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Cyber-games warn kids of Internet dark side dangers

Peter Davidson, Information Age

18/08/2006 12:36:32

Under an initiative of the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) called Cybersmart Detectives, Year 6 and 7 students join an interactive online game to learn key Internet safety messages in a controlled environment.

Responsible to ICT Minister Sen Helen Coonan, ACMA is a statutory authority administering Australia's co-regulatory scheme for Internet content under the Broadcasting Act. It was previously the Australian Broadcasting Authority.

"Advising the community, particularly young people, their teachers and parents on Internet safety is a key aspect of our responsibility," says Sharon Trotter who manages the authority's Internet content assessment.

"Cybersmart Detectives presents 11- and 12-year-olds with simulated scenarios to reinforce advice that people they meet online may not be who and what they say they are and that they should never give out personal information.

"And if they do want personally to meet someone met in a chat room, they should have a parent with them - and their parents should be aware of what kids are doing on the Internet, especially chatting."

The program, which is free to schools, started life as Net Detectives, created and managed by ChildNet International in the UK. The name has changed and it's now run by E-ngagelive, but is still hosted on a server in England.

After delivering the program to schools in various states, usually in conjunction with local police and other agencies concerned with child welfare, it has been modified for Australian schools.

"It started off as a two-hour program which did not fit well with our curriculum, " says Graham Rodrick who coordinates the development and delivery of Cybersmart. "It was also a bit too English in its content and general flavour.

"We reduced it to an hour, introduced Australian place names and scenarios and are working to involve as many schools as possible in the program.

"Our target age group was selected as they are at a stage when they are familiar with the Internet but will soon make different use of it when they get to high school and have greater freedoms and opportunities."

How does it work? Teams from various schools are linked via a central Web site on a secure server in the UK through which the Cybersmart Detectives activity is run. Teachers register their teams with ACMA when they are taking part in the activity, and on the day the teams access an interactive area of the Web site called the "action centre".

This area operates like an Internet chat room or bulletin board. Messages relating to the unfolding story are sent out periodically from the UK-based server.

In schools, pupils work in teams of up to three students, receiving messages and responding to them in a proprietary chat room interface. Children are able to interact in real time with Internet safety experts working in 'virtual control rooms' located throughout Australia.

Children work online with community professionals to solve a problem with an Internet-themed "whodunit" scenario. The activity is based in a school and brings together a number of agencies with an interest in promoting online safety for young people including state and federal police, Internet industry representatives and child welfare advocates.

In one scenario, children play the role of a school deputy principal concerned about the welfare of a new student, Sarah, who may be being bullied by someone she has met in an Internet chat room. Guided by a series of clues, children work collaboratively in teams to solve the mystery of what is worrying Sarah, and why.

"Experts" respond to the questions and theories posed by the students, and guide the teams through each of the "clues"' As the scenario unfolds, the children discuss the risks of certain online and offline behaviours, and ways of managing those risks.

The experts are trained educators and other specialists in Internet use, sitting in virtual control rooms around the country.

They are available throughout the session to answer questions and give advice. All messages are moderated by the "Central Control Room", which is organised by ACMA, before being posted for other participants to read. There is no facility for student teams to communicate directly with each other.

"Although the scenario presented in the activity is simulated, the sense of urgency that excites a class of children taking part is very real. By the end of the activity children will have learned some valuable lessons about some of the risks associated with Internet use, and gained useful tips for chatting safely online," Rodrick says.

"More importantly, they will have discussed the issues that lie behind the story with professionals who deal with similar issues on a daily basis."

To participate, schools need: · broadband/ADSL Internet access · PCs set up to allow three-student teams to use a single computer · Internet Explorer 5 or above, and · authority to access www.e-ngage.net and www.e-ngage.org.

Activities are automated and scheduled to run at specific times, facilitating participation by large numbers of children in different geographic regions.

For example, in a South Australian activity in conjunction with the SA Police, the program was used in schools and also transmitted across the state in the School of the Air.

ACMA provides additional resource material for teachers and schools in the form of safety brochures and follow-up activities to reinforce the Internet safety message.

Schools wishing to participate may register at cybersmartdetectives@acma.gov.au

Seeking partners "The program is very resource-intensive and we welcome new partnerships with any organisations interested in protecting vulnerable people from the dark side of the Internet, and those concerned with the safe use of information technology," says Sharon Trotter.

"The program is all about prevention rather than cure at a sensitive time in young people's lives, and the task is a national one. We are using the very technology that we are trying to warn children about, and are ready to collaborate with those who share our ambition."