Archive for the 'E-Safety' Category

Schools Parliament Consultation (1/2)

Published on 5 March 2010 in E-Safety, Emerging Technology, Merseyside Fire & Rescue Service, Social Media and Youth Engagement. 0 Comments

Yesterday I attended the first of two consultation events with the Schools Parliament. 120 Children and Young People from Primary Schools around Liverpool came to the Town Hall to consult with myself and other organisations about health and safety.

Other delegates were from Liverpool Primary Care Trust, talking about obesity, Liverpool Safeguarding Board, talking mainly about bullying, and LifeStyles, talking about the free sports and activities for children around Liverpool. I focused my session on how MFRS can engage with young people through technology. This included giving out Fire Safety messages, allowing direct contact between us and them for queries and questions, giving out news and updates and informing CYP about the Fire and Rescue Service.

Only having 10-15 minutes I decided that the best strategy would be to ask the group a series of questions, some that everyone answers so I could get a percentage and some more specific where I would ask a selection of children their answers. I found that this worked well and despite the large group and small time frame I gained some valuable information that will help to develop our online resources and develop future initiatives.

Some of answers that stood involved all of the children having access to the internet in their houses and a shocking 83% had access in their bedrooms via various sources ranging from their televisions to wireless laptops. Even more surprisingly every single person put their hand-up when asked if they had Facebook; the maximum age these children could have been in 11 and the minimum age for Facebook is 13.

All the participants enjoy using the internet and especially playing games on the internet where they can chat to other people, when asked about which games they play popular responses were ‘Club Penguin’, ‘Habbo Hotel’ and even ‘Call of Duty’ – a war game which is rated an 18.

When asked about E-Safety a small number of the young people said they had learnt about E-Safety in school, I found this extremely surprising considering it was Safer Internet Day last month. When I enquired what they had learnt, only a couple raised their hands and were unsure about exact details.

Furthermore, in one of the other talks, one child even suggested that there should be a ‘Panic Button’ for children so that they can alert someone when they feel scared, bullied or unsure, they also suggested that there should be a way for parents to restrict what websites they have access to. One of the suggestions for a resource was a site where they could learn about E-Safety. All of these things exist and have been highly publicised by CEOP. I found it surprising that the children weren’t even aware of these resources and therefore parents were also not aware.

Their lack of knowledge about E-Safety and the resources that are already available for them together with their expansive experience on the internet; using social networking and games that open them up to the world from their bedrooms really opened my eyes to the work that still needs to be done on E-Safety.

Using these results and the information that I get from the consultation with secondary schools next week I plan to put an action plan in place to educate parents, carers, teacher and children and young people about safeguarding on the internet and the importance in doing so.

Safer Internet Day 2010

Published on 25 January 2010 in E-Safety and Merseyside Fire & Rescue Service. 0 Comments

Tuesday 9th February is Safer Internet Day 2010. The main objective of Safer Internet Day is to bring together relevant public and private stakeholders, in as many countries as possible, to raise awareness about safe and responsible use of new technologies especially among children and young people.

With so many of our own colleagues working with young people on a daily basis, this is a great opportunity to promote Safer Internet Day and its wider cause, in the aim of making Merseyside a safer, stronger and healthier community.

In preparation I have sent out an online survey to all MF&RS staff to ask them what they want to mark the event, whether it be a presentation, a booklet to take away, or simply a Q&A session. The purpose of this is to avoid spending a large amount of time organising a session which only three or four people turn up to.

In being able to customise a resource, I can make sure our staff receive the exact information that they want and need. This will spread the message to a wider range of people, helping to safeguard children and young people online.

Happy New Year!

Published on 4 January 2010 in E-Safety and Social Media. 0 Comments

2010 has arrived and with it a large amount of children and young people are online!

Christmas brought presents and this year among the most popular presents were net-books, laptops, games consoles and mobile phone; all giving their owner access the world wide web.

Children as young as 5 have been given netbooks from Father Christas, allowing them to borwse the web anywhere they want at any time they want; in their bedrooms, at their friends house, in the shopping centre… the list goes on.

Although I believe that it is excellent that young people are becoming familiar and confident using technology to enhance their lives, I am worried about the lack of knowledge parents have surrounding e-safety and just how accessible the Internet is.

As we approach Safer Internet Day in Febuary I aim to find out what parents know, what they want to know and what they should know. Breaking down the knowledge barriers between adults and young people will help both sides understand why the other is so interested in what they are doing and increase safety starting from a young age.

3/4 children admit secretly visiting social networking sites without their parents knowledge

Published on 18 December 2009 in E-Safety, Facebook, In the News and Social Media. 0 Comments

According to research by Professor Tanya Byron, clinical psychologist and television presenter, three quarters of children are visiting social networking sites in secret without their parents knowledge. In fact her research shows that a massive 90% of parents believed they had banned their children from sites such as Facebook and Bebo, but unbeknown to them, their children were still using the sites. A similar percentage allowed their children to use social networking unsupervised.

Click here to read the full article from the Telegraph.

This research highlights the key issues surrounding social networking. The answer is not to ban children from using these sites, but in fact to embrace it and bridge the gap between your knowledge and theirs.

  • Set up the computer in a family room where you can always see what is on the screen.
  • Sit down with your children and set up social networking sites properly – using all the security features.
  • Familiarise yourself with it so you know exactly what is on there and how to change it.
  • Talk about it with your children so that they do not feel embarrassed or scared when they have a question or need advice.

Following simple steps like this will bridge the gap and stop children from sneaking onto sites such as Facebook and Bebo, and using them unsafely, putting themselves in danger.

Project Plan

Published on 14 December 2009 in E-Safety, Emerging Technology, Facebook, Merseyside Fire & Rescue Service, Projects, Social Media, Topics and Youth Engagement. 0 Comments

Video Diary / Podcast

Programme – Huyton Prince’s Trust

Team – Richie Evered, Jade Cotter

 Giving students the facility to create video diaries / enhanced podcasts:

  • Track progress throughout the 12 week course
  • Provide evidence of activity for log book
  • Creating an online ‘e-portfolio’
  • Ability to evidence work placement activity
  • For use in the final presentation evening
  • Reflective log

Continue reading ‘Project Plan’

Internet Safety in Schools

Published on 8 December 2009 in E-Safety, In the News, Links and Publications. 0 Comments

Internet Safety is to become a compulsory part of primary education in 2011 it has emerged today.

The campaign ‘Zip it, Block it, Flag it ’ intends to encourage children to not give out personal information on the web, block unwanted messages on social networks and report any inappropriate behaviour to the appropriate bodies. The campaign will used as an online ‘Green Cross Code’ which children and parents will follow to protects themselves online.

Zip it, Block it, Flag it!

By starting the education at a young age, there will hopefully be less and less incidents as the children grow older and internet safety will become common practice.

Facebook in the news

Published on 2 December 2009 in E-Safety, Facebook, Social Media and Topics. 1 Comment

Yet again Facebook has received bad press because of the lack of knowledge users have. Today on BBC there is a story about doctors being warned about not responding to ‘flirtatious approaches’ on social networking sites. This has come about after a number of patients have found the doctors that have treated them in surgeries or hospitals on sites such as Facebook and have been able to get information on their interests, and then proposition them. This is all down to the user not knowing how accessible their information is and how to adjust privacy settings so that their details are private from the general public.

This highlights the need for e-safety to circulate around as many people as possible so there is a better awareness of such issues, not just young people but adults too. Facebook can then be used as the excellent resource it is. The bad press, such as this, gives social networking a bad name, especially for those who have never used it and will continue to be put off. It is not often that good news or success stories, such as Wiggly Wigglers (see below) in the press showing the potential that social networking holds.

Those who have a bad view of sites such as Facebook, are generally those who have never used it and are not aware of what it has to offer. By increasing the awareness of e-safety and educating more users on how to keep their profile private, hopefully there will less ‘horror’ stories and more ‘success’ stories.

Don’t Assume… Ask!

Published on 23 November 2009 in E-Safety, Emerging Technology, Facebook, Merseyside Fire & Rescue Service, Projects, Social Media and Youth Engagement. 0 Comments

I have created a questionnaire to assess young people’s computer skills and internet safety knowledge.

The purpose of this is to compare the results of a group who are just finishing a Princes Trust Course to those of a group next year that would have been exposed to emerging technologies throughout the course. Another purpose of the survey was to confirm which social networking sites are most popular and how the students access the internet and e-mail.

 The questionnaire was given out to nine Princes Trust students aged 17-23. I hope that when I compare these results to the next group, a clear difference will be visible in internet skills and capabilities using technologies.

One of the questions was ‘Which Social Networking Sites Do You Use?’, if students used more than one they were able list them.

 graph 1

The findings shown below clearly show that Facebook is the most popular site and that more people do not use any at all than use MySpace, Bebo or Twitter.

 I also asked how the young people access the internet. Over half of the students had a PC at home and a third had their own laptops. The use of the internet and Facebook is increasing on mobile phones and some of the students used their game consoles for the internet.

 graph 2

 Other interesting results included; over 75% of the students used hotmail for their email and 33% of the students didn’t have access to the internet at home.

This backs up our idea to set each student up with a professional e-mail address not only as some hotmail addresses can be unsuitable but also so that those without the internet are not excluded from applying for training, information and employment online. With many companies using e-recruitment and e-mail as contact it is important that are students have the right skills and knowledge to do this.

My results also showed that many of the students lacked computer skills that a lot of young people would take for granted and are essential when applying for training or employment. By incorporating computer skills into the programme the students would leave with invaluable experience and knowledge that will help them progress to the next stage of their lives.

Improving Students Computer Skills

Published on 18 November 2009 in E-Safety, Emerging Technology, Facebook, Merseyside Fire & Rescue Service, Projects and Youth Engagement. 0 Comments

An issue that was discussed with Princes Trust staff, Richie and Jade, was when the young people are required to produce a CV and to search and apply for training and employment online. The staff struggled to do this in the time they had due to computing facilities and the lack of experience the young people have had using computers. We discussed the idea of assessing the students existing skills at the start of the course and helping them to improve to a standard level; having the ability to use the Microsoft Office, Internet and E-mail. This would not only help with the production of a CV but also equip the young people with essential skills they need to go to further education, training or employment.  

Google Mail

Furthermore we discussed the type of email addresses that the students have and use on their CV’s and application forms. In the past staff have found these e-mail addresses to be highly unsuitable for potential employers, it was therefore agreed that a useful exercise during the course would be to help the students to set up a personal e-mail address for professional distribution, for example Google Mail, with which they can then use to apply for training and employment. They can also continue to use this once the course has finished. This would not only help the young people in the future but would educate them on the importance of how they present themselves physically and virtually. This would also tie into e-safety, for example; how accessible their Facebook content is to the public.   

Social Network Sites Need ‘Help’ Button

Published on 18 November 2009 in E-Safety, Emerging Technology, Facebook, Merseyside Fire & Rescue Service, Social Media and Youth Engagement. 1 Comment

In the UK headlines today major social networking sites have been criticised for not using the ‘CEOP Report’ button. This button is embedded into many websites and programs including MSN for young people to use to report any suspicious individuals or behaviour whilst using the internet. When this button was launched on Instant Messenger software, MSN in 2006, reports to CEOP increased by 113%. Every month the ‘CEOP Report’ button gets 10’000 hits, helping CEOP trace any harmful behaviour from bullying to paedophilia. The button links young people with a range of service from the local police through to Childline giving them the help and support they need and internet safety advice.  

 Nonetheless, Facebook and Myspace, are two of the most popular social networking sites that still do not have the button embedded despite the amount of young people that use them and the number of serious incidents that have occurred recently. Social networking site Bebo, has stood out and adopted the use of the button. This is a step forward for social networking, Jim Gamble from CEOP states that “Parents can be reassured because they know this environment is appropriately managed” but also “the predator, the person that goes on with harmful intent – whether it’s the bully or whether it’s the paedophile – they know when they see it that there is an active deterrent here.” Facebook and Myspace will now hopefully realise the benefit of embedding the button for the safety of their users and promotion of online safety. Last year Merseyside Fire and Rescue Service produced pin badges in the design of the CEOP ‘Report Abuse’ button for Safer Internet Day. This helped to promote the awareness of the button and to familiarise the public with what it looked like.

The button has since been revamped and has a new design; still using the same logo the text has changed from ‘Report Abuse’ to ‘CEOP Report’. With Safer Internet Day coming up in February we are currently looking in to what we can do this year to make a difference and make Merseyside safer online.

 

CEOP Button

New CEOP design on the left, the old design on the right.