Our school, our diversity: your story in 60 seconds | OSCE

The OSCE High Commissioner on National Minorities (HCNM) is organizing a video contest for young people on the occasion of the 20th anniversary of the launch of the HCNM’s first and ground-breaking recommendations on the educational rights of national minorities.


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Ghana News - Code of ethics for reporting on children launched - Graphic Online

Screenshot from graphic online

A Child Protection Code of Ethics intended to uphold and promote the highest standards of ethical and professional conduct among journalists in relation to their reportage on children, has been launched in Accra.

The 16-page document on the theme, “Making the Worth of Children Matter Through Reporting”, touches on issues of protecting the privacy and dignity of the child, participation and consent, responsibility of journalists towards society for the interest of children, and placement of images, videos, and messages in news reporting.

Developed by Child Rights International, a non-governmental organization, the National Media Commission (NMC) and the Ghana Journalists Association (GJA), with funding from the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), the document is also meant to ensure that the ethics adopted by journalists in reporting on children are updated to suit their best interest, instead of damaging their image.

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Tweens, Teens, and Screens: What Our New Research Uncovers | Common Sense Media

By taking a "census" of kids' media use, Common Sense's new study quantifies screen use, identifies unique types of users, and uncovers patterns that could spark improvements in content, access, and learning.

For today's tweens and teens, technology is part of the fabric of everyday life. They're watching TV on lots of devices and using smartphones and tablets to maximum advantage -- texting, researching, sharing, connecting -- and generally causing lots of hand-wringing among parents who don't know how much is too much. As parents, we want to find ways to use media to support healthy development, learning, and community-building. But we can't begin to make sense of what these technological changes mean for kids until we understand what's being used and for how long and how kids feel about technology and media.

That's why we're pleased to release a new report, the Common Sense Census: Media Use by Tweens and Tweens, which paints a more complete picture of how tweens and teens are using media. Some stats aren't surprising: On average, tweens (age 8 to 12) and teens (age 13 to 18) use many different devices and consume tremendous amounts of media. Other findings push us to rethink our assumptions about kids' lives. For example, tweens and teens use a lot of social media, but not many actually enjoy it.

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Television studio from Zaporizhzhia triumphed in the nomination 'The Best Television Program by Children's Studio

Children from television studio 'Hrani' (Zaporizhzhia) won the first place in VII International Children Television Festival 'Dytyatko'.

Young journalists became the best in 'The Best Television Program by Children's Studio' ('Super-expert’ program).

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Parenting for a Digital Future – Support children by supporting parents (because grown-ups need guidance too!): examples from Sweden

Daniel Kardefelt-Winther looks at digital gaming and parental struggles to guide and protect their children in a digital world where one of the most popular activities is perceived as both beneficial and a cause for concern. Daniel is a post-doctoral researcher at the Department of Clinical Neuroscience at Karolinska Institutet in Sweden, where he conducts research on internet and gaming addiction. Currently he works as Research Coordinator at UNICEF Office of Research where he coordinates a global project on Children’s Rights in the Digital Age. He tweets via @Winthernet.

In Sweden, children’s use of digital media has been increasing over the past decade. The Swedish Media Council recently published their biennial report, Parents & the media, which, perhaps unsurprisingly, highlighted that even very young children now engage with digital media to a greater extent than two years ago. Today, 26% of Swedish children below the age of two play digital games, compared to only 7% in 2013, and this seems to follow a general trend for young children, too.

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Digital Storytelling: Filmmaking for the Web - Online course starting 28 September 2015

The University of Birmingham, the BBC Academy and Creative Skillset have combined forces, to create this four-week, free online course.

It will look at filmmaking theory and practice, and how they interact to produce good and even meaningful stories, helping you develop short films for digital platforms.

Whether fact or fiction, there are many principles and processes that make a story work on film, so that what viewers see is more than just a sequence of events, but is instead a compelling narrative, which holds their attention, makes them think and keeps them coming back for more.

We will cover all aspects of production - from how to research your story to adding the finishing touches in the edit. The course will address many issues along the way, including critical thinking; story structure; style; genre; ethics; legalities; practical techniques for camera, sound and lighting; and more.

Take the free online course

Дневник фестиваля "Жми на RECord!". 17-20 сентября 2015 года.

Children’s shows a serious matter

A maxim variously attributed to everyone from Aristotle to the Jesuit priest Francis Xavier goes: “Give me a child until the age of seven and I will give you the man.” The kernel of this theory is that childhood is a time when everyone’s interests and values are being set in a way that will influence the rest of their lives.

This helps explain why so much effort is being put into ensuring television programmes aimed at children are of high quality rather than simply a way of keeping them amused. One of the earliest international examples of this theory in practice was Sesame Street, which since its debut in the United States in 1969 has sought to be educational and entertaining in equal measure.

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Why we need more research on children’s use of the Internet

It is becoming difficult to imagine a day in a teenagers’ life – in all parts of the globe – without internet access: to socialize with peers, seek information, watch videos, post photos and news updates or play games. As the internet rapidly penetrates all regions, children’s experiences worldwide are increasingly informed by their use of information and communication technologies (ICTs).

The ITU estimates that by the end of 2015, 3.2 billion people will be using the internet, 2 billion of which will be in developing countries. This exponential growth is largely attributable to the rapid spread of mobile broadband technology with 3G mobile coverage reaching close to 70% of the total world population.

What implications does this have for children worldwide, particularly in the regions and countries where UNICEF works? We may see more and more children in lower income countries going online and more children accessing the internet through ‘mobile first’. We may see a digital divide growing not only between those who have access to the internet and those who do not, but also between generations: parents/grandparents/caregivers and children. We may see children’s educational experiences being hugely enhanced by access to the internet, but we may also see more children at risk of negative experiences (abuse, bullying, exploitation) because they lack guidance, support and mediation from their parents and educators who have not caught up yet with the fast pace of internet development.

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Don't panic, the internet won't rot children's brains

You know the deal: a social phenomenon rises from obscurity to international familiarity within the blink of an eye. Pitchforks are sharpened, torches lit, and higher thought goes out the window. Elvis Presley’s hips, the skin revealed by a bikini, Harry Potter’s sorcery – you would think by now we’d have learnt to occasionally sit back and thoughtfully stroke our collective chin before writing the eulogy for humankind.

You’d be wrong: an editorial published in the BMJ today highlights one more example of our societal knickers getting into almighty knot.

The editorial focuses on Professor Susan Greenfield, British scientist and high-profile commentator, who has been publicising the idea that internet use and video games have harmful effects on children’s brain and behavioural development.

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