Considering emerging issues for internet safety helplines

A number of Insafe helplines and other stakeholders are joining together today in Copenhagen, Denmark, for a focus group meeting to consider emerging issues for, and effectiveness of, internet safety helplines.

Date 2018-06-05 Author Insafe helpline network Section awareness, helplines

The focus group aims to explore whether helplines are indeed effective at dealing with online issues and supporting young people to deal with such issues. How do we know? How can we increase our understanding in terms of impact?

It will also question whether helplines are already evaluating the effectiveness of what they do: What are the key needs and areas of improvement? Can we identify specific examples of best practice?

Data collected by helplines builds a picture of the challenges faced by children and young people online. The focus group will also seek to identify possible emerging trends and new risks, along with how to mitigate against these challenges, and explore how to facilitate the sharing of best practice beyond the Insafe network and how to use data for advocacy.

Karl Hopwood, Insafe Helpline Coordinator, said: "The work of any child helpline in 2018 has to have an ever-increasing focus on the internet and online issues as more and more children and young people are connected. Being able to share emerging trends, concerns and successes is an important part of helping to ensure that helpline staff are as up to date as possible and able to provide the most effective service to their users.

Visit the Better Internet for Kids portal at www.betterinternetforkids.eu to discover more about the work of the Insafe network of Safer Internet Centres and wider stakeholders in the field, or to find specific information on helpline trends. Alternatively, subscribe to the quarterly Better Internet for Kids (BIK) bulletin for news and resources on the latest trends and challenges in online life, or find out more about the ongoing #SaferInternet4EU campaign, delivering a range of initiatives throughout 2018 to help children, young people, parents, teachers, and other EU citizens to become empowered and responsible digital users.

Learn more about the work of Danish Safer Internet Centre.

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