Insafe Weekly Update

Please note, as next Monday (01/04) will be a public holiday in many places, next week’s Weekly Update will be issued on Tuesday (02/04).

The 2024 European elections – taking place from 6-9 June – are fast approaching, and young people may have questions ahead of voting for the first time. In most EU countries you have to be 18 to vote, but if you live in Austria, Belgium, Germany or Malta, the voting age is 16, while in Greece it’s 17. Regardless of the voting age, however, many young people may be curious about these elections. 

To ensure that young voices are heard, the European Union has produced a vibrant leaflet detailing key information on voting, along with additional information on various EU-related opportunities available to young people to help them shape the Europe of the future.

You can download or order print versions of the leaflet – available in 24 languages – from the Publications Office of the European Union.

The next online meeting for youth coordinators will take place on Thursday, 28 March 2024 at 14:00 CET. During this meeting, Liudas Mikalkevičius from the Lithuanian Safer Internet Centre will discuss the International Youth Camp, a new idea for a collaborative activity among interested SICs. Access the meeting using this link; for further information, please contact Eray.

An online meeting with colleagues from Video Games Europe (VGE, formerly the Interactive Software Federation of Europe (ISFE)) and some of its members will take place on Thursday, 28 March 2024 from 14:30 CET to 16:00 CET. The session will provide updates on VGE’s work, with a focus also on virtual worlds. Use this link to join the meeting; for further information, please contact Karl.

The next Insafe/INHOPE joint training meeting will take place on Wednesday 17 and Thursday 18 April 2024 in Warsaw, Poland. The meeting will start at 13:00 on Wednesday 17 April and will finish at 17:00 on Thursday 18 April. There will be some optional activities taking place on the morning of Wednesday – a Media Literacy in the Classroom session and also a visit to the Polish helpline. The Insafe Steering Committee meeting will take place on the morning of Friday, 19 April 2024.

All those who have registered will receive a copy of the training booklet and final agenda in the coming weeks. If you haven’t yet registered but are planning to attend, please get in touch with Karl as soon as possible. For any questions or further information on any aspect of the training meeting, please contact Karl. 

It is now time to cast your vote and choose your favourite entry to win the Insafe-INHOPE resource competition! Many thanks to all the SICs and hotlines that submitted entries for this edition of the competition. 

Vote for your favourite here (where you will also find the catalogue of entries) by the close of business on Monday, 8 April 2024.   

The remaining key dates for the resource competition are as follows: 

In case of queries regarding any aspect of the resource competition, please contact Karl or Annarita.

This new good practice guide aims to improve cooperation between EU co-funded Safer Internet Centre helplines (part of the Insafe network) and other non-Insafe helplines that run the 116 111 harmonised number and related online services.

Despite current actions, cyberbullying remains the most reported topic to the SIC helplines in the last decade. The guide, therefore, provides information about cyberbullying and how to best support children and young people who have been or are being affected by it. It also signposts to existing resources published by the Insafe network that can be used or referenced by other helplines, as well as parents, caregivers and educators, as appropriate. 

In addition, it offers suggestions for counsellors on how to provide specific support and guidance for young people who are victims of cyberbullying, including some case studies to exemplify the types of issues that helplines are dealing with.

Read or download the good practice guide here. In case of questions regarding this guide, please contact Karl.

Enhancing the visibility of the 116 111 number to address cyberbullying is one of the provisions of the Better Internet for Kids (BIK+) strategy. Read more about the strategy on the Better Internet for Kids portal.

This new good practice guide focuses on how Safer Internet Centres (SICs), European Consumer Centres (ECCs), and other organisations concerned with children’s and young people’s safer internet use can create, pilot-test, and evaluate their online safety interventions and campaigns in an evidence-based manner. The guide was developed based on a brief survey conducted last year to determine the extent to which SICs, and particularly their awareness centres, already adopt evidence-based practices - thanks again to all who responded.

SICs sometimes have limited resources and time for preparing and pre-testing communication campaigns and conducting impact research. Therefore, this guide offers a practical step-by-step approach so they can create more evidence-based outputs on their own or in collaboration with partners. This guide is created in a modular way to allow readers to pick and choose from a range of practical guidance and insightful resources that match their existing expertise and associated additional information needs. It consists of several sections, starting with a literature review that explores and defines the term ‘evidence-based’ and how it can be implicated in developing campaigns and interventions. In addition, it outlines various models and techniques for developing evidence-based practices. These are then discussed in more depth, followed by the outline of a step-by-step approach based on the Intervention Mapping Protocol (IMP). Finally, a conclusion summarises the key insights.
 
In addition, the guide contains various key terms, which are explained throughout and drawn together in the form of a lexicon annex. To provide more depth to specific sections, ‘info boxes’ can be found throughout the guide which discuss theories, techniques, and concrete examples more extensively.

Read or download the good practice guide here. In case of questions regarding this guide, please contact Valentina.

To help SIC colleagues explore and use the good practice guide further, an online meeting will take place on Thursday, 25 April 2024 at 11:00 CEST (with an anticipated finish time of 12:30 CEST). During the meeting, the author of the guide, Michel Walrave, PhD, Professor at the University of Antwerp (Department of Communication Studies), will give further insights into the value of evidence-based campaigning. Use this link to join. 

The next meeting of the helpline early warning group will take place on Tuesday, 23 April 2024 at 11:00 CEST. Use this link to join the meeting; for further information, please contact Karl.

This focus group, taking place online on Tuesday, 30 April 2024 from 10:00 – 16:30 CEST, will explore the Digital Services Act (DSA) and the procedures and roles associated with becoming Trusted Flaggers under the Act. It will outline the new regulatory requirements and provide a platform for experience sharing on the trusted flagger application process and the collaboration status between industry, Digital Services Coordinators (DSCs), and the INHOPE/Insafe networks. Registration/joining details will be shared shortly.

This meeting is intended for INHOPE hotlines and Insafe helplines interested in applying for trusted flagger status, as well as industry operating in the EU and national Digital Services Coordinators.  

The new #MediaSmartOnline campaign launched on 8 March 2024 in three European countries: Czech Republic, Ireland, and Poland. The campaign aims to raise awareness about all the media literacy actions and initiatives that are currently available for children and young people, and those who are working to upskill them (parents and caregivers, teachers and educators). It is rolled out in cooperation with the Insafe network of Safer Internet Centres and the Media & Learning Association.  

The campaign is first undergoing a pilot test phase in these three European countries, and will then scale for full roll-out next year, but SICs are already encouraged to use and disseminate the campaign's resources and messages. 

Discover more about the campaign on the BIK portal. You can read the results of the mapping exercise of the current EU landscape of media literacy initiatives here. 

In addition, we are currently publishing focus articles on the BIK portal addressing some of the key concerns around media literacy: the first on artificial intelligence (AI) is already available, and others will follow shortly. 

Is there a particular media literacy initiative that you would like to be featured in the campaign? Please contact Annarita.  

A new BIK MOOC (massive open online course) launched earlier in March, and will run for approximately 4 weeks. This course provides background information and understanding of key initiatives that are shaping the digital experiences of children and young people. It also explores how teachers and schools can help to protect and promote children's rights in a digital world, how education can empower children and young people with the necessary skills and competences for the Digital Decade, and methods to encourage all youth to actively participate in shaping a better and safer internet.

The course is targeted at primary and secondary school teachers of any subject. Other educational professionals and stakeholders, such as heads of schools, school support staff, and policymakers with an interest in this topic are also welcome to join.

Enrolment is still possible; find out more via the European Schoolnet Academy.

• Safer Internet Day 2024 in Romania: parents' perspective on their children's online activities (SIC RO)
• Is social media addictive? (SIC DE)
• Highlight on the Safer Internet Day campaign: Connected, engaged, and you? (SIC FR)
• Safer Internet Day 2024 in Poland (SIC PL)
• Safer Internet Day 2024 in Norway: harmful content in the digital era (SIC NO)
• Content with Conscience conference in Brussels (SIC HR)
• Safer Internet Day 2024 in Luxembourg (SIC LU)
• Safer Internet Day 2024 in Greece: a large event at the Ministry of Education (SIC GR)
• Safer Internet Day 2024 in Lithuania: the importance of digital hygiene (SIC LT)
• International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination 2024
• Safer Internet Day 2024 in Latvia (SIC LV)
• International Day of Happiness 2024
• Safer Internet Day 2024 in Colombia (SIC+)
• The rising importance of artificial intelligence (AI) literacy

Please submit your public portal blog articles to the BIK content mailbox.

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

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.

• 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

• Austria's annual Youth Internet Monitor has shown that all social networks have lost users with the exception of BeReal. WhatsApp (-20%) and YouTube (-24%) were hit the hardest. Have you had similar experiences in your country? Join the conversation in the Facebook group...