Below are some recent publications from members of Digital Girls. Please visit the Visuals section of our website to see our videos and other arts-based productions.
Paper presented at the Canadian Communication Annual Conference, June 2-4, 2005, London, Ontario.
Abstract:
As media and internet technologies continue to play significant roles in the everyday lives of children and youth, many scholars have researched and written about children’s uses of these technologies (for example, Buckingham, 2002, and Livingstone, 2002). In an article focused on citizenship and adolescent health, McLeod (2000) argues that “recent research has shifted emphasis from an earlier view of adolescents as passive recipients of teaching from family, schools, and media to conceptions of youth as participants actively engaged in the world around them” (p. 45). He concludes that mass media and communication research should be combined with developmental and political socialization research regarding adolescents in order to better understand youth participation in civic life. Engaging directly with the Congress theme, Paradoxes of Citizenship: Environments, Exclusions, Equity, this paper will provide an overview of the literature to date on civic participation of children and youth, focusing predominantly on the role(s) of media technologies and the internet. It will also discuss gaps in existing research and address significant issues such as gender, race, class, geographical location, social capital, and consumption vs. citizenship, as well as definitions of citizenship and civic participation. The literature review will help to situate examples of how selected community networks, including those involved in the Canadian Research Alliance for Community Innovation and Networking (CRACIN), are working to encourage civic participation among children and youth through use of technology.
References
* Buckingham, D. (2002). The electronic generation? Children and new media. In L. Lievrouw & S. Livingstone (Eds.), The Handbook of New Media. London: Sage.
* Livingstone, S. (2002). Young People and New Media: Children and the Changing Media
Environment. London: Sage.
* McLeod, J.M. (2000). Media and civic socialization of youth. Journal of Adolescent Health, 27S, 45-51.
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