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i-design 08 - 3D to 5D

The first panel discussion broached the topic of 5D, the developing area of immersive design that touches on themes around sensory experience, virtual reality environments and design that is not just digital and not just virtual, but rather a hybrid of the two.

Online Advertising Bucks Flagging Market

The industry received a welcome boost this week with the news that Internet advertising revenues rose significantly in the first half of 2008, despite tough economic conditions. NMK quizzed the industry on what we can expect for the next year.

ITV’s Overlay Advertising Trial Panned

Troubled ITV is experimenting with ‘automatically placed overlay advertising’ to help revive flagging revenues. NMK’s Chris Lee canvassed opinion from around the new media industry about the move.

• More Web 2.0 Needed In Schools
• UK Council for Child Internet Safety Launches
• US Presidential Election Gets Social
• i-design 08 - Brendan Dawes, My Interactive
• i-design 08 - Simon Waterfall
• YouTube gets into Top Gear
• Goldfarming for Fun and Profit

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• Parents Fear For Networked Kids

  Internet experts have called on social network sites to do more to protect children as a survey reveals that three-quarters (72 per cent) of parents spy on their children. more

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• Great Funwall of China

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  Making social networks work for businesses is the nirvana for digital specialists. Despite Shel Holtz's assertions that the b2b space is ideal for social media as it is all built on relationships, no one has really cracked this yet. Social networks still struggle to effectively monetise its huge user base, but a network specifically tailored for businesses ought to be easily sellable as long as it worked. more

Related Events

Virtual Worlds Forum

When: October 6th, 2008
Location: The Bridge, Weston Street, London, SE1 The Bridge, SE1 Weston Street, London
Price: Reduced to £0.00 if you are eligible for a discount.

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Child Safety on the Internet

When: July 13th, 2004
Location: Disney HQ
Price: £100.00 Reduced to £80.00 if you are eligible for a discount.

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Child Safety on the Internet

When: July 6th, 2004
Location: Central London venue tbc
Price: £100.00 Reduced to £80.00 if you are eligible for a discount.

more



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MySpace Takes Safety Steps

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MySpace, the popular social networking site, has agreed to a broad set of guidelines with 49 US states aimed at protecting younger users of the Internet.

MySpace, the popular social networking site, has agreed to a broad set of guidelines with 49 US states aimed at protecting younger users of the Internet.

The Attorneys General, the legal advisors to the US government and states, praised MySpace for its efforts in improving online safety and called on other social networking sites to rethink their guidelines so that they are at least on par with MySpace in terms of protection and privacy.

As part of the agreement, MySpace plans to develop an e-mail registry system for the 110 million global users that allow parents to prevent their children from creating profiles on the site. MySpace will also implement a default profile setting for 16-17 year users so that they can only be contacted by people known to them, reducing the risk of others viewing their profile and contacting them.

"This is a great first step toward protecting children and ending the era of the Wild West on the Internet," said Ohio Attorney General Marc Dann at a news conference announcing the agreement.

The core concern from the Attorneys General was whether MySpace had the technology that would be able to protect it younger users. The methods MySpace uses in order to meet this goal will come under scrutiny by a specially assigned taskforce which will report its findings at the end of 2008.

"We thank the Attorneys General for a thoughtful and constructive conversation on Internet safety. This is an industry-wide challenge and we must all work together to create a safer Internet. The Principles we have adopted set forth what the industry needs to strive towards to provide a safer online experience for teens and we look forward to sharing our ongoing safety innovations with other companies," said Hemanshu Nigam, Chief Security Officer of MySpace.

The NSPCC has welcomed this development and hopes that the UK’s own guidelines released later this year will follow suit.

NSPCC policy advisor Zoe Hilton said: "The NSPCC believes that social networking sites should employ measures which can help keep children safe, such as screening children’s profiles to make them private by default and providing information throughout their sites about safety, particularly when adding contacts or posting photos.  The NSPCC also wants sites in the UK to explore ways of blocking access to registered sex offenders and developing better age verification procedures."

The Principles of Social Networking - the guidelines set by the agreement, are as follows:

Site Design and Functionality
As part of the guidelines, MySpace will review every single image and video uploaded onto the site. It has already implemented many of the suggestions in this category - such as deleting registered sex offenders from the network.

Education and Tools for Parents, Educators and Children
MySpace will develop tools and materials that will educate parents about the social networking site and has reviewed how it communicates with users who complain on the site.

Law Enforcement Cooperation
MySpace will work closely with the government in order to enhance the ability of law enforcement officials to investigate and prosecute Internet crimes.

Online Safety Task Force
An industry-wide Internet Safety Technical Task Force will develop online safety tools, exploring all new technologies that will enhance the safety of users.