On February 27-28, the 4th Information Security and Children national annual conference was held at the Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration (RANEPA). The theme of the 2020 conference was organizing interagency cooperation on extracurricular activities as part of drafting the national policy on information security and media education.
The conference was attended by experts from the Coordination Center for TLD .RU/.РФ. Delivering his opening remarks at the opening of the conference, the center’s Director Andrey Vorobyev provided an overview of the center’s initiatives targeting children and youth audiences. He spoke about the events for the younger generation planned for this spring: the Building an Information Culture in the Digital Environment youth forum; a youth seminar; the First Russian Youth Internet Governance Forum (Youth RIGF) and RIGF 2020, which also focuses on involving young people in the internet governance process.
“I consider fostering digital literacy skills and responsible behavior on the internet among young people as one of the most important tasks of the Coordination Center. We are doing this through holding events on various scales, from sending our experts to speak to students and schoolchildren to major international events attended by the young audience. During those, the young people are not just listeners, but also speakers and active participants in the discussions. The Youth Council has been operating at the Coordination Center for several years now, and we listen to their opinions and use their ideas in developing our youth initiatives,” Andrey Vorobyev pointed out.
At the end of his report, Andrey Vorobyev presented to the conference participants a new edition of a special supplement to the journal Vneshkolnik devoted to social and educational projects of the center and the Smart Internet Foundation.
On the second day of the conference, the center’s project manager Tatyana Novikova delivered a report “The experience of social projects on cybersecurity and digital literacy” at the Coordination Center at the plenary meeting, “Information security and media education: the facets for linkage.” She presented a number of the center’s new projects including the Journey around Runet creative contest for children held as part of the events to mark the 25th anniversary of TLD .RU with Karusel children’s TV channel. She also spoke about the innovations in the Explore the Internet & Govern It! interactive game project and the film Internet for All made by the Social Film Foundation for the Coordination Center.
