Program/Project
Description
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The Consortium for School Networking's mission is promoting the use of telecommunications and the Internet to improve K-12 learning. We clearly understand that child safety concerns must be addressed for school networking technologies to be both widely deployed and successfully integrated into classroom learning. We have undertaken several efforts in this area:
(1) Online Debate: Prior to the December 1997 Summit on Internet Child Safety, CoSN sponsored an online forum of educators to discuss the question: "Can kids be kept safe on the Internet?" The forum examined possible solutions to child safety involving government, schools, parents, and private industry.
(2) Not Reinventing the Wheel: CoSN has highlighted a range of efforts by the White House, the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children ("Think Then Link"), The Children's Partnership (The Parents' Guide to the Information Superhighway), and efforts by the private sector on new blocking tools and self-regulation by rating Web sites.
(3) Integrating this topic into our annual conference and publications: For the past two years, CoSN has continuously examined this topic at our annual conference, "K-12 School Networking," in our monthly electronic newsletter, CoSNotes, and in our quarterly print newsletter, CoSNews. Plenary sessions at our 1998 and 1999 annual conferences have included key child safety advocates, including the Center for Media Education, the American Library Association, legal experts, the Federal Trade Commission, and leading companies in filtering.
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