PUBLICATIONS: Child-Computer Interaction by Juan Pablo Hourcade

This is the first comprehensive book on child-computer interaction, covering basic concepts as well as the latest research.

The book is ideal for graduate students entering the field, as well as for practitioners and researchers coming from other fields who want to quickly catch up with child-computer interaction research. It can also be a useful book for teaching courses on child-computer interaction.

The book is also a bit of an experiment in that it is self-published and freely available. The goal is to enable more people to access it. The hope is that this arrangement will also make it easier to make frequent updates to the book, making new versions available online.

You can download an Adobe Acrobat version of the book for free from this website. The book will soon also be available in print and Kindle format at amazon.com. The content is exactly the same.

STUDIES / RESEARCH: Children’s online experiences in socially disadvantaged families: European evidence and policy recommendations

Very interesting study by EU Kids online on children's online use and online expression!

Read on!

Over the last years the EU Kids Online-Network has presented a wide range of empirical evidence on children's online use and online experiences. Within this field special attention has to be paid to socially disadvantaged children, because they are more vulnerable to different kinds of harm resulting from online risks than other children.

This report summarises findings on social disadvantage from the EU Kids Online II dataset and from other studies conducted in countries belonging to the EU Kids Online network in recent years. This is complemented by results of a long term study dealing with the media socialisation of socially disadvantaged children in Austria. The conclusion provides recommendations on how to support socially disadvantaged children and adolescents in making better experiences with the internet.

Access and use are the main topics of almost all the studies covered, but for Europe we can state that a lack of access to the internet is not the key problem. This is different, however, for countries like Brazil or Russia. In Europe children and adolescents differ in the way they use the internet and they have different preferences concerning content, e.g. a stronger interest in entertainment.

The educational background of the family (which correlates highly with the economic well-being of a family) plays the major role influencing the different ways the internet is used. Children of lower educated parents are often left alone when dealing with the internet.

Full study

ARTICLES: Average teenager has never met quarter of Facebook friends (UK)

The average 12- to 15-year-old has never met one in four of their "friends" on social networking websites such as Facebook, according to new research.

Telecoms and media regulator Ofcom's annual Children and Parents: Media Use and Attitudes Report also found that teenage girls are the UK's texting champions, sending more than 220 a week – a third more than boys.

The regulator's latest research revealed that 12- to 15-year-olds on average spend 17 hours a week on the internet, matching TV viewing for the first time, and that potentially well over a third of three- and four-year-olds use the internet for TV and games.

More than 40% of five- to 15-year-olds who have internet access have a social networking profile, rising to 80% among 12- to 15-year-olds.

The latter age group has an average of 286 online friends and 93% of them claim they are confident they know about online safety.

full article on The Guardian website

STUDIES / RESEARCH: Teens and their use of online video media

Young people are more comfortable using services including social media networks, text messaging and email, but how often do they use video chats and media facilities?

The latest research report provided by the Pew research institute Internet & American Life Project suggests that video and media streaming use is on the rise. The survey comprised of 799 teenagers aged 12 - 17 who were asked about their online behaviours and video-orientated activities. It was fielded between April and July in 2011. The survey found:

• 95 percent of respondents use the Internet in some fashion.
• 37 percent of internet users aged 12 - 17 participate in video chat — using applications including Skype, Googletalk or iChat.
• 27 percent of internet-using teens record and upload video content to the Internet.
• 13 percent stream video live to the Internet for other people to watch.

Social media users  – who make up 80 percent of internet using teens – were found to be far more likely to engage in these video behaviours than non-users, and teenagers of all ages were equally likely to use video chat.

According to Pew, one major difference between now and 2006 is that girls are now just as likely to upload videos as boys — 12 and 13 percent retrospectively. 42 percent of girls who use the Internet video chat, whereas 33 percent of boys do.

more info

Report reveals media trends among young Europeans

Young people are attached to their mobile phones… But do they still use landlines? Is online television as popular as ‘regular’ television? What is the most popular games console among today’s young people across Europe? And what are the biggest differences between European countries in terms of how they use media today?

The answers to these questions – and more – can be found in the first European-wide Youth Media Trend Report (2011-2011), which was commissioned by the Youth & Media Programme of the European Cultural Foundation (ECF).

The extensive research was carried out by the Belgian research centre Trendwolves, which looked at media use among young people aged between 15 and 25 in five European countries: Norway, the Netherlands, Spain, the United Kingdom and Croatia.

Researchers mapped how young people use media in each of these five countries, focusing specifically on social networks, internet, telephone, television, radio, newspapers, magazines and games.

The first Youth Media Trend Report of its kind identifies different media landscapes across Europe and represents an important step in measuring, observing and revealing changes in the way young people use their media.

With this research, ECF aims to provide broad access to exclusive data to cultural, political and media organisations and professionals working on youth and media policies and programmes. The research is designed to fill a gap for the cultural sector, which is often deprived from mere facts and figures, unlike the business sector, in which such research data are used for designing successful marketing strategies and forecasting trends.

Interested in finding out more? Download the report in infographics from ECF's website: www.eurocult.org/research-debate

PRESS RELEASE / RESEARCH: Ofcom Update: Revealed: How parents control children’s access to adult media

A new online survey conducted by the website ParentPort reveals that, of those parents surveyed whose children watch films at home, 40% had allowed their children to watch a film classified above their age.

The survey of 1,800 respondents from the UK's two largest online parenting communities – Mumsnet and Netmums - reveals the challenges and pressures parents face when it comes to keeping the media their children see age-appropriate.

ParentPort was set up last October to make it easier for parents to complain about material they see or hear across the media, communications and retail industries.

The news release on the survey can be found here on the ParentPort website.

ARTICLES / RESEARCH: Parents want children to watch ‘quality’ TV: study (TAIWAN)

A study from the National Communications Commission (NCC) shows that while most parents in Taiwan would like their children to watch more news and educational TV programs, school-age children prefer watching television dramas featuring popular teen idols.

The nation's media regulator last year commissioned a research institute to examine the influence of TV programs and commercials on the behavior of children aged four to 12. The results, which were released earlier this month, showed that more than 60 percent of children aged 10 to 12 said TV influenced them more than anything else.

full article

NEWS / SOCIAL MEDIA: Social media is the space for change, says the youth of India

NEW DELHI: In a nationwide survey conducted amongst the youth of India, nearly 76 per cent of youth believe that social media empowers them to bring change to the world we live in. 

They are convinced that causes for women and movements against corruption can be driven through this medium that is now growing as a source for information. In fact, as many as 28 per cent source information from social media sites whereas around 54 per cent prefer a mix of print, television and social media.

full article

ARTICLES: How advertising influences your children

The new £6m John Lewis Christmas advert is carefully calculated to tug on every adult’s heartstrings and get them spending. With research suggesting parents will fork out 64% more on their children this December 25 than in 1995, Dr John Jewell investigates the role that advertising plays in the life of our little ones

It should be of no surprise to any of us that advertising is an integral part of our culture and arguably the most important media of the advanced world.

Capitalism itself survives because of advertising, as we are encouraged to spend and replace rather than to repair and reuse.

The effects of this consumer culture and our love of ‘stuff’ has had a profound effect on family life.

Britain is now, according to a recent report by UNICEF, the worst country in the industrialised world to be a child, where parents feel under intense pressure to buy goods for their children. In homes across the nation, children’s bedrooms are now less a place to sleep and more a ‘media bedsit’ with a PC, an Xbox and a digital TV.

Read More http://www.walesonline.co.uk/showbiz-and-lifestyle/showbiz/2011/11/26/how-advertising-influences-your-children-91466-29835531/#ixzz1eu6eeq6o

RESEARCH / NEWS: UNICEF study explores the social networking habits of young people

11 October, Pretoria - Ask the parent of the average South African teenager what their child gets up to in the evenings, and many will tell you that their sons or daughters are probably typing away on their cellphones, on South Africa’s largest social network – MXit.

And it comes as no surprise. A recent survey conducted by UNICEF in partnership with the Berkman Center for Internet and Society at Harvard University, MXit, and the University of Cape Town, revealed that 30 per cent of MXit users admitted to spending most of their after-school time socialising on the platform. 25,876 South African youths recently took part in the survey, which looked at how young people interact on the social media platform.

"The rise of the mobile internet in South Africa means that more people, especially youth, are using social networks as key tools in their identity formation. This timely report provides an important piece of the puzzle to understanding the formation of mobile youth cultures; and exploring the role that cellphone applications play in the lives of young South Africans," says Dr Tanja Bosch, senior lecturer in the Centre for Film and Media Studies at the University of Cape Town.

full article

ARTICLES / RESEARCH: Textese gr8 training 4 poets of 2moro

Research has linked children's use of text abbreviations with improved literacy.

THEY'RE at it wherever you look - on the bus or train, even just walking to school. Students seem fixated on their mobile phones, nimbly tapping out text messages such as ''Wen wil i c u 2night? Cos sum1 left a msg bout ur frend bein sik. R u sik 2?''

This tide of texting has prompted warnings that the technology is leading to a decline in language skills. So are children losing the capacity to read, write and spell well?

The answer: Probably not.

Indeed, new research has found a strong link between primary school children's use of text abbreviations and improved literacy.

full article

PRINT / TRAINING: UNICEF trains journalists (NIGERIA)

Thanks to a workshop, many Nigerian journalists can now practice better. The workshop, which held in Kano, helped them to make better use of data obtained in the line of duty.

They confessed they had been shying away from data-driven story-writing. Reason: they lacked the skills to humanise data, a situation Dr. Ayobami Ojebode of the University of Ibadan described in his paper as “numerophobia” –the phobia for numbers or figures.

He said: “one of our big goals in the storytelling process is to humanise the statistics. It’s hard for people to care about numbers, especially large numbers”.

Ojebode quoted Westbrook (2010) to define data-driven news reporting as “journalism in its truest essence: uncovering what the public do not have enough time to do themselves, interrogating it, and making sense of it before sharing it with the audience”.

full article

NEWS / IT: Indonesian youth ready for social media

JAKARTA: Social media use is set for very fast growth among a new generation of patriotic yet pluralistic Indonesian teens, TNS studies have indicated.

According to the research firm, young Indonesians are not yet heavy users of social networks, despite the fact that Indonesia is the world's second-largest Facebook market and third-largest Twitter market in terms of reach.

Although 87% of Indonesia's online population have visited social media websites, just 14% use them on a daily basis - against a global average of 46%.

full article

STUDIES / REPORTS: Ofcom publishes its latest research on media literacy

A recent press release from Ofcom, the independent regulator and competition authority for the UK communication industries, presents findings from its latest research on media literacy.

Half of parents (48 per cent) with children aged 5-15 who use the internet at home think they know less about the internet than their children do. This rises to 70 per cent of parents of 12-15 year olds.

At the same time, there has been increased online activity among children in the past year, including higher usage of mobile and games consoles to go online. Around one fifth (18 per cent) of 5-15 year olds own a smartphone, and 16 per cent go online via a games console. However, among 12-15 year olds this rises to over one third (35 per cent) owning a smartphone and nearly a quarter (23 per cent) going online via a games console. Forty one per cent of this age group now access the internet in their bedroom, up from 31 per cent in 2009.

Parents appear to be less concerned about how their children use the internet. They are less likely to say they have internet parental controls set – 37 per cent in 2010 compared to 43 per cent in 2009. Those that don’t have parental controls mainly say it’s either because they trust their child or because they are supervising them.

The findings form part of Ofcom’s media literacy reports, which focus on the safe and informed use and understanding of digital content among UK adults and children.

For further information see the full press release. The full findings are available in two research reports: ‘UK children’s media literacy’ and ‘UK adults’ media literacy’, available to download from the Ofcom website. Ofcom has also published a consumer guide, ‘Managing your media in a digital world’, to help parents understand some of the issues raised by the research.

source

RESEARCH / ARTICLES: Kids watch 15 hours of TV a week (AUSTRALIA)

She does not let the television dictate her life, but do not stand between 11-year-old Kayley Collier and an episode of Neighbours.

The Twin Waters youngster watches nearly half the amount of television in any given week when compared to other children in her age group.

New data released this week as part of the Young Australian Survey by Roy Morgan Research detailing children’s top media choices showed children aged between six and 13 spend more time watching television than any other media.

On average, they spend 14 hours and 48 minutes in front of the tube in any given week.

full article

NEWS / REPORTS / STUDIES: Arab Social Media Report released by Dubai School of Government

Dubai-UAE: 07 February, 2011- According to the inaugural Arab Social Media Report (ASMR), social networking platforms such as Facebook and Twitter will continue to play a critical role in organizing social and civil movements in the Arab world, especially among the youth.

A team of researchers at the Governance and Innovation Program in Dubai School of Government has been monitoring the growth and usage trends of such tools in the Arab World in 2010. According to the Report, the penetration of social networking tools is soaring in the Arab world. The growth is highest among youth between the ages of 15 and 29, who make up around one-third of the total Arab population. The report states for example, that the total number of Facebook users in the Arab world has increased by 78 per cent, from 11.9 million in January 2010 to 21.3 million by December 2010, with 75 percent of the Facebook community in the Arab region belonging to this demographic and driving its growth.

full article

RESEARCH: Nielsen Unveils Global Mobile Youth Study

Hong Kong – From texting to video to social networking, mobile phones are taking an ever-expanding role in our daily lives. Young people around the world are more immersed in mobile technology than any previous generation. Usage patterns vary greatly among youth throughout the world, demonstrating how culture, economy and age can all play an integral part in mobile behavior. How do young people use their mobile phones and how might marketers use that knowledge to reach them?

The Nielsen Company analyzes and tracks mobile usage in North America, Africa, Asia, Europe, Latin America, and the Middle East.

full article

RESEARCH / STUDIES: Overuse of the internet is very high among UK children says new EU Kids Online study (EUROPE)

Excessive use of the internet is very high among children in the UK with one in five admitting they have gone without food or sleep to stay online.

The UK findings from the EU Kids Online survey reported this month by the London School of Economics and Political Science also show that more than half of young people confess they spend less time than they should on family, friends or schoolwork because of the internet.

Use of social network sites is also high for young people in this country – 65 per cent of 9- 16 year olds have their own profile on one or more sites compared to 57 per cent across Europe.

However, children in the UK are among the most web-savvy, with a good understanding of how to negotiate risky activity on the internet and to protect themselves. As a result, the project now classifies the UK as a high-use but low-risk country, where it had previously been ranked high in both categories.

See LSE website for the UK report1 and the press release reporting initial findings from the survey of 1032 UK 9-16 year olds.

The 23 country pan-European report, published 21/10/10, is also available at EU Kids Online website.

Source: Ofcom Media Literacy Bulletin Issue 39

ARTICLES / RESEARCH: UK youth culture squeezes 9 hours of media into 7 hours of the day

The UK Office of Communications (Ofcom) which regulates more or less all communications in the UK has put together a 379 page report, its largest to date, on the habits of UK consumers. It has automatically gone for the headlines by talking about the indecent amount of time we all spend consuming media from consumer electronics devices from the TV to radio, broadband, telecoms through to our cellular handset.

But underneath the hype and the drama of a nation that spends 45% of its waking hours with their head immersed in such a device, there are many interesting factoids to the report, which can be downloaded as a pdf from the Ofcom site.

full article and more info

STUDIES / RESEARCH: Excess TV, computer video gaming linked to poor attention in kids: study

TORONTO - Children who spend many hours a day glued to the TV or playing computer video games may be harming their ability to concentrate and focus on tasks in school, researchers suggest.

A study by psychologists at Iowa State University found that kids who exceeded the recommended two hours per day of screen time were 1 1/2 to two times more likely to have attention problems in the classroom.

Both the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) and the Canadian Paediatric Society recommend that parents limit a child's screen time to one or two hours daily.

"There isn't an exact number of hours when screen time contributes to attention problems, but the AAP recommendation of no more than two hours a day provides a good reference point," said lead author Edward Swing, a psychology doctoral candidate.

"Most children are way above that. In our sample, children's total average time with television and video games is 4.26 hours per day, which is actually low compared to the national average."

Co-author Douglas Gentile, an associate professor of psychology at Iowa State, said research has suggested that the average child in the U.S., and likely in Canada as well, spends many more hours per day with screen-based technology.

full article