Helicopter apps and parental mediation: facts and myths about parental controls

Bieke Zaman and Marije Nouwen take a closer look at state-of-the-art parental controls, and call for a more nuanced approach that balances online risks against online opportunities. Both Bieke and Marije are researchers at the Meaningful Interactions Lab (Mintlab), a research group within the Institute for Media Studies (IMS) of the Faculty of Social Sciences at KU Leuven, and affiliated with iMinds. They tweet via @biekezaman and @Marije_N

An example from Flanders on how to inform and support parents in media education

Sofie Vandoninck, Marije Nouwen and Bieke Zaman investigate parents’ and children’s experiences, attitudes and feelings about digital media, as well as how families deal with the current challenges they are facing. They were involved in the development of content for MediaNest, an online platform for parents recently launched by Mediawijs, the Flemish Knowledge Centre for Media Literacy. Sofie and Marije are researchers at the Meaningful Interactions Lab (Mintlab) and Bieke Zaman is Professor in Human-computer Interaction and Digital Humanities at the Faculty of Social Sciences. All three are based at KU Leuven

Uses and Gratifications of Initiating Use of Gamifed Learning Platforms

Research on gamified educational platforms has chiefly focused on game elements motivating continued engagement, neglecting whether and why people choose to use them in the first place. Grounded in Uses & Gratifications Theory, this study therefore combined use diaries with follow-up interviews to explore the situated reasons for use of 83 students who voluntarily used a gamified online learning platform. Partial data analysis suggested a motivational threshold of gamification: game design elements don’t motivate the initiation of new use sessions per se, but are able to prolong an already started session. Some other pre- existing sought uses and gratifications are required for gamification to work, although gamification may indirectly support these. Main reasons for initiating use of a gamified learning platform were learning, curiosity, fun, need for closure, and competence

A Method Impact Assessment Framework for User Experience Evaluations with Children

Based upon a review of the literature, this paper presents a Method Impact Assessment Framework. Theoretically synthesized, the framework offers five dimensions: (1) the role of the child, (2) the user experience construct, (3) system, (4) epistemological perspective, (5) Practical and Ethical Concerns. Although other dimensions could have been construed, these were judged to be the most pertinent to understanding evaluation methods with children. The framework thus provides a critical lens in which evaluation methods can be assessed by the Children Computer Interaction (CCI) Community to inform method selection

Collecting Pokémon or receiving rewards? : How people functionalise badges in gamified online learning environments in the wild

Do game design elements like badges have one, fixed motivational effect or can they have several different? Self-Determination Theory suggests that people situationally appraise the functional significance or psychological meaning of a given stimulus, which can result in different motivational states, but there is little empirical work observing actual functionalisations of game design elements. We therefore conducted a qualitative in-the-wild diary and interview study with 81 university students who reported on their experiences with badges on two popular gamified online learning platforms, Khan Academy and Codecademy. Participants functionalised badges in nine distinct ways that only partially align with prior theory. Functionalisations shaped experience and motivation and prompted function-aligned behaviour. Badge design details fostered but did not determine different functionalisations, while no user or context characteristics were identified that reliably linked to particular functionalisations. We conclude that future research may need to conceptualise game design elements in a more differentiated way to capture what aspects support different motivational functions

Making Complexity Measurable in Practice: A Formal Analysis of Gamble-Play media

peer reviewedOver the past decade, videogames have become increasingly gambling-like in their design. Scientific and regulatory attempts to unravel such design seem particularly oriented towards the effects and regulatory treatment of paid-for loot boxes, favoring either measurability or complexity. Departing from gamble-play theory, this paper, therefore, attempts to make complexity measurable in practice. We conduct a formal analysis of 20 videogames that include loot boxes, social casino games, optional gambling-themed activities and token wagering by identifying and mapping interactions between their features. Having uncovered 51 features across 11 categories, we then reinterpret previously established notions of gambling. In doing so, we aim to contribute to a future-proof understanding of gambling in videogames

EU kids online 2020 : survey results from 19 countries

EU Kids Online 2020: Survey results from 19 countries. This report maps the internet access, online practices, skills, online risks and opportunities for children aged 9–16 in Europe. Teams of the EU Kids Online network collaborated between autumn 2017 and summer 2019 to conduct a major survey of 25,101 children in 19 European countries.peer-reviewe

Designing Technologies with and for Youth: Traps of Privacy by Design

Media and communication scholars studying young people’s privacy often involve them in research in order to better understand their interactions with digital technologies. Yet there is a lack of research on how, when, and why it makes sense to involve young people in the design phase of new technologies and how data protection safeguards can be taken proactively by design. By engaging with the body of literature at the intersection of media and communication studies, participatory design, and child–computer interaction research, this article discusses how youth-centred design efforts risk falling into three traps of privacy by design, relating to: 1) the different degrees of decision power within and between child-centred design guidelines and participatory design with young people; 2) the involvement of young people in design as citizens versus consumers; and 3) the conditions under which their participation in design is empowerment rather than mere decoration. The contribution of this article is a critical, sociotechnical reflection on the challenges and opportunities of involving young people in privacy by design decision-making. The article concludes by outlining an agenda for participa- tory design within an encompassing empowerment and digital citizenship framework that invites young people to reflect on who they want to be in a data-driven society.In pressstatus: Published onlin