The 10th Safer Internet Forum took place in Moscow. It is an annual industry conference dedicated to the safety of children and adults on the internet. The forum participants discuss matters related to Runet’s stability and sustainability, ways to improve students’ awareness about behavior rules in the information space, information mediators’ responsibility limits for users distributing prohibited content, and new approaches to self-regulation.
The forum participants spoke a lot about the websites that promote internet security of children and teenagers, such as the .ДЕТИ TLD, the establishment and development of which was supported by the Agency for Strategic Initiatives Supervisory Board headed by Vladimir Putin. The contribution of the domain and its registry, the Smart Internet Foundation, to the development of children’s internet in Russia and support of cultural internet projects was praised by Deputy Speaker of the Federation Council, Chair of the Council for the Development of Digital Economy Andrei Turchak at the forum’s opening ceremony.
“The .ДЕТИ domain zone, which marked its fifth anniversary earlier this year, is developing with the active support of the internet industry. The domain’s mission is to create an internet space of trust with high-quality educational and entertaining content,” Andrei Turchak said.
Head of social projects at the Coordination Center for TLD .RU/.РФ Viktoria Bunchuk took part in the section “Safer internet lessons: What federal education standards lack” presenting the Coordination Center’s Explore the Internet & Govern It! educational project that includes an interactive website, a mobile app, a quiz, local online tournaments and an annual national online championship.
“We believe that studying while playing is a natural process for users who are beginners from “generation Z” with their mosaic thinking and gadget addiction. This is an approach that can interest and entertain even more than “classical” lessons at the blackboard with elements of lecturing, despite the fact that it looks easy and even not so serious,” Viktoria Bunchuk noted.
The question pool in the quiz and the mobile app as well as the content of game modules on the educational website is constantly changing as well as the industry in general. The internet and technologies develop fast; this is why the classical school textbook format, which is not often reissued, is not very suitable for studying such a mercurial subject. “The data in the game are updated each six or twelve months; and not only experts but also students take part in creating new game scenarios, app tests and quiz rounds.”
