The Guardians and Shield Framework aims to address the significant risks and harms that children face when interacting and using tools, platforms or services created through immersive and emerging technologies. The convergence of several technologies, including augmented reality, virtual reality, artificial intelligence, and others presents potential of harms including cyberbullying, online predation, exposure to violent or sexual content, addiction, and mental health issues. The lack of regulation and standards to protect children in these technological ecosystems coupled with the complex nature of these experiences creates vulnerabilities that malicious actors can exploit.
The project will create a comprehensive and actionable tool that provides guidance for different stakeholders involved in the creation, development, and delivery of these experiences for children. The project will use a mixed-methods research approach, involving stakeholders from different sectors, including children, parents, educators, policymakers, public safety personnel, medical staff, and industry experts. XRSI will adopt ICO-UK's Age Appropriate Design Code and Australia's eSafety Commissioner's Safety by Design principles as the foundation of the Guardians and Shield Framework. These guidelines set out clear principles and standards for designing online services that are safe and appropriate for children of different ages. By building upon these established standards, XRSI will be able to provide a robust and effective set of guidelines that will help to protect children in the immersive and emerging technology landscape from harm and ensure that they can safely and confidently participate in digital spaces.
The framework will provide guidance on emotional, behavioral, physical, social, and cognitive safety. Additionally, the framework will help raise awareness about the opportunities, risks, and harms stemming from the metaverse and promote children's rights to safety, well-being, and participation in digital spaces.
To carry out this project we have divided the research and development efforts in 5 phases,
As a starting point we are deciding to start the community sessions for knowledge gathering, sharing and discussions till the end of project. For more details on how to join Community sessions see FAQ or the Community meeting schedule below.
If you are new, please start from FAQ and Shared Resources