EU Kids Online III

Web: available here
Project Period: 09/2011 – 08/2014
Investor: European Union
Project Type: Other grant projects excluding research and development

EU Kids Online III is following the work of EU Kids Online I and II. In its first phase (2006-9), as a thematic network of 21 countries, EU Kids Online identified and critically evaluated the findings of nearly 400 research studies, drawing substantive, methodological and policy-relevant conclusions. In its second phase (2009-11), as a knowledge enhancement project across 25 countries, the network is surveying children and parents to produce original, rigorous data on their internet use, risk experiences and safety mediation. In the proposed project, the successful track record of the EU Kids Online network will be built on and extended to provide both a proactive and a responsive resource to support the work of diverse researchers and stakeholders across Europe, strengthening the evidence base and informing policy developments initiated by the EC Safer Internet Programme and others.

In its third phase (2011-14), the EU Kids Online network will provide a focal point for timely findings and critical analyses of new media uses and associated risks among children across Europe, drawing on these to sustain an active dialogue with stakeholders about priority areas of concern for child online safety.

Specifically, the network will widen its work by including all member states, by undertaking international comparisons with selected findings from countries outside the EC, and extending its engagement – both proactively and responsively – with policy stakeholders and internet safety initiatives.

It will deepen its work through new and targeted hypothesis testing of the pan-European dataset, focused on strengthening insights into both the risk environment and strategies of safety mediation, by pilot testing new and innovative research methodologies for the nature, meaning and consequences of children’s online risk experiences, and conducting longitudinal comparisons of findings where available over time (e.g. from SAFT, Staksrud 2005 and since).

Last, it will update its work through a rolling programme to maintain the online database of available findings, and by producing timely updates on the latest knowledge about new and emerging issues (for example, social networking, mobile platforms, privacy, personal data protection, safety and awarenessraising practices in schools, digital literacy and citizenship, geo-location services, and so forth).