Portugal is approaching cyberbullying prevention and online safety on a number of different fronts.
The approach is spearheaded by InternetSecura.pt and SeguraNet (to translate from Portuguese, click onthe TRANSLATE button in the top right corner). Originally known as the Safer Internet Program, SeguraNet is designed to promote public awareness of safe internet use, especially among schools and the educational community. It is a public/private consortium of members, including Microsoft Portugal, the Ministry of Education, and the Foundation for National Scientific Computation. They are involved in the following:
- Established a Youth Panel on Internet Safety, which met on March 24, 2010.
- They have also recently held a contest for students – Gigabyte Insurance: Navigate Your Way Safely – which aims to foster discussion and implementation of safe practices in relation to the Internet.
- Additionally, they encourage schools to learn more about online safety and cyberbullying, and provide a number of resources in this regard. They provide a manual for teachers about digital safety.
- Launched a challenge to all schools in February 2010 – Alerts SeguraNet; What Would You Do? Activities were developed with students and teachers/guardians relating to the safe use of the Internet.
- Provide a Hotline to report illegal conent.
- Have links to a number of videos on various aspects of online safety.
For more information on their various activities, check out the homepages of InternetSegura.pt and SeguraNet.pt.
In addition to the above, MiudosSegurosNa.Net is a project that helps families, schools and communities to promote safety online children and youth. The project takes as its mission to lead the Portuguese society in a movement to motivate and mobilize the involvement of families, schools and the wider community in promoting safety awareness online their children and youth.
The project targets its activity against the following core values:
- Knowledge, Experience and Competence
Deepen with persistence – through study, dialogue, sharing information and experiences – an understanding and knowledge about the security risks that children and young people are exposed online and on the solutions that best contribute to minimize these risks in order to develop best practices and expertise in this area that can help families, schools and communities to promote safety online children and youth. - Cooperation, Collaboration and Complementarity
Establish, develop and strengthen personal contacts, professionals and friends, looking for every opportunity to cooperate, collaborate and work with other entities – individual and collective – whose knowledge, wisdom, experience and expertise complement the project and contribute to extend MiudosSegurosNa.Net its scope in view the objectives of the project. - Freedom, Independence and Integrity
Maintain the highest respect for values such as freedom, independence and integrity, acting with sincerity and honesty. - Public Service
Develop high levels of involvement to help families, schools and communities in a direct manner, individually and in groups, thus contributing to improved safety online their children and youth. - Influence and Leadership
Influence the opinions, attitudes and behaviors of families, schools and communities in relation to security risks that children and young people are exposed online and existing solutions to the problems posed by these risks.
MiudosSegurosNa.Net is headed by Tito de Morais. It is his firm belief that safety online is not a technical problem but a problem for people. As such, he firmly believes that information, communication, education and awareness are the best tools to ensure that children and young people take full advantage of the benefits that new information and communication technologies have to offer, thereby minimizing the risks linked to their use. For these reasons, he chooses the phrase “Minimizing Risks, Maximizing Benefits” as the motto of the project MiudosSegurosNa.Net.
Check out his overview on How to Protect Children and Young People from Risks Online (remember: This is a “Google” translation of his work).
Finally, check out the Cybertraining-project which aims to provide a well-grounded, research-based training manual on cyberbullying. Here you can download a “country report” on cyberbullying in Portugal, written by Joao Amado, Armanda Matos, and Teresa Pessoa of the University of Coimbra. The report identifies that cyberbullying is a growing issue in Portugal and recommends that more research and action is needed.
Tue, Jun 8, 2010
Global Perspective