Staying safe online

Because this is a new way of working we have thought carefully about a new set of guidelines / ground rules to make sure these online spaces are just as safe as the physical spaces where we normally meet.

This is all new to us – so if you have any thoughts, worries or ideas please get in touch so we can work this out together!

Also click here to see our full safeguarding policy and guidelines.

The challenges

Collaborating online will be harder than working face-to-face. Georgia told me that when she has used Skype before to connect with friends if there are too many people everyone just talks over each other and quieter people don’t get heard.

We will all have to be (even more!) disciplined when connecting online to make sure everyone gets a say.

We will start with smaller group sizes and shorter sessions to gather information about what works and what is difficult.

This will only work if people keep to their time slots. Again, more discipline!

We are refining our rules for how our staff and freelancers can connect with young people online. We don’t want you to have bad experiences on there through having learned about it with us. So we have come up with some guidelines which we hope will prevent that.

The Guidelines for young people

Signing up:

• You must be signed up by a parent / guardian who has seen this page and spoken directly to Sophie.

Preparing to take part:

• Your parent / guardian will take time to think about what part of the their home can be seen through the webcam. Set it up so that as little can be seen as possible, with as neutral or blank a background as possible.
• In collaborative sessions this view will be visible to other participants who you don’t know very well.
• Make sure your household know you don’t want to be disturbed – anyone interrupting will also be visible to other participants. Your siblings need to stay out of shot unless they are signing up for the project, because we don’t have legal consent to show their image.
• Check the session plan in advance for any online tools you need – you may need to sign up in advance. Ring Sophie if you need support to do this…

During sessions:

• When you take part in sessions, there must be a parent or nominated adult in the house.
  • For under 13s – this adult must be in the room with you.
• When you ‘enter’ the session treat it like you are entering the normal physical space where we normally meet, i.e.:
  • Dress appropriately (don’t wear your pyjamas!)
  • Treat session leaders and other participants with respect
  • Enjoy the activities, take part, encourage others
  • You are a member of High Peak Community Arts and these sessions are our new project space.
• Recognise the differences between online connection and physical connection.
  • Working together will take more effort than usual!
  • Take time to listen to others
  • If anything worries you about these connections please tell us straight away, or get your parent to phone Sophie afterwards.

After sessions:

• Tell us if you have any great ideas to make it better.
• Tell us or get a parent to ring Sophie, if anything worries you about what has happened online.
• If you plan to carry on a connection with another group member outside of the sessions, please let us know, and definitely tell a parent.

Click here to go back to the previous page

Our two main projects which we are re-launching remotely are: Film Cuts Club and Tall Tales. All current participants are welcome to take part in either or both – Some people already take part in both.

We will be using online tools to keep connected and we are keen to keep people working together / collaborating – because the work we make together is ‘greater than the sum of its parts’, it’s a kind of chemical reaction, like alchemy!

Tools

I will sign up each young person for online sessions through a parent or guardian who will have to speak to me directly to give consent for you taking part, and confirm an email address to link to.

To take part in sessions you will need:

Essential:

• Internet access
• Any kind of device that connects to the internet – preferably a computer, but a tablet or mobile phone will do.
• A quiet space where you won’t get interrupted and an adult in the house (more detail on this under Staying Safe Online).
• Pens / pencil & paper and a flat surface to lean on (table, clipboard, whatever).

Bonus extras:

• A camera that you can download pics from (could be a mobile phone).
• Other art supplies – whatever you like using.
• If you have a very plain or blank background behind you, you will be able to change your background to any picture you choose.
• Check the session plan before each session for extra things.

We are going to start sessions using Zoom – group video app:

• You don’t need an account and it won’t cost you anything.
• I will ‘host’ sessions and send a link to your nominated email address.
• Click the link and the session will launch.

If anyone has heard about security concerns for Zoom – we are keeping track of this story and would definitely prefer not to change to a different provider.  Click here to read an article about what Zoom are doing to improve security.

We are also using a website called Miro – which is like an online whiteboard, and we will use this to replace the physical ‘project box’ where we store everyone’s work.

• I will send an ‘invitation’ to join the Miro board to your nominated email address.
• You will have to sign up to Miro and create an account, but this is free and quite quick.
• Don’t worry if you haven’t got this sorted on week 1, you will still be able to take part via Zoom and you can forward pics of your work direct to me to store on the board.

All the tools we have chosen are FREE, but they do have ‘pay for’ options, so if you accidentally find yourself at a pay wall just cancel and go back to the free version.

Now click here to see the Staying Safe Online guide.