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Insafe Newsletter
Issue 38: September 2008 |
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Welcome to the Insafe Newsletter!
Literacy is the best remedy
September 8 is UNESCO's International Literacy Day (ILD). On International Literacy Day each year, UNESCO reminds the international community of the status of literacy and adult learning globally.
Despite many and varied efforts, literacy remains an elusive target: some 774 million adults lack minimum literacy skills; one in five adults is still not literate and two-thirds of them are women; 75 million children are out-of-school and many more attend irregularly or drop out.
International Literacy Day (ILD) 2008 is placing a special focus on the important relationship between literacy and health.
In our own way, as a network, Insafe strives to develop a much broader form of literacy that includes digital and media literacy as well as information handling skills. We aim to make people aware of the importance and the risks attached to new communication media use, in particular the internet and mobile phones.
Looking to the future, it is with these two aspects of ICT in mind that we find very interesting the prediction that "mobile phones in the United States will surpass the popularity of desktops for teens" (CNET). This exciting development brings with it further challenges. How will we reach users and develop strategies for this developing market?
There is an important debate here about how, whilst the internet is fighting to remain uncensored and open, mobile operators are being encouraged to restrict access. Assuming that we can find a foolproof technology that can deliver this, why do we feel justified in filtering out "undesirable" content from telephones but not from personal computers? Surely the same need for e-literacy exists. (See Bill Thompson's article for the BBC.)
Taking e-literacy as our cue, we leave you with the news that the One Laptop Per Child programme has lived up to its name in the tiny South Pacific nation of Niue, where 100% of children now have one (BBC). Let's hope the Niuean children will acquire the literacy skills to make the most of this opportunity, safely.
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 Insafe e-safety kit "a trigger for dialogue"
Since its launch, Insafe's e-safety kit has attracted much interest and has now been translated and published in many of the networks' countries. Taking International Literacy Day as our cue, we catch up with Sofia Aslanidou for the latest update.
Read more
 Knowhow for Young UsersA teachers’ handbook entitled “Knowhow for Young Users” has been developed by klicksafe as a part of the qualification measures for teachers in Germany. The handbook for teachers is a practically oriented introduction to the wide area of online and net communication.
Read more SAFE-SI launches educational package for teachersIn July 2008 Slovenian Awareness Node SAFE-SI launched an educational package for teachers entitled “Safe surfing on virtual waves” consisting of a handbook and CD with practical exercises for work in the classroom.
Read more
 New study on children’s use of ITFor the second year in a row, the Swedish Helpline BRIS, Children’s Rights in Society, conducted a study on children’s Internet and ICT-related contacts. This has now been translated into English. BRIS is calling for improved communication between parents, other adults and children concerning children’s experiences on the internet.
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 World’s youth pave the way to safer internet at groundbreaking London congress
In July, a unique event took place in a beautiful setting in Surrey: 148 young people from across the globe gathered for the first International Youth Advisory Congress on safety and security on the internet (IYAC).
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 Talking to professionals in Telc
The Czech Safer Internet Combined node is now running its Safer Internet Roadshow 2008 campaign. It is a nationwide series of workshops organised with the assistance of the Czech association of librarians and IT professionals (SKIP). In particular, the Roadshow targets local municipality IT administrators.
Read more
DNS vulnerability
What is it? How does it affect me? What can I do about it?
Are you concerned about the possibility of having your banking details hijacked on the internet? Are you confident that when you click “submit” your login details go where they should?
Read more
Complete control - from anywhere
The launch of Sentry Parental Controls takes the protection of children to a new level. A parent can now control their child's computer from any computer with internet access, whether it be another home computer, in the office, or in another country!
Read more
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 Countering the sexual exploitation of children on the internet
13 - 24 October 2008, online. The purpose of this workshop is to serve as a follow-up to last year’s seminar, to build the capacity of the different stakeholders to combat the phenomena, to collect good practices on prevention methods and to gain recommendations for building legislation criminalising the possession of child abuse images, as well as to enhance cross dimensional cooperation and information sharing. Read more  Vienna Games Conference 2008 "Future and Reality of Gaming"
17 to 19 October in Vienna. Digital games have become a driving factor of contemporary cultural, social, and economic development. They are enablers of global cultural exchange and serve as entry points for media participation. However, the cultural, social and economic significance of games usually remains underestimated or misunderstood by the general public. Read more
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 Hector's WorldTM with a British flavour
The Hector's WorldTM resource from New Zealand has been re-launched in the UK by the Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre (CEOP). The resource has been re-written for use in UK schools and all learning objectives now map to the national curriculum.
Read more
 Underage social networking fears
A new study commissioned by online identity security experts Garlik concludes that over 750000 underage children in the United Kingdom use social networking sites when they shouldn't. Many of them also take serious risks, posting personal information such as where they go to school and their mobile phone numbers.
Read more
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Insafe is a European network of 25 nodes in 25 countries that are dedicated to raising awareness of internet safety. It is coordinated by the European Schoolnet and supported by the European Commission through the Safer Internet Programme.
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