Mediakids

The MediaKids project had two cascading objectives dealing with harmful and illegal digital content in a converging digital world. First, extended ethnographic fieldwork was undertaken to elicit: (i) the perceptions of children and young adults with regard to harmful and illegal digital contents; (ii) the strategies and practices they usually adopt when dealing with these contents; (iii) the risky situations considered by minors in relation to consumption, production and the distribution of digital content; (iv) the parental norms that regulate access to this typology of content; and (v) the attitudes of minors towards reporting harmful/illegal content. Second, with the aim to promote a critical attitude in minors on the production, consumption and distribution of digital content, the research team developed a mobile app (MediaKids) to provide them and their families with a tool to encourage their proactive role in their own protection. The MediaKids project aims to test this co-regulatory approach by developing a mobile application – the MediaKids app – within the broader context of an educational programme to raise awareness about online safety. The project seeks to involve children and young adults in defining the notion of ‘harmful content’ and, ultimately, in the elaboration of the policies for the emergent digital public space.