Supporting organisations with internet safety and beyond

I spoke yesterday at a European Commission event looking at “harnessing technology to promote healthcare efficiency and social inclusion”.

I was asked to talk about an EC funded project I’ve been working on – Participation for Change – as well as more generally about how the voluntary and community sector can contribute to the Digital Agenda for Europe.

At the end of my session Chris Atkinson from UKCCIS made an excellent comment about voluntary organisations and internet safety. She said that she receives lots of enquiries from organisations that are being persuaded to use technology - specifically social media tools - to engage with young people but don’t really understand what’s involved or how to make sure they’re doing it safely.

If I’d had the time to respond to Chris’ comment I would have agreed 100%.

I would like to have made the point that according to the NCVO almanac, about 85% of voluntary and community organisations are small (with an income of less than about £50,000 – ref page 27). We know that on the whole these organisations don’t have any kind of ICT support. They tend to rely on an enthusiastic member of staff, office manager, trustee, volunteer or no one at all.

As more pressure is put on organisations to use technology, either as a way to deliver services or to connect with people, they need support to help them find the best way to do it and consider the implications.

These organisations often don’t have the knowledge or capacity to know all of the answers so need the help of people like us, the regional ICT champions, circuit riders, voluntary sector suppliers et al to support them in making the best decision.

The comment yesterday was specifically about internet safety and the implications for organisations that want to use social media to connect with young people.

As an example some of the issues might be:

• Who is going to set up the profiles?
• Who will update them? One person or everyone?
• Which online sites will you be present on? Why?
• How is doing this helping you to achieve your mission?
• Has anyone else already set up profiles in your name?
• Will they be using brand names or logos? Do you need to have permission from head office?
• What can people say on sites?
• Do you need to be CRB checked?
• What are the internet safety guidelines and how do they relate to you?
• Are you aware of relevant legislation?
• How are you going to protect the privacy of young people?
• How are you going to protect your own privacy online?
• How will you respond to negative comments, posts?
• Will staff use their own profiles or will there be a work one?
• Will you accept “friend requests” from young people?
• How will you respond to offensive posts?
• Are you responsible if someone posts an offensive/ illegal post on a site you manage?
• If you are using something like Facebook, will young people be able to link to your personal profile?

This is by no means the entire list of considerations, but I think it illustrates how complicated a decision like this is and needs to be considered carefully.

Chris Atkinson, who asked the question, was responsible for producing this excellent NSPCC resource for people involved in an organisation considering the use of social media in sport: www.nspcc.org.uk/Inform/cpsu/Resources/Briefings/social_networking_services_wdf69029.pdf.

This point was about internet safety but could so easily have been about any aspect of using technology. I’d be interested to hear peoples’ thoughts on this – either generally or the specific issue of organisations and internet safety.