Thematic Network POSCON meets in Barcelona

On April 9-10 the 3rd POSCON Network Meeting was held in Barcelona, Spain. 21 POSCON Network Members attended the meeting and discussed topics around positive online content for children. One important subject was the POSCON Repository – a data collection about positive content in different European countries the Thematic Network is currently working on. The data collection covers three different categories: gateways and platforms, such as children’s browsers, search engines, starting pages, whitelists; services and websites like websites for information or games, web radios and TV, media sharing platforms, blogs or social networks for children; and apps.  

Specific needs of and requirements for children with disabilities were another priority topic at the meeting: The internet offers many opportunities for people with disabilities, but also a lot of barriers regarding the use of online content and services can be found. One aim of POSCON in this context is to raise awareness for accessibility, especially for children with disabilities. POSCON will contribute to this topic with a checklist and recommendations for content providers of how to create online content accessible for children with disabilities. Further information regarding this topic will follow soon and can already be found in this blog entry: Accessibility of Online Content and Services for People with Disabilities.

Further topics discussed and focused on during the Barcelona meeting were e.g. how to promote, foster and encourage producers to develop good content for young users and how to fund such projects. Further outcomes and results of the very inspiring and productive meeting will be found on this blog soon. 

Towards a European net for Children – the POSCON Repository

One of the main aims of POSCON is heading towards more positive content and services for children and also more “European versions” of positive content. As a first step towards this aim, the project will provide a comprehensive overview of the market for positive content in Europe. 

Currently POSCON is collecting data about positive content offerings in different European countries. The data collection covers three different categories:

1. gateways and platforms, such as children’s browsers, search engines, starting pages, whitelists, 
2. services and websites like websites for information or games, web radios and TV, media sharing platforms, blogs or social networks for children, and  
3. apps.  

The basis for the entries is the POSCON Checklist and Concrete Criteria for Positive Content and Services (http://www.positivecontent.eu/checklist/).

Additionally the POSCON network members analyse “their” landscape of positive content and services. Beyond the number of websites and apps, which the repository will provide, POSCON will highlight the framework and conditions in the different countries – the special situation, characteristics and best practices, existence of support programmes, cooperation with industry, specific challenges as well as an analysis of problems and needs.

The repository will provide a basis for a European extension of link lists, whitelists, browsers and platforms as well as development of multilingual websites and platforms. The repository will keep on growing, the data collection will constantly continue until the end of the project in November 2014.