| Description |
In the first decade of the 21st century, the context of children’s media use has changed almost beyond recognition. The expansion of the Internet and other digital media has raised many important questions. Some focus on the potential risks of this development (such as exposure to inappropriate material), while others focus on how this might be related to (or even driving) social change in general. This special issue has grown from the work of the EU Kids Online research network, which since 2006 has been a focal point for new findings and the critical evaluation of children’s use of digital media. In its first phase, the network identified and critically evaluated the findings of around 400 studies, drawing substantive, methodological and policy-relevant conclusions (see for example Livingstone & Haddon, 2009). The network found that the number of studies on children and the Internet has grown steadily since 2000, but these studies have been conducted in many countries, using diverse methods, and have been published in many different languages (see Donoso, Ólafsson & Broddason, 2009). With the aim of strengthening the comparative aspect of studies on children and the Internet, the EU Kids Online network surveyed children and parents in 25 European countries in 2010 (see for example Livingstone, Haddon, Görzig & Ólafsson, 2011). The rationale behind this special issue was to serve as a publishing platform for articles addressing the overall topic of children in cyberspace. Researchers from the EU Kids Online network and beyond were invited to submit articles focussing on online opportunities, risks and safety. It is encouraging for future efforts in collecting comparative data on this topic to see how the authors of the seven articles in this volume have employed the data and findings of the EU Kids Online survey. Two of the articles make direct use of the unique EU Kids Online data and the other articles use the survey findings either as a point of departure or for comparison. In the first decade of the 21st century, the context of children’s media use has changed almost beyond recognition. The expansion of the Internet and other digital media has raised many important questions. Some focus on the potential risks of this development (such as exposure to inappropriate material), while others focus on how this might be related to (or even driving) social change in general. This special issue has grown from the work of the EU Kids Online research network, which since 2006 has been a focal point for new findings and the critical evaluation of children’s use of digital media. In its first phase, the network identified and critically evaluated the findings of around 400 studies, drawing substantive, methodological and policy-relevant conclusions (see for example Livingstone & Haddon, 2009). The network found that the number of studies on children and the Internet has grown steadily since 2000, but these studies have been conducted in many countries, using diverse methods, and have been published in many different languages (see Donoso, Ólafsson & Broddason, 2009). With the aim of strengthening the comparative aspect of studies on children and the Internet, the EU Kids Online network surveyed children and parents in 25 European countries in 2010 (see for example Livingstone, Haddon, Görzig & Ólafsson, 2011). The rationale behind this special issue was to serve as a publishing platform for articles addressing the overall topic of children in cyberspace.
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