[dunnysay]

Hi,

I am looking at setting up a research project, and as part of it would like to set up a social networking network that is closed to 'the public' (my participants will be under 13 so I can't use an exisiting network).

At this stage I was just wondering how realistic this is - i.e is it straightforward enough for someone with a basic competency, and/or how many hours would be involved if I were to hire someone to help set it up and so on.

Any thoughts would be much appreciated!

[namenotfound]

You can find some "social networking" scripts on http://sourceforge.net/index.php

[dunnysay]

Thank you :-)

how skilled would one have to be to use these, roughly? Would it be necessary to hire an 'IT expert', or someone with experience in web development, or could someone with some basic experience in IT learn how to do it?

[The Stealthy One]

Do you have experience with PHP? Even if it's just basic experience, you should be fine. These scripts oftentimes come with installers that set everything up for you.

Just out of curiosity, how do you intend to deal with COPPA, as your users will be under 13-years-old?

[dunnysay]

i won't be doing the work myself, but need to figure out how 'expert' someone would need to do it in order to get some costs together.

I'm afraid you lost me on the PHP - I don't even know what this means? Can I ask also what COPPA means?

please excuse my ignorance!

[namenotfound]

COPPA - Children's Online Privacy Protection Act

collecting information online from people under 13 is illegal (unless you get parents written premission) according to COPPA.

[dunnysay]

Thanks - this is interesting. I'm not in the US so I will see what applies here - it seems that if parental consent is given it will be okay (all the kids will be invited in person rather than those who just find the site). The project will also go through ethics committees.