KidsOKOnline

Old Friend, New Partner

2012-01-16T15:56:00.001Z

Stephen Carrick -Davies
is now working with KidsOKOnline on E-Safety issues, Safeguarding training, Media Literacy training, Design and Communications services, including writing for the Web. Stephen is also provides fundraising advice and training so non-profit groups can secure income (grant and earned) to keep their urgent work going.

Stephen worked for over 10 years and ran Childnet International, a non-profit organisation established to "help make the internet a great and safe place for children". Under his leadership Childnet became a leading influencer in the field of online child safety and was honoured with many awards.

KOKO helps Gemin-i keep safe

2012-01-16T15:50:00.002Z

KOKO has just completed a Child Safety Review and Risk Assessment for Gemin-i, the people behind the Rafi-ki and Kidogo children's communities.

CEO, Simon Carruth says:

"KOKO have been absolutely brilliant in working with us here at Gemin-i to adapt our Child Protection Policies and Procedures. Through consulting all key staff throughout the process, providing insightful and informative workshops, and working closely with the SMT to illustrate recommended developments, we now have an even more comprehensive approach for our internal and external stakeholders. Their commitment has reflected ours in providing the best possible service to our users, and we have thoroughly enjoyed working with the KOKO team."

Medical Conferences

2011-12-16T17:06:00.000Z

Medical Conferences

KOKO launches MedicalConference.net. This is a portal for medical practitioners to the best Continuing Medical Education opportunities around the world. It's simple. It's quick. It does what it say on the tin.

Site Refurb Under Way

2011-10-31T11:17:00.000Z

Esteemed visitors. We apologize for any inconvenience, but we're in the process of refreshing the KOKO site.Some things will be moved around, some will disappear and perhaps re-appear in another format. They'll be some new things.And sometimes the site might look a bit wonky while we're in the middle of stuff. Oh, and it might take some time!

Online Community - Benefits & Risks

2011-09-13T16:17:00.000+01:00

What are the potential benefits of well designed and safely managed online communities for kids, teens and their teachers? What are the potential risks. What's the recipe for keeping everyone safe? See Online Community - Benefits & Risks.

Digital Citizenship in the Family

2011-07-01T18:28:00.003+01:00

Digital Citizenship in the Family

Family Online Safety Institute says:

"Robert and Carole Hart-Fletcher have over 20 years' experience of providing learning experiences for schoolchildren and their teachers all over the world. In this article, they write about a community for parents: Kids and Media. Websites operate around the world to educate and inform parents so that they are equipped with relevant information in order to interact effectively with their children, who may be more tech-savvy than them."

KOKO helps JK Rowling with new Harry Potter site.

2011-06-23T15:14:00.007+01:00

J. K. Rowling made an announcement that has made Harry Potter fans around the world very excited and has made KidsOKOnline (KOKO) very happy indeed.

We have been working with J.K. Rowling's development team at TH_NK in secret for 2 years, and now at last, we can reveal the project that will change the face of publishing forever!

Pottermore, the new Harry Potter website is a fantastic adventure that adults, teens and young children will just love! It will change the nature of reading. Reading will now be a social activity.

The Harry Potter storyline will be brought to life with sumptuous illustrations and interactive ‘Moments’ through which you can navigate, starting with the first book, Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone. You choose a magic username and begin your experience. As you move through the chapters, you can read and share exclusive new writing from J.K. Rowling, and, just as Harry joins Hogwarts, so can you! You visit Diagon Alley, get sorted into a house, cast spells and mix potions to help your house compete for the House Cup.

At a press conference at the Victoria and Albert Museum, J.K. Rowling revealed that Pottermore brings to life the Sorting Hat and Ollivanders experiences from the books for the first time. The Sorting Hat places newcomers into their Hogwarts houses according to their characteristics. The Wand Chooser finds the right wand for each user from over 33,000 possible combinations.

KOKO worked with J.K. Rowling's literary agents from the earliest conceptual stage to guide the site owners and their development teams to make sure that the finished site would be a safe and delightful and educative experience for children and young people.

KOKO advised on effective child protection systems and worked with digital agency TH_NK, advising on the concepts and design of member activities. Pottermore is designed for a global audience, so KOKO researched and advised on international legal guidelines on child protection.

It has been a great honour and frankly, a real thrill, to work on this amazing ground-breaking project. We believe Pottermore is a delightfully stimulating, purposeful and creative environment where children and adults will safely enjoy a delightful and compelling experience.

Here's a sneak preview of some of the activities:

All aboard the Hogwarts Express

Into the Chessboard Chamber

KOKO Shortlisted for Nominet Award

2011-06-17T12:15:00.006+01:00

KidsOKOnline has been shortlisted for the Nominet Internet Awards for the Kids and Media International Parents Network at www.kidsandmedia.net – a social network associated with www.kidsandmedia.co.uk and other regional KidsandMedia websites in Norway, Denmark, Holland, USA and Australasia.

The KidsandMedia websites help families make the best use of all digital online media. The reviews of popular media (Games, TV, Film, Mobile Apps, Websites) encourage conscious web and media use.

The Kids and Media International Parents Network gives families a place where they can discuss and get help with children’s media issues. The online discussions contribute to parents' understanding of the opportunities and risks and give them practical tools and family conversation starters to help implement safe and life-enhancing use of online media in the family.

Robert Hart-Fletcher, Director, KidsOKOnline and KidsandMedia UK says,

“We are delighted to be shortlisted for the Nominet Awards. KidsandMedia is a partnership between the charity (Barnevakten) and a private company (KidsOKOnline) whose visions and ambitions fit together exactly. We want to encourage the family to play together, watch together, listen together and to agree how to get the best from the digital media, while minimizing the risks and the worst effects - media addiction, online scams, grooming and bullying. This nomination is a great recognition and a huge encouragement to us.”

See the Awards Shortlist here.

Click here to read full Press Release

Click here to download Press Release in PDF

Barnardo's Pilot Community

2011-05-16T17:05:00.003+01:00

Image via Wikipedia

The Barnardo's Community - a protected social network created by KidsOKOnline (KOKO) for the Barnardo's team has just launched its Northern Ireland Beta, with a specialised Group community designed for a Barnardo's centre that supports disabled children and young people across the region.

The new community was designed and built by the KOKO team, who drew on years of experience of creating and running safe online communities for children. Its design is informed by the latest research and international guidelines on online child safety practices. KOKO started afresh, and using new generation technologies, they created the new KOKO Community Engine (KCE), which replaces their original Intuitive Community Engine and now drives the Barnardo's Community.

Robert Hart-Fletcher, Director of KOKO said'

"The new KOKO Community Engine is what we've dreamed about for years – a community engine with robust and fully scalable underpinning technology. User safety is hard-wired into the design with safeguards such as Profile Privacy by Default and a Sponsor Validation System, where every member is authenticated by a Barnardo's approved and CRB-checked Group Sponsor. Flexible Group Functionality allows Sponsors to switch on only the functions they need for their members. The all new software, now provides sophisticated child safety systems and a new generation of what we call 'Simply-Sophisticated Moderation' tools to ensure cost-effective moderation."

The initial reactions from the young members were highly enthusiastic. Within their first session, they had created their personal profiles, uploaded their avatar images, uploaded videos and taken part in their first forum discussions. That evening they were online from home – social networking safely with their friends.

The Barnardo's staff were delighted that at last the young people in their care could enjoy all the social and learning benefits of social networks without the risks that disabled or vulnerable youngsters can face in unprotected networks.

Silvia Pilotto, Head of Digital Strategy at Barnardo’s, said,

“We are delighted to work with KidsOKOnline and explore the potential and practise of using social networking sites for youth participation. Barnardo’s is looking to actively engage children and young people online in safe and positive ways that help them to reach their fullest potential”.

The Northern Ireland Beta tests with disabled youngsters will help Barnardo's and KOKO to further refine the design to prepare for rollout to other Barnardo's groups around the UK.

Education: Robert & Carole Hart Fletcher: Safe Social Learning Communities

2011-03-30T12:56:00.000+01:00

The Family Online Safety Institute invited Carole and Robert to tell their story of safe social learning communities and how their work has evolved, what they have learned and ho that's informed their future projects.

Education: Robert & Carole Hart Fletcher: Safe Social Learning Communities

Digital Childhood

2011-03-28T13:36:00.003+01:00

We've just published Digital Childhood, a parent's guide to children and the digital media from KidsandMedia. It's 50 pages of commonsense and practical advice about gaming, film & TV, mobiles and the web. Enjoy!

Download the PDF here.

http://www.kidsandmedia.co.uk/pdf/digital-childhood23311.pdf

Good practice in moderation

2011-02-08T12:49:00.000Z

Good practice guidance for the moderation of interactive services for children

These guidelines are a response to the the enormous change in the provision and use of the internet. They are a reflection of the growing access to the internet and growing concerns for safety of children. More and more companies are publishing social media sites for children - UKCCIS want to ensure that everything is done to protect children while allowing them a positive experience. UKCCIS has brought together industry education and government players to collate the best knowledge and experience of the partners making up the council. The guidelines are the most up to date and relevant in the world.

International Network for Parents

2010-12-21T12:27:00.004Z

KOKO has been asked by the Norwegian charity, Barnevakten, to provide the KidsandMedia International Network for parents who wish to help their kids and teens get the best from movies, games and the Web. It will allow parents around the world to share their experiences in nurturing kids use of media - their discoveries and delights, worries and concerns.
The network build is on track to launch in April 2011.

SchoolNetGlobal

2010-11-30T16:31:00.000Z

The amazing SchoolNetGlobal, the world biggest, oldest and crankiest children's publishing website, has finally been taken offline, while we develop it's successor. Thank you to the thousands of children and teachers who contributed to this amazing pioneering project.

KOKO Launch

2010-08-11T11:38:00.002+01:00

KidsOKOnline (KOKO) launched on 1 September 2010 by founders Robert and Carole Hart-Fletcher, to provide, through partners and licensees, their SuperClubsPLUS, GoldStarCafe and SchoolNetGlobal online communities for school children and teachers around the world. In partnership with the Norwegian charity, Barnevakten, KOKO runs the UK branch of the KidsandMedia advisory site for parents.

KOKO's consultancy and research team is a group of specialists in online community development, who give practical help to organisations (governments, charities, corporations, digital agencies etc.) who want to run or build communities for adults, young people and children and who want to engage and delight their users while keeping them safe and protecting their organisation's reputation.