Creating an online information hub to keep kids safe online

As a new government initiative, Keep It Real Online was created in partnership between the Department of Internal Affairs (DIA), the Office of Film and Literature Classification, the Ministry of Education, Netsafe, and Motion Sickness, a creative and production agency. Together, they worked on developing and launching a brand and campaign about online safety for children and young people in New Zealand. 

DIA approached Silverstripe in the early stages of the campaign development to design and develop the website. This website needed to act as a hub to support parents and caregivers to educate their children to develop online safety skills so they can navigate the internet in a safe, healthy, and happy way.

For the first phase of the project, we needed to design and build a site that could launch alongside the brand and campaign so people in New Zealand had access to the right information immediately. This meant we were working against a tight deadline, with just two weeks to produce the final product for DIA when we were handed the project. Using an Agile approach gave us the tools to effectively collaborate across teams, allowing us to meet the campaign launch date with a well designed and functional website. 

Using Silverstripe CMS as a foundation, we were able to take advantage of the modular content structure to create custom content blocks. The drag-and-drop functionality gives content authors the freedom to structure content on a page while adhering to the website’s design guidelines. Content blocks have helped future proof the design of the site and make it easy to expand the features and functionality, depending on the needs of the team and the initiative. With the blocks designed upfront, each page on the site also adheres to the New Zealand Government’s web accessibility standards, allowing all New Zealanders to use the site with ease.

Silverstripe was able to build Keep It Real Online a brochure website to get them up and running quickly, while also giving them the functionality they needed to deliver on key goals for their organisation. Now, the website acts as a gateway to information for parents and caregivers to connect with the tools they need to educate their children and help them develop safety skills online.