With more than 15 years of experience in the field of children and child internet safety online, Verónica is a strong advocate for the need to better protect and empower children through effective and coordinated multi-stakeholder approaches. Through her career Verónica has advised a number of institutions including the United Nations and the European Commission. She has developed methodologies to assess the compliance of industry-based self-regulatory initiatives such as the Safer Social Networking Principles for the EU and the EU Pledge and she has written several academic articles and reports which have served to inform policy makers on e-safety issues both in the EU and worldwide. She currently serves on the International Advisory Board of the WePROTECT Global Alliance, the Global Kids Online International advisory group, the International NGO Advisory Group of the UK National Crime Agency, and is a member of the Advisory Board of the EU-funded MANDOLA project on monitoring and detecting hate speech. She is also a member of Twitter e-safety Council and has been an active member of both the European Financial Coalition against Commercial Sexual Exploitation of Children Online (EFC) and the Virtual Global Taskforce, an international alliance of law enforcement agencies working together to prevent and deter online child abuse.
It only takes witnessing a few interactions within modern western families to realize how much th... more It only takes witnessing a few interactions within modern western families to realize how much the experience of childhood has changed. The use of digital technologies peaks out and its impacts on childhood, education, learning and safety has been at question over the last years. Since a very early age, video watching and gaming on a variety of internet-connected devices are among children's favourite activities. Parents see digital technologies as positive and unavoidable, if not necessary, but at the same time, find managing their use challenging. They would appreciate advice on fostering children’s online skills and safety. The document reports on results of a cross-national analysis building on data coming from 234 family interviews with both children and parents, carried out from September 2014 until April 2017 in 21 countries. It exposes the key findings regarding first children’s usage, perceptions of the digital technologies and their digital skills in the home context but also on parents’ perceptions, attitudes, and strategies. Beside the cross-national analysis, a dedicated section provides contextualized snapshots of the study results at national level. It then takes a close up on 58 families in ten countries in which researchers came for a second interview distant of one year monitoring. Conclusion reflect on the potential benefits, risks and consequences associated with their (online) interactions with digital technologies and provide recommendations to policymakers, industry, parents and carers.
The EMSOC White Paper White Paper “Social Media Literacy: Time for an Update!” integrates the con... more The EMSOC White Paper White Paper “Social Media Literacy: Time for an Update!” integrates the contributions of communication, legal, educational and user experience researchers who looked into current social media challenges from the perspective of their various disciplines. It also incorporates the views of practitioners and experts in the field, which were collected during a dedicated expert workshop in October 2014 in Brussels. Their ideas have been invaluable for the elaboration of practical, but also more realistic recommendations on possible ways to enhance social media literacy. We hope these will inspire policy-makers and other stakeholders to take appropriate measures which will help citizens to be better prepared to deal with the social media challenges ahead.
This report explores ways of increasing user empowerment by employing participatory and co-design... more This report explores ways of increasing user empowerment by employing participatory and co-design methodologies. The deliverable summarizes the main results of the Legal Design Jam and the co-design sessions with children and parents. Both these exercises constituted concrete efforts to increase the transparency of the Terms of Use of popular websites by actively integrating relevant stakeholders and end users into the design process. At the end of this report we suggest Best Practices that can guide the development of more user-friendly and user-centric approaches towards designing legal communication in particular for more vulnerable consumers/users such as young children.
Motivated by the unprecedented peak in photoblogs' popularity, in this paper we ... more Motivated by the unprecedented peak in photoblogs' popularity, in this paper we attempt to come to grips with the consequences of photoblog use for young people's development of identity. In particular we studied the case of Fotolog, a popular photo sharing application in Chile. ...
In order to successfully combat (cyber)-bullying a whole-school approach, where different educati... more In order to successfully combat (cyber)-bullying a whole-school approach, where different educational actors are involved, is needed (Samara & Smith, 2008). However, little is known regarding the concrete mechanisms necessary to design meaningful anti-bullying policies which involve the whole-school community. In other words, there is knowledge regarding the content such policies should have (Farrington and Ttofi, 2009; Thompson and Smith, 2010), but little is known about how schools should actually elaborate their own policies. Traditional Top-down consultations and policy-making processes have been marked by the lack of engagement and real participation of different stakeholders. Similar processes are observed at school. Van den Bosch, Poels and Deboutte (2014) found that in most Flemish schools (71%) the school principal is responsible for the development of policies against cyberbullying and that pupils and parents are usually excluded from that process. In this paper we discuss...
Summary This report presents new findings and further analysis of the EU Kids Online 25 country s... more Summary This report presents new findings and further analysis of the EU Kids Online 25 country survey. It also brings together our previously published findings relevant to European Commission Vice President Kroes' CEO Coalition recent initiative to make the internet a better place for children.
The aim of this paper is to reflect on the new challenges associated to online digital content cr... more The aim of this paper is to reflect on the new challenges associated to online digital content creation and use and its impact on learning based on some of the findings of the ongoing eContentplus European project KeyToNature. This three-year project aims at developing interactive e-tools for learning and teaching biodiversity providing common access to data and interactive educational tools for the identification of organisms tailored to the needs of different educational users. A theoretical approach based on self-regulated and informal learning will be the basis upon which our findings will be framed.
Today and tomorrow, the first European Media and Information Literacy Forum will be held at the U... more Today and tomorrow, the first European Media and Information Literacy Forum will be held at the UNESCO headquarters in Paris bringing together NGOs, media professionals, educators, and other stakeholders. Eva Lievens and Veronica Donoso, researchers at the Interdisciplinary Centre for Law & ICT at KU Leuven, propose two key considerations for new methods of integrating media literacy into existing educational frameworks, and the policymakers’ role in sustaining it.
Adolescents are spending significant time online. Consequently, concerns are consistently raised ... more Adolescents are spending significant time online. Consequently, concerns are consistently raised about potential negative impacts on their mental health. Potentially, these concerns minimise their autonomy and reify the construction of the vulnerable adolescent. Using template analysis, we explored adolescents’ perspectives ( N = 54) of the relationship between social media and mental health. We centrally considered the wide array of uses made of different social media by the participants, focusing on their understandings of the potentially positive effects these might have. Focus group discussions showed social media could be used to reduce stress, have value for social connectivity, were an important source of information about mental health, and provided a platform for peer-to-peer support. Our conclusion indicated adolescents are generally socially competent online and are often experimenting with their emergent sense of agency.
It only takes witnessing a few interactions within modern western families to realize how much th... more It only takes witnessing a few interactions within modern western families to realize how much the experience of childhood has changed. The use of digital technologies peaks out and its impacts on childhood, education, learning and safety has been at question over the last years. Since a very early age, video watching and gaming on a variety of internet-connected devices are among children's favourite activities. Parents see digital technologies as positive and unavoidable, if not necessary, but at the same time, find managing their use challenging. They would appreciate advice on fostering children’s online skills and safety. The document reports on results of a cross-national analysis building on data coming from 234 family interviews with both children and parents, carried out from September 2014 until April 2017 in 21 countries. It exposes the key findings regarding first children’s usage, perceptions of the digital technologies and their digital skills in the home context but also on parents’ perceptions, attitudes, and strategies. Beside the cross-national analysis, a dedicated section provides contextualized snapshots of the study results at national level. It then takes a close up on 58 families in ten countries in which researchers came for a second interview distant of one year monitoring. Conclusion reflect on the potential benefits, risks and consequences associated with their (online) interactions with digital technologies and provide recommendations to policymakers, industry, parents and carers.
The EMSOC White Paper White Paper “Social Media Literacy: Time for an Update!” integrates the con... more The EMSOC White Paper White Paper “Social Media Literacy: Time for an Update!” integrates the contributions of communication, legal, educational and user experience researchers who looked into current social media challenges from the perspective of their various disciplines. It also incorporates the views of practitioners and experts in the field, which were collected during a dedicated expert workshop in October 2014 in Brussels. Their ideas have been invaluable for the elaboration of practical, but also more realistic recommendations on possible ways to enhance social media literacy. We hope these will inspire policy-makers and other stakeholders to take appropriate measures which will help citizens to be better prepared to deal with the social media challenges ahead.
This report explores ways of increasing user empowerment by employing participatory and co-design... more This report explores ways of increasing user empowerment by employing participatory and co-design methodologies. The deliverable summarizes the main results of the Legal Design Jam and the co-design sessions with children and parents. Both these exercises constituted concrete efforts to increase the transparency of the Terms of Use of popular websites by actively integrating relevant stakeholders and end users into the design process. At the end of this report we suggest Best Practices that can guide the development of more user-friendly and user-centric approaches towards designing legal communication in particular for more vulnerable consumers/users such as young children.
Motivated by the unprecedented peak in photoblogs' popularity, in this paper we ... more Motivated by the unprecedented peak in photoblogs' popularity, in this paper we attempt to come to grips with the consequences of photoblog use for young people's development of identity. In particular we studied the case of Fotolog, a popular photo sharing application in Chile. ...
In order to successfully combat (cyber)-bullying a whole-school approach, where different educati... more In order to successfully combat (cyber)-bullying a whole-school approach, where different educational actors are involved, is needed (Samara & Smith, 2008). However, little is known regarding the concrete mechanisms necessary to design meaningful anti-bullying policies which involve the whole-school community. In other words, there is knowledge regarding the content such policies should have (Farrington and Ttofi, 2009; Thompson and Smith, 2010), but little is known about how schools should actually elaborate their own policies. Traditional Top-down consultations and policy-making processes have been marked by the lack of engagement and real participation of different stakeholders. Similar processes are observed at school. Van den Bosch, Poels and Deboutte (2014) found that in most Flemish schools (71%) the school principal is responsible for the development of policies against cyberbullying and that pupils and parents are usually excluded from that process. In this paper we discuss...
Summary This report presents new findings and further analysis of the EU Kids Online 25 country s... more Summary This report presents new findings and further analysis of the EU Kids Online 25 country survey. It also brings together our previously published findings relevant to European Commission Vice President Kroes' CEO Coalition recent initiative to make the internet a better place for children.
The aim of this paper is to reflect on the new challenges associated to online digital content cr... more The aim of this paper is to reflect on the new challenges associated to online digital content creation and use and its impact on learning based on some of the findings of the ongoing eContentplus European project KeyToNature. This three-year project aims at developing interactive e-tools for learning and teaching biodiversity providing common access to data and interactive educational tools for the identification of organisms tailored to the needs of different educational users. A theoretical approach based on self-regulated and informal learning will be the basis upon which our findings will be framed.
Today and tomorrow, the first European Media and Information Literacy Forum will be held at the U... more Today and tomorrow, the first European Media and Information Literacy Forum will be held at the UNESCO headquarters in Paris bringing together NGOs, media professionals, educators, and other stakeholders. Eva Lievens and Veronica Donoso, researchers at the Interdisciplinary Centre for Law & ICT at KU Leuven, propose two key considerations for new methods of integrating media literacy into existing educational frameworks, and the policymakers’ role in sustaining it.
Adolescents are spending significant time online. Consequently, concerns are consistently raised ... more Adolescents are spending significant time online. Consequently, concerns are consistently raised about potential negative impacts on their mental health. Potentially, these concerns minimise their autonomy and reify the construction of the vulnerable adolescent. Using template analysis, we explored adolescents’ perspectives ( N = 54) of the relationship between social media and mental health. We centrally considered the wide array of uses made of different social media by the participants, focusing on their understandings of the potentially positive effects these might have. Focus group discussions showed social media could be used to reduce stress, have value for social connectivity, were an important source of information about mental health, and provided a platform for peer-to-peer support. Our conclusion indicated adolescents are generally socially competent online and are often experimenting with their emergent sense of agency.
This report will inform the development of digital skills measures that will be validated for chi... more This report will inform the development of digital skills measures that will be validated for children and young people and influence the design of performance testing of ySKILLS. This report will bring a synopsis of the knowledge gained in four tasks performed in the first year of activities of the ySKILLS project (i.e. 2020): the <strong>systematic evidence review </strong>and a <strong>secondary analysis of EU Kids Online data </strong>collected in 2017-19 as well as <strong>interviews with experts on digital skills </strong>in schools and on the labour market and <strong>roundtable discussions with children and young people</strong>. The lessons learned from these tasks lead to an <strong>inventory of actors and factors </strong>whose roles in predicting and moderating digital skills acquisition and wellbeing will be tested in the school survey questionnaires through three new survey rounds in 2021, 2022 and 2023.
Abstract: The aim of this paper is to reflect on the new challenges associated to online digital ... more Abstract: The aim of this paper is to reflect on the new challenges associated to online digital content creation and use and its impact on learning. Specifically, our paper is based on some of the findings of the ongoing eContentplus European project KeyToNature. This three-year project aims at developing interactive e-tools for learning and teaching biodiversity providing common access to data and interactive educational tools for the identification of organisms tailored to the needs of different educational users. A theoretical approach based on self-regulated and informal learning will be the basis upon which our findings will be framed.
This paper reports the results of the expert evaluation of the Ketnet.be website. Ketnet.be is a ... more This paper reports the results of the expert evaluation of the Ketnet.be website. Ketnet.be is a VRT -‐owned website for children up to the age of 12. The evaluation was based on the methodology employed during the second assessment of the Safer Social Networking Principles for the EU and had a specific focus on the e-‐safety measures implemented on the website. On the website, which is built around the content and programmes created by Ketnet, all children (registered or non-‐registered users) can perform a wide range of interactive activities such as watching videos, re-‐playing programmes originally broadcasted on TV, playing online games and doing quizzes. Children can also choose to become members of the Ketnet online community. In general, Ketnet.be provides effective and user-‐friendly e-‐safety features on their website ranging from specific e-‐safety information available in different formats (quizzes, videos, etc.) to strong privacy settings and easy-‐to-‐use mech...
This report presents the results of a qualitative study made over seventeen countries exploring h... more This report presents the results of a qualitative study made over seventeen countries exploring how children between zero and eight engage with digital technologies, how far parents mediate this engagement and their awareness on the risksopportunities balance. It concludes on recommendations to parents, schools, industries and policymakers. Title Young children (0-8) and digital technology, a qualitative study across Europe How digital technology is used by young children today? • Today, young children between o and 8 acquire their digital skills mainly in the home context. • Young children learn quickly by observing and mirroring the behaviour of the adults and older children close to themparents and older siblings following a trial and error strategy not exempt of risks. • Yet young children lack of agency and of clear representation of the tools they use daily such as the Internet, Wi-Fi or social networks. • Young children diversify their digital skills and are more aware of ris...
Original citation: Lobe, Bojana and Livingstone, Sonia and Haddon, Leslie (2007) Researching chil... more Original citation: Lobe, Bojana and Livingstone, Sonia and Haddon, Leslie (2007) Researching children's experiences online across countries: issues and problems in methodology. The EU Kids Online network has received funding from the European Community's Safer Internet Programme. The authors are solely responsible for the contents of this report. It does not represent the opinion of the Community and nor is the Community responsible for any use that might be made of information contained in it. article(s) in LSE Research Online to facilitate their private study or for non-commercial research. You may not engage in further distribution of the material or use it for any profit-making activities or any commercial gain. You may freely distribute the URL examines research carried out in 18 member states into how children and young people use the internet and new media. This three-year collaboration aims to identify comparable research findings across Europe and to evaluate the so...
Enzyklopädie Erziehungswissenschaft Online Fachgebiet: Medienpädagogik, Medienpädagogik international hrsg. von Dorothee Meister, Friederike von Gross, Uwe Sander , 2012
In this paper, we discuss discourses on media literacy and the state of the art in media educatio... more In this paper, we discuss discourses on media literacy and the state of the art in media education in Latin America paying special attention to the contextual factors that have helped shape such discourses and educational practices. We found that the main factors that are needed for understanding the situation of media education are the countries' historical background, the social and political developments as well as the government agendas that are translated into formal educational policies and school systems. Understanding this general context is essential because it frames and conditions the effective (or ineffective) use and critical appropriation of digital media in education in the region and it strongly impacts the development of media and ICT educational-related policies in Latin America. We also reflect on the role of the formal educational systems as key players in media education in many of the countries in the region. We end with a discussion of the main challenges associated with ICT literacy in the region, namely that in a context where socio-economic differences are vast and where new media and information access is so unevenly distributed, media education should serve as a mechanism to achieve more equitable access and meaningful appropriation of the nowadays indispensable communication and information technologies.
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