UNESCO supported publication looks at young people and media in the digital age
19-09-2006 (Paris)
Cover of the Year Book 2006
© International Clearinghouse on Children, Youth and Media
“In the Service of Young People? Studies and Reflections on Media in the Digital Age” is the title of a UNESCO supported publication that was recently launched by the International Clearinghouse on Children, Youth and Media.
During the past decades, the media landscape and media culture have undergone major changes. Modern information technology has given rise to a constantly increasing supply of media products through many new channels, and our perceptions of time and space, of the bounds between private and public, central and peripheral, have changed. But research shows that the situation of children’s and young people’s programmes on radio and television in most countries is deteriorating rather than improving. Likewise, spaces dedicated to children and young people on the Internet are overwhelmingly created by agencies driven by avarice rather than young people’s interests.
At the same time, children use adult programming and adult sites from an early age – meaning that many come into contact with too much media violence and other potentially harmful media traits not addressed to them. Although persons under the age of 18 constitute one third of the world’s population (in some countries more than half), they are also severely underrepresented in the media output (apart from in advertising) – they are seldom seen or heard, and their participation in media production is negligible or non-existent.
The study was published as a “Yearbook” of the International Clearinghouse on Children, Youth and Media at the Information Centre for Media and Communication Research (Nordicom) of Göteborg University Sweden , with Ulla Carlsson and Cecilia von Feilitzenas editors. It assembles contributions by researchers from different parts of the world in order to shed light upon issues of vital importance that arise when dealing with a subject such as ’media in the service of young people’. The book consists of two parts. The first part contains articles by eminent scholars active in different continents. These articles exhibit theoretical visions and empirical examples of what constitutes and what does not constitute media and media contents in the service of children and youth. The researchers also reflect on measures of how to improve young people's media situation in the digital age.
The second part of the publication presents different kinds of efforts at raising media and information/Internet literacy among young people, parents, media educators and media professionals through examples of activities, projects, resources, and best practices with a focus on children’s and young people’s own media production as one of the more effective means to raise their level of knowledge and awareness.
Bibliographic reference:
In the Service of Young People? Studies and Reflections on Media in the Digital Age Editors: Ulla Carlsson, Cecilia von Feilitzen . – Göteborg: Nordicom, 2006, 437 p. - ISBN 91-89471-35-0, (Yearbooks) - ISSN 1403-4700
At the same time, children use adult programming and adult sites from an early age – meaning that many come into contact with too much media violence and other potentially harmful media traits not addressed to them. Although persons under the age of 18 constitute one third of the world’s population (in some countries more than half), they are also severely underrepresented in the media output (apart from in advertising) – they are seldom seen or heard, and their participation in media production is negligible or non-existent.
The study was published as a “Yearbook” of the International Clearinghouse on Children, Youth and Media at the Information Centre for Media and Communication Research (Nordicom) of Göteborg University Sweden , with Ulla Carlsson and Cecilia von Feilitzenas editors. It assembles contributions by researchers from different parts of the world in order to shed light upon issues of vital importance that arise when dealing with a subject such as ’media in the service of young people’. The book consists of two parts. The first part contains articles by eminent scholars active in different continents. These articles exhibit theoretical visions and empirical examples of what constitutes and what does not constitute media and media contents in the service of children and youth. The researchers also reflect on measures of how to improve young people's media situation in the digital age.
The second part of the publication presents different kinds of efforts at raising media and information/Internet literacy among young people, parents, media educators and media professionals through examples of activities, projects, resources, and best practices with a focus on children’s and young people’s own media production as one of the more effective means to raise their level of knowledge and awareness.
Bibliographic reference:
In the Service of Young People? Studies and Reflections on Media in the Digital Age Editors: Ulla Carlsson, Cecilia von Feilitzen . – Göteborg: Nordicom, 2006, 437 p. - ISBN 91-89471-35-0, (Yearbooks) - ISSN 1403-4700
Related themes/countries
· Supporting Research
· Information and Media Literacy: News Archives 2006
· Youth and ICT: News Archives 2006
Share this story:
Contact information
- UNESCO
Source