This year – the third that Awarenet has been involved in the Scifest Africa festival – the network ran a series of themes around what privacy and safety mean, culminating in privacy and safety on the internet.
This year – the third that Awarenet has been involved in the Scifest Africa festival – the network ran a series of themes around what privacy and safety mean, culminating in privacy and safety on the internet.
Schoolchildren from nine different schools from Joza worked were involved in the initiative.
"On this picture I am looking at people destroying a house and building a wall that has security on it. I am seeing scared people inside. The house has a door that’s written privacy. The guards are building a yard. I would say the people inside need privacy and the security guards are disturbing them.”
This was one interpretation written by a participant in one of the workshops, which dealt with safety and privacy in general.
The second theme explored the conflict between safety and privacy.
Finally, participants were asked for their thoughts about privacy and safety on the internet.
“Thanks to this project, the children learned about what privacy on the internet means – and how important it is,” said Rieke Heitmueller, a voluntary worker for the Village Scribe Association (VSA), of which Awarenet forms part.
The children worked online and 'offline' on the project.
For example, the children worked online by writing a blog about their interpretations, while offline they worked on transferring their impressions onto large posters.
Antje Hering, a voluntary worker at the VSA, said the children had fun.
Awarenet's goal is to improve the English and computer literacy among children.
VSA head community coordinator and trustee,Terri-Lynn Penney, said that the schoolchildren like to work with Awarenet. “In June we have an annual hip-hop competition where the winning school can record a real music video,” she said.
Awarenet is a network for schoolchildren in grades seven, eight and nine and their teachers in Joza. The network is similar to Facebook, Twitter and Wikipedia and the children can see what the other children post.
The network does not need an internet connection to work, however, as it is installed with an USB flash drive.
The network sets tasks for children, rewarding them with a video to watch once the tasks are complete.
