In a fast-developing digital ecology, the nature of online risk is continually evolving, sometimes exposing children to emerging risks well before adults know how to mitigate them. This poses challenges to our understanding of children’s experience to different types of online risk and the factors that may exacerbate or mitigate any harmful consequences. How can we conceptualise online risk, what factors underpin it both within and outside the digital domain? How does risk relate to children’s changing role in the digital environment – as a recipient, a participant, an actor and a consumer? Do risks change with the development of the digital ecology and how does that affect children? How do regulatory, technical, social or individual aspects affect risk exposure and whether risks lead to harm? In this webinar we will debate the theories and concepts that underpin such questions, drawing on media and communication, criminology, legal, and psychology approaches.
Speakers: Julia Davidson (University of East London), Stephan Dreyer (Leibniz Institute for Media Research | Hans-Bredow-Institut), Elisabeth Staksrud (University of Oslo), Giuseppe Veltri (University of Trento)
Chair: Sonia Livingstone, LSE
Discussant: Mariya Stoilova, LSE
This webinar took place on 10 March 2021. You can read up on the speakers’ positions here and watch the recorded webinar below:
This webinar is organised by Media@LSE as part of a webinar series on theory for the EU H2020 project CO:RE – Children Online: Research and Evidence.
Follow us on social media: @CORE_H2020, @Livingstone_S, @Mariya_Stoilova
Note: By participating in the webinar you agree that your contribution can be recorded and made available online. The webinar will be published on the CO:RE website as part of an online theory toolkit.
Find the follow-up blog posting as well as the edited recording to this webinar here.
Our speakers, chair and discussant
Julia Davidson
Julia Davidson OBE, PhD (LSE) is Professor of Criminology and Director of the Institute of Connected Communities. She is an internationally recognised experts on policy, practice and offending in the area of cybercrime, online harms and online child abuse. Julia Davidson is Chair of the UK Council for Internet Safety Evidence Group reporting directly to ministers and provides expert advice to national and international organisations such as NICE, the Home Office, the National Crime Agency, UNICEF, Europol, the US Sentencing Commission, the US Department of Justice and the UN ITU. She is also Chair of the Ethics Committee of the UK Independent Inquiry into CSA and is a member of the Europol EC3 Expert Academic Advisory Group and has worked with Interpol.
Stephan Dreyer
Stephan Dreyer is Senior Researcher in Media Law and Media Governance at the Leibniz Institute for Media Research | Hans-Bredow-Institut. His research focuses on regulatory issues of mediated communication in a datafied society and the challenges that regulation is facing in the light of new technologies, services and changing media use. Stephen is a legal expert in regulatory questions at the intersection of protection of minors, privacy and data protection. Currently he is working on legal issues of AI-based communication and automated decision-making systems, (social) bot communication and the limitations of transparency/disclosure as a regulatory resource.
Sonia Livingstone
Sonia Livingstone FBA, OBE is a Professor of Social Psychology at the Department of Media and Communications at the London School of Economics and Political Science. She has published 20 books including “The Class: Living and Learning in the Digital Age.” She directs the projects “Children’s Data and Privacy Online,” “Global Kids Online” (with UNICEF) and “Parenting for a Digital Future”, and she is Deputy Director of the UKRI-funded “Nurture Network.” Since founding the 33 country EU Kids Online network, Sonia has advised the UK government, European Commission, European Parliament, Council of Europe, OECD and UNICEF.
Elisabeth Staksrud
Elisabeth Staksrud, PhD, is a Professor at the Department of Media and Communication, University of Oslo, Norway, and chair of the Norwegian National Committee for Research Ethics in the Social Sciences and the Humanities (NESH) and the European Communication Research and Education Association (ECREA) Children, Youth and Media Section. Her research interests evolve around children and online risk, regulation and rights, online censorship and governance and research ethics. She is in the management group of the EU Kids Online project and partner in the CO:RE and ySKILLS H2020 funded projects. For more information and publications see http://www.hf.uio.no/imk/personer/vit/estaksru/
Mariya Stoilova
Mariya Stoilova is a Post-doctoral researcher at the Department of Media and Communications, London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE). Her area of expertise is at the intersection of child rights and digital technology with a particular focus on the opportunities and risks of digital media use in the everyday lives of children and young people, data and privacy online, digital skills, and pathways to harm and well-being.
Giuseppe Veltri
Giuseppe Veltri is Full Professor of Research Methodology and Cognitive Sociology at the Department of Sociology and Social Research, University of Trento. His current research interests focus on the study of public opinion dynamics and social representations using a computational social science framework; the development of research methodologies of a computational nature to social science problems; and the intersection between sociology and behavioural sciences in the form of cognitive sociology. Personal webpage: http://www.giuseppeveltri.eu
