Cyberlite Books With A Purpose

26 November 2021 Dawn Kristy

Welcome to Cyber Space and Beyond

This year, I had the good fortune to meet the founders of Cyberlite Books, Nina Bual, and Michelle Yao. During our recent interview, they illustrated how their passion and purpose will positively impact cybersafety for children.

What was your motivation for founding Cyberlite Books?

Michelle: The motivation Nina and I have for founding Cyberlite Books is to create impact and empower the next generation with education. Our philosophy is that true change starts with the kids, and we can encourage it by sparking interesting conversations at the dinner table and in the classrooms.

When we published our first book Ready, Get Set, Connect! under Cyberlite Books we were focused on educating kids on one topic that we felt wasn’t addressed well – cybersafety. We saw that kids, parents, and teachers all needed a reliable resource that engages the kids to learn about cybersafety in a fun way, to make sure they leave feeling empowered to take charge of their online spaces.

Nina: Having worked with thousands of children and families, Michelle and I realised early on that our skills lie in breaking down a complex topic and making it engaging and digestible for everyone to understand. That’s when we decided to expand our collection to work on different social issues across the board. We’re now building Cyberlite Books to become the destination for enterprises and schools to come to when they need help sparking conversations with their employees or students, from cybersafety to diversity and inclusion to sustainability.

What are your short-term and long-term goals in impacting children on cyber safety?

Nina: The short-term goal is to get our books in the hands of as many children as possible around the world.

Michelle: Our long-term goal is to take our program globally and establish a network of corporate partners, schools, and foundations to join our mission of spreading cybersafety awareness. We’re already working on converting our book into multiple languages and developing additional resources and materials to make it more accessible to different markets.

Why did you use an activity book to illustrate cyber threats and dangers?

Michelle: I’m a big believer in learning through play. Looking back at my childhood, some of the most memorable lessons were in times of having fun or working through a challenging activity. Today, it’s even more important to capture a child’s curiosity in a world of short attention spans. It’s not enough to simply tell children about cybersafety rules and expect them to carry out these practices in their online worlds. We need to show them what it looks like to build a strong password, or what phishing traps look like in an app. We made a deliberate effort to incorporate unique activities into the book that served a dual purpose – to illustrate what cyber behaviours look like in practice, and to create engaging moments that would spark a conversation in the classroom or at home.

What are you hoping to teach kids, and their parents?

Nina: Our goal is to teach kids at a young age so that positive cyber hygiene practices are embedded into their day-to-day behaviour and they start thinking about their online footprints early. At the same time, we are talking directly to parents as well to make sure they are also there to safeguard the child’s online space and understand that we need to set good behaviours for our kids to model after. Technology is an inevitable part of most people’s lives these days, so parents need to give children the right knowledge to protect themselves and the pertinent skills to become independent online.

Describe your cyber parenting talks and how they can be arranged?

Nina: We offer our workshops and webinars to companies that buy our books in bulk or the schools that receive the books through our corporate sponsors.

We also host the talk publicly on occasion and welcome any parents or industry professionals to tune in. You can find out about our upcoming events at https://www.cyberlitebooks.com/whats-on or follow us on social media (just search for “Cyberlite Books” everywhere).

Tell us about the event at the Michelle Obama School in CA, sponsored by Menlo Security?

Michelle: We wanted to make a positive impact for all the kids at Michelle Obama School, so we decided to collaborate with Menlo Security. We have a great relationship with Menlo Security as they have been great supporters of the book and really value teaching children about cybersafety. They generously sponsored 500 copies of Ready, Get Set, Connect! for every child at Michelle Obama School. At the same time, Nina and I also ran student workshops and a parent webinar for everyone at the school to encourage a deeper understanding of cybersafety and spark conversations in the classrooms and at home.

Nina: This was such an interesting project and a great example of the type of positive impact we strive for! It started when Michelle and I were connected to Elaine, the VP of Michelle Obama School’s PTA committee. She shared with us her concerns around cybersafety and how her child was facing some issues at school due to remote learning. The internet has been both a blessing and a curse during the pandemic because while children had the opportunity to continue learning at home, the extensive screen time and exposure to the internet have been very difficult for parents.

How can other schools arrange to do something similar with a corporate sponsor?

Michelle: For schools, if you’d like to purchase Ready, Get Set, Connect! for your students, we offer great bulk discounts for educators. If you don’t have the means to purchase from us directly, don’t worry – please still contact us with your needs and we’ll take it from there.

For enterprises interested in sponsoring or donating our books to schools, get in touch with us to discuss how we can organise an event as part of your marketing strategy or CSR initiative.

We welcome schools and corporate sponsors interested in our books and workshops to reach out to us at hello@cyberlitebooks.com.

Tell us about your collaboration with Palo Alto Networks (NYSE: PANW), and their Cyber A.C.E.S. program. bringing cyber awareness and digital wellness education to primary and secondary schools in Singapore. How were the Media Literacy Council and the Digital for Life movement involved?

Michelle: We have a strong partnership with Palo Alto Networks – as the global cybersecurity leader, they’re fantastic at driving the mission to keep everyone, including families, safe online. The collaboration between Cyberlite Books and Palo Alto Networks started with the goal to equip children with an understanding of how to protect their own digital futures. Our ongoing commitment towards this goal has developed into a rich partnership that has already impacted thousands of children, parents, teachers, and the wider community through cybersecurity education.

The Digital for Life movement is spearheaded by the Infocomm Media Development Authority (IMDA) and Media Literacy Council earlier this year. It is a national movement to help Singaporeans become digitally ready for the future. Our contribution to this movement is to educate the young generation about cyber awareness and digital citizenship. Palo Alto Networks has already sponsored over 10,000 Ready, Get Set, Connect! books that have been distributed to schools and students so far! As part of this collaboration, we run cybersafety workshops and webinars for students and parents of each school. We also introduce the faculty to Palo Alto Networks’ Cyber A.C.E.S. program, which consists of a comprehensive set of lesson plans and activities that’s free to download to further enhance the cybersafety conversation in the classroom.

What are your plans for 2022?

Michelle: We have some big plans for 2022! We’re going to launch several more titles under Cyberlite Books that focus on social impact, such as sustainability and mental health. We’re also proud to continue our work with the Singapore government on educating students on cybersafety next year.

Nina: We’re also expanding the content and materials we have for the cybersafety and diversity, equity, and inclusion conversations for children and their families. This includes games, corporate workshops, and more dynamic experiences for everyone to participate in.

There are also a few big partnerships lined up that we’re excited about – lots of things happening behind the scenes here!

This year, give a Cyberlite book for the whole family to show your appreciation – they’re insightful, thoughtful, and inclusive books for all ages.

I Recommend Ready, Get Set, Connect!

I loved the joy of holding a colorful workbook in my hands knowing that it would benefit children and their parents every time they take a journey through cyber space. The book is beautifully written and illustrated in a way that engages children and families.

This workbook offers light yet clever ways to showcase serious points while making the content fun and relatable for kids. Readers explore the wonders and perils of the online world with games, puzzles, activities, and cyber villains like The Phishing Family, Groomer, and Cyberbullies. Most importantly, the kids will better understand privacy and digital citizenship along the way!

This workbook could literally be a basic onboarding manual for anyone turning on an internet-connected device (smartTV, smartwatch, smartphone, laptop, tablet, PC, game console, VR headset, or security camera) for the first time. All the bells and whistles to warn internet users about what to look out for are right here.

Both the book and the eBook offer the opportunity to become a Cyber Hero, following safety guidelines and reporting bad behavior to help readers look out for themselves, family, and friends when they are exploring the internet. In the end, you can be a certified Cyber Hero!

Gift Ideas All Year Long

Ready, Get Set, Connect! (available on Amazon), and their latest book, Me, You and Them — Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (available on Amazon), are available as books or eBooks (available at Cyberlite Books as well).

These interactive workbooks spark conversation and curiosity around important social issues and make wonderful gift ideas for children aged 7 to 12 and their families all year long.

Give Back to Your Employees With Uniques Corporate Gifts

Your employees will enjoy these books as a meaningful end-of-year-end gift suitable for the whole family.

The team at Cyberlite Books makes this process quick and easy. Plus, they offer add-on services customized for you, such as: