Covering TV Violence Issues in Print and Electronic Media

Starting from the observation that TV violence is a reality in current Romanian society, taken up as such by the legislators, the academic environment and the civil society, we want to see to what extent this issue is covered in the print and electronic media and how does such coverage is carried out. Therefore, we tried to look at the development of this subject in the online written media, by elaborating on several questions: is the subject „media violence" present in the Romanian media? If so, to what extent is this subject presented as a public issue (Cefai, 1996), in a contextual manner (by analyzing the causes, consequences, the different means of tackling the possible negative consequences, the impact levels, etc.), or, on the contrary, is it made into a show, being only „news of the day" triggered by a trivial event and treated as such? Who are the social actors (the „voices") invoked in the coverage of this subject

At the Meeting Point of the Internet and School. Case Study for the Use of the Internet by High School Students in Bucharest

Starting from the idea that there is a gap between the possibilities of information offered by the new information and communication technologies, and especially the internet, and the concrete use thereof for information purposes, and especially for school-related information, we have analyzed the meeting point of the internet and school from the point of view of the complementarity or overlapping of the two, of the transformations they undergo but also of the transformations each of the two information institutions determines. The concrete field for the study of these potentially public and philosophical (gnoseology, epistemology, etc.) issues was the use of the internet by the high school students in Bucharest

Robotika za djecu: nacionalne politike i inicijative u tri europske zemlje

This article explores the issue of introducing children between six and ten years of age ‎to robotics and investigates the use of robots in schools and in extracurricular activities. The central ‎questions are 1) whether and how the introduction of robotics is addressed in political strategies and‎ educational policies (RQ1), and 2) what the main actors in the introduction of robots in educational‎ settings are (RQ2). Therefore, a pilot study in three European countries (Austria, Lithuania, Romania)‎was conducted, which included an analysis of national policy strategies, as well as interviews with three‎ stakeholders per country. The article illustrates the specificities of the investigated countries presented as ‎case studies and discusses them in a comparative way. The findings show that the investigated countries’‎ educational policies aim at mirroring the Digital Agenda for Europe and that two opposite approaches ‎to implementation of robotics (bottom-up vs. top-down) can be identified.‎Ovaj članak istražuje upoznavanje djece u dobi od šest do deset godina s robotikom te ispituje‎ upotrebu robota u školama i izvannastavnim aktivnostima. Središnja pitanja su 1) je li uvođenje robotike ‎obuhvaćeno političkim strategijama i obrazovnim politikama i na koji način (RQ1) te 2) tko su glavni‎ akteri uvođenja robota u obrazovno okruženje (RQ2). Kako bi se odgovorilo na ova pitanja, provedena ‎je pilot studija u tri europske zemlje (Austriji, Litvi i Rumunjskoj) koja je uključivala analizu nacionalnih ‎policy strategija, kao i intervjue s po tri dionika u svakoj zemlji. Članak ilustrira specifičnosti istraživanih ‎zemalja prezentirane kao studije slučaja, raspravlja o njima i međusobno ih uspoređuje. Nalazi pokazuju ‎kako obrazovne politike u analiziranim zemljama imaju za cilj preslikati Digitalnu agendu za Europu ‎te da se mogu identificirati dva suprotna pristupa implementaciji robotike, odozdo prema gore i odozgo ‎prema dolje.

Parental concerns regarding young children and digital technology. An exploratory qualitative investigation in three European countries

One of the effects of the development and widespread diffusion of digital technologies is that in contemporary homes children are being exposed to those technologies since birth. The present study aims to identify the general 'climate of concern' and to map specific worries that parents have with respect to their young children's digital lives. The study was theoretically framed by the intersection of parental mediation theory with media panics theory, and relied on data collected in three European countries (Portugal, Romania and Slovenia) as part of JRC project Young Children (0-8) and digital technologies. The data were collected in 2015, through family visits, this paper focusing on semi structured interviews that took place with parents. The results show that parents of children under 8 years old are concerned about health-related issues, screen addiction, exposure to age-inappropriate content, social exclusion by absence or under use of digital media, concerns of losing opportunities for essential (non-digital) childhood experiences, bad school performance and learning the "right" skills for the future. If some of these concerns echo public discourse on the risks of technology, parents in our study trimmed these fears and adjusted them to their current situation and their parental mediation practices.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Internet safety helplines: exploratory study first findings

Executive Summary: This is the first short report on a study of Helplines, an essential component of the network of Safer Internet Centres coordinated by Insafe. 70% of all helplines are general service helplines with 30% dedicated specifically to internet safety. All helplines offer a confidential service that offers information, support, guidance and referral. Helplines offer a range of services using a variety of platforms: telephone counselling services, email support, support using online chat, text services, online forum, peer support, social networking and in some instances face-to-face support. Among the most important success factors identified by helplines include: ‘positive feedback from callers’, the ‘number of calls’ and ‘participation from stakeholders’. Among the most persistent risks identified by helplines are bullying and cyberbullying (92%) followed by hate speech (88%) and sexual content (75%). Recommendations arising from the study call for development of an alert system for emerging risks, access to technical expertise for helpline staff and support for further stakeholder collaboration

Insafe Helplines: Operations, Effectiveness and Emerging Issues For Internet Safety Helplines

This report presents findings of research undertaken by EU Kids Online on behalf of European Schoolnet (EUN) on the operations, effectiveness and impact of Insafe helplines. Helplines form an integral part of the Safer Internet Centre (SIC) in each country within the Insafe network of 31 national awareness centres. Helplines provide a confidential counselling and support service and offer information, support, guidance and referral for young people as well as adults with responsibility for children. The purpose of the study was to undertake research that would assist Insafe helplines to develop their effectiveness and demonstrate their impact. This study looked at both the wider context in which helplines operate, the new and emerging risks that internet use may pose for children and young people, the support required and the resources needed to respond effectively, as well as the implications for operational effectiveness. Respondents in the research, which included helpline professionals and volunteers, contributed to a discussion of successes as well as gaps in order to assist in the identification of strategies to support better awareness and monitoring of effectiveness

What changed during COVID-19? How the COVID-19 crisis changed parental perceptions and practices related to children's internet use in five European countries

The COVID-19 lockdown saw an increased reliance on digital technology for children, which might have called for changes in parental mediation practices. The present study aimed at analyzing the extent to which such changes took place, their predictors, and their differences across countries. Data were collected from 2,412 parents and 2,412 children in Austria, Ireland, Norway, Portugal, and Romania. Results showed that on average 48.3% of parents used mediation practices with the same frequency as before the lockdown, while 38% applied more mediation. Both active and restrictive mediation were predicted by children’s time online, parents’ worry about risks, parents’ technology fatigue, and parent-child involvement. Furthermore, restrictive mediation was predicted by risks encountered online by children, while active mediation was predicted also by children’s excessive Internet use. Differences in parental mediation changes were observed across countries.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

How families handled emergency remote schooling during the Covid-19 lockdown in spring 2020: Summary of key findings from families with children in 11 European countries

How did families handle remote schooling during the time of Covid-19 lockdown during spring 2020? Perceptions on remote schooling activities were gathered from parents and their children at the end of primary education and in secondary education (10-18 years old) from 9 EU countries (Austria, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Portugal, Romania, Slovenia and Spain) in addition to Switzerland and Norway. The findings show that almost all children who participated in the survey were able to conduct some school-related activities using digital technologies, and many reported that their schools had provided them with both digital communication and learning platforms. The findings also point out to large variations in terms of how children were able to interact with their teachers in learning activities and how often children were in contact with their teachers through online means. In addition to learning activities provided by the school, parents also engaged in complementary learning activities with their children, for example by using free of charge online learning material and exercises, such as video recordings and online quizzes. Both children and parents were worried about the pandemic’s negative impact on education, generally parents more so than children. Families voiced the need for better guidelines on how to support children with distance education activities and how to support the child psychologically during the confinement. Parents also expressed their need for more counselling and psychological support. These early results from the survey can guide future activities of schools and education systems in their move to digital education that can deliver more even, and better, pedagogical and social outcomes. They can also guide planning of practices that suite local context and needs. More in-depth analysis of this data will be made available throughout 2020-2021.JRC.B.4-Human Capital and Employmen

Studying the media education practices of young children at home: Methodological lessons from a cross-national qualitative study on digital activities at home

Do you remember 2010? Our phones had become smart, a new category of media technology, which would take the name of the “tablet”, was about to radically change the way in which we engage with digital media. Within a few years, these devices were adopted massively in Western countries and beyond. The secrets of their success reside in some, at that time, original assets like touch screen technology, portability, and versatility (Straker et al., 2018; Marsh, 2020). The then-new digital devices appealed not only to adults but increasingly to younger children

THE ONLINE AND OFFLINE BULLYING: VICTIMS VERSUS AGGRESSORS

In this paper I shall analyze – using data from the EU Kids Online II project – the spread and the impact of online and offline bullying among children and teenagers (9 to 16 year old). I will start with an overview of what cyber bullying and online bullying are in the context of, on one hand, the risks of the Internet and on the other, of the aggressive behavior in general, regardless its channel of manifestation. In the second half, I analyze the online bullying data for Romania. Upon the theoretical set from the first part, the goal of the empirical data analysis is to sketch of victims and aggressors in terms of age, gender and socioeconomic status, complemented with some psychological and behavioral features. Some of the key questions I sought an answer were: are the kids involved in such phenomena “prone” to a certain role (victim or aggressor) or the roles can be reversed? Is there a connection between their Internet user features (length of daily time online, variety of activities, level of digital literacy) and their involvement in bullying (online and offline) as victim and/or aggressor