BIOGRAPHICAL NOTE

Marcin Sołodki is a graduate of the Cybernetics Faculty of the Military University of Technology, and the Academy of Special Education (pedagogical skills – computer support for the teaching process).

He comes from Bartoszyce – a small town in the north of Poland, where together with his friends from high school, he established the “LIFT” radio station. For a few years, he produced and led radio shows for young people, and most of the events organized for both the younger and older residents of Bartoszyce. His professional interests have focused, for many years, on e-learning, distance learning and mobile learning – he is involved in educational projects in commercial companies, as well as in the non-government sector. He develops e-learning platforms, as well as courses for adults, children and young people.
In the Nobody’s Children Foundation, he coordinates the Sieciaki.pl (Web-wise Kids) project and works on e-learning courses on online safety for children.
Father of Hania (2,7 years) and Mikołaj (7 months).

ABSTRACT

Parallel session: Positive online content for children

Presentation title: BeSt - web browser for kids

For more than 5 years, the www.sieciaki.pl online service has been running a catalogue of websites that are safe for use by children (Sieciakowe BeSt). The several hundred websites present in the catalogue were proposed by their administrators/owners, as well as their users. Each website was evaluated and certified by a team of people involved in the implementation of the "Child on the Web" campaign run by the Nobody’s Children Foundation. These websites, which are grouped into age and theme categories, have their supervisors, who randomly monitor their content and respond to reports of any irregularities.

The presentation will showcase a computer program based on the catalogue’s resources – the "BeSt safe internet browser for children". The program was created for children between 3 and 12. It will let young internet users search and access only safe websites. By having access to the administration panel, parents and teachers will be able to determine time limits for their children’s (pupils’) internet access, as well as browse the history of visited sites.

The users of the program will be able to use the application for proposing new websites which, upon their positive verification, will be added to the BeSt catalogue.