Insafe Weekly Update

As you know, we are currently redeveloping the BIK platform, for launch in the autumn season (the exact date is yet to be confirmed). In preparation, we are undertaking some content cleaning and migration tasks over the summer, and for some of these, we need input or cooperation from SIC colleagues. For this reason, we have created this new section of the Weekly Update and encourage SICs to review it each week for the latest news, updates and deadlines.

If you have any questions about any aspect of the current or future platform, please contact the BIK content mailbox.

Many thanks in advance for your support.

All SIC Coordinators and content contacts have now been contacted regarding the review of SIC resource uploads to identify resources that should be migrated and those that are no longer current. Please note that the deadline for responses is the close of business on Friday, 26 July 2024.

In preparation for the launch of the new platform, we will soon be suspending the upload of SIC articles on the existing platform. In brief:

• Any articles received up to and including Wednesday, 31 July 2024 will be published on the existing platform and also published on the new platform (when launched). Please note, to ensure that we can continue to keep the new site 'fresh', we may stagger the publication of the articles across the coming months.
• Any articles received from Thursday, 1 August 2024 onwards will be held over and published on the new portal only (when launched). You can, however, continue to send items to the BIK content mailbox during this time to allow us to already prepare your articles for the new site.

We will, of course, make exceptions if articles are time-sensitive (i.e. for events or similar) or if you are contractually obliged to publish a certain item. If this is the case, please include a note explaining the situation when you send your content.

The European Commission is launching a 12-week open stakeholder consultation on the Digital Europe Programme as part of the mid-term evaluation. 

The consultation seeks to gain insights into stakeholders’ experience with the programme, their perspectives on how relevant the objectives of the programme are to the digital transformation of companies and the public sector, how the programme responds to current and future technological trends, the perceived coherence with other EU or national/local funding, and what they consider to be its expected impact. The aim is to gather diverse perspectives from small and medium-sized enterprises to non-governmental organisations, academia, social partners, public authorities, and other public and private organisations and citizens from EU Member States and associated countries. 

The questionnaire is available on the Commission’s Have Your Say portal in English, French, and German, and contributions in any official EU language are welcome. It will be open until Friday, 20 September 2024. To take part, please follow this link to the consultation and click on Go to consultation.  

The feedback received will help guide the design of future initiatives and inform reflections on the potential for simplification and burden reduction within the Digital Europe Programme. The scope of the mid-term evaluation and the proposed methodology are briefly described in the Call for Evidence, which is available in all EU languages on the same website. Feedback can also be provided on this document (to do so, go to Give feedback).  

Further information about the consultation can be found in the news item here. 

SICs are kindly invited to respond to the questionnaire and also help spread the word and raise interest to maximise the potential for meaningful feedback.  

One of the BIK Phase 5 project activities is to carry out a European Union-wide evaluation of the BIK+ strategy every two years. The evaluation involves consultations with various stakeholders, including young people and children, parents and carers, teachers, and expert stakeholders. Ghent University – Research Group: Law & Technology, acting in a subcontractor capacity, is developing a base research methodology for consultations with young people and children (over 12 years of age). 

As indicated in previous Insafe Steering Committee exchanges, we intend to actively involve SICs in the BIK+ strategy evaluation going forward, given their instrumental position, relevant expertise and access to key national stakeholders. More information on this will follow soon.   

At this stage, EUN is launching a call for expressions of interest from expert organisations to organise consultations with children and young people younger than 12 years of age and from various vulnerable backgrounds. 

Please help us promote the open call by sharing it with any relevant expert organisations in your network. The open call is available here. 

In case of questions, please reach out to BIKevaluation@eun.org. 

The next online meeting for youth coordinators will take place on Wednesday, 24 July 2024 at 11:00 CEST. During this meeting we will have an open discussion on the youth panel organisation and recruitment practices at the national level with a focus on the 30 per cent turnover KPI. Access the meeting using this link;  for further information, please contact Eray.

Many thanks to those people who attended the online meeting with Yubo last week. You can find a report from the meeting and a link to the recording in the BIK community (login first). If you need any further information then please contact Karl.

Please note this item relates to wider INHOPE work not linked with BIK.

The seventh annual INHOPE Summit will take place in hybrid form on 8-9 October 2024. This year's summit will explore two critical topics: our society's understanding and awareness of child sexual abuse material (CSAM) and the troubling trend of CSAM commercialisation. 

As the spread of CSAM online reaches unprecedented levels, reporting becomes increasingly vital. Yet, we must confront significant challenges in society's understanding of CSAM and address its economic ties. Join INHOPE as they tackle these pressing issues head-on.  

Read more in the article on the INHOPE website, or discover more on INHOPE events more generally.

The biggest conference on online safety in Poland will gather experts from all over Europe to discuss a wide range of issues related to the safety of children and young people online. The event is aimed at professionals working in education and/or working with young people, non-governmental organisations, public administrators, industry representatives. 

It will take place on 24-27 September 2024 in a hybrid format: the plenary sessions (24-25 September) will take place in Warsaw (Focus Hotel Premium) in English, Polish, Polish sign language, and will be streamed online. The workshop sessions (26-27 September) will take place online in Polish. 

You can find more information about the conference on the BIK portal, and register for the conference here. In case of any questions, please contact konferencja@saferinternet.pl.  

• Youth Internet Monitor 2024 (SIC Austria)
• Analogue and digital go hand in hand (SIC Denmark)
• Danish focus on 0–6-year-olds' use of digital media (SIC Denmark)
• Join us for the 18th international conference on “Keeping children and young people safe online” (SIC Poland)

Please submit your public portal blog articles to the BIK content mailbox; please see the note above (under BIK platform redevelopment) about SIC article uploads over the coming months. 

Remember, article contributions to the BIK portal will count towards your SIC’s lump sum mechanism (LSM) criteria for 2024.

Awareness community of practice

• Safer internet use issues among Slovenian teenagers in school year 2023/24 (SIC SI)

We hope that you are enjoying exploring the BIK platform. Please note, a BIK user guide is available to download from the BIK community (login first). In case of questions or issues when using any aspect of the BIK platform, please contact us using the contact link in the top right navigation area or email support@betterinternetforkids.eu.

IMPORTANT – if you have new starters who need to register for the platform, please direct them to www.betterinternetforkids.eu/register, in parallel with sending an email to support@betterinternetforkids.eu so that we can verify them and provide further instructions.

Remember, contributions to the BIK community will count towards your SIC’s lump sum mechanism (LSM) criteria for 2024.

• First BIK+ strategy evaluation: Open call for expressions of interest from expert organisations

• Better Internet for Kids (BIK) public portal:
  www.betterinternetforkids.eu; #BIK; #BIKbulletin
• New BIK strategy (BIK+) on BIK portal:
  www.betterinternetforkids.eu/newbikstrategy; #BIKplus
• Safer Internet Forum (SIF) on BIK portal:
  www.betterinternetforkids.eu/sif;#SIF2023; #SIF2024, #SaferInternetForum
• BIK Policy Map on BIK portal:
  www.betterinternetforkids.eu/bikmap; #BIKPolicyMap
• Safer Internet Day (SID) minisite:
  www.saferinternetday.org; #SID2024; #SID2025; #SaferInternetDay
• Positive Online Content (POCC) minisite:
  www.positiveonlinecontentforkids.eu; #positivecontent; #PositiveOnlineContent; #POCC
• BIK Youth minisite:
  www.bikyouth.eu; #BIKyouth; #Pledge2Youth
• Child and youth consumer protection campaign (launched on Safer Internet Day 2024):
  www.betterinternetforkids.eu/adwiseonline; #AdWiseOnline
• Media literacy campaign (launched in March 2024):
  www.betterinternetforkids.eu/mediasmartonline; #MediaSmartOnline
• Project Facebook profiles:
  Insafe, Safer Internet Day, Insafe network closed Facebook group, INHOPE
• Project X (formerly Twitter) profiles:
  @insafenetwork; @safeinternetday; @BIK_youth; @inhope_pr
• Project LinkedIn profile:
  Better Internet for Kids