What is the research project involving Family Insites and The Kids Research Institute Australia about?
"Family Insites" is a family protection software app (available on iOS and Android devices) developed by Wangle Technologies.
The software will provide users, specifically parents/carers with children/adolescents, with an app that has the ability to monitor activity on devices such as mobile phones and tablets being used by family members.
When risky activities on children's and adolescents' devices occur, such as browsing inappropriate websites, parents/carers will be alerted by a pop-up notification on their mobile and be provided with advice and information about how to address this.
Family Insites app will also provide users with additional information and advice, such as links to websites that can help parents/carers have open discussions about these behaviours with their children. The Family Insites software is available to Australia only, with future development expanding worldwide.
Wangle Technologies is working with The Kids Research Institute Australia to share with parents' permission some of the information (de-identified) collected in Family Insites.
The data collected will help The Kids Research Institute Australia to understand what young people are doing online and to identify changes in children and adolescent's online behaviour.
For example, The Kids Research Institute Australia learns about the types of apps that young people are currently downloading; at what age and how often; and for how long each session they are using these apps.
This information is important to The Kids Research Institute Australia so researchers can identify safer ways to support young people in online environments.
What happens to my data when I subscribe to Family Insites?
When subscribing to Family Insites, you are agreeing to allow The Kids Research Institute Australia to access the de-identified data from devices that you (as the main subscriber/account holder) are monitoring i.e. your children's devices by having Family Insites app installed.
The de-identified data does not include any personal information that identifies any user in any way.
You are encouraged to have a discussion with your family about Family Insites and how their de-identified information will be used for research before continuing with your subscription to Family Insites.
To see a full list of data The Kids Research Institute Australia wishes to collect for research, please see the "Behavioural Data and Information Collected" info below.
Consenting to have these data used for research is entirely voluntary. If you do not wish to share this data, please email Wangle Technologies on support@wanglefamilyinsites.com. You are free to decline without explanation or justification. Following this, your subscription will continue and no data from any device with Family Insites installed will be shared for research with The Kids Research Institute Australia.
In other words, you may still subscribe to Family Insites without sharing yours or any device's data for research.
Is the information or data collected about me kept private?
The Kids Research Institute Australia is committed to protecting the privacy and confidentiality of your information. To ensure the privacy and confidentiality of the information collected through Family Insites is protected, The Kids Research Institute Australia:
- Will only have access to data and information that does not identify you or any members who are using Family Insites in any way. This is called de-identified data and means the researchers at The Kids Research Institute Australia are not able to tell who the data or information belongs to.This includes no access to names, addresses, contact numbers or billing information
- Will not have access to any personal content. This mean we cannot read any messages (including text messages, emails and messages within apps), posts or comments made by any user with Family Insites installed on their device
- Will only allow investigators and researchers associated with the Family Insites and The Kids Research Institute Australia "Project Agreement" to have access to the de-identified data
- Will ensure all project members of Family Insites and The Kids Research Institute Australia Project Agreement have signed a confidentiality agreement
- Will store all user data and information at The Kids Research Institute Australia using password protected files
- In accordance with the University of Western Australia guidelines, project records and electronic data will be stored for a minimum of 7 years after publication or project completion, or until the youngest participating user/child has reached 25 years of age, whichever is later, after that time it will be destroyed.
What if I change my mind about being in the research project?
If you do not wish to share any data (from any device that has Family Insites installed) with The Kids Research Institute Australia, at any point from the time you subscribe onwards, please email Wangle Technologies on support@wanglefamilyinsites.com. Your data and any device with Family Insites installed will not be used for research once Wangle Technologies have acknowledged your email request. You are encouraged to have a discussion with your family members about Family Insites and how their de-identified information will be used for research prior to unsubscribing.
Consenting to have these data used for research is entirely voluntary. Should you no longer wish to share this data, you are free to withdraw at any time without explanation or justification by contacting Wangle Technologies on support@wanglefamilyinsites.com.
Following this, any data from devices with Family Insites installed will no longer be used for research from the time of acceptance.
Unfortunately any previous data that has been collected by The Kids Research Institute Australia can no longer be removed as the data are de-identified and there is no way to identify which data are connected to your accounts.
What are the possible benefits of this research project?
The data collected will help The Kids Research Institute Australia to understand what young people are doing online.
This information can be used to develop and research ways to improve the online safety and health and wellbeing of young people in online environments, and also help parents and carers to support their children in online environments.
Are there any risks in participating in this research project?
Parents/carers will be alerted and notified of any risky behaviour conducted on their child's device through Family Insites.
Family Insites has developed advice and guidelines with additional links and online resources to support parents having discussions with their children about their behaviour.
Additional support services will also be available to access should parents require further support from a service professional.
How can I find out about the research findings?
Research findings will also be made available to Family Insites subscribed users and the wider community through such strategies as:
- Oral presentations (e.g., conferences)
- Summary of results on The Kids Research Institute Australia and Wangle Technologies website
- Media (e.g. newspaper and magazine articles)
- Writing of journal articles and/or book chapters
- Advertising of Family Insites through across Australia
Behavioural Data and Information Collected
The information that will be provided to The Kids Research Institute Australia by Wangle Technologies and also available to you as a parent using the Insights app is outlined below:
- Time of use
- Overall times of use (time of day)
- i.e. A list of the times that the device is used per day
- Number of times being used per day
- Duration of use
- Overall use per day
- Time spent using each app/website
- Uploads
- Number of uploads per day
- Size of uploads per day (per app) e.g. kb, mB or gigabytes
- Downloads
- Number of downloads per day
- Volume of downloads per day (per app)
- Type of App or Website used
- Social Networking Sites/Apps used
- Gaming Sites/Apps used
- Adult/Mature Content Sites/Apps used
- Signup to service
- Identifies when a user has signed up to a specific service, whether on a website or within an app
- Type of Connection
- Wi-Fi vs. 3G/4G
- Duration of each type of connection used per day
- App usage
- New apps
- Unused/deleted apps
- Sessions per app (the number of times the user actively opens/uses the app per day)
- In app activity
- Number of interactions (posts, submitting of information, i.e. Facebook, Instagram posts & comments) – this does not include the words or images used only the number of times the interaction has occurred
- Profile/User information per device
- Postcode
- Gender
- Number of devices
- Number of users/profiles
- Date of birth
- Device type (mobile, tablet, iPod)
What are the possible benefits of this research project?
The data collected will help The Kids Research Institute Australia to understand what young people are doing online.
This information can be used to develop and research ways to improve the online safety and health and wellbeing of young people in online environments, and also help parents and carers to support their children in online environments.