Friday, April 11, 2008

Internet Safety Tips for Families

There are a few resources that I would like to share today that give cybersafety tips and advice for families and other caregivers of children. The first is a video from an organization called Common Sense Media and is entitled, "A Common Sense Approach to Internet Safety". It is a seven minute long video that gives tips on keeping your children safe online while still trying to give them a full internet experience. The video focuses on setting rules for your kids, communicating safely online, as well as touching upon media literacy and copyright infringement. Common Sense Media is a non-profit organization that is dedicated to give families "trustworthy information to help manage their kid's media lives." The video was made in conjunction with Google and includes tips on how to set privacy features and content filtering on many of Google's products such as Blogger and Google chat.

Another resource that is worth sharing with parents is NetSmartz 411. It is an internet safety help desk designed to answer the questions of parents and guardians about internet safety. NetSmartz.com is a premier internet safety resource with sections that are dedicated to teaching cybersafety to parents, educators, law enforcement, kids and teens. NetSmartz 411 internet safety help desk is a place where anyone can go and seek the answers to questions about anything involving the online world. Parents can search for questions that have already been answered or post a new question (in English or Spanish) that will be answered by an internet safety expert.

Both of these resources I have described in the above paragraphs were brought to my attention from one of my favorite sources of internet safety education, Net Family News. Net Family News is a weekly electronic news service to inform and educate parents, families and caregivers of children who spend time online. The blog is maintained by Ann Collier, who was featured in the PBS Frontline Special, Growing Up Online. The site features up to date internet safety articles and information from around the world, you can even subscribe to their weekly email newsletter. The site also includes a number of links and resources for families. I would recommend this site 100% for people who would like to stay updated on internet safety issues that effect children and families.

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