ProTechThem – Building Awareness for Safer and Technology-Savvy Sharenting, is an interdisciplinary research project led by researchers at the University of Southampton (Department of Sociology, Social Policy and Criminology) and funded by the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC), Grant Number: ES/V011278/1.
The project brings together social and computer science expertise to explore the risks and harms of sharenting for affected children. These include grooming, identity-related crimes (for example, identity fraud and identity theft).
ProTechThem aims to develop awareness-raising resources and an early warning AI system for detecting risk posts and improving cybersecurity behaviours amongst parents, guardians, schools, and others who share information about children online. One of the awareness-raising resources is an animated video that is based on findings from the project. The video provides information about risks and how to access safety tips. It is available below and was produced by the ProTechThem project team in collaboration with animation experts Big Paw Animation & Video (https://www.bigpawanimation.co.uk). More information about the project and additional cybersecurity resources are available on this site.