UK Online Moderators' Conference

[Michael Pinkerton]

For those of you in the UK (or interested in visiting):

The Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre is pleased to announce its newest conference on the 16th June 2009 at CEOP HQ:

Online Moderators’ Conference

Protecting children online; reducing the risks offline
“Children and young people are increasingly living their lives online; however, real and virtual environments continue to converge as technology develops and access to the internet is ever more ubiquitous. Whether in a social networking site, chat forum or gaming site, young people will meet others, express opinions and share experiences, often with complete strangers.

Ensuring that online moderators are sufficiently skilled to identify potential risks and incidences of abuse occurring in their websites and forums – for which they are responsible – are critical to both protecting children and, indeed, the organisational brand. Over and above job-specific training, online moderators, their supervisor and managers should be able to:

· identify grooming techniques by child sex offenders;
· understand the trends, patterns and behaviours of child sex offenders using online technology;
· understand the risks to children in the online environment;
· identify a bully and understand the impact upon victims;
· know where, when and to whom to report a particular issue; and
· understand the legal implications involved in online moderation and reporting abuse.
This one-day course has been specifically designed for online moderators, community managers, online content managers and editors and indeed all those who interact with their young customer base online. This course will enable participants to identify the potential risks to young people, take appropriate measures to tackle any abuse in their environments and ensure that their online space is as safe as possible for their young customers.

This course is only suitable for professionals who:
- work on the development of online sites young people use;
- perform the role of an online moderator;
- manage a team of online moderators;
- are content managers;
- community managers and associated staff; and /or
- liaise with and contact the end users of their site.

Please also disseminate this out to peers, colleagues and other industry representatives who would be interested.

Please note: This conference is only suitable for professionals who work in the fields outlined in the attached flyer. Due to the sensitive nature of this conference, places will only be offered to professionals who can meet the criteria. References may be requested.

If you wish to book a place on this conference or any other CEOP training course, please complete the online booking form at: www.ceop.gov.uk/training, or for more information contact the Training Team: [e-mail] 0207 238 2372/2315

[Rebecca Newton]

There will be a gackle of e-minters at this conference. If you're going, please post and let me know. We'll work out a meet up for Monday night. :) Rebecca Newton (aka "Becs" in the UK and EU and various parts of the US...)