Me getting some tips from my young advisers
We’re just approaching the end of our first ever Digital Agenda Assembly. It’s been a fulfilling – if action-packed – couple of days.
For those of you who don’t know, the DAA is a staging post for the Agenda – one year after we launched it. So a chance to review what’s been done, and a chance to remind ourselves why the project is so important; a “State of the Digital Union”.
But it is more than just a step in a process. It’s also an opportunity for us to get feedback about where we should be heading. And develop and communicate some of our policies.
This is for today, but also for tomorrow. For the next generation, who are already “digital natives”, I am convinced we can create a better internet, one that is educational, safe and fun. Kids are fascinated by the internet; it’s a world of opportunity for creativity and growth.
During the event I had the chance to look at some highly original websites that show this – online playgrounds for children giving them a safe place to play and learn. They were the winners in a competition to develop the good online content for kids which is so lacking. I was very impressed with the standard – and I took the opportunity to get the winners to give me some tips about how children use the web – these really are my young advisers!
Of course there are risks online, just like in the outside world, and children, parents and teachers need to be aware of and manage those risks. To do that, we need to empower them using tools which are simple, universally recognisable and effective.
In particular I’ve called on the industry to make sure there’s an easy way for kids to let people in authority know when something’s wrong – “single-click reporting” for cases of inappropriate content, cyber-bullying, or grooming. Other examples are tools for age rating, or for ensuring levels of parental control.
Plus, kids enjoy using social networking sites, and this is a good thing. But there’s a risk that they may not realise how or why they should protect their data when online. So I’d like such sites to give children the highest privacy settings by default. We’ll shortly be publishing some worrying research which shows just how few social networking sites currently do this.
Awards were given not just for children’s content, but also in three other areas. The Open Data Challenge was the largest ever competition for useful, valuable or interesting uses of open public data; Hack4Europe challenged participants to reuse the cultural content of the massive Europeana database; and there was an Investment Forum for those seeking to pitch ideas.
It was great to be able to reward all these different projects. Normally, of course, I am very focused on what the European Commission can do – but our role is as an enabler, a catalyst. Ultimately we are not in the driving seat – you, the user, are. And it is from you that the most creative and constructive ideas come. Just take a look for yourself at the great ideas out there, from all the entrants.
So well done to all those involved in the event, whether in person, watching on the live stream, or following us on Twitter (#daa11eu).
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Tags: awards, child safety, Children, Digital Agenda, Digital Agenda Assembly, Digital Agenda for Europe, European Commission, internet, Kroes, Neelie Kroes, open data, privacy, privacy settings, single-click reporting
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I would like to congratulate you and your officials on an excellent event.
I have been involved in attempts to create a digital single market for 30 years, since the late Basil de Ferranti first introduced me to the Kangeroo Group. EURIM (which stands for European Informatics Market) was formed in 1993 to help that process.
We have survived by doing that which our members believed was achievable and were willing to resource. This is the first time in over a decade that I have gained confidence that we might actually be able to make real progress on our core objective.
One of the messages from the sessions which I attended (Room C on both days) , albeit partially drowned in the plenaries by special pleading, was the call to do less and to do it better.
We need to stop launching new iniatives. We need to link and build on those that work. We need to join up the many fragmented initiatives across the Commission. I heard some sharp words about those who had organised a competing event on e-Skills as the same time as the Assembly.
My comments include the area of child safety. I was struck by how few delegates were aware of the programmes already supported by industry. Their ignorance is matched by that in industry of the programmes that have already agreed routines with schools and police forces to vet participants to guard against infiltration by pederasts. We need to bring the players together so that those at the top of industry who are going to sign off corporate resources and reputation, including volunteering programmes, can have confidence that they are doing the right thing. I am hopeful that I will soon be able to post details of a new UK-based initiative (designed for global co-operation and replication) to this end.
Another area that needs to be addressed is the gulf between those seeking to encourage on-line inclusion and those seeking to improve the on-line safety and security of the vulnerable – including silver surfers and those reliant on benefits and welfare systems that are being moved on-line. Again some of our members are working on this within the UK.
In his closing comments at the end of the assembly, Robert Madelin asked for participants to come up with solutions on which it would like to work with the Commission. The success of this event, and also your candid comments at the European Internet Foundation reception on the eve of the event, should make it rather easier for organisations like my own to persuade our members to help.
P.S. I should perhaps add that response of those EURIM members who were at the Asembly was clear. They want to help. I believe that my deputy and myself now have a clear remit to work with your officials accordingly. We can no longer afford to “admire” problems while the rest of the world moves on, leaving Europe behind – as a museum to past glories – rather like Autoworld.
In particular I’ve called on the industry to make sure there’s an easy way for kids to let people in authority know when something’s wrong – “single-click reporting” for cases of inappropriate content, cyber-bullying, or grooming. Other examples are tools for age rating, or for ensuring levels of parental control.
Enforcement of public order is not the role of industry and patroling children requires respect for the educational prerogatives of parents. What is considered “inappropriate content” is a highly loaded phrase and often based on non-scientific preconceptions and value judgements. We should not recreate the Hollywood censorship system in Europe. Respect has to be ensured for the diversity of European civilizations and the ability for such considerations of “appropriateness” to evolve over time, as well as enabling self-selection of rating schemes. Universal schemes of appropriateness would be totalitarian.
Dear commissioner Neelie Kroes
it was really great to attend daa11eu and be on stage for the Hackathon Awards as one of the venues.
I’d like to express a wish: I wish that Europeana and/or the Commission would try to make some of the prototypes developed in the 4 Hackathon countries a reality. There was so much talent, creativity and social potential in many of the apps, that it would be really worthwhile to help them become real apps available for everyone to use.
Thank you for your kind attention and for your inspiring words at the daa
Conxa
@innova2
One of the messages from the sessions which I attended (Room C on both days) , albeit partially drowned in the plenaries by special pleading, was the call to do less and to do it better.
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