PointSmart.ClickSafe. Summit on Children’s Online Safety and Literacy to Convene in Washington, DC on June 10, 2008

Common Sense Media and iKeepSafe Join Cable in Bringing Together Experts To Explore Best Practices; Announce Plans for “Blue Ribbon Working Group”

WASHINGTON, D.C., 5/2/2008 – Representatives from technology companies, child advocacy and parents groups, educators, health researchers and policy leaders will gather for the PointSmart.ClickSafe. Summit on June 10, 2008, to share and develop best practices for keeping children safe online. The event in Washington, DC, will bring together leading stakeholders to discuss how to best create safe online experiences for children and families.

Convened by iKeepSafe and Common Sense Media in partnership with Cable in the Classroom and the National Cable & Telecommunications Association (NCTA), the Summit is another component of the cable industry’s comprehensive PointSmart.ClickSafe. online safety and literacy initiative launched in June 2007. The event will be held at the L’Enfant Plaza Hotel in Washington, DC, and is open to media. Information about the Summit, including a link to registration, is available at www.Summit.PointSmartClickSafe.org.

The Summit will evaluate the current landscape surrounding child online safety issues, including concerns and risks, and explore best practices among technology and media companies, experts in the field and policy leaders. The result will be to identify key best practices that help ensure safe, fulfilling and educational online experiences for children and families. Highlights from the Summit will include:

* A keynote speech from Dr. Michael Rich, MD, MPH, Director of The Center on Media and Child Health

* A research presentation from Lee Rainie, Director, Pew Internet & American Life Project

* General Sessions exploring the unique perspectives of parents, educators, policy leaders, public health professionals and providers, and

* Participation by representatives from a cross-section of leading communications and Internet firms.

In conjunction with the Summit, sponsoring partners are organizing a “Blue Ribbon Working Group” that will meet several times this year, to identify, review, and promulgate best practices for companies and organizations that are involved with children’s use of the Web. The Working Group will be asked to further evaluate best practices in Web 2.0 safety, education, and literacy, and will offer additional recommendations for recognizing and implementing these practices to ensure a safe online environment for children and families.

# # #

Event: PointSmart.ClickSafe. Summit on Children’s Online Safety and Literacy
Date & Time: Tuesday, June 10, 2008 – 7:00 a.m. to 3:30 p.m.
Location: L’Enfant Plaza Hotel, 480 L'Enfant Plaza, SW Washington, D.C. 20024
More info: Summit.PointSmartClickSafe.org

NCTA is the principal trade association of the U.S. cable industry, representing cable operators and serving more than 90 percent of the nation’s cable television households and more than 200 cable networks. The cable industry is the nation’s largest broadband provider of high-speed Internet access.

Cable in the Classroom (CIC), the cable industry’s education foundation, works to expand and enhance learning opportunities for children and youth. Created in 1989 to help schools take advantage of educational cable programming and technology, CIC has become a leading national advocate for media literacy education and for the use of technology and media for learning, as well as a valuable resource for educational cable content and services for policymakers, educators and industry leaders. For more information about CIC, visit: ciconline.org.

Common Sense Media is the nation’s leading nonpartisan organization dedicated to improving the impact of media and entertainment on kids and families. Common Sense Media provides trustworthy ratings and reviews of media and entertainment based on child development criteria created by leading national experts. For more information, visit commonsensemedia.org.

iKeepSafe, the Internet Keep Safe Coalition is a broad partnership of governors and/or first spouses, attorneys general, public health and educational professionals, law enforcement and industry leaders working together for the health and safety of youth online. The coalition partners include the FBI, the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children, American Medical Association, American Academy of Pediatrics, Reading is Fundamental, and Communities in Schools. (For a complete list of partners, visit iKeepSafe.org.) The coalition provides parent tutorials and age-appropriate educational resources, including the Faux Paw the Techno Cat ®Internet safety series of books and animated films for children. iKeepSafe uses these unique partnerships to disseminate the safety resources to families worldwide, including pilot programs launching this year in China, India and Australia. ikeepsafe.org.

PointSmart.ClickSafe. is an initiative spearheaded by the cable industry and its education foundation, Cable in the Classroom, to educate parents about online safety and the appropriate use of the Internet by their children. More information about the initiative and its partners can be found at PointSmart.ClickSafe.org.

Source: National Cable & Telecommunications Association

Bookmark/Search this post with:

 •    •    •    •    •    •    •    •    •    •    •    •