) Understanding the safety issues 3) Understanding the responses 1) Understanding the new environment Personal content ~ public risk ? Dangers - “Outside in” or “Inside in” ? Web vs2 and the appeal for children and YP The big picture ~ Positive Opportunities. Shared responsibility for child protection. Education, education, education – but how ? Content:

© Childnet International 2006 West Midlands Regional Broadband Consortium Conference Nov 06 But first an introduction….. Child-centric International BalancePartnership “Helping to make the Internet a great and safe place for children”

© Childnet International 2006 West Midlands Regional Broadband Consortium Conference Nov 06 PART 1) UNDERSTANDING THE ENVIRONMENT ANONYMITY ALWAYS ON ! AWAY FROM SUPERVISION ACCEPTANCE - IDENTITY & STATUS ACCESS THE WORLD ! AMPLIFIER (gives children a voice) ACTIVE NOT PASSIVE MEDIUM ADDICTIVE !

© Childnet International 2006 West Midlands Regional Broadband Consortium Conference Nov 06 COLLABORATION & COMMUNITY CONVERGED MEDIA CONTENT CREATION CUSTOMISATION & CREATIVITY 1) Understanding the environment – CONVERGENCE

© Childnet International 2006 West Midlands Regional Broadband Consortium Conference Nov 06 WEB v 1 1) Understanding the environment - CHANGE WEB v 2 Downloading+ Uploading Consuming+ Creating “Corporate” + Personal Separate media + Converged media Static + Truly interactive

© Childnet International 2006 West Midlands Regional Broadband Consortium Conference Nov 06 1) Understanding the environment – DEFINITION Social network sites such as “MySpace” and “Bebo” are websites where individuals can create profiles and link to others (“friends”) within the system. A user creates a “profile” which serves as an individual’s digital representation of their tastes, fashion, and identity using photos, video, favourite music etc to describe themselves The linking to other sites of like friends is what makes the powerful “social network” of self expression. BUT changing all the time…….

© Childnet International 2006 West Midlands Regional Broadband Consortium Conference Nov 06 1) Understanding the environment – AN EXAMPLE

© Childnet International 2006 West Midlands Regional Broadband Consortium Conference Nov 06 Growth: 130m profiles on MY SPACE alone (320,000 new profiles a day) * Global: “Glocal” Global expansion but yp love the “local” community aspect Usage: Varied eg 18,000 civic groups 93,000 religious groups on MSpace. Power: Consumer power – eg “swarming” around complaint “blogs” eg Ipod 1) Understanding the environment –THE BIG PICTURE Linking: The power is in the linking and communicating RSS feeds & Links SOME FACTS & FEATURES ABOUT SN * SOURCE: San Fransico Chronicle Mobile: Cyworld in Korea (90% of teens) – huge commercial power Workplace: Corporates are building SN into the workplace (education ?)

© Childnet International 2006 West Midlands Regional Broadband Consortium Conference Nov 06 1) Understanding the environment – POSITIVES What’s positive for young people ? “HANGING OUT” Young people need a space to “hang out” and express themselves and “gather” in adult free space in much the same way YP used to at the youth club or shopping centre (before they were asked to move on!) EXPRESSION AND CREATIVITY: For young people this space allows them the opportunity to be creative, and express themselves with original content. They can customise their pages and engage in collective self expression and collaboration all of which is really important part ofgrowing up and learning. RISK ASSESSMENT Young People need a space to manage risks for identity exploration and testing boundaries. In many ways this new space allows them to do this in a virtual environment. IDENTITY - The “third space” where rank and status doesn’t matter. However is there a tendency of “Not knowing what we think until we know what everyone else thinks? “ Sherry Turkle MIT

© Childnet International 2006 West Midlands Regional Broadband Consortium Conference Nov 06 CONTENT: Personal information becomes very public Postings (blogs~diaries) Photos Profiles CONTACT Either from: PART 2 - UNDERSTANDING THE SAFETY ISSUES 1) Adult with sexual motivation 2) Peers who harass /cyberbully Can lead to !

© Childnet International 2006 West Midlands Regional Broadband Consortium Conference Nov 06 1) Adult with sexual motivation Grooming or “fishing in a barrel” ? Difficulties in tracking cases because it is so new. Under-reporting from yp for fear of confiscation or “it’s their fault” New Industry – so reporting buttons and moderation is only just starting Long term nature of the impact - every photo has a “forward” button No central “control” - users space, what are the standards ? Challenge of preserving data (so much !) International challenges 2) UNDERSTANDING THE SAFETY ISSUES

© Childnet International 2006 West Midlands Regional Broadband Consortium Conference Nov 06 2) Peers who harass /cyberbully * FLAMING: Insults get angrier and more vulgar HARRASSMENT: Anonymous taunts, insults, threats DENIGRATION: False profile set up with cruel, false content and posts IMPERSONATION: Stealing of passwords to send threatening messages OUTING: Sending intimate personal information to others (covert photos) EXCLUSION: Ex-communication from “buddy lists” leads to real cruelty CYBERSTALKING: Blackmail (from photos) and harmful messages CYBERTHREATES: Direct or actual threats to hurt or commit suicide * SOURCE: Nancy E Willard: Centre for Safe and Responsible Internet Use ) UNDERSTANDING THE SAFETY ISSUES

© Childnet International 2006 West Midlands Regional Broadband Consortium Conference Nov 06 Users Parents & Teachers Industry Govt. Legal/police Part 3 - UNDERSTANDING THE RESPONSES

© Childnet International 2006 West Midlands Regional Broadband Consortium Conference Nov 06 3) Understanding the responses YOUNG PEOPLE Instilling responsible use and care for peers Positive use and inspiring creativity and social benefit SCHOOLS Fundamental to teaching about behaviour, citizenship & safety Opportunity to validate collaboration and informal learning PARENTS/CARERS Their role in responsibility for their children wherever they are Hands on experience and parent’s supporting each other INDUSTRY Their responsibility for proactive advice and reporting Working with the police and supporting VGT

© Childnet International 2006 West Midlands Regional Broadband Consortium Conference Nov 06 “There are three ways to get something done; do it yourself, hire someone or forbid your kids to do it” Mona Crane 3) Understanding the responses – EDUCATION

© Childnet International 2006 West Midlands Regional Broadband Consortium Conference Nov 06 3) UNDERSTANDING THE RESPONSES –EDUCATION The challenge for schools Do we control it or manage it ? Do we tackle the issues and educate or block ? Is this a technology issue or a life issue ? “Our schools so far do a rather poor job of helping teens acquire the skills they need in order to participate within that information society. For starters, most adult jobs today involve a high degree of collaboration, yet we still focus our schools on training autonomous learners. Rather than shutting kids off from social network tools, we should be teaching them how to exploit their potentials and mitigate their risks” Henry Jenkins, co-director of the Comparative Media Studies Program at MIT, Positive opportunities for education ?

© Childnet International 2006 West Midlands Regional Broadband Consortium Conference Nov 06 3) UNDERSTANDING THE RESPONSES - PARENTS The challenge for Parents “ I have a look if they call me over, but I don’t really know what I’m looking at!” Childnet Parent Focus Group The importance of parent’s/carers role Understanding the technology and the issues Making this relevant

© Childnet International 2006 West Midlands Regional Broadband Consortium Conference Nov 06 What parents asked: What if I am new to computers? Will it show ME the benefits ? Will it be easy to follow? Will it be practical and really help? 3) UNDERSTANDING THE RESPONSES - PARENTS

© Childnet International 2006 West Midlands Regional Broadband Consortium Conference Nov 06 Example from:

© Childnet International 2006 West Midlands Regional Broadband Consortium Conference Nov Further resources and contact info