No. 2, 2009 Published by The International Clearinghouse on Children, Youth and Media at Nordicom Göteborg University Box 713 SE-405 30 Göteborg SWEDEN Editor: Catharina Bucht Publisher: Ulla Carlsson

Announcement from the Clearinghouse The Clearinghouse Organizes Research Forum at World Summit on Media for Children and Youth Children's and Young People's Participation Fan Culture – Meaningful Relations and Media Participation Youth in Bosnia Telling their Own Stories Radijojo - World Children’s Radio Network Global Youth Council - The Voice of Children and Youth at the World Summit Internet, Computer Games, NICT Design Preferences for News on Internet Media by Spanish Youth New book from Nordicom on Young People, ICTs and Democracy Media Education/Media Literacy/Awareness Results of the First All-Russia Research School for Youth, “Media Education and Media Competence” (1) Sheep Teach Slovak Kids to Behave Responsibly Online Child Online Protection Guidelines x 2 Finnish Media Education Policies and Best Practices Media Literacy in Europe – Controversies, Challenges and Perspectives Media Contents and Media Production Quality in Children’s Television Violent Content on Romanian TV in Focus Measures and Regulations 20th Anniversary of the CRC EU Audiovisual Service Directive in Force by December 2009 Special Section: News from the US The False Promise of Screen Media for Babies and What One Advocacy Group Decided to Do About It Children in US Watch More than a Day of TV Each Week TV Viewing Associated with Increased Aggression Four Recent Articles on the Influence of Video Games Dramatic Increase in the Use of Media Among US Youth Announcement from the Clearinghouse The Clearinghouse Organizes Research Forum at World Summit on Media for Children and Youth [Announcement from the Clearinghouse] The next World Summit on Media for Children and Youth is hosted by the city of Karlstad, Sweden, in June 2010. The programme introduces more than 100 sessions with a focus on children, youth and media. International well known experts and researchers will present keynote speeches, panels, round table discussions, seminars and workshops. The International Clearinghouse on Children, Youth and Media organizes four special sessions of a Research Forum in co-operation with the Summit. The aim of each Forum is to provide a space for knowledge and dialogue between the different groups of delegates at the Summit and for researchers to reach out to interested parties in and outside the research community – teachers, media professionals, decision makers, regulators, etc. The Research Forum will be introduced in a Plenary Session where current research on children, youth and media is presented by well reputed scholars from the international research community. There will also be Poster Sessions where researchers attending the event can present findings from their recent and on-going projects. This Research Forum is a very real opportunity to contribute to the international discussion on the increasingly important issue of young people and media in the world. Multilateral solutions to vital global issues are more essential than ever in the age of rapid digitization. Several of these have a strong media and communication component – not least issues regarding children and media. Issues that touch on vital democratic values. All the presentations given in the four sessions of the Research Forum will be published in the Clearinghouse Yearbook of 2011. For further information about the Summit and programme of the Research Forum, please go to www.wskarlstad2010.se/researchforum.php Top Children's and Young People's Participation Fan Culture – Meaningful Relations and Media Participation [Children's and Young People's Participation] by Irma Hirsjärvi, Ph.D. The Research Centre for Contemporary Culture University of Jyväskylä Jyväskylä, Finland Fans and their networks, fandoms, are the elephant in our living room in the area research on children and media. It is there, though we seldom talk about it in the context of media literacy or civic participation of children. It is big, it is powerful, and it is a hungry elephant. Fandom, a special interest, is simply an intense relationship with something: a poet, a painter, an athlete, a historical time period like the Middle Ages, a style, a band, a star or a media figure. It is something that has its beginning in surprisingly early childhood, and includes ethical and ideological choices on many levels. As Henry Jenkins (2006) has pointed out in his multiple research covering almost two decades: Media convergence is something that is done by the national and international groups of skilful, critical and active people, who represent a totally new kind of intellectual networking society. These networks are available to and also widely participated in by children and young adults. Fandom as International Networks I scrutinized 120 Finnish science fiction (sf) fans in my PhD research, only to realize that this small 20-year-old fandom today actually offers a nationwide writing school and writing competitions that include referee practices as well as multiple publication opportunities, visibly affecting Finnish culture among many other things. At the beginning of the fandom, most participants were young adults. In the middle of this project I also stumbled onto totally new networks of thousands of even younger fantasy and sf fans (www.risingshadow.net), and tens of thousands of even younger Finnish anime and manga fans with similarly specialized organizational practices. During this time the most internationally popular Finnish movie ever, a fan production by originally schoolboys (www.starwreck.com) has spread across the Internet and commercial DVD releases around the world. This success was followed by the largest international funding ever provided for a Finnish production, the boys’ next movie, Iron Sky (Hirsjärvi 2009). Young people and children learn and use the possibilities of new media similarly around the globe, overriding their formal education. In his major publication Media Convergence (2006), Jenkins presents Heather Lawver, who became the editor of the internationally spread Internet journal The Daily Prophet (www.dprophet.com) in her teens. She is one of the millions of Harry Potter children who act as producers, challenging language barriers, copyrights and publishers’ time tables. For example, eager Chinese fans translated the 600-page sixth Harry Potter novel, Harry Potter and the Half-blood Prince (2005), in two weeks from English into Cantonese and spread it on Internet. Fans have also fought together against large corporations for their rights to read and write about the texts they love – with success. It is no wonder that, in research on markets and culture politics, the gift economy structure of fandoms as networks has become a hot topic, as they are also the most innovative area of hybrid economy and third sector. Fandom and Ideologies My own research interests are in local, national and international organizational practices of fandoms and the individual meaning-making processes of fans. Finnish media researcher Annikka Suoninen (2003) discovered young sf fans from an international survey as an exceptional group of media users and decided to interview the Finnish media sf fans. I was able to find connections through certain attitudes and practices between the elder sf readers in my data and these teenage media followers of Suoninen. It seems that sf fandom is in an ideological level attached to, for example, a scientific world view, an analytical attitude and ecological awareness – and an opposition to the current political system. Similar ideological levels can be found in Japanese popular culture, especially regarding gender issues, in anime and manga fandom, which has spread around the Western world as the largest and fastest change ever in youths’ and children’s culture. As a researcher in the comparative Youth Media Participation project (www.jyu.fi/ymp), my aim is to conduct the qualitative part of the research in Finland (other countries included are Argentina and Egypt) through focus groups with young people 11-18 years of age. My personal research interest is to locate the international fandom phenomenon from the qualitative data of this research and from the quantitative data later. Note PhD Irma Hirsjärvi is currently the coordinator of the Global Comparative Research on Youth Media Participation at the Research Centre for Contemporary Culture at the University of Jyväskylä, funded by the Academy of Finland. Link References Hirsjärvi, Irma (2009) Faniuden siirtymiä. Suomalaisten science fiction fanien verkostot [Mediations of fandom. The networks of the Finnish sf fandom]. Jyväskylä: Research Centre for Contemporary Culture. Jenkins, Henry (2006) Convergence culture. Where old and new media collide. New York: New York University Press. Suoninen, Annikka (2003) ”Harmillisen loistava sarja. Babylon 5 nuorin silmin.” [Annoyingly glorious TV-series. Babylon 5 through young eyes] In Tuija Modinos and Annikka Suoninen (eds.), Merkillinen media. Tekstit nuorten arjessa [Signifying media. Texts in the everyday life of young people.], p. 205–204. Jyväskylä: SOLKI. Top Youth in Bosnia Telling their Own Stories [Children's and Young People's Participation] by Sanjin Pejkovic Film Educator Ph.D. Student of Film Studies at Lund University Sweden Jajce is a city in Bosnia & Herzegovina with rich historical and cultural life. Large and important historical events have taken place here such as events during the Roman Empire period, Bosnian state period, the Ottoman Empire; and the former communist Yugoslavia was “created” in Jajce, in November 1943. The town suffered badly during the war, and the wounds have still not healed. The city now belongs to the Bosnian-Croat Federation in the Republic of Bosnia & Herzegovina (one of the two entities in the country, the other being the Republika Srpska) and it has mainly a Croatian and Muslim population. These groups returned to the town after the war in Bosnia during the 1990s, to devastation. During the war the city was part of Bosnian territory, until the Serb forces took over and expelled parts of the "non-Serb" population. Similar displacement occurred when the Bosnian and Croatian forces regained control of the city at the end of the war; therefore, not many Serbs have returned. Promoting Understanding and Dialogue in a Segregated Town As I was born in Jajce but moved to Sweden after the war, I often felt that I wanted to do something creative with the young people living there – something that would promote understanding, both for the participants, and by disseminating the results, for society at large. Jajce is still a segregated town and need projects like this. Muslims, Croats and Serbs are generally in great need of dialogue after the war, and the project we had in mind aimed right at the core of the problem, as I see it: the lack of communication. Together with a regional resource centre for film in Sweden (Film i Halland) and with support from the Swedish Institute(1), the idea of a filmmaking workshop for youth began to take form. Through Film i Halland, which is a member of the International Youth Media Summit (www.iyms.eu/), contact was established with the Media Education Centre in Belgrade, Serbia, and they were very enthusiastic and committed to the idea. A preparatory meeting was held together with the local partner, the Jajce Youth Centre. The Jajce Youth Centre is an NGO that works with young and creative people (www.ocjajce.com/). They were the perfect link between Film i Halland, the Media Education Centre and young people in Jajce. We wanted to work with a multicultural and multireligious group, just to show that dialogue can be a great start, a possibility for trying to understand each other. The Workshop The main purpose of this project was to strengthen young people’s view of themselves by means of moving images. A further aim was to take advantage of young people’s experiences of everyday life in the town of Jajce and of their perspective on the world around them, based on their own lives, so as to boost their self-esteem and encourage them to extend their personal horizons. We set up a few goals for the project: • The youth should gain access to a new ”forum” through the knowledge they gained in film technology as a creative, different, way of expression. Synergies should be created as the youth conveyed their self-images through their newly learned way of expression, which leads to increased understanding, new ways of cooperation and cultural exchanges. • At the end of the workshop, the participants should present a short documentary depicting a subject they had chosen as something that is most important in their daily life. • Through the subjective experiences of daily life in Bosnia, and in Jajce in particular, these films on their daily lives would give us an insight into young people's thoughts and ideas. The film should not be longer than ten minutes, and should be focused on something that plays a major role for the young people themselves. The team would help and facilitate the work, but the initial idea had to come from young people themselves. • The final product aimed at providing the participants and people in the rest of the area with better insight into important issues. Young people in Sweden and Bosnia probably experience significant parts of their everyday lives in very similar ways. One major difference, however, is their different socio-cultural everyday life, which is why the films can serve as a way to bring people closer to each other. The films can also point to things that are perceived differently and create the necessary conditions to be able to discuss these differences. How does love between different ethnic groups work, for example? Do political policy measures of various kinds create obstacles for the young people's lives, and how? Conclusion The project was very successful. The project team cooperated excellently and everyone were very satisfied with their role, the work of the youth and the team as a whole. The youth were also very satisfied. Everyone expressed their gratefulness for having been able to participate in this project. Everyone seemed to have learnt a great deal. Those who already had some experience learned more, and those with less experience learned the basics. Throughout the project the atmosphere was excellent, and lifelong friends were made. Some of the films that were made were also shown at the International Youth Media Summit in Belgrade, in August 2009. We are also planning to compile all the films on a DVD, together with the “behind-the-scenes” documentary, to distribute at schools across Sweden. We feel it is necessary for young Swedes to learn about the political and existential conditions that other young people are experiencing. Documentaries also constitute a part of the report to the Swedish Institute. Read more about the project here or contact Sanjin Pejkovic: sanjinpejkovic@gmail.com Note 1. The Swedish Institute (SI) is a public agency that promotes interest in Sweden abroad. The SI seeks to establish cooperation and lasting relations with other countries through active communication and cultural, educational and scientific exchanges. The SI’s operations are carried out in close cooperation with Swedish and foreign partners, as well as with Swedish embassies and consulates around the world. www.si.se Top Radijojo - World Children’s Radio Network [Children's and Young People's Participation] by Dipl.-Soz. Thomas Röhlinger, MBA Founder & Editor in Chief Radijojo World Children's Radio Network Berlin, Germany How does it sound when children from Afghanistan report about their mobile circus project? What has young radio reporter Alfred from Southern Sudan to say about early marriage? How has it happened that kids in Kyrgyzstan, India, Thailand and Germany work together on children’s rights? Would it be possible for children with learning disabilities in Florida and Berlin to have a direct exchange in a Skype conference on ideas for overcoming their difficulties? How do children live in Kamchatka at the very edge of Siberia, and what can we learn from them? If you can relate to questions like this or maybe even immediately start creating your own ideas for collaborations, then welcome to Radijojo, the World Children’s Radio Network! Radijojo is a Germany-based NGO dedicated to global learning, cultural exchange, participation and the use of media as tools for social change. Children from over a hundred countries have already contributed to our advertising-free content and/or joined our projects. This was simply unimaginable when the idea for Radijojo was brought up by Jonathan (then six years old) and me, his father, a sociologist and media manager by profession – not a radio person at all... Back then, in 2001, Radijojo started with merely nothing more than an old computer and a couple of friends who shared our vision: We simply wanted to give children a voice. We knew that audio would be an excellent tool for media-based education, as it: • fosters imagination, • encourages the learning of your own and second languages, • is easy to be self-produced by kids and communities • includes music, storytelling, discussion, fantasy, reporting – each a wide space of educational options in themselves. Not to mention the multimedia dimensions of the web radio universe that we are entering now... A Mind Opener Take musical education via kids’ radio, for instance: You can open the hearts and the minds of children to cultures, places and époques the kids would otherwise not find their way to. And it is sometimes as easy as that: Every school has great musical talents – and most of them are ignored by the public. Now, a great many schools send us their recordings, and they are happy because the fact that we play their songs and instrumentals is a great motivator for the kids to keep going. This is pure fun, indeed. But in our opinion, it is much more: Media-based cultural education on a peer-to-peer basis is also a fundamental and sustainable contribution to peace and understanding. Why? Because it is widely accepted in the scientific community of educators and psychologists that it is precisely during youth that patterns of prejudice, fear and ignorance are seeded, when kids do not have the chance to learn in intercultural dimensions. Take the children’s programming of the Hamas, praising the “holy war against the Jews” – this will not lead to peace in the Middle East. But if you have ever sung, laughed, talked, dreamed with the “unknown other”, you will hardly shoot at him when you have grown up a few years later – because you will have developed different mental models, other emotional frames of reference concerning the world surrounding you. This may sound ridiculously romantic, but you can see the consequences of ignoring these “soft” facts: ethnical, religious or cultural conflicts, from a local to an international level. These conflicts come down to “hard” numbers: high financial and human resource costs for society. So, in short, Radijojo at least tries to be a small part of the solution. International Cooperation The following are some other examples of our work: • In our Transatlantic section (www.across-the-ocean.org), kids from Berlin and Chicago have produced the first common radio show on climate change. Again, kids with learning disabilities joined the team – this time, with the “Garbage Bin Rap”, a song about reducing waste. • “We discover the world: Asia” brings together kids from India, Thailand, Kirgizistan and Germany to talk about Children’s Rights and the UN Millennium Goals. The kids even wrote e-mails to US President Obama, German President Koehler and Mr. Niebel, the German Minister of Development. Koehler’s and Niebel’s offices encouraged the kids to continue their enthusiastic support for the “Third World” and Children's rights in personal letters, which was important feedback for the kids. • Kids from Russia, the US, Sierra Leone and Germany share their thoughts about the future: Will we be able to overcome the threats of today in 50 years? In many cases, Radijojo cooperates with partners like UNICEF, UNESCO, Plan International and Generation PRX, the network of youth radio groups in North America. Radijojo is a member of the World Association of Community Radios (AMARC), the Public Radio Exchange in the US and a partner in the “One laptop per child” initiative. We have been invited to several high-level events to coach community radio activists, educators and NGOs in the field of media-based global learning and the use of audio for social change and cultural exchange, e.g. the 2009 “SIGNIS World Congress for a Culture of Peace and Children's Rights” in Thailand and the 2010 “World Congress for Media on Children and Youth” in Karlstad, Sweden, where we welcome you to join us! Radijojo has received awards from the UNICEF Headquarters New York and the Federal Government of Germany and recognition from the EU commission for its work. How to Join Radijojo The following is how you can join us together with your school, community radio, youth media centre or your family: Send us self-written stories and poems, play a self-written or traditional song, or produce a brief report on the situation of the kids in your village using your mobile phone. Join the Radijojo kids in a Skype internet session or a phone call-in. We welcome everything is that is: • relevant and interesting for kids worldwide • produced by kids for kids • free of third-party rights (e.g., no Madonna pop songs can be included) • free of hate speech and aggressive religious or political propaganda Not sure how to do it or what it should sound like? Then feel free to check out our websites to find inspiration: • Our global sites: www.world-childrens-radio.net www.global-radio-kids.org • Our Transatlantic Children’s Radio (between the US/Canada and Europe): www.across-the-ocean.org • Our European Children’s Radio EUCHIRA: www.euchira.eu • For Germany and German-speaking people: www.radijojo.de We greatly look forward to hearing from the children in your country! Let’s come together for the rights of the children, let’s give them a voice – worldwide. Contact: redaktion@radijojo.de Top Global Youth Council - The Voice of Children and Youth at the World Summit [Children's and Young People's Participation] All around the world thousands of young people are positively taking an active role in challenging the media and ensuring that there is a youth voice in children’s media as well as in the mainstream media. The issues that are faced by young people around the world differ, but one challenge they often have in common is the issue of the representation of children and young people in the media. At the 2010 World Summit on Media for Children and Youth, the Global Youth Council will meet to work in daily sessions, discussing issues and challenges young people are facing, and will undertake to find solutions to the problems. The Global Youth Council will also plan their meetings with international participants during the media industry day and the journalism seminar. The sessions will then be designed by young people for young people in order to give the best representation of their opinions. The sessions, called “Youth moving youth policies forward”, are presented in the World Summit Programme at www.wskarlstad2010.se The aims of the sessions are to: - identify issues around the representation of young people in the media – from a global perspective - identify the challenges young people and the media face in trying to show a positive image of young people - look at solutions to the challenges young people and the media face - draft recommendations for the media to reconnect with young people - create an action plan for the future, for individual countries and for the Global Youth Council At the final day of the World Summit, the results of the preparations and discussions will be presented to all participants in a recommendation document to be part of the whole Summit document, called “Towards a new global vision for children, youth and media”. What happens after the 2010World Summit? Through a World Café protocol, a 12-month action plan for the Global Youth Council will be created. The council will implement the new recommendations in their individual countries and adopt a solution action plan. Each council will work with the action plan and report back to the group about the work being done, to follow up and offer each other advice and support. The Global Youth Council involves a number of international youth groups representing all continents. They use the social networking site Facebook to discuss different questions concerning children, youth and media, based on the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, particularly Article 17 on mass media, and how to bring forward the perspectives of and stimulate interest from children and youth. Top Internet, Computer Games, NICT Design Preferences for News on Internet Media by Spanish Youth [Internet, Computer Games, NICT] by Ana I. Bernal Triviño, Ph.D. Grupo Labcom University of Málaga Málaga SPAIN The Internet is becoming the main source of information for today’s youth. However, its use is linked to the quality of its presentation, its design. The research presented below confirms the visual impact of online media design and shows how the young perceive the design of news websites. A New Media Landscape Simultaneous with the growth of the Internet in developed countries, a new generation of users has arisen. Statistics from AIMC (Asociación para la Investigación de los Medios de Comunicación), EGM (Estudio General de Medios) and INJUVE (Instituto de la Juventud) confirm that Spanish youth form the majority audience on the Internet, at the expense of other media such as television and newspapers. The Internet has the potential to become the main world reference for this generation, which is already immersed in new technologies. If young people can get information free of charge on the radio or television or through the free press, why go to an online medium? Are they really satisfied with the design of the websites? Is there something about the design that might bother them? This study, using a qualitative and experimental approach, reveals what Spanish youth think about the design of Internet media. Two groups were studied: one containing 50 young people, and another one 700. The youth in the study were aged between 18-22 years, as at this age they consume more news than younger age groups do. Review of Young People on Internet In an interview with 50 students, the young people stated that the design of a website is important. If it catches their attention, they are more likely to read the news while surfing the Net. On the other hand, when they are searching for specific news, design comes second in importance to content. The youth state that a good design catches their attention to the page, through colour, style of font (preferably sans serif), and short paragraphs. These elements improve readability on the computer screen. Regarding the characteristics of Internet news, multimedia highlighted their attraction and curiosity, and improved understanding. The users also mentioned that audiovisual elements reinforce the credibility of the news; They like the documentation because it makes the news more complete. For them, interactivity is an area of opinion and entertainment, but they are unsure of its usefulness and sometimes think it is a waste of time because they go to the Internet precisely to find information quickly. They recognize the value of colour for attracting and differentiating content and other elements, such as headlines or the subtitles between paragraphs, to improve understanding and facilitate a brief reading. Users preferred reading online to print because the digital medium is adapted better to their lifestyle and because they could consume the information when they wanted with a variety of multimedia elements available, such as audio and video. When questioned about possible disadvantages of searching for information online, they cited technical problems, advertising and the difficulty to read on screen. If these problems occur frequently, they tend to end the session. Favourite Design Elements More than 700 Spanish students from the University and Professional Training responded to a questionnaire containing 12 tests, with one or two questions in each, about one specific element (font, photo, video, colour, etc.). The students had to grade the design of certain homepages and news sites on a scale from 1 to 10. Their scores are shown below: The main results confirm the following: • It is essential to include an audiovisual component for the news – as a minimum, one photo and one video. If the news has more than one photo, they are more interested. • They prefer photos in news on homepages. • They always want colour photos. • They prefer a video with direct access; as they want to watch it on the same page where they currently are. • While reading on the screen, it is important to provide texts set in type that is easy to read. For this they prefer a text with sans serif fonts, in brief paragraphs separated by white space. Summary First, young people want audiovisual elements; second, textual components. That is, it has been shown that for young people the impact of the image is superior to that of the text on the Internet. Clearly, the generational change is affecting Internet media. Results such as these should be analysed by the media companies to attract youth, because they are the consumers of today and tomorrow. Note Ana Isabel Bernal Triviño has just published the book The new media and youth (Euroeditions) http://www.euroeditions.org/autores/anaisabel_bernal.html. Contact information: anaisbernal2000@gmail.com Top New book from Nordicom on Young People, ICTs and Democracy [Internet, Computer Games, NICT] The rhetoric on the Internet and its potential implications for the sphere of politics have been especially pertinent in regard to young people. Through the use of notions such as ”the e-generation” or ”the messenger generation”, the new ICT’s supposed transformative potential has been identified and discussed. Just based on the title of this book, it might seem as if the editors are offering a similar approach – speculative reflections on the significance of the Internet for young people’s engagement and participation. However, the reader expecting discussions on how the various generations of the Web have turned the political and democratic world upside down will be disappointed. What this book offers instead are theoretical reflections on the Internet’s civic potential: analyses of policy concerns connected to its development, and elusive case studies of civic websites as well as young people’s everyday Web practices. Basically, the chapters in this book seek to analyze rather than mythologize the Internet’s political implications for young people. Young People, ICTs and Democracy. Theories, Policies, Identities and Websites by Tobias Olsson & Peter Dahlgren (eds), Nordicom, 2009, 250 p. ISBN 978-91-89471-87-0 More information on content and how to order Top Media Education/Media Literacy/Awareness Results of the First All-Russia Research School for Youth, “Media Education and Media Competence” (1) [Media Education/Media Literacy/Awareness] by Prof. Dr. Alexander Fedorov President of the Russian Association for Film and Media Education Taganrog State Pedagogical Institute Taganrog, Russia The Taganrog State Pedagogical Institute was the site of the first All-Russia Research School for Youth, “Media Education and Media Competence” (October 18-25, 2009). The school was carried out with financial support from the Federal Agency for Science and Innovation within the framework of the federal programme “Scientific and scientific-pedagogical cadres innovation Russia for 2009-2013”. The head of the school was Prof. Dr. Alexander Fedorov, President of the Russian Association for Film and Media Education and Chief Editor of the journal “Media Education”. Sixty young scientists from Belgorod, Borisoglebsk, Irkutsk, Krasnoyarsk, Moscow, St. Petersburg, Vladikavkaz and other Russian cities participated. Young scientists from Kiev (Ukraine) and Minsk (Belarus) arrived as guests. Russia’s leading experts in the field of professional and mass media education attended the opening ceremony and the roundtable discussion (2). Education and Exchange of Information The purpose of the school was, firstly, to effectively educate young researchers and teachers in the best scientific and methodological advances in the field of media education, and secondly, to organize a creative dialogue on issues of media education and media competence. A third purpose was to create an integrative communicative space for young scientists through increased interpersonal contacts as well as to intensify the exchange of scientific expertise and information between young scientists. Because applications to the school were on a competitive basis, priority was given to young researchers, teachers and graduate students under the age of 35 years, whose scientific achievements and interests were as close as possible to the themes of the school. The organizing committee selected the articles, which were then posted on the official website (http://edu.of.ru/mediacompetence). During “Media Education and Media Competence”, the following occurred: - The young researchers and teachers effectively utilized modern media education theory and methodology that account for the age of the audience, and especially the use of all types of media (mass communication), technology, critical analysis of media texts of different types and genres; - The youth audience (scientists and teachers up to 35 years of age) studied the theoretical foundations of “Media Education and Media Competence”, the basic theory of media education and the basic theoretical approaches to the critical analysis of media texts in the learning process (scientific impact); - In the process of conducting the Research School (lectures, seminars, practical work and creative assignments), the young scientists and specialists were able to master modern methods of media education (a methodological effect). An important feature of the Research School was the combination of the expert community (distinguished scholars in the field) sharing scientific experiments with the young scientists and the possibility for mutual discussion of reports by the young scientists, including testing and questioning. Results and Fields of Application The fields of application of the results can include all areas of media education, media competence, and media literacy – in higher and at secondary schools and institutions of further education. Possible users of the scientific and methodical results are teachers, graduate students and university students, academic researchers in the field of media and media education, school teachers and libraries – in sum, a wide audience interested in themes of media education. Proposals from the Research School for methodological approaches to media education are being introduced in the educational process of higher professional education at the Taganrog State Pedagogical Institute (03.13.30, specialization “Media Education”). Due to the principled possibility of wider use of its results, the practical significance of the All-Russia Research School for Youth, “Media Education and Media Competence” and the conclusions of scholars, graduate students, students and teachers in the teaching process (lectures, seminars and executions of courses, degrees and dissertations) can be useful to any modern university. Read more: http://edu.of.ru/mediaeducation http://edu.of.ru/medialibrary www.mediagram.ru Notes 1. This article was written with support from the federal programme “Scientific and scientific-pedagogical cadres innovation Russia for 2009-2013” (Activity 2.1, “Organization and conduct of national and international youth scientific conferences and schools”) of the Federal Agency for Science and Innovation, Russian Ministry of Education and Science. The supervisor of the project “Institutional and technical support of the All-Russia Research School for Youth, “Media Education and Media Competence” is Prof. Dr. Alexander Fedorov. 2. Vice-rector of the Taganrog State Pedagogical Institute Alexander Fedorov, Professor of St. Petersburg State University Sergei Korkonosenko, Head of the Laboratory of Media Education (Russian Academy of Education) Elena Bondarenko, Honoured Artist of Russia Galina Yevtushenko, Chairman of the Board of ICO “Information for All” Alexei Demidov, Dean of Journalism Faculty at Belgorod State University Prof. Dr. Alexander Korochensky, Professor at Taganrog State Pedagogical Institute Valery Gura, and others. Top Sheep Teach Slovak Kids to Behave Responsibly Online [Media Education/Media Literacy/Awareness] by Marcela Alzin Manager for International Cooperation eSlovensko, o. z. Slovakia Online technologies offer an unprecedented means of communication and facilitate freedom of expression around the globe. As Internet access and mobile phone use become more widespread worldwide, children and youths are becoming increasingly active users of the technologies. For them, the Internet is a powerful space for socializing, learning, and even engaging in public life. But the kids are not aware of the hazards of virtual life – they reveal personal information about themselves or their families online, chat with people they do not know and share sensitive photographs or videos, and thus become victims of cyberbullying and online harassment, or are exposed to illegal or harmful content. This problem is becoming more serious with the decreasing age of children entering the virtual space for the first time. Fighting the Problem Our NGO, eSlovensko, which has been active in the field of IT in Slovakia for a few years, recognized this dangerous trend among minors, and in 2007 launched the awareness-raising project Zodpovedne.sk (from Slovak “responsibly”) with nationwide coverage. The project’s latest activity was the creation of four animated stories, titled OVCE.sk (from Slovak “sheep”), that reflect inappropriate behaviour of youths in the virtual world and are to be utilized as an effective resource for practical media education. As the title of the series may suggest, the stories are set in a sheep cot and the main characters are small sheep, a wise shepherd, his helper, a big, bad wolf, and a hunter. They combine patterns of Slovak cultural heritage with sensitive up-to-date topics like grooming, paedophilia, racism and xenophobia, as well as the misuse of personal information or photographs, which are dealt with in an amusing yet educational way. The main goal of the creators was to reach even the youngest Internet users. Why Sheep? The project team spent many hours in discussions with psychologists, teachers, media experts and partners from law enforcement about the form of the educational resource. Our goal was to avoid direct association with kids; therefore, a suitable proxy solution was needed. The environment of a sheep cot was finally selected, not only because it refers to Slovak folklore but also because sheep are generally attributed with flock behaviour which, metaphorically, can be attributed to people who tend to lack critical thinking. This is one of the main reasons for harmful conduct in the virtual world. Animated Stories as Educational Resource The stories were first introduced to the public on 8 October 2009, and immediately received strong media coverage. They are currently broadcast on national TV channels during prime time, and apart from the stories the project website (www.ovce.sk) offers visitors a handful of accompanying OVCE.sk features such as games, cartoons, a glossary of Internet terms, emoticons and many downloadable items. OVCE.sk theme advice sheets on mobile phones, addictions, personal information and cyberbullying (Link) have been printed on the covers of workbooks for primary schools. In the near future, in cooperation with law enforcement agencies, eSlovensko plans to produce DVDs containing OVCE.sk stories, part of a “Prevention Kit” for policemen-preventists who visit pupils at their schools and give lectures on crime prevention. The DVD will be accompanied by a methodical handbook explaining how to work with the DVD in classes. The OVCE.sk animated stories target a wide audience. Although young children and teens are the primary target group, the stories also attract their parents/care providers and teachers, many of whom are not aware of the harmful conduct of minors online or other virtual world hazards. Taking into account the population of national minorities in Slovakia, the stories have been produced in the Slovak, Hungarian and Roma languages. Additionally, there is a sign language version and an international version with English subtitles. All versions are available on both the project website and YouTube (see below for links). The project is co-financed by the European Commission within the Safer Internet plus programme and is supported by the Ministry of Interior of the Slovak Republic, the Slovak Committee for UNICEF and commercial partners. With the animated stories, eSlovensko wishes to commemorate the 20th anniversary of the adoption of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child. Follow-up The project team plans to release another set of stories in 2010. Since the topics covered are understandable internationally and the setting is rather unconventional, the stories may attract audiences worldwide. eSlovensko is open to international cooperation. Links to OVCE.sk animated stories (English-subtitled release): Coatless (Publishing indecent photos online) White Sheep (Discrimination and racism online, uncritical thinking) Secret Friend (Grooming and paedophilia) Don't Dance With the Wolf (Misuse of indecent photos and videos) Contact: marcela.alzin@eslovensko.sk www.ovce.sk www.zodpovedne.sk Top Child Online Protection Guidelines x 2 [Media Education/Media Literacy/Awareness] … from ITU Children and young people of today are truly becoming digital citizens in an online world without borders or frontiers. The experiences online are mostly positive but children and young people also need to be aware of the potentially negative sides of the technologies. Possible harmful activities such as bullying and harassment, identity theft and seeing harmful and illegal content may threat their well being. The best form of protection is raising awareness and empowering children and young people through education about what can happen online and how to behave to navigate safely. In 2009 the UN’s International Telecommunications Union (ITU) launched a Child Online Protection initiative. The key objectives are to: • Identify risks and vulnerabilities to children in cyberspace • Create awareness • Develop practical tools to help minimize risk • Share knowledge and experience This is important not only among children and youth but among all parties and stakeholders. Therefore, separate guidelines (in several languages) have been published to address different parties such as children and young people, parents/guardians/educators, industry and policy makers (Link). Links to other online resources on Internet safety: Read more Source www.itu.int/osg/csd/cybersecurity/gca/cop/index.html …and from WAN The World Association of Newspapers and News Publishers (WAN - IFRA) have just published a guide for parents to help and protect their children online. Internet in the Family: A guide to helping children when they go online is written by Roxana Morduchowicz, Director of Media Education at the Argentinean Education Ministry. The guide (available in English, Spanish and French) describes some of the risks and offers strategies for reducing them. A model “Family Code” for Internet behaviour is included and gives recommendations for adults on how to engage in their children’s online activities. The guide can be used by newspapers world-wide to offer their readers and to help the newspaper “become a media literacy ally” of teachers and parents. More information and examples on how the guide has been used: Link Source www.wan-press.org/article18380.html Top Finnish Media Education Policies and Best Practices [Media Education/Media Literacy/Awareness] by Reijo Kupiainen, Ph.D. Chair Mediakasvatusseura ry (the Finnish Society on Media Education) Helsinki, Finland The Finnish Society on Media Education has published new information about media education policies and practices in Finland. The first publication, Media Education in Finland - Approaches in Culture and Education, presents a review of the recent guidelines in the media education field. The object of this publication is to reveal those areas of media education that are subject to development and to create a basis for more extensive international cooperation. The second publication, Media Education in Finland - Best Practices, highlights some successful Finnish projects and innovations that have furthered the cause of national media education. Some of the projects are now concluded but have brought into being permanent practices and guides, which support the professionals operating in the field. Media education is an important part of the Finnish education and teaching system, and is carried out in early childhood education and comprehensive school, not as a school subject but as a point of emphasis in education. The Finnish specialty in the field of media education is the development of media literacy for small children and their educators. Media education has also been an important part of a comprehensive library network and youth work. In 2003 the Ministry of Education initiated the Children and Media programme, which has generated many good projects. Its objective has been to make media education a part of everyday life, regardless of someone’s age or social class. The Finnish Society on Media Education promotes multidisciplinary research on, and practices in, media education. Its most important tasks are to disseminate information, arrange events, publish materials and develop national and international contacts for actors in the field. We hope these two publications will give a general view of Finnish media education. We would like to share our best practices and develop international contacts and cooperation within the field. The publications are available in pdf-format on the Clearinghouse's web site(Link) Top Media Literacy in Europe – Controversies, Challenges and Perspectives [Media Education/Media Literacy/Awareness] EuroMeduc is a European exchange network for media literacy supported by the European Commission (Lifelong Learning Programme). For a period of 18 months, EuroMeduc has served European research and applied research projects with results from previous work, in order to increase the quality and relevance of their efforts in educational projects. EuroMeduc has also identified restraints and opportunities and, on the basis of this, produced 70 recommendations for influencing education, science and policy for future work. These recommendations are collected in the recent publication Media Literacy in Europe: Controversies, Challenges and Perspectives, published in December 2009 (available in English and French). The book also features articles with references to the issues of this project. Prior to the publishing of the book more than 350 practitioners, researchers, policymakers and media professionals from 30 countries met in Bellaria, Italy, in October 2009 for the fourth and final event of the EuroMeduc project. At the Bellaria congress the participants, representing their specific positions, worked together on the recommendations building on three precepts: opportunities, brakes/obstacles and actions to be taken. The aim of the four EuroMeduc partners (Média Animation, Clemi, Zaffiria and the University of Algarve), together with all participants, is to support the effective and integrated development of media literacy and to see it become more widespread and implemented throughout Europe. Note French title: L’éducation aux médias en Europe. Controverses, défis et perspectives Source www.euromeduc.eu Top Media Contents and Media Production Quality in Children’s Television [Media Contents and Media Production] In no. 22/2009/E of the journal TELEVIZION, the question “What is Quality in Children’s Television” is raised. A number of scholars contribute to the discussion from a variety of viewpoints. The discussion is also taken up by programme makers sharing their thoughts and experiences. The International Central Institute for Youth and Educational Television (IZI), which publishes the journal, also presents data from their research project “Children’s Perspectives on Quality” in an article by Astrid Plenk. Although children are the topic of discussion, according to Plenk their own perspectives are rarely included. The aim of the study IZI conducted is to determine which qualitative criteria children demand should be fulfilled in programmes aimed at them. As a starting point, the researchers have recorded children’s jury sessions at film and TV festivals. Six main categories of assessment were able to be extracted: subject matter, dramatic structure, people, emotions, style and recommendations. Subject matter (story or main topic) was placed first when children described quality in a programme. They stressed the fact that the programme must be interesting and offer them something new or special/different. In stories of fantasy, the possibility to relate to the subject matter, finding points of contact in their own experience, was important when evaluating quality. Overall, credibility and authenticity run like a main thread through the description of the six categories. When considering the category recommendations, the children assessed quality when it came to suitability for different age groups – their own and younger. However, items they considered suitable for children older than themselves, because of things like violence, were rejected in terms of quality. The articles in the journal are available online at www.izi.de Source TELEVIZION, No. 22/2009/E: “What is Quality in Children’s Television” Top Violent Content on Romanian TV in Focus [Media Contents and Media Production] In a content study of TV programming on 11 Romanian channels, violent scenes were studied. The aim of the study was to provide some background while raising awareness of the impact of mediated violence on children and to highlight the responsibility of the family, the school and the mass media in protecting young viewers. The study is the first of its kind in Romania as concerns the topic and methodological approach. The number and duration of scenes of violence were identified in the programming under study, as well as script context and types of violence representation. One channel (ProTV) was found to show 23.4 acts of violence during 60 minutes of broadcasting. At the other end of the scale was a channel that showed nine acts of violence during the same time period (TVR1). The three children’s channels under study (Cartoon Network, Jetix and Minimax) showed 20 to 37 violent acts per hour in their cartoons. Overall, verbal violence was found to be the most common type of violence in the study (44% of all violent acts), followed by physical violence (33.6%). The study was launched by UNICEF Romania, the National Audiovisual Council (NAC) and the Centre for Media Studies and New Communication Technologies at the University of Bucharest where Professor Ioan Dragan, Director of the Centre, coordinated the study. Note The body of research consists of 348 h and 15 m of different kinds of broadcasts during one week (5-11 January, 2009) including reality, fiction and entertainment programming. The following channels were analysed: TVR1, ProTV, Acasa, Antena1, Antena3, RealitateaTV, PrimaTV, OTV and the children’s channels Cartoon Network, Jetix and Minimax. Source UNICEF Romania, www.unicef.org/romania/media_12146.html Top Measures and Regulations 20th Anniversary of the CRC [Measures and Regulations] Since 1989, the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) has been the legally binding international convention affirming the human rights of all children. It guarantees children the right to life, to education, to play and to be protected from abuse. The convention has been almost universally ratified, by 193 parties, more than the number of members of the United Nations. On November 20, 2009, 20 years with the Convention were commemorated around the world. Dan Seymour, Chief of the Gender and Rights Unit of UNICEF’s Policy and Practice Division, gives his view of the first 20 years, pointing at accomplishments and the challenges ahead: Read more The UNICEF web site has also published a list of events worldwide highlighting and commemorating the CRC: Read more The overall point of departure for the Clearinghouse’s efforts is the CRC, not least the three articles concerning media (nos. 3, 13 and 17): Link There is still a great deal to accomplish in fulfilling the rights of the world’s children. Let us all continue this good work and hope that every year brings us a few steps further along. Top EU Audiovisual Service Directive in Force by December 2009 [Measures and Regulations] Beginning December 19, 2009, broadcasters sending from states in the European Union are required to comply with new rules regarding advertising breaks in news and children’s programmes. According to the new rules, children’s programmes with a scheduled duration of 30 minutes or less may not include any advertising or teleshopping breaks. Programmes lasting longer than 30 minutes may have one break. Advertising or teleshopping breaks within schools programmes are not permitted and instead must be placed between programmes. The new rules are minimum rules that apply across the European Union by virtue of the Audiovisual Service Directive. The new legislation, which will be transposed into national law by all EU member states by December 19, 2009, will also prohibit product placement in children’s programmes produced after this date. Source www.ofcom.org.uk and http://ec.europa.eu/avpolicy/reg/avms/index_en.htm Top Special Section: News from the US The False Promise of Screen Media for Babies and What One Advocacy Group Decided to Do About It [Special Section: News from the US] by Susan Linn, Ed.D. Director, Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood Judge Baker Children’s Center Boston, USA www.commercialfreechildhood.org In September of 2009, the Baby Einstein Company, the largest baby media company in the world, offered a refund to anyone who bought one of their DVDs in the last five years. The Walt Disney Company, which owns Baby Einstein, claims that the refund is just business as usual, but, in fact, it is the result of years of effort by the Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood, a U.S. based advocacy group of which I am the director. We have been working for almost a decade to stop the deceptive marketing of screen media for babies as educational. The New York Times called the refund “a tacit admission that [Baby Einstein videos] did not increase infant intellect.” (1) Baby Media is Big Business Despite the fact that the American Academy of Pediatrics recommends no screen time for children under the age of two (2), the baby media industry is big business. Baby Einstein has brought in $200 million annually and constitutes 90 percent of the baby video market (3). One out of three babies in the United States own a Baby Einstein video (4), and I hear from my colleagues around the world that baby videos are extremely popular in other countries as well. Although it’s the biggest, Baby Einstein is not the only company marketing so-called “educational” screen media to babies. Products with titles like Brainy Baby and Baby Genius are also available – and new media companies, like VTech, make software for infants claiming to be educational. BabyFirst TV, a television station claiming to promote infant learning, is available on cable and satellite stations around the world. In the United States, about 19 percent of babies under the age of twelve months have a television in their bedroom (5), and about 40 percent of three month old babies are regular viewers of television (6). The number one reason parents give for putting their babies in front of screens is their educational value (7). Yet there is no credible evidence that watching screens is beneficial for babies, and some evidence that it may be harmful. Negative Effects of TV Viewing in Early Childhood Screen time for babies has been linked to slower language acquisition between eight and sixteen months (8) and sleep disturbances (9). While one recent study showed that infant screen time had no impact on cognitive development one way or another at age three (10), another showed that at age seven, children who watched more television as babies did less well on certain cognitive tests (11). Research also suggests that the more time babies spend in front of TV the less time they spend engaging in two activities that really do facilitate learning: interacting with parents away from screens, and spending time actively involved in creative play (12). Losing – or never acquiring – the ability to play may not sound like much until you realize that play is both the foundation of learning and essential to mental health. Initiative, curiosity, active exploration, problem solving, and creativity are capacities that develop through play, as are the more ephemeral qualities of self-reflection, empathy, and the ability to find meaning in life. For children three and over, increased television viewing is linked to bullying (13), poor school performance (14), and aggressive behavior (15). A preschooler’s risk for obesity increases by 6 percent for every hour of TV watched per day; if there’s a TV in the child’s bedroom, the odds jump an additional 31 percent for every hour watched (16). Yet, in the United States, children between the ages of two and five are spending about a day and a half a week in front of screens (17). Educational Media? Babies are born with an innate drive to love, to learn, and to actively engage in the world. An impressive body of research has established that in the first months and years of life, optimal intellectual, social and emotional development requires direct engagement with the world. That’s why the escalation of allegedly educational electronic media targeted to infants and toddlers is perhaps the most troubling trend in a commercialized culture fraught with troubling trends. By targeting babies, companies are marketing not just products, but life-long habits, values, and behaviors – hardwiring dependence on media before babies even have a chance to grow and develop; removing them further and further from the very experiences that are essential for healthy development. Meanwhile, some of my public health colleagues tell me that there’s no point in even trying. Today’s overworked, overstressed, under-supported parents don’t really want to hear that videos like Baby Einstein and Brainy Baby are not educational and that screen time may even be harmful. By believing they’re beneficial, parents can justify using electronic media to get what may be a much-needed break from hands-on childcare. But parents deserve honest information, not the marketing hype they are getting from baby media companies. Propping babies in front of screens may initially buy them free time, but it’s likely to cost both them and their children later on. Screen media can be habituating (18). One worry is that screen-saturated babies will never learn how to soothe or amuse themselves independently. Do we want to raise a generation of children who are either bored or anxious unless they are in front of a screen? That’s certainly where the media and marketing industries want them. Even more than getting babies to love their programs, companies like Disney and Sesame Workshop use media as a means of getting babies to love the characters they feature – which inevitably turn up in the grocery or toy store on products parents may or may not want to buy. Early Childhood Marketing Parents have a right to decide how and when to introduce their children to screen media. They also have a right to accurate information about the pros and cons of that choice. If they choose to limit children’s media consumption, they will be struggling endlessly against a multi-billion dollar industry. Can’t we at least help them protect babies? We need to hold media companies responsible for backing up claims embedded in their marketing. Babies have a right to grow up – and parents have a right to raise them – without being undermined by commercial interests. • How to get a Baby Einstein refund: Read more • For countries outside of the United States: Initially the refund was only for parents in the United States. After an international outcry, the refund was extended to other countries, but the DVDs have to be sent back to the United States—at significant cost. Encourage parents, and parent groups, in your country to contact Disney Headquarters locally to demand that the DVDs be sent back to their offices, not the U.S. address. • In 2008, France banned television programming aimed at children under three years old because there is no evidence that that screen time is educational for babies and toddlers. Encourage legislators from your country to do the same. Read more References 1. Tamar Lewin, (2009 October 24). No Einstein in Your Crib? Get a Refund. New York Times, Pg. 1. 2. American Academy of Pediatrics, “News Briefs,” 3 October 2005. Available at http://www.aap.org/advocacy/releases/oct05studies.htm. Accessed 11 July 2007. 3. Lewin. No Einstein in Your Crib? Get a Refund. 4. Ibid. 5. Victoria Rideout and Elizabeth Hamel, (2006). The Media Family: Electronic media in the lives of infants, toddlers, preschoolers and their parents. Menlo Park, CA: Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation. 6. Fred J. Zimmerman, Dmitri Christakis & Andrew N. Meltzoff, (2007) Television and DVD/video viewing in children younger than 2 years. Archives of Pediatric & Adolescent Medicine. 161(5): 473-9. 7. Ibid. 8. Fred J. Zimmerman, Dmitri A. Christakis & Andrew N. Meltzoff, (2007 August). Associations Between Media Viewing and Language Development in Children Under Age 2 Years. The Journal of Pediatrics. 151(40): 364-368. 9. Darcy A. Thompson and Dimitri A. Christakis, (2005). The Association Between Television Viewing and Irregular Sleep Schedules Among Children Less Than 3 Years of Age. Pediatrics 116(4): 851-856. 10. Marie Evans Schmidt, Michael Rich, MD, Sheryl L. Rifas-Shiman, Emily Oken, Elsie M. Taveras, (2009 March). Television Viewing in Infancy and Child Cognition at 3 Years of Age in a US Cohort. Pediatrics. 123 (3): e370-5. 11. Fred Zimmerman, & Dmitri Christakis, (2005). Children's television viewing and cognitive outcomes: A longitudinal analysis of national data. Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine. 159(7): 619-625. 12. Elizabeth A. Vandewater, David S. Bickham, and June H. Lee, (2006). Time Well Spent? Relating Television Use to Children’s Free-Time Activities. Pediatrics 117 (2): 181-191. 13. Fred Zimmerman, et al. (2005). Early Cognitive Stimulation, Emotional Support, and Television watching as predictors of subsequent bullying among grade school children. Archives of Pediatric and Adolescent Medicine. 159(4): 384–388. 14. Iman Sharif and James D. Sargent, (2006). Association Between Television, Movie, and Video Game Exposure and School Performance. Pediatrics 118: 1061-1070. 15. Ibid. 16. Barbara A. Dennison, et al. (2002). Television viewing and television in bedroom associated with overweight risk among low-income preschool children. Pediatrics 109: 1028–1035. 17. Matea Gold. (2009 October 27). Kids' eyes are glued to TV; Sure, children are on the computer too, but with DVDs and video games, television usage is at an eight-year high. Los Angeles Times. Section D, p. 1. 18. Zimmerman, Christakis, & Meltzoff, (2007). Top Children in US Watch More than a Day of TV Each Week [Special Section: News from the US] Marketing and media information company Nielsen report on their blog “nielsenwire” (Link) that American children aged two to eleven years are watching more television than they have in years (1). Weekly television usage has reached an eight-year high, with children aged two to five years spending an average of over 32 hours a week and six to eleven-year-olds more than 28 hours. This increased viewing time reflects the overall increase in media consumption across age groups and media sources. Elements are added to the media experience rather than replaced, according to the Nielsen Company. The major part of the viewing time among children is spent watching live TV. Younger children aged two to five years spend more time watching DVR and DVD, etc. (4%) than those aged six to eleven years (2.3%). In an article in the Los Angeles Times (Link) from October 27, 2009, these findings are commented on by children’s health advocates. Long hours of watching television are linked to delayed language skills and obesity. According to a study by researchers at the University of Washington in 2007, children watching a great deal of television miss out on opportunities to learn from their parents and develop imaginative play. The recommendations from the American Academy of Pediatrics are no screen time for children younger than two years and less than an hour or two for those older than two. Note 1. According to Nielsen, children aged two to five years spent an average of three hours and 47 minutes a day watching television in the fourth quarter of 2008, up from three hours and 40 minutes from the same period in 2007. Older children increased their TV viewing by three minutes during the same period. Top TV Viewing Associated with Increased Aggression [Special Section: News from the US] Both active and passive TV viewing by three-year-old children appear to be associated with aggressive behaviour in a study published in the journal Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine (November 2009). Studies of TV use by young children have mainly focused on children’s direct or active TV viewing without considering general household TV use, according to the authors of the article. According to a previous study, nearly 40% of the children were found to live in homes characterized by heavy TV viewing. The fact that the TV is on even when the child is not actively watching may result in their unregulated exposure to violent content that may influence aggressive behaviour. Displacement theory also suggests that greater TV use in the household displaces family time that could be spent fostering healthy child development, e.g. interacting with the child in activities such as playing or reading. These results were also found when controlling for other factors such as maternal health, neighbourhood disorder and demographic characteristics. The data are based on a survey of 3,128 mothers of children (mean age 36 months) in 20 large US cities, part of a population-based study called The Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study. Source Television Exposure as a Risk Factor for Aggressive Behavior Among 3-Year-Old Children, by Jennifer A. Manganello; Catherine A. Taylor, in Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine. 2009;163(11):1037-1045. Top Four Recent Articles on the Influence of Video Games [Special Section: News from the US] Christopher P. Barlett, Craig A. Anderson & Edward L. Swing: “Video Game Effects – Confirmed, Suspected, and Speculative. A Review of the Evidence”. Simulation & Gaming, Vol. 40, No. 3, June 2009, pp. 377-403 This literature review focuses on the confirmed, suspected, and speculative effects of violent and non-violent video game exposure on negative and positive outcomes. Negative outcomes include aggressive feelings, aggressive thoughts, aggressive behavior, physiological arousal, and desensitization, whereas positive outcomes include various types of learning. Craig A. Anderson & Nicholas L. Carnagey: “Causal effects of violent sports video games on aggression: Is it competitiveness or violent content?”. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 45 (2009), pp. 731-739 Three short term experiments examined the impact of excessive violence in sport video games on aggression-related variables. Participants, who were undergraduate students, played either a nonviolent simulation-based sports video game (baseball or football) or a matched excessively violent sports video game. The experiments supported the violent-content hypothesis (and rejected the hypothesis of only competition) by demonstrating that violent content in sports video games increases aggressive cognitions, aggressive affect, acceptability of violence in certain sports, and aggressive behavior. Kira Bailey, Robert West & Craig A. Anderson: “A negative association between video game experience and proactive cognitive control”, Psychophysiology, 47 (2010), pp. 34-42 Some evidence demonstrates that video game experience has a beneficial effect on visuospatial cognition. In contrast, other evidence indicates that video game experience may be negatively related to cognitive control. The data, comparing high and low gamers with physiological tests, lead to the suggestion that video game experience has a negative influence on proactive, but not reactive, cognitive control. Douglas A. Gentile, Craig A. Anderson, Shintaro Yukawa, Nobuko Ihori, Muniba Saleem, Lim Kam Ming, Akiko Shibuya, Albert K. Liau, Angeline Khoo, Brad J. Bushman, L. Rowell Huesmann, & Akira Sakamoto: “The Effects of Prosocial Video Games on Prosocial Behaviors: International Evidence from Correlational, Longitudinal, and Experimental Studies”. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, June 2009, Vol. 35, pp. 752-763 The article describes three studies: 1) A cross-sectional correlational study of video game habits and prosocial behaviors with Singaporean secondary school children (mean age = 13.0 years). 2) A longitudinal study on habitual playing of prosocial video games and on prosocial behavior, assessed twice with a 3- to 4-month time span in two separate samples of Japanese children’s (mean age 10.9). 3) A short term experiment on playing prosocial, violent and neutral video games, respectively, after which participants (college students, mean age 19.2) completed a task where they could either help or harm another participant. All three studies give evidence of prosocial behaviour as a consequence of playing games with prosocial content. Top Dramatic Increase in the Use of Media Among US Youth [Special Section: News from the US] The Kaiser Family Foundation just released (January 2010) a report on daily media use among children and teens in the US. The results show a dramatic increase in the amount of time young people spend with media. Today an average of 7 hours and 38 minutes is spent using media. And because of ‘media multitasking’, i.e. using more than one type of media at the same time, a total of 10 h and 45 min of media content are consumed during the 7 ½ hours. The total amount of media content consumed show an increase of one hour and twelve minutes since 2004. Mobile devices such as mobile phones and iPods are the main reason for the increase in media use according to the survey. Since 2004, the increase in ownership of a mobile phone among 8-18 year olds is up from 39% to 66% and for iPods and other MP3 players from 18% to 76%. The multi-media functions of the devices are the most attractive. Listening to music, playing games and watching television on the mobile phones is used for 49 minutes daily compared to 33 minutes of talking. Generation M2: Media in the Lives of 8- to 18-year-olds is the third in a series of large-scale, nationally representative surveys by the KFF about young people’s media use. The report also includes data from previous studies (1999 and 2004). Note See also news brief from Clearinghouse newsletter no.1, 2005 on the 2004 study from KFF: Link Source http://kff.org/entmedia/mh012010pkg.cfm Top