The task this week is to look at the Easy Guide to Socialising Online http://www.cybersafetyhelp.gov.au/easyguide/online_games and comment on three new things that you have learnt from this guide, preferably one from each section - Social Networking, Search Engines and Online Games.
It covers a wide range of information about searching the internet - as library professionals this is invaluable and a very practical way to assist people trying to find information in a safe way.
It also has a great summary of popular online games, as well as all the different social media sites including age restrictions and cyber safety features.
This is a truly useful site and will bring you up to speed with the latest online games such as minecraft that the kids (and adults) are really into at the moment.
I would also like you to download the guide in hard copy from http://www.cybersafetyhelp.gov.au/easyguide/download_the_easy_guide_to_socialising_online which I would like everyone to use and refer to as needed. It is much more detailed but brings everything together in one document. A great reference tool and follows on from last weeks post about the cybersafety help button.
I had a look at Social networking and games on-line both had good tips to stay safe but I think this is an area where parents need to monitor there children as the age is 13up which is pretty young for twitter etc. SH.
ReplyDeleteJust spent some time going through it. Thought it was easy to use and the information was very useful. Thought the Facebook section was very informative. There was a lot of info there to read and take in. Some people may be turned off by that but they can easily go to the area they want using the guide questions. Overall a great place to direct parents and older children(who can read well) to find out about safety and any hidden possible problems. JD
ReplyDeleteNP - Once again this is a site with a wealth of information. I was surprised by the number and variety of online gaming opportunities and that some are targeted at such a young age group. Some of the games have an educational component which is good. In the search engine section I learnt some more about the filtering abilities of the different engines. There is a huge range of social networking apps and it appears that the default settings for most are very open. It is therefore reliant on the user to restrict the settings to their comfort level.
ReplyDeleteWO - Good handout for people who know nothing about Social Networking, Search engines and online games as it explains what they are. Like me ! as I have not heard of Stardoll and Bebo. Good for Parents to learn about games their children are playing.
ReplyDeleteNot all parents have a PC so a good handout.
3 things I learnt! That there are way more social networking sites than I ever thought of and that Pinterest in one of them! That the Agree to Service Agreements for search engines are so long winded that it is no wonder no one ever reads them - The one for BING is 15 pages long and has 15,915 words! And I learnt that online games can cost money so there is every reason for parents to be aware of what is going on with their children's online lives. Good site that should prove very useful for staff and parents alike. DG
ReplyDeleteThere is so much information out there and you just have to know where to find it. This is great. Social engines are so big - snapchat, but never heard of kirk messenger to use on your smartphone. Search Engines - I do know Bing and google but Yahoo7 I didn't know that you may have to pay. I like that it tells if you may pay - especially for online games. Online games section was very useful. KT
ReplyDeleteAH- There is a lot of useful information, I learnt that you can change settings on google to make it a bit safer for kids to search, also the information about privacy/ security settings on Facebook was good to know. There are a few site that I had not heard of so it was interesting to learn a little about them as well.
ReplyDeleteLW - This is a great site - so much useful information! I didn't realise that the website was developed with the assistance of teenagers, based on their usage of the internet and questions that their parents were asking them about social network sites etc. I had a look at the various sections and discovered that there were quite a few social networking and gaming sites that I didn't know existed so I found that very interesting. Previously I had only thought of Skype for live video chat - I didn't know that this is also available on Google+ as well, so that's handy to know. There was also some very valuable information regarding parental control settings and the various levels and filters. I might even try using some of those at home!
ReplyDeletethree things I have learnt from this site are: that Google has a safe search option, which is easy to use.
ReplyDeleteThat Facebook has an age limit of 13+
And that Wii online console requests that parents accept the online agreement if you are under 18. AB
I hadn't heard of 6 of the social networking sites. I had become aware of Kik and Snapchat through reading some recent articles in the newspaper highlighting some concerns with these sites. Although Facebook has an age limit of 13 and above, I am aware that children younger than this are on Facebook which is a concern. I learnt about Google's safe search options and the default being on moderate - great to use for children searching the web. Minecraft is incredibly popular at the moment and my daughter and her peers are right into it! I learnt that there is an option called whitelisting which allows the player the option of not sharing information with other players. My daughter wasn't aware of this option so this was useful to know. WW
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