Young Children?s Rights in a Digital World : Play, Design and Practice

This volume focuses on very young children’s (aged 0-8) rights in a digital world. It gathers current research from around the globe that focuses on young children’s rights as agental citizens to the provision of and participation in digital devices and content—as well as their right to protection from harm. The UN Digital Rights Framework of 2014 addresses children’s needs, agency and vulnerability to harm in today’s digital world and implies roles and responsibilities for a variety of social actors including the state, families, schools, commercial entities, researchers and children themselves. This volume presents a broad range of research, including chapters on parental supervision and control, the changing forms of play, early childhood education, media and cultural studies, law, design, health, special-needs education, and engineering. Implicit within this book is the acknowledgement that children of various ages, abilities, socioeconomic and geographic backgrounds should have equal access to, and positive / non-harmful experiences with, new digital technologies and content—as well as adult support and expertise that enhances these experiences.

This passionate book celebrates the diversity of young children’s activities in the digital world.  It interrogates these through four intersecting lenses: their rights, play experiences, contextualised design, and best practice. Balancing children’s eager engagement with digital content alongside adult responsibilities for education, privacy and protection, the volume provides a fitting showcase for work of global relevance.

Professor Lelia Green
Professor of Communications
Edith Cowan University
Perth, Western Australia

This compelling text provides a critical resource to inform our understanding of the intersection of the digital world and children’s rights.

Ilene R. Berson, Ph.D.
Professor of Early Childhood Education
Affiliate Faculty, Learning Design & Technology
Area Coordinator, Early Childhood
Coordinator, Early Childhood Ph.D. Program
University of South Florida
College of Education

A truly international collection that investigates young children’s engagement with digital technologies. Identifying issues of public interest around digital practices, this highly readable book is a valuable resource for researchers, parents and policy makers.

Professor Susan Danby
Director, ARC Centre of Excellence for the Digital Child  

and,

Faculty of Education
School of Early Childhood and Inclusive Education                                                                    QUT
Kelvin Grove, Queensland

Donell Holloway is a Senior Research Fellow at Edith Cowan University. She has published over 80 refereed journal articles, conference papers and book chapters, and has experience editing special issue journals, scientific reports and books. Her most recent research grant is an Australian Research Council Discovery Grant titled The Internet of Toys: Benefits and risks of connected toys for children. 

Michele Willson is Professor of Internet Studies, and Dean of Research (Humanities) at Curtin University, Perth in Western Australia. Her research explores the intersection of technology and the everyday with a particular focus on algorithms, digital childhood, social games and online sociality more generally.

Karen Murcia is Associate Professor and senior member of Curtin University’s STEM Education research and teaching team.  She specialises in integrated STEM education research with expertise in science, digital technologies and early childhood education. 

Catherine Archer is a researcher and lecturer specializing in social media and strategic communication at Murdoch University. Catherine’s current research interests include social media, focusing on families’ use of social media, influencer relations and ethics, and the blurring of lines between media, marketing,public relations and communication.

Francesca Stocco is PhD candidate at Edith Cowan University researching connected toys, with particular reference to the commercial governance of these toys. She is currently analysing selected privacy policies (PPs), terms and conditions (T&Cs) and frequently asked questions (FAQs) related the connected toys.