SID 2023: Safer Internet Day activities in Estonia
29.03.2023
This year, the focus of the Safer Internet Day (SID) campaign in Estonia were on data sharing, privacy and digital skills with the slogan “My data is my property”.
As in recent years, Estonian Safer Internet Centre invited schools and kindergartens, also youth centres and libraries to organise thematic events for children and students. All mentioned institutions received a package of thematic educational materials, available on Estonian Safer Internet Centre website https://www.targaltinternetis.ee/inspiratsioonikogumik-2023/. The package contains new thematic materials, for example lesson plans, competitions, online tests, games, exercises, videos etc. to give ideas how to celebrate Safer Internet Day with children and students.
All awareness-raising activities were registered on the Estonian SIC website www.targaltinternetis.ee and were placed on the Estonian map of Safer Internet day events 2023. Altogether more than 9500 children and students participated in 100 Safer Internet Day awareness raising events in 85 organisations. For example, teachers and youth workers organized thematic lessons and workshops for students, carried out online and offline quizzes and online tests, watched with children and students thematic videos, made with students posters etc.
On the Safer Internet Day, a thematic webinar for teachers “Data protection and cybersecurity for teachers” were organized by Estonian SIC. On the 9th of February Estonian Safer Internet Centre together with Telia Estonia organized a webinar for parents “How we are really doing online?” in order to discuss with parents and experts how to support the appropriate use of the Internet and smart devices by their children. Webinars have been viewed 16700 times and are available for the target groups on the Safer Internet Centre website also after the SID campaign.
The coordinating organisation of Estonian Safer Internet Centre, Estonian Union for Child Welfare, regularly publishes a web journal ‘Notice a child’ (Märka last), the objective of which is to raise awareness of children’s rights in Estonian society. In the framework of the Safer Internet Day campaign a special edition of the magazine entitled ‘Smartly on the Web’ (Targalt internetis) was published. Articles are about online privacy and risks, about datafication, data protection in schools, sexting, digital waste, parents as role models and how they can support their children in the use of online technologies, information about helpline and hotline etc. In addition, these articles were disseminated via Estonian SIC social media channels and some of these articles were published also on national news portals to reach even more people aiming to give knowledge for better understanding of online risks and challenges and to support children’s positive use of digital technologies.
This year’s Safer Internet Day events attracted the attention of the general public. The topic was covered in various media portals, in different radio channels and in different TV channels evening news, also in Estonian Public Broadcasting TV show for children and young people “Nova”.
All compiled information materials and articles are available on the website www.targaltinternetis.ee for children, parents and teachers to use these also after the Safer Internet Day celebrations.
