Last week, we helped the Family Online Safety Institute (FOSI) launch the newest version of the Global Resource and Information Directory (GRID), with the support and partnership of UNICEF. FOSI was founded in 2007 to promote the positive use of digital technology in all its forms. In 2010, FOSI launched GRID, a site designed to educate all online safety stakeholders by creating a single information point for online safety efforts in every country worldwide . The original GRID featured information on general online safety, best practices for individuals and organizations, and educational efforts, examining how digital policy and internet regulations vary from country to country.
https://www.youtube.com/embed/dHDrxX5RSgM
In 2014, Prime Minister David Cameron and Baroness Joanna Shields, a former technology executive and the UK’s current Under Secretary of State, Minister for Internet Safety & Security, launched WePROTECT, a global alliance supported by dozens of countries, tech companies, and NGOs dedicated to ending online child sexual abuse. The following year, it was announced that WePROTECT would partner with UNICEF to expand both organizations’ efforts to fight online child exploitation. In order to make a broader impact, the new partnership sought to support projects with similar missions, and FOSI pitched GRID for a complete revision, with emphasis on the expansion of data around fighting online sexual abuse content, and a new, modernized approach to user experience. The first thing they needed was a creative partner to support a redesign and give the website greater exposure. That’s where Radish Lab entered the picture.
In less than 12 weeks, we transformed an outdated, content-heavy site into a sleek, responsive, map-driven experience. What particularly interested our team on this project was the opportunity to transform GRID using newer technology. The premise of GRID and the information it contains are compelling and essential, but dated technological approaches and stolid design made it difficult to use and gave it an outdated feel. We also used the opportunity to create a scalable database framework for FOSI that would allow them to grow GRID over the next few years without need for another complete redesign. This will allow FOSI to leverage the database infrastructure to build out interactive front-end experiences down the road.
The GRID project publicly launched at the House of Lords in London, England, in May 2016 (pictured above). Radish produced a video (above) to introduce the project at the event and help contextualize the human story behind this data-driven website.
FOSI GRID was featured on the CSS Awards site on May 19, 2016.