[Air-L] LSE and UNICEF explore children's rights globally in the digital age

[Sonia Livingstone]

Launching website 'Researching children's rights in the digital age'

View this email in your browser (http://us10.campaign-archive1.com/?u=6ed42cda03012774a98ca3add&id=4a42dabaf4&e=784e60c12f)


** EU Kids Online and UNICEF meet at LSE to explore children's rights globally in the digital age
------------------------------------------------------------

Globally, digital devices are increasingly part of children’s everyday lives. Yet this use often outpaces protective legislative and regulatory frameworks, while opportunities to secure their rights may be missed. EU Kids Online (http://www.eukidsonline.net) and UNICEF Office of Research (http://www.unicef-irc.org/) are working together to explore children’s rights globally in the digital age (http://www.lse.ac.uk/media@lse/research/Researching-Childrens-Rights-Globally-in-the-Digital-Age.aspx) , building on an earlier scoping study (http://www.unicef-irc.org/publications/702) . Drawing upon their strong histories of developing bodies of evidence to inform policy and debate around children’s issues, EU Kids Online and UNICEF are calling for a global research effort to collect baseline data on children’s digital use and inform an effective rights framework for safeguarding children’s rights.

EU Kids Online and UNICEF recently convened a meeting (http://www.lse.ac.uk/media@lse/research/Research-Projects/Researching-Childrens-Rights/Aims-and-report.aspx) of international experts (http://www.lse.ac.uk/media@lse/research/Research-Projects/Researching-Childrens-Rights/Participants.aspx) to explore whether and how children’s rights are being enhanced or undermined in the digital age.  The resulting report Researching Children’s Rights Globally in the Digital Age (http://www.lse.ac.uk/media@lse/research/Research-Projects/Researching-Childrens-Rights/pdf/Researching-childrens-rights-globally-in-the-digital-age-260515-withphotos.pdf) addresses key concerns for youth users in the global North and global South as well as challenges facing research across cultures and countries. The report calls for engaging youth in the development of research that affects them, along with the multiple stakeholders - governments, NGOs, researchers, educators, parents, and those developing
devices and providing access to children – that make a difference in children’s digital experiences.

We invite you to engage in this ongoing discussion of researching children’s rights globally in the digital age. Today, we launch a website that provides videos of expert interviews (http://www.lse.ac.uk/media@lse/research/Research-Projects/Researching-Childrens-Rights/Videos.aspx) and discussions (http://www.lse.ac.uk/media@lse/research/Research-Projects/Researching-Childrens-Rights/Agenda.aspx)  from our recent meeting and a growing list of relevant reports and initiatives (http://www.lse.ac.uk/media@lse/research/Research-Projects/Researching-Childrens-Rights/Resources.aspx) .  Our participants’ page provides interviews and presentations (http://www.lse.ac.uk/media@lse/research/Research-Projects/Researching-Childrens-Rights/Participants.aspx) from international experts in child rights, child protection, internet and mobile technologies and governance, cross-national survey and ethnographic methods, applied and policy-relevant research, and area specialists from the global
North and global South.

We explore six challenges facing global research on children’s rights in the digital age:
* Identifying the opportunities and barriers to children’s rights in a digital, global age
* Setting the standards for rigorous and comparable methods of investigation cross-nationally
* Research contexts in the global North and global South – priorities, training and impact
* Multistakeholder engagement and research funding
* Implementing evidence-based policy internationally: practice, politics, ethics
* Producing a robust yet flexible cross-national research toolkit: learning from experience

We invite you to explore these topics further in our report (http://www.lse.ac.uk/media@lse/research/Research-Projects/Researching-Childrens-Rights/pdf/Researching-childrens-rights-globally-in-the-digital-age-260515-withphotos.pdf) and in the videos and presentations (http://www.lse.ac.uk/media@lse/research/Research-Projects/Researching-Childrens-Rights/Agenda.aspx) . We will provide updates periodically, and we also look forward to hearing from others about related initiatives.

Sonia Livingstone,
London School of Economics and Political Science

Jasmina Byrne
UNICEF Office of Research

Monica Bulger
Data & Society Research Institute

============================================================
Copyright © 2015 London School of Economics and Political Science, All rights reserved.
 You are receiving this email because you expressed interest in our project. You can unsubscribe from this list at any moment.

Our mailing address is:
London School of Economics and Political Science
Houghton Street
London,  WC2A 2AE
United Kingdom
** unsubscribe from this list (http://lse.us10.list-manage.com/unsubscribe?u=6ed42cda03012774a98ca3add&id=b5b8341297&e=784e60c12f&c=4a42dabaf4)
** update subscription preferences (http://lse.us10.list-manage.com/profile?u=6ed42cda03012774a98ca3add&id=b5b8341297&e=784e60c12f)