Growing up Online: Some Myths and Facts About Children\u27s Digital Lives in Ireland Today

Digital technologies and the widespread adoption of the internet have given rise to an unprecedented social transformation that is having a profound impact on childhood today. While debate continues on the precise nature of its effects and the extent to which we can refer to a distinctly different ‘digital’ generation, there is growing consensus that the centrality of new modes of sociality and new ways of communicating online in children’s lives today are shaping new contours of risk and of opportunity. This paper examines some of the myths and the facts about children\u27s use of the internet in Ireland today as revealed in the EU Kids Online survey of children’s use of the internet across Europe. It also explores ideas of media ecology and how they may help us understand the opportunities, challenges and risks of growing up in today\u27s digital environment. Does the concept of media education that evolved in the era of Telstar have the same relevance for the children of Facebook? What are the implications for policy makers today and how can we ensure that the information society remains an inclusive and positive phenomenon in the lives of children

Media Education in Ireland: An Overview

The Irish educational system is frequently celebrated as a world class system that is held in high domestic esteem, has contributed substantially to Ireland’s economic success and been compared very favourably with our counterparts elsewhere in the European Union. Such contentment belies the fact that it has also been a system very slow to change, is notoriously centralised and has only in the last decade instituted significant legislative reform that will enable and facilitate the growth of new curricular areas such as media studies – the topic of this article – an area in which Ireland lags substantially behind our European counterparts

Digital Radio in Canada: From DAB to Multi-Platform Approaches.

This paper examines the position of digital radio in Canada. It examines the Canadian experience of digital radio development from its introduction in 1995 to the present and asks whether the approach adopted and the lessons learned provide useful models for application elsewhere. Three main strands form the background to digital radio’s current stage of development: firstly, the introduction and early support for Digital Audio Broadcasting or (DAB) in the mid 1990s; secondly, the response of the radio industry to the internet and new media as complementary to traditional radio broadcasting provision; and thirdly, the more recent experience of the introduction of satellite radio in Canada. The focus for this particular paper’s analysis is the revised digital radio policy issued by the Canadian Radio-Television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) in December 2006, replacing the earlier transitional digital radio policy of 1995, and seeking to implement a multi-platform framework in an increasingly complex technological environment. The paper assesses initial response to the new digital radio policy and examines some of the potential scenarios for the future environment of radio. The research is informed by policy analysis, interviews and expert opinions with leading members of the Canadian broadcasting profession

Back to the Future: The Emergence of Contrasting European and US Approaches to Digital Radio

Digital radio has been in development for over 25 years and yet is no nearer a point of successful adoption. This paper explores the emergence of contrasting European and American approaches to digital radio. The most established of these, Eureka-147 or Digital Audio Broadcasting (DAB), which originated in Europe, is contrasted with the so-called IBOC or /HD Radio approach, as alternative collective conceptualizations of how technology can bridge contemporary broadcasting practice to an ̳imagined‘ digital future. Drawing on the concept of ̳symptomatic technology‘ (Williams 1974), DAB‘s origins in European R&D policy of the 1980s and its affinity with established European broadcasting practice is characterised as a distinct technological vision for how the frontiers for radio broadcasting could be expanded within the European political and cultural landscape of the time. DAB‘s attempt to map a global solution for digital radio, combining satellite and terrestrial broadcast strategies, met with significant US opposition which subsequently supported the development of the alternative ̳in-band, on-channel‘ approach. While neither solution is guaranteed long term success, their importance lies in the mobilization of the relevant national and international policy frameworks for the construction of radio‘s future. Paying close attention to the discourses of technology inherent in these approaches and drawing on relevant contemporary engineering and technical descriptions, this analysis seeks to complement social shaping of technology studies (Mackay and Gillespie 1992) by focussing on the promotional efforts designed to support a particular technology‘s adoption

Digital Radio Policy in Canada: Fragmentation or Evolution of the Medium

In December 2006, the Canadian Radio-Television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) issued its review of Digital Radio Policy. This replaced the transitional digital radio policy of 1995, and sought to implement a framework designed to support multi-platform digital radio broadcasting in an increasingly complex technological environment for the medium. Drawing on policy analysis, interviews and expert group perspectives, this paper traces the background to the legislative provision for digital radio development in Canada. While Canada was an early adopter of the Eureka-147 or Digital Audio Broadcasting (DAB), the policy of DAB as a replacement technology approach proved to be mistaken. Subsequent extensive regulatory intervention to protect Canadian interests similarly proved ineffective against the dominant influence of US interests on Canadian broadcasting, evidenced most recently by the entry of satellite- delivered subscription radio services of XM Radio and Sirius. It is argued that the approach adopted in Canada’s new digital radio policy needs to be set against the background in which the future of radio is now much less obvious and clear than it was ten years ago. Instead of a relatively straightforward transition from analog to digital audio broadcasting (DAB), there is now a wide selection of both competing alternative and complementary technological options for digital audio delivery. As such, radio can be seen to be either facing the danger of fragmentation or in fact surviving by infiltrating into new platforms and becoming more polymorphic. The paper offers a critical appraisal of whether, given previous experience and lessons learned, Canada’s regulatory approach is the appropriate one and potentially a model for other sectors and other markets

Does the Internet Fundamentally Change Anything?: European Research and the COST A20 Action on the Impact of the Internet on Mass Media (Television, Newspapers and Radio)

The subject of this paper represents one attempt at a more balanced approach and consists of the research undertaken under the COST A20 action, ‘The Impact of the Internet on Mass Media’. The paper presents a brief overview of some of the principal themes under discussion in relation to radio, television and newspapers as well as offering some reflections on the emerging issues for communications research at a cross media level. The central theme is whether there the Internet (with a capital ‘I’) has had the transformative effect its proponents might once have claimed or whether there has been a somewhat different process of incorporation of the net (with a small ‘n’)

Digital technologies and the future of radio: lessons from the Canadian experience

This paper reports on an ongoing comparative study of the development of digital radio in Europe and Canada. Focussing on the Eureka 147 Digital Audio Broadcasting (DAB) platform in Canada, of which it was an early adopter, the paper examines the complex interaction of industry, government regulation and the difficulty of policy formation matching the pace of technology development. Based on interviews with leading radio professionals, the paper presents a critical review of the ‘transitional policy’ towards the digitalisation of radio and examines the international market pressures that led Canada to largely abandon this approach in favour of the current multi-platform system. Despite extensive regulatory intervention to protect Canadian interests, the dominant influence of the US market on Canadian broadcasting matters is evident. Most recently, the entry of satellite-delivered subscription radio services by XM Radio and Sirius have illustrated the difficulty of regulating against powerful, global interests. Often seen as combining the best aspects of the European public service system with the commercial success of the US industry, the current stage of policy development in Canadian digital radio offers, it is argued, some important lessons for similar developments in Europe

European Universities: a Pathway for Technological Universities

In September 2017, in a celebrated speech on the future of Europe, French President Emmanuel Macron proposed the idea that Europe should have at least twenty “European universities” of sufficient scale that would allow students to move between different institutions, experience other cultures and take classes in at least two different languages. Speaking in the Sorbonne to an audience of university presidents, diplomats and parliamentarians as well as students, he argued that culture and knowledge is what binds the European Union together and that European universities could uniquely help to “create a sense of belonging” that will be the “strongest cement for Europe”. Countering the apparent fragmentation of European, Macron’s vision is of revival of the values of multiculturalism and multilingualism wherein every young person should “travel the continent to learn other languages” and “unlearn their natural boorish ways”. This Europe, he claimed, “which has lived through so many wars and conflicts: what holds it together is its culture

The Case for Federal Anti-Gerrymandering Legislation

Partisan gerrymandering is a political tradition the United States can no longer afford. Due in part to the effects of partisan gerrymandering, very few congressional elections are meaningfully competitive. This Note argues that partisan gerrymandering damages both the quality of American democracy and the federal system of the United States. This Note concludes that the important federal interests at stake warrant action by Congress to halt partisan gerrymandering. The Note further concludes that any action by Congress should incorporate the principles of federalism by resisting the temptation to micromanage and Congress should instead require state commissions to draft the boundaries of congressional districts