This week, I wanted to provide an overview of some of the organizations that are working at the intersection of kids and tech, and which regularly produce helpful reporting and guidelines for caregivers and families to follow.

One of the goals of this newsletter is to track and summarize updates from these types of organizations, so you don’t have to. But at the same time, if you’re someone who likes to dig a little deeper, I also want to share those resources so you can follow them directly! Here are my favorites and how to follow them on social media or sign up for their newsletters, too.

Family Online Safety Institute (FOSI)

The Family Online Safety Institute (FOSI) is an international non-profit that focuses on research, policy, and best practices for digital parenting and online safety. FOSI provides videos and resources for parents on topics ranging from social media usage to screen time for toddlers, and also brings together industry partners and government leaders to establish polices and best practices.

Website and newsletter sign-up: https://www.fosi.org/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/FOSI

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/user/FOSI

I’ll be attending FOSI’s 2022 annual conference in November, and look forward to sharing what I learn there with the Kinder Tech community.

World Economic Forum

The World Economic Forum has several initiatives underway focused on protecting children’s rights online, and establishing best practices as the use of artificial intelligence (AI) and metaverse platforms becomes more ubiquitous. Their focus areas include:

• Artificial Intelligence: The World Economic Forum maintains a guide for parents on buying and using AI products, as well as a toolkit for companies and product teams to follow to develop trustworthy AI.

• Metaverse: The World Economic Forum has developed a short parents’ guide to the metaverse and, more broadly, is engaged on developing best practices for safety-first virtual worlds.

• One of the things I really like about these initiatives is that the World Economic Forum is also engaging with children and young adults directly through its Generation AI project. One of their recent publications captures input from digital natives on how AI can be made safer for future generations.

Website: https://www.weforum.org/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/world-economic-forum/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/wef

UNICEF’s AI for Children Program

UNICEF’s AI for Children Program was one of the first I came across with an emphasis on developing and promoting AI policies and practices that protect children’s rights. Their mission statement calls out the general lack of information on this topic that led me to go searching in the first place:

AI systems are fundamentally changing the world and affecting present and future generations of children. However, little attention is paid to how AI systems will affect children and their rights. This is especially concerning, as children are less able to fully understand the implications of AI technologies and often do not have the opportunities to communicate their opinions, nor the right advocates to support them. Children also often lack the resources to respond to instances of bias or to rectify any misconceptions in their data.

While much of their material is targeted at policy makers, companies, and product developers, they do provide a nice (and not too long) AI guide for parents.

• Website: https://www.unicef.org/

Are there other information sources on digital parenting that you like to follow? I would love to hear about them and add them to this list!

As a bit of background, and I’ll date myself here — I grew up in the early days of personal computers and the internet, so I suppose I’m a digital native by the very broadest definition. As a young kid, I played games like Oregon Trail, Rocky’s Boots, and King’s Quest on early Apple models, and I remember the excitement associated with hearing the modem’s beep-boop-bop as I waited to connect to some of the first online games in AOL.

This early exposure to computers and games blossomed into a life-long interest in technology; I went on to take computer science classes in high school and college (back when they were still taught in Pascal and C), got jobs in software engineering during the dot-com boom, and now my work primarily focuses on machine learning and artificial intelligence applications.

As a nerd at heart, I think it’s safe to say that my natural inclination is to get excited about new technologies and to think about opportunities for new applications and problems that they can be used to solve. And as a mom, I also enjoy sharing and learning about new gadgets and tech alongside my kids. Early in the pandemic, I wrote an article about fun activities that kids and parents can access from home to learn more about machine learning and artificial intelligence applications in their daily lives. My son and I have also been trying out some of the smart toys from the Smart Toy Awards (more on that in a later article!).

But, as both a parent and a practitioner in the field, I’m also wary of increased screen time, and of how games and online apps might be collecting my kids’ data or exposing them to inappropriate or behavior-altering content — even content that may seem innocuous at first glance. I want to know what algorithms are being used, or at least the implications of those algorithms for my kids’ privacy and safety. And I try to pay attention to new policies and guidelines, but it can be hard to find good sources of information to distill what these policies mean in practical terms.

My goal with this newsletter is to build a community of parents and caregivers who are curious and who want to know how things work so they can make decisions that are best for their families. As I’ve floated the idea for this newsletter to my network of parent friends and colleagues, I’ve received some great suggestions for topics they would like to see covered, ranging from what information sources to follow to learn more and stay educated, to wanting to understand how a specific smart toy or online game works.

We’re going to roll up our sleeves, install applications, create logins, and learn how different applications work. This newsletter will investigate new policies and their practical implications. We’ll explore learning resources for kids, so they can be empowered and educated users. We’re going to share interviews and highlight companies that are using artificial intelligence and other technologies for good — for example, to protect kids and keep them safe online, or to diagnose autism, diseases, and recommend early interventions. And hopefully, we’ll have some fun along the way. I hope you’ll join us!

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