Digital Child Annual Report 2023

Positive digital childhoods for all Australian children

Acknowledgement

The Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence for the Digital Child acknowledges the First Australian owners of the lands on where we gather and pay our respects to the Elders, lores, customs, and creation spirits of this country.

The Centre recognises that the examples we set in diversity and inclusion will support young children to respect and celebrate differences in all people. We embed diversity, inclusivity, and equality into all aspects of the Centre’s activities and welcome all people regardless of race, ethnicity, social background, religion, gender, age, disability, sexual orientation, and national origin.

Director’s Message

It is a critical and momentous time for early childhood in Australia. In 2023 alone, the federal government launched numerous activities seeking to address some of the major challenges of early childhood, including inequitable access and cost of ECEC services, privacy reform, and an inquiry into Generative AI in education. The Digital Child responded to these activities with four policy submissions, which you can read about on page 74 of this report.

Our Centre continued to build momentum during 2023 by progressing research milestones and hosting significant events for our research, industry, and community stakeholders. On July 13 and 14, Connected Learning in Focus @ Digital Child brought together innovators in research, industry and education to explore how emerging technology can be used to expand children’s access to participatory, playful and creative learning. This was the first time this conference series has been hosted outside of the United States of America. I was particularly delighted to welcome our Centre international research partners Professor Hyeon-Seon Jeong, Associate Professor Rebecca Willett, and Professor Mimi Ito.

What a wonderful opportunity it was to meet together at DCAM 2023 and celebrate all that we have achieved in the Centre to date. I thoroughly enjoyed the 3MT sessions by our emerging ECRs and PhD students, an exciting

new generation of researchers knowledgeable about young children’s digital worlds

The Digital Child community celebrated National Children’s Week from the 21st - 29th of October. A range of activities were hosted across the different nodes to highlight the research and outreach at the Centre, including activities offering children and families, and even university students at QUT, opportunities to interact with different technologies.

During National Children’s Week, we launched our ACODA longitudinal survey with speeches and cupcakes. The Australian Children of the Digital Age (ACODA) is a world-first longitudinal study that aims to provide the big picture of digital technology use in early childhood. By engaging thousands of families across Australia, we will understand the impact of technology use on children’s health, social connectedness, and education. We aim to build new understandings to inform policy, innovation, and practice.

We collaborated with other Centres of Excellence in 2023. This included the successful launch of the ARC Centres of Excellence Mentoring Program on 7 June with ARC Deputy CEO Dr Richard Johnson. I am thrilled to report that many of our Centre members have been matched with a mentor and/or mentee. I am confident that we will all benefit from the relationships created via this unique

Congratulations to all of our students who submitted their theses for examination and graduated this year. We are delighted to see these early career researchers growing from strength to strength. Our Centre School for ECRs with two other Centres of Excellence supported capacity building among our researchers and promoted collaboration across disciplines and Centres.

Finally, we had a few updates for our research leadership during 2023. I am very pleased to announce that CI Michael Dezuanni has been appointed as a Connected Child co-lead. He joins Connected Co-Leads Sue Bennett and Julian Sefton-Green.

Congratulations to CIs Lousie Paatsch, Karen Mercier, and Dylan Cliff who have been appointed as co-Leads on the Educated and Healthy Child programs. Thank you to our outgoing co-Leads CIs Simon Smith and Lelia Green for your contributions to the Healthy and Connected Child programs.

Congratulations also to Associate Investigator Professor Andrew Rohl who has been appointed as the new Chair of the Data Management Committee. We welcome your contributions to our Centre!

Please enjoy this report as we highlight the many successes of our Centre members and the important progress we have made during 2023. We look forward to making more strides in 2024.

DISTINGUISHED PROFESSOR

SUSAN DANBY FASSA

Director, Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence for the Digital Child opportunity.

above image: Cupcakes at the launch of our national longitudinal study, the Australian Children of the Digital Age survey.

Digital Child members pose for a group photo at the Digital Child Annual Meeting in Perth, Scarborough

About the Digital Child

Children are growing, learning, and connecting with digital technology. The rapid pace of growth and change in this space means that there is an urgent and compelling need to create positive digital childhoods for all Australian children: this is the mission of the Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence for the Digital Child.

Australian Universities

Supporting young children growing up in a rapidly changing digital age.

Member success in 2023

QUT awarded Digital Child Director the title of Distinguished Professor to Professor Susan Danby in recognition of her outstanding research and global reputation.

Professor Kathleen Ellis, Digital Child CI Professor Tama Leaver, and Professor Michael Kent on their successful DP24 project on diversifying audio description in the Australian digital landscape.

Digital Child AI Dr Bernd Ploderer and team on their successful DP24 project on tangible intergenerational interaction over distance.

Digital Child AI Associate Professor Stuart Ekberg and team on their successful DP on how how people communicate about advance care planning for children, adolescents, and adults.

Digital Child RA Dr Emma Jayakumar on winning a Performing Arts WA Award in the category of Outstanding Composition or Arranging for the Our Little Inventor Children’s Opera.

Digital Child AIs Dr Maria Nichols and Dr Tebeje Molla awarded in 2023 Deakin VC Awards

John Curtin Distinguished Professor and Digital Child CI Distinguished Professor Leon Straker on being listed in the Stanford University rankings of the top 2% of global scientists. He was ranked 39th globally in the field of Human Factors, placing him in the top 0.27%.

Digital Child RF Dr Nicole Hayes on winning the QUT Early Career Researcher Symposium Oral presentation competition for the Faculty of Creative Industries, Education and Social Justice!

Digital Child PhD Katrin Langton who gave her final PhD seminar in 2023.

Digital Child Associate Professor Marnee Shay who was named a Chief Investigator in the ARC Centre of Excellence for Indigenous Futures.

Digital Child AI Professor Lisa Whitehead who was named Western Australia Nurse of the Year

Digital Child CI Professor Steven Howard has been appointed to the ARC College of Experts for 2024-2027

Digital Child RF Dr Xinyu (Andy) Zhao took on an interim role as Associate Editor of Media International Australia

Digital Child Researchers Dr Rebecca Ng, Dr Lance Barrie and Professor Sue Bennett awarded a UOW Global Challenges grant with Wollongong City Council and Liverpool Council - Children’s Voices in the Design of Neighbourhoods and Community Spaces’.

Centre Director Professor Susan Danby on delivering two prestigious plenaries - the Radford Plenary (AARE) and the Cunningham Lecture (ASSA) - and chairing the Academy of Social Sciences in Australia policy submission on ECEC.

Digital Child RF Dr Amanda Levido was successful in the recent round of the QUT Early Career Researcher Ideas Grant scheme. The project Developing Media Literacy through children’s everyday media experiences was awarded ~ $20,000.

Digital Child CI Professor Julian SeftonGreen joined the advisory committee for Digital Futures for Children, a new joint research centre between London School of Economics and 5Rights Foundation.

Digital Child CI Professor Steven Howard awarded ARC Future Fellowship. Steven’s project ‘Unravelling early self-regulation: A longitudinal study’ will develop a big picture theory of children’s self regulation abilities and change.

Digital Child CI Professor Simon Smith has joined the advisory panel for the Early Years Catalyst, led by Telethon Kids Institute (TKI) in Perth.

Digital Child Students Dr Valeska Berg and Dr Harrison See who graduated from their PhD programs

Congratulations to Digital Child members on their many achievements during the past year!

2024 Activity Plan

Research

• Complete year 1 of ACODA longitudinal data collection and analysis; commence year 2 data collection towards the end of 2024

• Hold at least two in-person Chief Investigator meetings/retreat; hold at least one additional virtual Chief Investigator meeting

• Pursue research agendas within each Centre program (Healthy, Connected, and Educated)

• Convene at least two Advisory Committee meetings

• Replace Chair of the Research Committee

• Complete Mid-Term Review

Governance

Mentorship and Capacity Building

• Review and improve upon the cross-Centre mentoring program

• Undertake a training needs analysis to guide capacity building programs

• Deliver training for HDR student and ECR members

• Design and deliver Future Leaders program for ECRs

Partnerships and Collaborations

• Deliver at least one event in partnership with a strategic Centre partner

• Establish partner network group

• Build domestic and international collaborations within research and other stakeholders

Centre Culture and Connection Communications and Engagement

• Conduct a Centre Climate survey

• Hold in-person Digital Child Annual Meeting

• Revise and reboot Digital Child Connect virtual meeting series

• Invite suggestions from Centre members on strategic ways to further Centre culture and connection through new Digital Child sandpit initiative

• Support Centre members in communicating about their research and engaging with stakeholders

• Deliver public facing resources for core audiences: parents and carers, educators, and policymakers

• Establish new Digital Childhoods Summit to enhance connections amongst policy, NGO, and other stakeholders.

Governance

The Digital Child’s governance structure includes committees that provide expert advice and oversight on Centre work.

Advisory Committee Executive Committee

The Advisory Committee is responsible for adding value and critical input to guide the Centre in delivering its mission. The committee met with the Centre Director and Centre Directorate two times in 2023.

Chair

Taryn Marks

Members

Emeritus Professor Paul Chandler

Professor Barbara Comber AM

Megan Mitchell AM.

Centre Director

Distinguished Professor Susan Danby

Centre Directorate

Deputy Director Senior Professor Sue Bennett

Chief Operations Officer Lisa Walker

The Executive Committee oversees the Centre’s strategic direction and performance against the objectives of the ARC Centre of Excellence scheme and agreed performance targets.

The Committee ensures that the Centre’s resources are allocated effectively to achieve Centre aims. In addition, the Executive Committee acts as the formal authorising committee for the Centre budget, strategic plan, research projects, project and partnership agreements, and applications for Associate Investigator (AI) status.

Chair

Centre Director Susan Danby

Other members include the Centre Deputy Director, Chief Operating Officer, and Node Representatives.

Research Committee Data Management Committee

The Research Committee manages and reviews the progress of the Centre’s research.

The Committee drives initiatives to ensure that the Centre’s research is transdisciplinary and cross-nodal, strongly aligned with the Centre’s research programs, responsive to the needs of partners, and provides opportunities for codesign of new projects with partners.

Chair Distinguished Professor Leon Straker

Other members of the committee include the Co-leads for the Healthy, Connected, and Educated research programs, the Australian Child of the Digital Age (ACODA) Longitudinal Study Co-Leader representative, Indigenous Advisor, and a member of the Centre Directorate.

The Data Management Committee oversees the development and implementation of the Centre’s data management plan and technologies for management, protection, and integrity of Centre data to enable the Centre to achieve impact across its activities.

Chair Professor Andrew Rohl

Other members – Co-leads for the Healthy, Connected, and Educated research programs, the Australian Child of the Digital Age (ACODA) Longitudinal Study Co-Leader representative, and representatives from the Centre Directorate.

Research

Our research is designed to help inform three key areas that impact and influence on children’s lives – technology, education, and policy. Our studies intersect across areas of Health, Education and Connectedness to provide a holistic view of children’s experiences and the impact of digital technologies.

Supporting strategic projects

In 2023, the Centre Research Committee ran a competitive funding round for Digital Child members. The committee invited applications for strategic and innovative research projects.

Establishing a new Children’s Technology Space at Curtin University

Our Children’s Technology Centres are dedicated technology spaces and physical sites where researchers and digital technology users investigate concepts and potential technological advances. They are research and professional learning sites for understanding children’s use of a range of different technologies. Already existing centres are hosted at QUT and the University of Wollongong.

The successful projects were:

Logan Stories: A kollaboration with Gunya Meta

CI Sefton-Green, RF Davis, RF Mannell

Parental Guidance: understanding what technology use guidelines parents would find useful

CI Straker, AI Edwards, CI Kervin, CI Cliff, RF McKenzie, AI Roberts, CI Sefton-Green, RF Mannell, RF Zhao, CI Zabatiero, RF Hendry, RF Burley, RF MacKenzie, CI Paatsch

Generative Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Children: The Promise, Perils and Pedagogies

CI Leaver, CI Bennett, CI Dezuanni, RF Levido, RF Mannell, CI Murcia, RF Ng, CI Pangrazio, RF Rodrigues, AI Rohl, RA Srdarov

Mapping the realities and imaginaries of a children’s metaverse

CI Dezuanni, RF Levido, CI Woods, CI Leaver, RF Levido, AI Chalmers

The new space at Curtin University has been named the Children’s Technology Cove. The Cove will be a space where Centre members can run events, workshops and activities open to the public, where children (accompanied by family members or educators) will have the opportunity to learn, play and connect with digital technology.

Catching with Gunya Meta in Logan for further discussions around a new transdisciplinary project that will look at how the Gunya Meta community uses and develops digital technologies with and for children.

Four new Working Papers published by our researchers

The Digital Child Working Paper Series provides insights and ideas emerging from research conducted within the Centre of Excellence for the Digital Child.

Seeding transdisciplinary culture: Lessons from the Digital Child Centre transdisciplinary workshops

Authors: Logere, R., Mannell, K., Davis, J., Roberts, P., Amery, P., Bennett, S., Day, N., Kervin, L., Mascheroni, G., MacKenzie, J., Sefton-Green, J. & Straker, L.

Date published: 5 December 2023

Series type: Methods and Methodologies

Manifesto for a Better Children’s Internet

Authors: Dezuanni, M., Rodriguez, A., SeftonGreen, J., Leaver, T., Bunn, A., Potter, A., Farthing, R., Hourigan, A., Pangrazio, L., Mannell, K., Corser, K., Bennett, S., Levido, A., Zhao, X., Ng, R., Healy, G, & Willett, R.

Date published: 15 November 2023

Series type: Policy

Additional details on this working paper are available on page 41.

Proposed Position Paper on Privacy Law Reforms

Authors: Bunn, A; Leaver, T.

Date published: 1 February, 2023

Series type: Policy

Moving screen use guidelines: Nine reasons why screen use guidelines should be separated from public health 24-hour movement guidelines in Australia and internationally

Authors: Straker, L., Edwards, S., Kervin, L., Burley, J., Hendry, D., and Cliff, D.

Date published: 2 March, 2023

Series type: ‘Discussion’ series looking at conceptual challenges and aimed at the scholarly community

Additional details on this working paper are available on page 29

Indigenous research and engagement

Launch of Digital Child Indigenous design

Commissioned by the Digital Child Indigenous portfolio, the Digital Child Indigenous design is available for use alongside or in place of our logo for all Centre members.

The designer of the artwork - Elaine Chambersdescribed the work as follows:

The design is created with the main focus of the hand that navigates through the internet and the digital process. I have chosen to create the hand like a child’s hand, and added dots around to represent our people.

There are markings around the main circle that represent out mob from the water, the land, and how we are all connected.

The lines and circles jutting out from the main circle represent the internet, and it’s connection to everywhere. This is similar to how sometimes we may design our pathways or connections to mob and areas, but used in a square format.

The colours used are of the land and water and the sky.

Indigenous research capability in a Centre of Excellence

In 2023, our Indigenous Engagement Portfolio designed a research project titled ‘Indigenous research capability in a Centre of Excellence’. The survey was launched at the 2023 Digital Child Annual Meeting.

Findings from this research inform the Centre, as well as the higher education and research sector more broadly, on the conceptualisation, development, and application of cultural competence for Indigenous research, contributing to the overall goal for promoting research with Indigenous children and families that is ethical, culturally appropriate, and impactful.

‘Co-design’ is the latest buzzword in Indigenous education policy. Does it live up to the hype?

Piece in The Conversation by Digital Child Associate Investigator Associate Professor Marnee Shay and Digital Child Chief Investigator

Professor Grace Sarra

Co-design is the new buzz word being applied to relationships between Indigenous and nonIndigenous peoples.

It has been used as a key part of the Indigenous Voice process. But it is also talked about when it comes to health policy and infrastructure design. Even fashion brand Country Road has talked about co-design in its work with Ngen’giwumirri artist, Kieren Karritpul to develop a homewares range.

Co-design is also increasingly used in education circles.

Educational policies are emphasising the importance of schools and Indigenous peoples and communities working together in improving educational outcomes for Indigenous peoples.

But what does it mean and does it stand up to the hype? Our research has identified three clear ways we can improve co-design.

Read on here

Attending SNAICC’23 to promote ACODA longitudinal study

SNAICC is the National Voice for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children. They work to see Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children grow up healthy, happy and safe, connected to culture and Community.

The Digital Child team attended SNAICC’23Voices at the Top, the 10th SNAICC National Conference in September 2023. The conference was held on Larrakia Country in Garamilla/ Darwin.

Professor Grace Sarra, Professor Susan Danby, and Lisa Walker represented the Centre with a booth, which promoted the forthcoming launch of the ACODA longitudinal study.

Digital Child attends Voices at the Top, the 10th SNAICC National Conference. Pictured here: Distinguished Professor Susan Danby (left) and Professor Grace Sarra (right).

ACODA

By engaging thousands of families across Australia, we will learn more about how digital technologies are used by young children and understand the impact of technology use.

Digital technologies are rapidly changing. They are used with, and accessed by, even the very youngest children. Our global-first Australian Children of the Digital Age (ACODA) Longitudinal Study investigates the extent, nature and ongoing effects of Australian children’s engagement with digital technologies.

This is the first study in the world to investigate children’s digital engagement at a population level, documenting and tracking patterns of digital engagement of more than 3,000 Australian families and their children from six months to eight years of age.

Our study is designed to provide the big picture; to identify potential problems and unmet possibilities associated with digital technologies in early childhood. Our study will build new understandings to help identify policy and practice ‘hot spots’ for detailed investigation, with the aim of informing solutions and opportunities for optimisation for the diversity of Australian children, their families, and society.

Professor Daniel Johnson Professor Grace Sarra Dr Juliana Zabatiero

ACODA Co-Leads

New national study launched in 2023

The Digital Child is seeking thousands of Australian families to take part in the worldfirst longitudinal study of young children’s engagement with digital technologies, from six months of age.

Professor Susan Danby said that digital technologies were changing childhood as we know it with implications for young children’s health, education, wellbeing, and social connections.

“The big question facing parents and carers is: What does the central presence of digital technologies mean for your children?” said Professor Danby.

Professor Daniel Johnson said that currently, relatively little was known about how young children used digital technologies.

“Our study will provide actionable insights by identifying the ways in which technology is benefiting families but also highlighting the concerns that they have,” Professor Johnson said.

Digital technology offers a myriad of opportunities for learning and play, but also significant risks for young children.

Dr Juliana Zabatiero said that there was a lack of clarity about the place of digital technologies in supporting young children as they learn and grow.

“ACODA will empower children and their families by providing important insight into the way technology use relates with different aspects of a child’s life,” Dr Zabatiero said.

Professor Grace Sarra said that other key issues addressed by ACODA include equity, access, and the digital divide.

“Children experiencing digital exclusion miss out on access to knowledge and important social connections. By collecting populationlevel data, ACODA will inform evidence-based advice for policy makers on how and where access should be improved,” Professor Sarra said.

Digital Child partners crucial to ACODA survey success

The Digital Child has partnered with existing and new Centre partners in order to promote the ACODA survey and recruit participants from across Australia.

Digital Child partners who have supported the promotion of ACODA include the Office of the eSafety Commissioner, Early Childhood Australia, Isolated Children’s Parents Association (ICPA) Qld, Goodstart Early Learning, G8 Education, Play Matters Australia, Playgroup WA, and Scitech.

Wallis Social Research (Wallis) also partnered with the Digital Child on ACODA. Wallis has managed the data collection of the Longitudinal Surveys of Australian Youth (LSAY), one of Australia’s largest longitudinal surveys, since 2000. The Wallis team will support ACODA throughout the survey process.

Key developments in 2023

Several core milestones were achieved for the ACODA study in 2023.

ACODA ethics applications submitted to QUT University Human Research Ethics Committee.

Ethics approval received.

Digital Child partners with Wallis Social Research on survey delivery.

Digital Child partners briefed on the survey and release date.

Ethics variation submitted following finalisation of survey.

ACODA project officer Claire Enkera appointed to support ACODA.

Ethics approval granted and survey released during National Children’s Week.

Healthy Child

How do we balance the health risks of digital technologies against access to knowledge and social interactions that provide opportunity for positive physical and emotional wellbeing?

Co-Leads in 2023:

Associate Professor

Sonia White

Associate Professor

Dylan Cliff

Our Healthy Child research program aims to produce high-quality evidence about the positive and negative health and wellbeing effects associated with digital technology use by young children and the ways that these should be navigated.

Professor Leon Straker

NEW RESEARCH PROJECTS

The Digital Home Environment:

Exploring longitudinal patterns in young children’s digital home environment across the early years and associations with children’s health and development.

Chief Investigator Associate Professor Sonia White; Other Centre contributors: Chief Investigator Associate Professor Dylan Cliff, Research Fellow Dr Jade Burley, Research Fellow Dr Nicole Hayes

This project will draw on data from the large-scale nationally representative study – Growing Up in Australia: The Longitudinal Study of Australian Children (LSAC) to explore longitudinal patterns of change in the digital home environment (including digital access, digital use and parental involvement practices) across the early childhood years and examine associations with children’s health and developmental outcomes. The project will include a series of analyses that will examine longitudinal patterns and interactions between the different aspects of digital home environment and consider other contextual variables that may mediate/moderate the association between the digital home environment and children’s outcomes.

Understanding children’s negative experiences when gaming online

Chief Investigator Professor Daniel Johnson; Other Centre contributors: Chief Investigator Senior Professor Sue Bennett, Research Fellow Dr Janelle MacKenzie

The project aim is to gain an understanding of children’s experience of toxicity (disruptive or aggressive behaviour) during videogame play, through a survey study with children and caregivers. A secondary aim is to understand the positive behaviours children currently witness and enact during videogame play.

This is the first step in the creation of a future gaming culture that rejects toxicity and embraces collaboration, positive joy, mutual respect, positive social behaviours, and expression. The project will provide evidence-based research to inform strategies for children to gain skills to recognise, counteract, and reject toxic behaviours and attitudes within online gaming environments.

Psychophysiological assessment of children playing a videogame with differing reward types

Chief Investigator Professor Daniel Johnson; Other Centre contributors: Research Fellow Dr Janelle MacKenzie

The aim of the project is to investigate the impacts of four reward types prevalent in video games, by using a lab-based methodology to collect psychophysiological data from children in the early years of primary school whilst they play a video game. This study will be one of the first to investigate the psychophysiological impacts of playing video games with different reward types for children, addressing concerns about video game design elements and potentially identifying elements to promote wellbeing. The project will inform the creation of evidence based information to assist researchers, policymakers, and parents with understanding different rewards in video games and their potential impacts.

PROGRAM HIGHLIGHTS FROM 2023

Nine reasons why screen use guidelines should be separated from public health 24-hour movement guidelines in Australia and internationally

Launched in 2023, this Working Paper aims to stimulate health policy, practice and research thinking around how guidelines could best support children’s wise use of screens.

To do so it outlines the historical development of Australian screen use guidelines including reasons for them being embedded in physical activity and 24 hour movement guidelines. The evolution of guidelines in other countries is also outlined, highlighting recent changes in thinking.

Nine reasons are presented for why screen use guidelines should be separated from physical activity/movement guidelines:

1. Enable adequate considerations of aspects of screen use other than time

2. Enable better guidance on how screen use can have a positive impact on child health and development

3. Recognise the varying needs and vulnerabilities of different children

4. Recognise rights of children growing up in a digital society

5. Enable transdisciplinary guidelines

6. Enable a neutral approach to screen use

7. Enable the clear separation of sitting time from screen use

8. Encourage better measures of screen use

9. Enable moderate/vigorous physical activity and sleep guidelines to be better received by the community.

Read the Working Paper here.

PROGRAM HIGHLIGHTS FROM 2023

Better measurement of children’s technology use and their posture and movement (sensors)

Professor Leon Straker, Associate Professor Amity Campbell, Associate Professor Courtenay Harris, Professor Andrew Rohl, Associate Professor Dylan Cliff, Dr Luci Pangrazio, Dr Juliana Zabatiero, Professor Karen Murcia, Professor Simon Smith

The initial focus of this project was capturing what is known about the current methods to measure digital technology use by children and their posture and movement during device use. Current guidelines mainly rely on parental report, which is burdensome for participants and of questionable accuracy. The project will synthesise what is known about the methods used, including proxy report, direction observation, interaction data and wearable sensors. Following this, a lab study and field study that draw on these findings will be carried out.

Project progress:

• Publication of Phase 1 systematic review: Hendry D, Rohl AL, Rasmussen CL, Zabatiero J, Cliff DP, Smith SS, Mackenzie J, Pattinson CL, Straker L, Campbell A. Objective Measurement of Posture and Movement in Young Children

Using Wearable Sensors and Customised Mathematical Approaches: A Systematic Review. Sensors. 2023; 23(24):9661.

https://doi.org/10.3390/s23249661

• Phase 2 lab study with 48 children completing a range of activities whilst wearing sensors was completed in September with data processing underway.

• Phase 3 field study planned for 2024.

Where are parents seeking information about their children’s health and digital technology use?

Dr Danica Hendry, Professor Leon Straker, and Dr Juliana Zabatiero on the Digital Child blog

Digital technology is ubiquitous in the lives of many families with young children and a concern for many parents. In 2021, The Australian Child Health Poll identified “excessive screen time” as the number one parental concern for their children, with more than 90% of parents identifying it as problematic. Additionally, parents commonly find screen time guidelines unrealistic to follow and guilt provoking. As a result, mixed perspectives and practices often exist amongst parents surrounding technology use with and by their young children. However, it is not always clear what influences these perspectives, or how parents access information about digital technology use for their children, and why they choose the sources that they do…

We recently completed an interview-based study of 20 Australian parents of children aged 0-3 years to explore how parents of young children access health-related information for their children, with a particular focus on information about digital technology use…

In choosing where they accessed healthrelated information for their children, parents valued information which they perceived as trustworthy, easily accessible and based on current evidence. For many parents, websites were perceived as trustworthy if they were local to Australia and linked to government or broadly recognised organisations, or had been recommended by family, friends and health professionals…

When it came to sourcing information about digital technology use for their children, parents’ practices and perspectives were vastly different. In fact, few parents had accessed information about their child’s digital technology use. Instead, they based decisions about their children’s digital technology use on their personal values and beliefs surrounding digital technology, which were often influenced via negative and fear mongering mainstream media messaging about digital technology use. For some parents, particularly those with children under the age of 18 months, they felt that there was so much to navigate in their parenting journey, that they hadn’t yet thought much about digital technology use outside of which white noise machine to purchase to help their child sleep. However, they recognised

that digital technology use was something they would need to think about in the future, so it is likely that if this study was repeated with parents of older children, their practices surrounding access to information would be very different.

For those parents who did access information on children’s digital technology use, their focus was on screen time, as opposed to how screens are used. It is possible that this focus reflects the past and current Australian Physical Activity and Sedentary Behaviour guidelines, which have a strong focus towards the amount of sedentary screen time as opposed to how we can navigate the risks of digital technology use and harness the benefits.

The findings of this study highlight a need for a shift in translation of research findings to support community practices, towards utilising broader sources and strategies to allow effective research translation to help empower parents in making positive decisions about their young children’s digital technology use. This could be achieved through continuing to form and strengthen partnerships and relationships with not only recognised and trusted organisations, but trusted social media influencers and parenting forums, to support parents in raising their children in an ever-evolving digital world.

Read the full blog here

PROGRAM HIGHLIGHTS FROM 2023

Healthy Child Discussion Forums

Held in June and July 2023, the Healthy Child Discussion forums provided an opportunity for Centre members in the research program to showcase their current research and progress. 44 Centre members attended the Forums across the two days.

• Project presentations and discussions focused on two core themes:

• Showcasing innovative methodologies in Digital Child research

~ Responsible innovation in technology for children: The Lego project - Janelle MacKenzie (QUT)

~ Wearable spectrometers for measuring light from digital technology interfacesCassandra Pattinson (UQ)

~ Wearable cameras and accelerometers to quantify digital technology exposure and posture/movement - Charlotte Lund Rasmussen (Curtin)

• Advancing our understanding of early childhood through Digital Child research

~ Understanding early childhood mobile screen use - Sumudu Mallawaarachchi (Deakin)

~ Role of digital technology in engaging children with nature - Chimi Om (QUT)

~ Through a child’s eyes: Developing tasks to understand visual engagement - Nicole Hayes (QUT)

Images of play with lego during our Children’s Digital Citizenship and Safety Roundtables

Families in Focus

As part of Children’s Week, Children’s Health Queensland hosted a unique research event on Monday 23 and 24 October 2023 at Queensland Children’s Hospital with support from Digital Child Healthy researchers.

This event included six fun and ineractive activities for the whole family, and gave children, parents, and caregivers the opportunity to share experiences and perspectives on caring for children with a disability.

Online participation options were provided for families who were not able to attend the events in person.

Educated Child

How do we harness digital technologies to optimise learning and access to knowledge through active interactions and development of engaging and thought-provoking technologies?

Co-Leads in 2023:

Our Educated Child program aims to advance understandings of how children in diverse communities participate in digital learning and explore how participation might engage with curriculum guidelines and educational and learning practices.

Professor Lisa Kervin

Professor Karen Murcia

Professor Louise Paatsch

NEW RESEARCH PROJECTS

The digital profile of young children in Australian schools

Chief Investigator Professor Susan Danby; Other Centre contributors: Associate Investigator Dr Rebecca Spooner-Lane, Research Fellow Dr Rebecca Ng, Associate Investigator Dr Nerida Spina, Dr Jeanine Gallagher

This project will work with schools and school authorities to investigate how schools create and use digital profiles of children in their first year of schooling. Qualitative data will be collected from representatives from two regional Queensland Catholic School Authorities (CSAs), as well as school leaders and teachers. The project will determine the digital profile of children in their first year of schooling and investigate how it is used to support or constrain young children’s educational experiences. Interviews and focus groups will be used to develop a deep understanding of how data is collected, stored, and used.

New Interactive Technologies for Playbased Learning in Early Childhood Education

Chief Investigator Professor Lisa Kervin; Other Centre contributors: Associate Investigator Dr Maria Nicholas, Associate Investigator Professor Suzy Edwards, Chief Investigator Professor Peta Wyeth, Chief Investigator Professor Louise Paatsch, Research Fellow Dr Sarah Matthews

Our design-oriented study investigates children’s play-based interactions with existing and novel interactive technologies such as tangible, sensor-based, and wearable devices. It will focus on the potential of these technologies in early years to support learning experiences. While the study will be situated in the technologies subject area, it will also investigate how digital technologies create new educational opportunities across areas such as humanities and science. The participatory and action-based research approach will produce insights into how technologies can be better designed and implemented in early childhood contexts. This will provide understanding into the unique learning opportunities tangible technologies afford.

The digital day of a distance education child

Chief Investigator Professor Susan Danby; Other Centre contributors: Chief Investigator Professor Lennie Barblett, Chief Investigator Associate Professor Sonia White, PhD student Phillipa Amery, PhD student Ruth MacDonald

In Queensland the Isolated Children’s Parents’ Association (ICPA) have over 45 branches and over 1,200 member families engaging in distance learning. There is no evidence to describe how this learning may impact on the continued learning, health, and wellbeing of children and how children are engaged or not in learning through digital means. The aims of this project are two-fold: first, describe the digital day in the life of a child involved in distance learning and second, develop recommendations for home tutors and teachers about digital safety, health and engaging in learning through digital modes.

PROGRAM HIGHLIGHTS FROM 2023

Why that now? The ‘everyday’ for children being seen and heard in a digital world

Susan Danby delivers the postponed 2022 Radford Lecture for the Australian Association of Research in Education (AARE) 2023 conference. An extract of this lecture is provided below.

… We are witnessing children’s lives being profoundly changed with the ubiquitous experiences of interacting with new digital worlds unknown by previous generations. I draw on a collection of my research to examine how children attend to their agency as language users across social, educational, and digital contexts.

Focusing on critical junctures of disciplinary paradigms and changing childhood contexts makes possible new research encounters within disciplinary areas and understandings of the complexity of children’s everyday lives…

As an education discipline, the work of educators has been focused on finding ways to mediate the students’ voices, of mediating their ways of being in the world.

And now we have the digital child. Who is the digital child? Depends on who you ask. From the

flight attendant on my flight to Melbourne who realised that her child felt truly confident and social when he was playing games online with his friends, to the grandmother who blamed technology for destroying her relationship with her grandson. To researchers who bring a range of perspectives to understand the lives of digital children, both opportunities and risks. While there is much research being done differently, in regard to respectful engagement with children, there is clearly much work still to be done with our youngest digital citizens.

To conclude, Radford reminds us of some principled ways forward.

The first is that the human dimension can never be diminished or lost.

The second is Radford’s recognition of the value of early childhood. I’m very pleased to have had this opportunity to show how his vision for educational research in early childhood is now being realised.

Read the full extract here.

PROGRAM HIGHLIGHTS FROM 2023

New report: Adapting Common Sense’s Digital Citizenship Curriculum for use in Australian primary schools and early education settings

A new report from Digital Child researchers outlines findings from research conducted from January 2022 to June 2023 in fifteen Australian Primary Schools and one early education centre, with a focus on adapting Common Sense’s Digital Citizenship curriculum for impactful eSafety education in Australian primary school and early education settings.

With funding from the eSafety Commissioner’s Online Safety Grants, the research team implemented a digital citizenship curriculum developed in the United States by Common Sense, an internationally renowned non-profit organization dedicated to helping kids thrive in a digital world.

Our researchers partnered with Evolve Education to deliver the project. They worked directly with teachers in fifteen primary schools around Australia to provide teachers with professional learning and guidance on how to implement the Common Sense Digital Citizenship Curriculum.

Find out more about the project and the outcomes.

The Festival of Digital Play was held at Early Start’s Discovery Space 9am-1pm, 7th March 2023.

More than 300 children and their adults attended the Festival.

The event was designed to translate research findings to inform play experiences offered to children and their adults. The festival aimed to use a community play space to provide 15 different digital play experience, planned and co-facilitated by a team of educators (the Discovery Space staff) as they worked shoulderto-shoulder with researchers.

CIs, AIs, RFs and HDR students across the UOW and QUT nodes were involved (Lance Barrie, Sue Bennett, Jade Burley, Dylan Cliff, Michelle Cook, Natalie Day, Michelle Gregory, Lisa Kervin, Lisa Kilgariff, Kate Lewis, Jessica Mantei, Sarah Matthews, Myrto Mavilidi, Cathrine Neilsen-Hewett, Rebecca Ng, Clara Rivera, Aleesha Rodriguez, Janine Singleton). Digital play experiences emerged from centre projects. Experiences included multimodal story times, Kadinsky inspired digital art, Hide and Seek with the 360 camera, Augmented Reality discovery, lots of robot play, investigations with digital microscopes, vox pop, a treasure hunt, and a constant schedule of digital playgroups in the Children’s Technology Play Space.

PROGRAM HIGHLIGHTS FROM 2023

From Digital Divide to Digital Inclusion

Run by Digital Child Chief Investigator Professor Karen Murcia, this event focused on quality education for young children in regional and remote areas.

By bringing together professionals from various backgrounds at this round table event, this event aims to build a community of practice and gain practical and applied insights into the challenges facing rural and remote early learning communities.

Attendees engaged in-depth discussions about digital and spatial equity in Western Australia, the inclusion of experienced educational practitioners, academics, and policy makers, and a call to improve educational opportunities and connectivity in rural and regional communities around our state.

Experts discuss the role of ‘digital’ in play

‘The Social Worlds of Children’s Digital Play’ seminar was held at ACMI in Melbourne on June 1st, presenting four different perspectives of digital play.

The seminar, part of a series of public-facing seminars co-hosted by the Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence for the Digital Child and the Australian Centre for the Moving Image (ACMI), discussed ‘what is digital play?’ and ‘what constitutes good digital play?’.

Four presenters answered these questions from varying angles – within the home, at school, in informal learning settings, and within industry.

“It was a thought-provoking seminar,” says event convener Professor Louise Paatsch from Deakin University. “It brought together the different perspectives from teachers, children’s program developers, researchers, and designers of digital displays and exhibitions within

Ambient Birdhouse created by Digital Child researchers in used at Perfect Beginnings Early Learning Centre

community settings regarding the role of the digital in children’s play.”

The seminar presenters included Jacqui Jarvis (Foundation Teacher and Playgroup Leader at St James’ Primary School), Dr Britt Romstad (ACMI’s Executive Director of Experience and Engagement), Dr Fiona Scott (Lecturer and Director of the Literacies and Language Research Cluster at the University of Sheffield), and Laura Stone (Early Childhood Education Producer at ABC).

“This seminar provided important insights into the affordances and challenges of digital play,” says Professor Paatsch.

“It discussed the importance of moving beyond the technological determinist views of digital technologies being good or bad for children to broadening our understandings of the value and use of digital technologies in children’s diverse social worlds and how these can be embedded into practice.”

The recording from this session is available on the Digital Child YouTube channel.

PROGRAM HIGHLIGHTS FROM 2023

Stories by Digital Children competition launched in 2023

The Stories by Digital Children: A storytelling competition invited young children (5-12 year olds) to submit a concept for a children’s story based on the 2023 theme, Fun with digital media: Getting the balance right

Entrants were asked: Do you like using digital media and technology? How do you balance digital media and technology with other activities? Help other children understand how to get the balance right!

The competition was open to children in the following age categories, with a winner selected from each category:

• 5-6 year olds

• 7–8 year olds

• 9-12 year olds

Each age group created an entry designed for children younger than them.

Children described their ideas and main characters and drew at least one picture. Four winners were decided across 3 age categories. Each of these winners participated in a workshop with children’s author and Digital Child PhD candidate Kim Maslin, who developed the ideas with the children and refined these into storybooks. Each book was illustrated by Phoebe Zeng. The final books will be available in early 2024 from our website.

Connected Child

How do we balance access to social and knowledge connections in the digital world against risks of surveillance, infringements of privacy, and child rights?

Co-Leads in 2023:

Professor Susan Bennett

Professor Julian Sefton-Green

Our Connected Child research program investigates important issues associated with children’s use of the Internet and mobile technologies related to data analytics, online engagement, and commercial influences.

Professor Michael Dezuanni

NEW RESEARCH PROJECTS

Everyday digital experiences of culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) communities and families with young children

Chief Investigator Julian Sefton-Green; Other Centre contributors: Associate Investigator Associate Professor Cathrine NeilsenHewett , PhD student Dinusha Bandara, Chief Investigator Dr Luci Pangrazio, Chief Investigator Senior Professor Sue Bennett, Research Fellow Dr Rebecca Ng, Research Fellow Dr Xinyu (Andy) Zhao

In multicultural Australia, children’s digital life is often established at the intersection of transnational cultural industries, local community networks and family values and norms. This project investigates what influences how Australian families with young children from culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) backgrounds engage with digital devices and platforms in different spheres of everyday life. It will generate new knowledge about migrant children’s digital needs and literacies and inform services and policies that better support and empower CALD communities in the digital age. Project findings will be shared with community organisations to co-develop culturally accessible resources for the CALD communities.

Digital technology and grandparenting

Chief Investigator Professor Lelia Green; Other Centre contributors: Associate Investigator Dr David Coall, Associate Investigator Dr Shantha Karthigesu, Chief Investigator Professor Lelia Green, Chief Investigator Professor Daniel Johnson

This project will explore how grandparents manage children’s use of digital technology when caring for them. Parents often employ mediation strategies to moderate children’s use of digital technology. Given how pervasive digital technology is and the extent to which children use them for entertainment and education, this study will investigate whether mediation is consistent between parents and grandparents. Exploring how grandparents approach mediation of technology use by their grandchildren in our connected society will provide a wholistic view of the developmental niche of the digital child.

Exploring children’s motivations for playing videogames

Chief Investigator Professor Daniel Johnson; Other Centre contributors: Research Fellow Dr Clara Rivera, Chief Investigator Professor Lisa Kervin, Research Fellow Dr Janelle MacKenzie

The aim of the project is to investigate children’s motivations for choosing to play videogames, by using a novel qualitative methodology placing children at the centre of the research. The study will include creation of videogame play videos, co-construction of interview questions, and children interviewing other children within the study. This study will be one of the first to investigate the motivations for playing videogames of Australian children aged 78 years. The project will assist with developing an evidence-based understanding of children’s motivations for play.

PROGRAM HIGHLIGHTS FROM 2023

Manifesto a Better Children’s Internet launched

The Manifesto for a Better Children’s Internet is the result of a two-year project by researchers from the Digital Child. It highlights 17 actionable principles, including the development of quality standards for ageappropriate content, a move away from over reliance on ‘parental control’ and promotion of media literacy.

Digital Child research fellow Dr Aleesha Rodriguez said the idea of the ‘Children’s Internet’ included the many ways children access and use digital products and services.

“Right now, it’s the wild west when it comes to children’s internet experience as tech companies create kids’ versions of popular apps and social media, digital resources get labelled

as ‘educational’ without scrutiny, and anyone can upload content for ‘for children’ without oversight to what that means,” Dr Rodriguez said.

“Talking about a ‘Children’s Internet’ provides an important, unifying concept that helps everyone – including industry, government, parents, and carers, and beyond – understand the need for a societal response to this challenge.”

“We need to do better if we want children to have fun, productive, safe, and ethical experiences online.”

Digital Child Chief Investigator Professor Michael Dezuanni said the Manifesto provided practical principles that could help re-design the internet with children front of mind.

“Parents and carers must do a lot of work to keep children safe online. Our Manifesto aims to lessen this burden by challenging key groups to

take action to improve the internet for children,” Professor Dezuanni said.

Professor Dezuanni said there were six areas that ‘made up’ the ‘Children’s Internet’: Access, Imaginaries, Entertainment, Education, Regulation and Participation. The 17 principles outlined in the Manifesto for a Better Children’s Internet include:

• The development of quality standards for age-appropriate entertainment and educational products and services for children.

• More investment in locally produced, diverse, and highly quality entertainment and educational products and services for children and families.

• Avoiding the tech entrepreneurial philosophy of ‘move fast and break things’ when developing products and services for children.

• A move away from the over-reliance on ‘parental controls’ as the solution to managing or improving children’s online experiences.

• Legislation to ensure the recognition and protection of children’s digital labour.

• The promotion of media literacy to support children’s fun, productive, safe, diverse, and ethical internet experiences.

Read more here.

PROGRAM HIGHLIGHTS FROM 2023

Sharing our research at Oslo digital platforms workshop

Digital Child members recently travelled to Oslo to participate in a three-day workshop that brought together researchers from two large-scale initiatives focusing on family life and digital platforms – the Centre of Excellence for the Digital Child and PlatFAMS (Platforming Families), a CHANSE-funded research project.

The workshop was co-organised by Digital Child Chief Investigator Professor Julian Sefton-Green and Digital Child Partner Investigator Professor Ola Erstad from the University of Oslo, and aimed to share research relating to platform use and its meaning and understanding in the context of the family, bringing together international experts who are doing empirical work in this area.

Alongside Professor Julian Sefton-Green, other Centre members in attendance were Chief Investigator Dr Luci Pangrazio, Research Fellow

Connected Child

Dr Kate Mannell, and Centre Student Katrin Langton.

“As an Early Career Researcher, the workshop provided particularly valued opportunities to meet and build relationships with international scholars who I would otherwise be unlikely to meet,” says Dr Mannell. “It was especially beneficial to participate in exchanges with the PlatFAMS team about how to develop their project, as it’s rare to experience how large multi-national projects are built from the ground up.”

As part of the workshop, attendees were able to each lead a session about different approaches and issues of concern in relation to platforms and family life, and aimed to discuss set priorities around this emerging field of research.

“It was an excellent opportunity to receive feedback on my project’s findings,” says Dr Pangrazio, who presented on her Centre ‘Data in the Home’ project. “It’s also stimulated my thinking around the theory associated with this field, such as the need to update how parental mediation is theorized, as well as how to conceptualise the relationship between datafication and platformisation.”

The workshop also included a round table at the main city library in Oslo, and brought a range of government, industry, and nonprofit stakeholders into the discussion, all who have an interest in digital technologies and family life. Discussions are also underway for a collaborative publication emerging from the workshop.

Read more here

PROGRAM HIGHLIGHTS FROM 2023

Connected Learning in Focus @ Digital Child

On Thursday, July 13 – Friday, July 14, Connected Learning in Focus @ Digital Child AU brought together innovators in research, industry, and education to explore how emerging technology can be used to expand children’s access to participatory, playful and creative learning.

Connected Learning in Focus @ DigitalChildAU was a collaboration between the ARC Centre of Excellence for the Digital Child and the Connected Learning Alliance. It is the inaugural regional instance of the Connected Learning Summit

The event theme was ‘Making Connected Learning Visible in home, school and community settings.’ The conference included a specific focus on digital childhoods and connected learning.

In July, our researchers and industry and community partners met in person for two days of exciting talks, showcases, panels and interactive sessions featuring innovators in researcher, industry and education.

Recordings from the sessions will be uploaded to the Digital Child YouTube channel in late 2023 and early 2024.

Ethics toolkit for researchers focused on children’s relationships with digital technology

Led by Digital Child research fellows Dr Kate Mannell and Dr Andy Zhao, the Digital Child Ethics toolkit is a resource that provides researchers with practical guidance about the details of research conduct and could be used when designing research protocols and writing them up for ethics committees.

There are many existing ethics guidelines that are relevant to digital childhoods research, however these generally focus on conceptual principles while more practical advice is distributed across a large number of research papers and toolkits and is shared informally through conversations.

To build on these existing resources, this toolkit is structured in two parts:

• a discussion paper covering ethical issues specific to digital childhoods research

• an appendix of existing resources relevant to the ethics of digital childhoods research.

Content for this toolkit has been iteratively developed in the Digital Child’s Annual Meeting 2021, a roundtable with members in 2022, and by circulating a draft document in late 2022 with an invitation for Centre members to join as coauthors and contributors. The finalised toolkit will be distributed to key research, government, and industry partners in early 2024.

Dr Aleesha Rodriguez selected for ABC Top 5 media residency

Dr Aleesha Rodriguez from the ARC Centre of Excellence for the Digital Child at QUT made the Top 5 Humanities list for the ABC Top 5 media residency program.

They spent two weeks ‘in residence’ at ABC Radio National, where they will work with leading journalists and broadcasters.

Dr Rodriguez is an education researcher whose work explores how people shape technology, and how technologies shape society. Their residency will run from August 7 to 18 in Sydney and Brisbane.

“I’m looking forward to working with the ABC to refine my skills as a social science communicator. In particular, I’m excited to engage with the public and highlight how positive digital futures, for both children and adults, are possible and that everyone plays a vital role in shaping that future,” Dr Rodriguez said.

The Chair of the ABC, Ita Buttrose, said the Top 5 ABC Media Residency Program was an important project in a changing media landscape.

“The project gives academics the opportunity to be leading communicators about their field of research, while also enabling us here at the ABC to better serve our audiences with unique stories and specialist knowledge,” she said.

Read more

Digital Child Chief Investigator Professor

Michael Dezuanni coauthors report on lowincome families and the digital divide

Research teams from each of the four universities have been working with 30 families living in six communities around Australia over the last three years. Through ethnographic research with each family, and interviews with personnel from community organisations in the local area, researchers have developed a comprehensive evidence-base that outlines the key issues that affect the digital inclusion of low-income Australian families.

This engagement in communities, over time, has led the researchers to conclude that efforts to address digital inclusion in low-income families need to be collaborative, and shared between multi-level stakeholders as digital inclusion is everybody’s business.

Read more

Partnerships & Collaborations

Digital Child partners play an essential role in our Centre research and activities. In 2023, pivotal assistance from partners included the distribution of our longitudinal study - ACODA - among their networks

Three New Partners in 2023

UNICEF Australia: Around the world, Australia is known for being one of the best places for a child to grow up. But that’s not the case for everyone.

UNICEF Australia is making a difference by putting our years of experience working for children and young people around the world into practice. Through partnerships, advocacy and ensuring the voices of young people are heard, they are striving for a better future for Australia’s most vulnerable.

Life without Barriers: Life Without Barriers was formed because there was an unmet need – people with disability were being denied access to vital quality services as well as the opportunity to fully participate in their community. Close to 30 years later, Life Without Barriers is a contemporary charity, motivated by the opportunity to provide great services with generosity and a socially driven purpose. Their services include foster care with a range of placement types.

Goodstart Early Learning: Goodstart was founded on a vision of giving children the best possible start in life through access to quality early learning. They are Australia’s largest provider of early learning and care, and all of profits are reinvested back into their centres, programs for children, and people. Goodstart supports more than 660 early childhood education and care centres across Australia.

ACMI x Digital Child collaboration continues to grow

In 2023, Digital Child researchers convened two public events with the Australian Centre for the Moving Image (ACMI) in Melbourne.

‘The Social Worlds of Children’s Digital Play’ seminar was held at ACMI in Melbourne on June 1st, presenting four different perspectives of digital play. In the second event, three experts gave their thoughts in answer to the question:

‘How is AI Changing Digital Childhoods?’

Attendance:

“The Social Worlds of Children’s Digital Play” received 66 in-person registrations and 131 registrations for ZOOM.

“How is AI Changing Digital Childhoods?” attracted 93 in-person registrations and 155 registrations for ZOOM.

Attendees gather for a Digital Child x ACMI seminar

Working with industry to inform the Manifesto for a Better Children’s Internet

The Manifesto project was first developed through a sequence of workshops with key Chief Investigators and Research Fellows. These workshops involved exploratory exercises to map out the terrain of the Children’s Internet. This led to the development of the six lenses presented in this document—namely, access to products and services, imaginaries, entertainment, education and learning, regulation, and digital participation. See page 41 for details on the principles presented in the Manifesto.

Following on from this academic consultation, the team engaged in targeted recruitment to seek out expert industry perspectives around these issues. Under QUT Ethics Approval LR 2022-5328-11831, they conducted 10 online interviews that lasted about an hour each with leading experts regarding children’s digital products and services. All participants (except one who wished to remain anonymous) consented to having their quotes attributed to their name.

These industry experts included:

• Cate McQuillan, creator and producer of Get Grubby TV and Emmy Award Winning dirtgirlworld. McQuillan and the Get Grubby TV produce digital resources for families and educators that encourage children to play outside and with nature.

• Michael Carrington, executive producer for Carrington Media and former head of children’s & education ABC TV. Carrington commissioned the highly popular children’s television show Bluey for ABCME.

• Matt Deaner, CEO of Screen Producers Australia. Screen Producers Australia is a national organisation that unites the screen industry to campaign for a healthy commercial environment.

• Lauren Glina, founder of A.gap.e, a build your own computer kit. As a mum, an engineer and an educator, Glina is passionate about seeing kids have the same opportunities for

fresh and engaging STEM education products and experiences.

• Andrew Duval, founder of Frankenstories, a live multiplayer online writing game. Duval is one of the creators of Writelike.org, has a MA in Scriptwriting from Australian Film Television and Radio School, and is a two-time Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation grantee.

• Adam Weber, founder of TrueWell, a wellbeing platform to monitor and enrich the wellbeing of staff and students.

• Jenny Buckland, CEO of Australian Children’s Television Foundation (ACTF). The ACTF is a national non-profit children’s media production and policy hub and Buckland has extensive experience in the production, financing and international distribution of children’s television programmes.

• David Kleeman, senior vice president of global trends for Dubit which is a global studio that builds branded metaverse games. Kleeman has over 35 years experience in the children’s media industry, having been the past president of the American Center for Children and Media.

• Joey Egger, managing director at DEPT®/ FAMILY (APAC); Todd Hutchinson, creative director and Damian Fontana, executive producer at Two Moos/DEPT®—the family division of Two Bulls/DEPT® that partners with the world’s biggest kids brands and startups to craft games and digital experiences for children.

Digital Child Chief Investigator joins digital inclusion industry groups

Professor Michael Dezuanni was invited to join two groups focused on digital inclusion in 2023. These groups are:

• NBN’s Low-Income and Digital Inclusion Forum: The nbn has committed to establishing a multilateral working group to identify possible targeted initiatives to improve access, affordability, and digital ability for low-income and vulnerable end users of the nbn® network (the LowIncome and Digital Inclusion Forum). nbn has convened and chairs meetings of the Low-Income and Digital Inclusion Forum at least once each Financial Year. The inaugural meeting was held in March 2023. The forum facilitates active collaboration among members with the aim of improving access, affordability, and digital ability for low-income and vulnerable end users of the nbn network nationwide.

• State Library of Queensland’s Digital Inclusion advisory group, which falls under the Community Partnerships program and reports to the State Librarian and CEO. The State Library of Queensland has identified building inclusive digital experiences that are secure, rich and intuitive within their current organisational strategy.

Digital Child supports international visits

The Digital Child Deakin University hosted visiting scholar Professor Andra Siibak from University of Tartu, Estonia in late 2023. Across two days, Professor Siibak held an HDR/ECR workshop and several 1 on 1 tutorials. She also travelled to Brisbane for a visit to the Digital Child’s QUT node where she delivered a session for HDR students and early career researchers.

Our Deakin node hosted visiting Scholar Professor Ines Vitorino, who worked with the team for a year. Professor Vitorino has joined the Digital Child as an Associate Investigator to continue collaborating on research.

Group photo taken during our Centre Director’s visit to the Digital Child Deakin University node.

Digital Child blog hosts international perspectives from Partner Investigators and overseas collaborators

We published 10 international perspective pieces on our Digital Child blog during 2023 – this series encourages stakeholder engagement with research on digital childhoods and strengthens the Digital Child’s presence internationally. These pieces were contributed by existing Partner Investigators as well as new overseas collaborators for the Centre.

Partner Investigators:

UK “Secure by Design” vs Australian “Safety by Design”

by Dr Kruakae Pothong and Professor Sonia Livingstone

The more digitally connected our lives are, the more our and our children’s safety depends on these technologies being safe to use within various social contexts. But, what does it take to be safe in the digital environment? In this blog, Kruakae Pothong and Sonia Livingstone compare the UK government’s approach to children’s online safety to that of Australia and discuss the implications for children’s rights in the digital world.

Informing children about their rights as research participants: An open source animation film for researchers who work with children and young people by Dr Niamh Ní Bhroin and Professor Elisabeth Staksrud

How do we secure ethical informed consent from children and young people? And how can we explain to them what their rights are as research participants? These are questions that researchers in the field of children and media often grapple with. Now, CO:RE can offer a freefor-all resource in the form of an animated movie, that can help researchers around the world to address these questions.

Children’s rights and parental responsibilities in a digital world

by Professor Sonia Livingstone

In the growing debate over children’s rights in relation to the digital world, parents may wonder about their role. As technology gets more complex, seemingly the burden of responsibility on parents’ shoulders gets even heavier. Or can a child rights approach also benefit parents?

Overseas collaborators:

• Valuing the everyday roles played by families in children’s digital media practices at home by Dr Fiona Scott

My aim is not to add to the list of things contemporary families are told they must do. Rather, it is to highlight the very ordinary ways families are already engaging with children’s digital media use in positive ways, some of which they may not be aware of.

• Emotional Ambivalence in AI Toys and its Ethical Implications in the age of Generative AI by Professor Veronia Barassi

In the age of large language models and generative AI there are many different questions that emerge when we think about the impact of this emotional ambivalence on children and youth.

• The limits of ‘digital literacy’ by Associate Professor Phil Nichols

Across global organizations, national governments, and professional teaching communities, it seems like one thing educational stakeholders agree on is that young people need digital literacy. But when it comes to what is meant by “digital literacy,” there is less agreement.

• Ukrainian Child Refugees’ Digital Practices of Belonging by Associate Professor Thomas Enemark Lundtofte

Ukrainian child refugees use a wide repertoire of digital technologies in their everyday practices of belonging to their home country as well as their new community in Denmark. In our research

project Ukrainian Students in Danish Schools, we have studied two groups of children during their first experiences with going to school in Denmark.

• Multi-Stakeholder Approach to Online Safety Must Also Involve Children by Professor Sun Sun Lim

If the metaverse is meant to become the next significant instantiation of our virtual lives, what lessons have we drawn from 40 years of living with the Internet when it comes to making the online world safer and more inclusive for children and young people?

• Why teachers remain devoted to data –early years teachers in England as reluctant enactors of post-datafication policy by Professor Alice Bradbury

Teachers in early years settings in England have experienced a significant period of datafication in the last decade. This means that their work has increasingly been dominated by the collection, analysis and processing of data about children and their progress: practices such as organising activities so that certain boxes can be ticked, or taking photographs as evidence.

• Children connected to mobile digital technologies – Researching beyond access by Dr Patricia Ferrante

I have been researching uses, practices and policies of media and digital technologies in Argentina for the last 20 years, and I am particularly concerned about how to understand children and mobile technologies, mostly because I find that public discourses about childhood and ICT can be quite contradictory.

Mentorship & Capacity Building

Building human capacity through mentoring and training. In 2023, the Centre delivered a collaborative new mentoring program that will shape future-ready researchers who can deliver high-impact and widereaching research in digital childhoods.

Cross-Centre of Excellence Mentoring Program launched

In June 2023, the Digital Child and EQUS launched a new program designed to nurture Centre of Excellence researchers at all career stages.

The mentoring program is a collaboration between twelve Australian Research Council Centres of Excellence. Discussions on the Mentorloop program have been underway since a Centre of Excellence professional staff workshop, which took place in February 2023.

By December 2023, 340 participants are enrolled in the program with 277 currently actively engaged in one-on-one mentoring relationships.

The ARC Centres of Excellence involved in this collaboration include Centres from various funding rounds. The Centres involved are: EQUS, Digital Child, ADM+S, Astro3D, Life Course Centre, Dark Matter, FLEET, Synthetic Biology, TMOS, Plant Success, CIPPS, and OzGrav.

The program is run via a platform called Mentorloop. Mentorloop provides an online platform for matching and managing mentoring at scale. We are combining the pool of researchers from twelve Centres to ensure mentors and mentees have access to a broad range of expertise and experience.

Dr Janelle MacKenzie speaks to ECR audience

Dr Aleesha Rodriguez helped convene the Centre School for ECRs.

Professor Daniel Johnson presents at the Centre School of ECRs

Partnering with the Life Course Centre and ADM+S on a Centre School for ECRs

In November 2023, our SMART Portfolio delivered a Centre School for early career researchers (ECRs) in partnership with two other Centres of Excellence: the ARC Centre of Excellence for Children and Families Over the Life Course and the ARC Centre of Excellence for Automated Decision-Making and Society (ADM+S).

The school was held at Customs House, Brisbane over two days and was attended by approximately 50 ECRs from 14 institutions Australia-wide.

• The aim of the school was to enable relationship-building of ECRs between Centres, nodes and disciplines, as a foundation for potential collaboration. The

various sessions covered:

• The aims and challenges of the three Centres

• Multi-, trans- and inter-disciplinarity

• Learning about successful collaborations from industry experts

• Pitching your research (invention, rhetoric and imitatio)

• Brainstorming and presenting speculative collaborative projects

• Relationship building and networking

In a survey asking for feedback on the event, 100% of respondents said they met new people and made new connections. Two-thirds said they met people with whom they will continue research conversations with the view to start a collaboration.

Group photo of Centre School for ECRs attendees

Digital Child funding support for research fellows and students

Digital Child researchers attend the Association of Internet Researchers Conference

In October, 2023, four of the Centre’s researchers participated in the Association of Internet Researchers (AoIR) conference, held in Philadelphia, USA. The four researchers made up a panel session —Towards a Revolution in Children’s Data and Privacy— that ran on 19 October, 2023. The panel title fit in with the theme of the conference: ‘Revolutions’

The panel comprised four paper presentations, detailed below.

• The first paper, by Kate Mannell, was titled: ‘Where Does Children’s Data Go? Mapping the Data Broker Industry’ and focused on the way that large data broker companies collect data either about children, or can infer data about children from other datapoints, despite regulation preventing targeted collection of children’s data in Australia.

• The second paper, by Gavin Duffy, was titled: ‘Data and Privacy as a Social Relation’. It focussed on the educational technology (or ‘edtech’) market and examined young

children’s understanding of their own data in relation to edtech used in schools.

• The third paper, co-authored by Anna Bunn, Rebecca Ng, Xinyu (Andy) Zhao and Gavin Duffy (presented by Anna Bunn), was ‘Developing a Holistic Framework for Analysing Privacy Policies – A Child’s Rights and Data Justice Perspective’. The paper offered a framework for researchers to use when evaluating various domains or privacy policies: such as readability, visual analysis, and textual, legal and evaluative analysis. The aim is to produce a framework that allows researchers to analyse and evaluate privacy policies in the Australian context, and from a child rights perspective.

• The final paper, by Tama Leaver, was ‘Unboxing Data and Privacy Via Young Children’s Wearables’. It extended existing walkthrough methods which have focused on apps by adding the dimension of unboxing which highlights the physical packaging and framing of wearable devices marketed as being for very young children.

• The panel was well attended and following the presentations the audience addressed questions to each of the presenters. Following the conference, an email was received from Professor Willet at University of Wisconsin-Madison to say that the highlight

of the conference for her was our panel.

• The conference also provided the opportunity for the researchers to attend other relevant presentations, network with fellow researchers and promote the Centre on the international stage. Tama Leaver, of course, was also the AoIR President during the conference (now immediate past president). The conference has led to

valuable connections with researchers in the UK (such as Assoc. Prof. Clare Bessant at Northumbria), the US (Prof. Willett and Dr Mauk) and Canada (Natalie Coulter), among others. These, it is hoped, will provide the opportunity for ongoing collaborations going forward that should ultimately be of benefit to the Centre.

Digital Child research fellow Dr Amanda Levido receives EMCR exchange award

Dr Levido was awarded a Researcher Exchange award and commenced this trip from the 16th August 2023 for a period of 7 weeks.

During this travel, Dr Levido presented at the European Conference for Educational Research and the British Educational Research Association conference. She also visited five university and outreach sites in the United Kingdom, Sweden, and Belgium.

As a result of this award, Dr Levido developed connections with several researchers and has several meetings scheduled with researchers in Europe to discuss work in more detail.

Supporting Digital Child Associate Investigator Dr Kylie Stevenson

Associate Investigator Dr Kylie Stevenson was awarded a travel support grant that enabled her to attend the AARE Conference for the first time.

Dr Stevenson contributed to a panel on Digital Citizenship, showing the work of the Centre, and worked on the Digital Child booth in the main hall. She also networked with education researchers from across the nation and globe, and attended a variety of interdisciplinary education research sessions.

“This is one of the best conferences I have attended and will be on my calendar every year going forward.”

Digital Child team presents at Association of Internet Researchers Conference

Professional development award for PhD student Philippa Amery

The International Conference on Conversation Analysis brings together academics, researchers and service providers to showcase the latest research and best practice in conversation analysis. Phillipa attended three pre-conference workshops and the four days of conference proceedings.

“My PhD study uses the methods of conversational analysis, so attending the ICCA conference was an important opportunity for me to upskill my knowledge, understanding, and application of Conversation Analysis with others working in this field.”

Dr Harrison See attends Early Childhood Australia national conference

Dr Harrison See received support from the Centre to attend and present at the Early Childhood National Conference in October 2023. His presentation on “Chatterboxes and other child-centred methods: Communicating your children’s multimodal contributions” was given on October 4.

Dr See also attended several networking dinners and activities at the conference to build new networks with other early childhood researchers and practitioners.

Centre support for professional development of PhD student Philippa Amery

Dr Harrison See presents at Early Childhood Australia national conference

Centre Culture & Connection

We are committed to building lasting connections between our Centre members who are located around Australia at six universities. A blend of virtual and in-person events and other initiatives helps us nurture our Centre culture.

Centre Events

The Digital Child ran over 25 events in 2023 with a focus on research translation and public engagement.

Our students and early career researchers have continued to drive activity in our Early Career Research Club and Journal Club.

Digital Child Annual Meeting (DCAM 2023)

This year DCAM took place in Scarborough, Western Australia during August. Attendees –including Chief Investigators, research fellows, students, and our collaborators – convened at the Rendezvous Hotel for three days of research presentations, celebrations of member success, and collaboration.

We invited a digital scribe to DCAM. They listened to and illustrated the research sessions of the meeting – helping us retain the key messages and outcomes of the event. On the final day of DCAM, the digital scribe presented a professional development session for Centre members on illustrating complex research topics to create communication aids.

DC Connect

DC Connect - our Centre’s weekly online catchup meeting - is open to all Centre members and are an opportunity to hear the latest Centre news and updates and connect with fellow members.

The meeting is chaired by Centre Director Susan Danby with support from Centre Chief Investigators.

At DCAM 2023, we announced the outcomes of the inaugural Digital Child Awards. The awardees were:

• Professor Karen Murcia who received the Director’s Award for Influential Impact and Engagement. This award recognises Karen’s leadership and engagement with industry partner Scitech.

• Sumudu Mallawaarachchi who received the HDR Research Impact Award. This award acknowledges Sumudu’s excellence in publishing three Q1 Journal articles, with a fourth under review, prior to submitting her thesis for examination.

Centre Culture and Connection

• Katrin Langton who received the HDR Student Excellence in Engagement Award. Katrin’s nominators note her wholehearted engagement with and contribution to the Connected and Healthy Works-in-Progress sessions, her facilitation of roundtable discussions and support sessions for HDR students, and her participation in the Digital Ethnography Club.

• Dr Aleesha Rodriguez who received the ECRled Culture and Capacity Building Initiative Award. Aleesha has shown a wonderful commitment to creating and sustaining a positive research culture.

• Dr Amanda Levido who received the Emerging Scholar Award. The award recognises Amanda’s committee participation and leadership, and the winning of $20,000 external partner research funding.

• Loretta Watson, Sandra Backstrom, Belle Johnston, Nadine Lorimer, and Nicole Cimermanas for receiving Outstanding Performance and Professionalism Award.

Our Business Support Officers provide exceptional practical and strategic care, administration and organisation across numerous activities and events.

• Dr Kylie Stevenson, Dr Emma Jayakumar and Dr Harrison See for receiving Innovative Application of Research Methods Award

The Digital Child Innovative Application of Research methods award has been won by Kylie Stevenson, Emma Jayakumar and Harrison See for their LEGO Foundationsupported Digital Safety and Citizenship Roundtables.

• Professor Louise Paatsch and Professor Suzy Edwards on receiving the Real-World Change Team Award. Louise Paatsch, Suzy Edwards and St James’ School, Sebastopol have won the Real-World Change Team Award. Recognising the value of Professional Learning around Theories of Technology, the team revolutionised teachers’ practices relating to digital media use in the classroom, driving ongoing engagement and assessment outcomes.

Young Children Thriving in a Digital World

A public panel discussion chaired by Professor Leon Straker during August 2023, this event focused on how to support families with young children who need to navigate conflicting views on the use of digital technologies during early childhood. 136 people registered to attend this free event.

Panel members included:

• Leon Straker – Leon is a Professor in the School of Allied Health at Curtin University, was one of the foundation researchers establishing the ARC Centre of Excellence for the Digital Child, and together with Dr Juliana Zabatiero leads the Curtin Healthy Digital Child research group.

• Laura Stone - Laura is the Early Childhood Education Producer at the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) and leads ABC Kids Early Education online. Laura has a background in early childhood education and is also a mother to two young children. As part of her role, Laura builds opportunities for Australian research and stakeholder engagement to amplify the success of quality children’s media and digital resources in educational and community contexts.

• Dan McGrechan – Dan and his wife are raising three young children in the hills of Perth. Like every parent, Dan wants the best for his children, and is passionate about equipping his kids for healthy engagement with the

digital world. Dan is a church pastor and consultant, and has experience in protective behaviour education for students, including online safety.

• Gemma Calvezzi – Gemma is a qualified early childhood educator with over 10 years of experience working with children aged between 6 weeks to 4 years. She also has qualifications in psychology which helps families and children feel understood and safe in the research industry. She is currently working as a qualified educator in a Montessori Daycare where she continues to build her knowledge and experience in educating children. She also has 4 years’ experience working as a research assistant for Murdoch and Curtin University.

• Fiona Beermier - Fiona has a background in nursing and until recently was the CEO of Ngala, which provides services to support parents, families and communities to enhance the well-being and development of children and young people. She is also a grandmother to four young children ranging from 6 months to four years, and is passionate about the future of children and the impact the digital world is and will continue to have on them.

• Tama Leaver - Tama Leaver is a Professor of Internet Studies at Curtin University, a Chief Investigator in the ARC Centre of Excellence for the Digital Child, President of the Association of Internet Researchers (AoIR) and a regular media commentator. He has 4 children, and his research is focused on children’s data, privacy and rights in a digital world.

The speakers from our public panel discussion, “Young Children Thriving in a Digital World”

TikTok and Children online symposium

The TikTok Cultures Research Network held its seventh virtual event, ‘TikTok & Children’ on 8 May 2023. This one-day online Symposium was held in collaboration with the Digital Child.

In response to the potentials and pitfalls in children’s use of TikTok, this Symposium discussed crucial issues to understanding children’s rights on TikTok and examined their wellbeing and safety on the platform. The Symposium showcased the emergent research on characteristics, climate, concerns, and chances of children growing up with and on TikTok, and discussed these issues with the industry and TikTok studies scholars.

This event featured a conversation with TikTok, and an academic round table with leading ECR scholars on TikTok, moderated by Prof Crystal Abidin.

Communication & Outreach

The Digital Child aims to be a trusted voice on digital childhoods in Australia Communications and outreach forms a key part of our strategy for engaging with our key stakeholders.

Digital Child blog

Our Digital Child blog continued to grow in 2023 after launching the year prior. We posted fifteen blog entries over twelve months, covering a range of topics from Chat GPT and AI toys through to digital literacy and children’s rights online.

Beyond ChatGPT: The very near future of machine learning and early childhood

Professor Tama Leaver, Professor Andrew Rohl, and Professor Leon Straker, Digital Child blog

Four-year-olds are growing up with smart speakers and AI tools that can generate words, images, voices, music and video. Just as the written word or the printing press changed the relationship people have with memory, stories, play and work, changes of a similar magnitude are happening today in light of machine learning tools.

Current commentary about the tools has tended to focus on the disruptive, negative and scary potential impacts of these tools, reminiscent of the moral panic that has accompanied many technological innovations, including books and TV. Yet these tools are in their infancy, with best practical and ethical practice still being developed. Some early commentary and experiments are contributing to figuring out

how best to use the tools.

Today’s children likely won’t be afraid of these tools. They certainly won’t be replaced by them. Today’s children will create, play, and work with the next generation of ChatGPT, DALL-E and hundreds of similar tools. The challenge for adults around young children is how to help children understand the opportunities, advantages, limitations, and risks of using these tools.

There are many questions to consider when exploring these new tools.

As we wrestle with the implications, we must ensure we’re helping today’s children understand and make the best practical and ethical uses of tomorrow’s machine learning tools.

Read the blog here.

Online privacy, digital trust, and young people

Dr Kate Mannell and Dr Rys Farthing, Digital Child blog

Young people are prolific digital users, and often engage with the commercial digital world in distinct ways. They create unique data footprints and have distinct understandings about privacy but these differences are rarely considered in policy discussions. In early 2023, the Digital Child held a discussion about young people’s perceptions of privacy, building on emerging international research including Australia, to help inform submissions to the Privacy Act Review.

The talk was chaired by Dr Kate Mannell and provided an overview of research undertaken by Dr Rys Farthing exploring young people’s understandings about digital privacy and developed youth-authored principles for governing privacy policy. This research used participatory mixed methods to engage with young people aged 13-18 from Antigua & Barbuda Ghana, Slovenia, and Australia, and

was action-focussed. It used focus groups, depth-interviews and polling, and young participants were enabled to speak to policy makers about their perspectives.

Youth-centric notions of privacy were developed by young people.

Privacy was described as a right because in Australia in particular, young people talked about needing to “trade off” their right to online privacy with the right to access the digital world.

Privacy was described as a balancing act. This produced a unique idea about what it meant to “trust” companies with online privacy. Young people felt they had no option but to trust these companies if they wanted to participate online.

“When I use my computer, my privacy will never completely be my privacy.”

This belief that privacy was something you needed to “trade off” also created a different set of ‘privacy solutions’ in the Australian focus groups. Young people’s perspectives around the issue of ‘targeted advertising’ online highlights this difference perfectly. In Slovenia, Ghana, Antigua & Barbuda the young people involved in the focus groups called for a ban on targeted advertising, Australian participants moderated their requests.

Ultimately, they wanted a ban... Yet, instead of asking for a ban, they instead called for targeted advertising to be opt-in. This was deemed more “realistic”. There was a perception among the Australian young people that privacy protections needed to be realistic, and that some “trading off” of their privacy to commercial surveillance would always be inevitable.

Read the blog here.

Media Coverage

Over two thousand media mentions of the Digital Child occurred in 2023. An analysis by the media monitor iSentia found that media coverage generated 2,558 mentions of the Digital Child in 2023. This coverage reached a cumulative potential reach of

136,936,045.

136, 936, 045total potential reach

Foreign threat of AI in schools: Inquiry hears of high risk technology

Australia will be at significant risk of foreign tech companies running schools unless more is done to understand how artificial intelligence should be used in education.

A Queensland academic issued the warning in a submission to the inquiry into the use of generative AI in the Australian education system.

The inquiry, triggered by Federal Education Minister Jason Clare in May, closed public submissions last month.

It is examining the risks and benefits of

generative AI on teaching and learning and how disadvantaged families can access these new digital tools...

Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence for the Digital Child director Prof Susan Danby warned existing digital disadvantages would be further exacerbated by AI.

“There is a significant risk that students from marginal- ised communities will be fur- ther disadvantaged by generative AI use and it is im- portant for there to be an appropriate policy response,” she said. “To realise the benefits of generative AI, we should seek to improve digital connected- ness for all children in rural and remote areas, and for those vulnerable families who have limited economic resources.”

Your

house

has been Googled – but don’t call the police

By Petra Stock

Parents might be wary of smart toys due to privacy and data security concerns, but Australian homes with young children have an average of 7.8 internet-connected devices tracking family activities.

Deakin University researchers have published the first detailed Australian survey of the uptake of ‘smart’ technologies in households with young children. The results show the normalisation of connected technologies in family life.

Lead author Dr Luci Pangrazio, an expert in datafication and young people’s digital worlds, told Cosmos there is often a lot of hype and anxiety around things like smart toys.

“We’re a bit more suspicious of things like home assistants and smart toys, because of what they’re collecting – it seems more personal and intimate,” she says.

The survey of 504 households shows only fifteen households (3%) had any kind of smart toy. Yet the majority had many seemingly mundane ‘smart’ devices like TVs, security systems and robot vacuum cleaners, technologies which are also collecting data and tracking household activities.

…Pangrazio says one of the more surprising findings, was the relatively high uptake of home security systems (35% of households). Systems included those with cameras monitoring the outside of the house, and sometimes indoors, as well as smart doorbells.

“Those technologies are making their way into homes a lot faster because they’re around security and risk and people are less worried about signing up to those kinds of things,” she says.

Many families won’t have time to read the terms and conditions, to understand what type of data those systems are collecting, and how they’re sharing it, Pangrazio says.

She says the survey results also illustrate the way “Google is getting a real foothold in the family home”, with the company collecting data across many different contexts.

A quarter of the households surveyed had home assistants (like a Google Home or Amazon Alexa). The majority were Google (66%), Amazon (22%) or Apple (11%).

“YouTube was probably one of the most common things for parents to have on in the background to entertain their kids,” Pangrazio says. Households with a Google Home or Nest often use these as ‘master controller’ to manage other connected devices within the home, and may also monitor children’s online activities using Google’s Family Link. These elements combine with the growing use of Google Workplace in schools and workplaces.

The paper says an estimated 72 million data points will be collected about a child by the time they reach 13 years old.

Children’s data can threaten their privacy and digital rights, be amassed to profile, track and shape their online experiences, and the potential to influence future prospects, the paper says.

Read the full article here

Policy Submissions

The Digital Child made four public submissions in 2023. These submissions contributed the expertise of our researchers to national discussions on early childhood and education.

We produced the following submissions:

• Early Childhood Education and Care Inquiry (2023) prepared by Professor Susan Danby (QUT) and Dr Tara Roberson (QUT).

• Early Years Strategy submission (2023) prepared by Professor Susan Danby (QUT) and Dr Tara Roberson (QUT) with feedback from Professor Lennie Barblett (ECU), Professor Karen Murcia (Curtin), and Associate Professor Sonia White (QUT).

• Inquiry into the Use of Generative Artificial Intelligence in the Australian Education System prepared by Professor Susan Danby (QUT) and Dr Tara Roberson (QUT) using contributions from Dr. Anna Bunn (Curtin University), Professor Michael Dezuanni (QUT), Dr. Madeleine Dobson (Curtin University), Professor Tama Leaver (Curtin

University), Dr Myrto Mavilidi (University of Wollongong), Dr Maria Nicholas (Deakin University), and Professor Leon Straker (Curtin University).

• Privacy Act Review (2023) prepared by Dr Anna Bunn (Curtin University), Dr Rys Farthing (Deakin University), Professor Tama Leaver (Curtin University), Professor Susan Danby (QUT), Dr Tiffany Apps (University of Wollongong), Dr Karley Beckman (University of Wollongong), Dr Aleesha Rodriguez (QUT), and Professor Michael Dezuanni (QUT).

Early Start Expert Insight podcast with Digital Child Chief Investigator

University of Wollongong researchers, academics, and educators sit down to discuss early education, its place and importance in society. The host is UOW Early Start Director of Research and Digital Child Chief Investigator Professor Lisa Kervin.

The podcast features interviews with a range of Digital Child researchers, including Chief Investigator Associate Professor Steven Howard, Associate Investigator Associate Professor Jessica Mantei, and Chief Invesetigator Associate Professor Dylan Cliff.

Distinguished Professor Susan Danby attended the Early Years Summit, hosted by the Department of Social Services, in early 2023

Early Start Director of Research Prof. Lisa Kervin is speaking with PhD student Natalie Day about parent-child play and early self-regulation development

Performance

The Digital Child monitors and reports on progress against Key Performance Indicators.

Publications

Books

Kervin, L., Howard, S, Jones, R., McKnight, A., (2023), Research for Educators, Third edition. Cengage https://au.cengage.com/c/isbn/97 80170460446/?filterBy=Higher-Education#meet-the-author

Poyntz, S. R., Sefton-Green, J., Fitzsimmons Frey, H., (2023) Youthsites: Histories of Creativity, Care, and Learning in the City, Oxford University Press: London, UK

Book Chapters

Delahunty, J., Jones, P., Verenkina, I., 2023, Collaborative knowledge building: The dynamic life of ideas in online discussion forums in Thwait, A., Simpson, A., Jones, P., (Eds), Dialogic Pedagogy, 1st Edition, Routledge: London, 10.4324/9781003296744-20

Kervin.L, Bennett. S, Neilsen-Hewett.C (2022). E-portfolios to capture and share moments of learning. In C.McLachlan, T. McLachlan, S.Cherrington & K.Aspen (Eds). Assessment and Dat Systems in Early Childhood Settings (pp 105 -123). Springer. https://doi. org/10.1007/978-981-19-5959-2_5.

Locke, K., & Leaver, T. (2023). Pokémon Go and Urban Accessibility. In K. Ellis, T. Leaver, & M. Kent (Eds.), Gaming Disability: Disability Perspectives on Contemporary Video Games (pp. 210–221). Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780367357153-20

Paatsch, L., Casey, S., Green, A., Stagnitti, K. (2023), Learning through play in the primary school : the why and the how for teachers and school leaders, Routledge: London and New York, SBN 9781032284217.

Pangrazio, L., & Sefton-Green, J. (2023). Digital literacies as a “soft power” of educational governance. In World Yearbook of Education 2024: Digitalisation of Education in the Era of Algorithms, Automation and Artificial Intelligence (pp. 196–211). https://doi. org/10.4324/9781003359722-15

Shay, M., Sarra, G., & Woods, A. (2022). Grounded ontologies: Indigenous methodologies in qualitative cross-cultural research. In Handbook of Qualitative Cross-Cultural Research Methods (pp. 26–39). Edward Elgar Publishing. https://doi. org/10.4337/9781800376625.00011

Theobald, Maryanne, Busch, Gillian, Mushin, Ilana, O’Gorman, Lyndal, Nielson, Cathy, Radanovic, Shelley, Briant, Elizabeth, Curtis, Lisa, Mirah, Erin, Rana, Louise, Moore, Tyler, and Danby, Susan (2023). Children as citizens of a global society. International perspectives on educating for democracy in early childhood. Edited by Stacy Lee DeZutter. New York, NY, United States: Routledge.297-320.https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003229568-23

Conference Papers

Frommel, Julian and Freeman, Guo and MacKenzie, Janelle E. and Johnson, Daniel and Mandryk, Regan L., 2023, Workshop on Understanding and Combating the Problematic Side of Play, CHI PLAY Companion ‘23: Companion Proceedings of the Annual Symposium on Computer-Human Interaction in PlayOctober 2023Pages 348–349https://doi.org/10.1145/3573382.3616025

Healy, S.; Coleman, K.,; Rodriguez, Aleesha; Ng, Rebecca; Belton, Amanda; Williams, Jessica; et al. (2023). Dreams for Digital Spaces Symposium Paper: What Shapes the Worlds of Children, Educators and Researchers?. The University of Melbourne. Journal

contribution. https://doi.org/10.26188/22566979.v1

Levido, A. (2023) Exploring the Key Concept of Technologies in Media Literacy Education. British Educational Research Association Conference – Birmingham, England 12-14 September 2023.

Om, C., Brereton, M., Vella, K., Ploderer, B., Dema, T., Dobson, M., Murcia, K. (in press) Rethinking the development of computational thinking skills in young children through nature play. Proceedings of the 35th Australian Conference on Computer-Human Interaction

Ouyang, L., 2023, Designing Interactive Speakers to Support Preschoolers for Music Education, IDC ‘23: Proceedings of the 22nd Annual ACM Interaction Design and Children ConferenceJune 2023Pages 764–765https://doi.org/10.1145/3585088.3593924

Journal Articles

Arabiat, D., Al Jabery, M., Robinson, S., Whitehead, L., & Mörelius, E. (2023). Interactive technology use and child development: A systematic review. Child: Care, Health and Development, 49(4), 679–715. https://doi. org/10.1111/cch.13082

Archer, C., & Delmo, K. (2023). Play Is a Child’s Work (on Instagram): A Case Study of the Use of Children as Paid Social Media Influencers to Market Toys. M/C Journal, 26(2). https://doi.org/10.5204/mcj.2952

Archer, C and Williams, D, 2023, #Parentlife: Key issues, benefits and advice for new parents using social media and mobile technology, International Journal of Birth and Parent Education, Vol 10 Issue 4, https://ijbpe.com/journals/volume-10/70-vol-10-issue-4/751-parentlifekey-issues,-benefits-and-advice-for-new-parents-using-social-mediaand-mobile-technology

Creely, E., Apps, T., Beckman, K., & McKnight, L. (2023). Chat About ChatGPT. Literacy Learning: The Middle Years, 31(2), DOI: 10.3316/ informit.067905826482322

Fielding, K., Maslin, K., & Murcia, K. (2023). ‘I can’t draw, sing or dance to save my life!’: Educator and parent implicit theories of creativity. Australasian Journal of Early Childhood, 0(0). https://doi. org/10.1177/18369391231159670

Gadam, S., Pattinson, C. L., Rossa, K. R., Soleimanloo, S. S., Moore, J., Begum, T., Srinivasan, A. G., & Smith, S. S. (2023). Interventions to increase sleep duration in young people: A systematic review. Sleep Medicine Reviews, 70, 101807–101807. https://doi.org/10.1016/j. smrv.2023.101807

Hendry, D.; Rohl, A.L.; Rasmussen, C.L.; Zabatiero, J.; Cliff, D.P.; Smith, S.S.; Mackenzie, J.; Pattinson, C.L.; Straker, L.; Campbell, A. (2023) Objective Measurement of Posture and Movement in Young Children Using Wearable Sensors and Customised Mathematical Approaches: A Systematic Review. Sensors, 23, 9661. https://doi.org/10.3390/s23249661

Hesketh, K. D., Booth, V., Cleland, V., Gomersall, S. R., Olds, T., Reece, L., Ridgers, N. D., Straker, L., Stylianou, M., Tomkinson, G. R., & Lubans, D. (2023). Results from the Australian 2022 Report Card on physical activity for children and young people. Journal of Exercise Science and Fitness, 21(1), 83–87. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jesf.2022.10.006

Hood R, Zabatiero J, Zubrick S, Silva D, Straker L. (2023) ‘It helps and it doesn’t help’: maternal perspectives on how the use of smartphones and tablet computers influences parent-infant attachment. Ergonomics. DOI: 10.1080/00140139.2023.2212148

Jaunzems, K., Jacques, C., Green, L., & Brandsen, S. (2023). “The Internet of Life” : Enhancing the Everyday through Children’s Use of Digital Devices . M/C Journal, 26(2). https://doi.org/10.5204/mcj.2954

Jefferson, S., Lowe, G. M., Gray, C. & Prout, P. (2023) The search for marigolds: Positive veteran teachers and why social support matters, Teachers and Teaching, 29:2, 150-163, DOI: 10.1080/13540602.2022.2151430

Jeong, D., & Hardy, I. (2023). Imagining educational futures? SDG4 enactment for ethnic minorities in Laos. Compare, 1–19. https://doi. org/10.1080/03057925.2023.2292522

Kay, L., Brandsen, S., Jacques, C., Stocco, F. ., & Zaffaroni, L. G. (2023). Children’s Digital and Non-Digital Play Practices with Cozmo, the Toy Robot . M/C Journal, 26(2). https://doi.org/10.5204/mcj.2943 (Original work published April 25, 2023)

Kay, L., Green, L., & Leaver, T. (2023). Blocks. M/C Journal, 26(3). https://doi.org/10.5204/mcj.2984

Kervin.L, Mantei.J, Riveria.M.C,S & Neilsen-Hewett.C, (2023). Establishing a Digital Technology Play Space for Children. Journal of Museum Education, 1–13. https://doi.org/10.1080/10598650.2023. 2241948’

Leaver, T., & Srdarov, S. . (2023). ChatGPT Isn’t Magic : The Hype and Hypocrisy of Generative Artificial Intelligence (AI) Rhetoric. M/C Journal, 26(5). https://doi.org/10.5204/mcj.3004

Leaver, T., Green, L., & Kay, L. (2023). It’s All about the Toys!. M/C Journal, 26(2). https://doi.org/10.5204/mcj.2974 (Original work published April 25, 2023)

Mannell, K., Fordyce, R., & Jethani, S. (2023). Oaths and the ethics of automated data: limits to porting the Hippocratic oath from medicine to data science. Cultural Studies (London, England), 37(1), 168–189. https://doi.org/10.1080/09502386.2022.2042577

Maslin, K., Murcia, K., Blackley, S., & Lowe, G. (2023). Fostering young children’s creativity in online learning environments: A systematic literature review. Thinking Skills and Creativity, 47, 101249-. https:// doi.org/10.1016/j.tsc.2023.101249

Neag, A., & Healy, S. (2023). ’Daddy should search for help on Google instead of swearing ... ’: escaping the boundaries of technologically mediated learning. Journal of Educational Media : The Journal of the Educational Television Association, 48(4), 649–665. https://doi.org/1 0.1080/17439884.2023.2249812

Nicholas, M., & Paatsch, L. (2023). The shared reading of digital storybooks with young children: Parents’ perspectives. Research Papers in Education, ahead-of-print(ahead-of-print), 1–18. https:// doi.org/10.1080/02671522.2023.2205411

Pangrazio, L., & Mavoa, J. (2023). Studying the datafication of Australian childhoods: learning from a survey of digital technologies in homes with young children. Media International Australia, 0(0). https://doi.org/10.1177/1329878X231162386

Pattinson, C. L., Edmed, S. L., Smith, S. S., & Douglas, P. S. (2023). Questioning the effectiveness of behavioral sleep interventions for infants. The Journal of Pediatrics, 261, 113335–113335. https://doi. org/10.1016/j.jpeds.2023.01.012

Perrotta, C., & Pangrazio, L. (2023). The Critical Study of Digital Platforms and Infrastructures: Current Issues and New Agendas for Education Technology Research. Education Policy Analysis Archives, 31. https://doi.org/10.14507/epaa.31.7952

Price AMH, White N, Burley J, et al Price, A. M. H., White, N., Burley, J., Zhu, A., Contreras-Suarez, D., Wang, S., Stone, M., Trotter, K., Mrad, M., Caldwell, J., Bishop, R., Chota, S., Bui, L., Sanger, D., Roles, R., Watts, A., Samir, N., Grace, R., Raman, S., … Goldfeld, S. (2023). Feasibility of linking universal child and family healthcare and financial counselling: findings from the Australian Healthier

Wealthier Families (HWF) mixed-methods study. BMJ Open, 13(11), e075651–e075651. https://doi.org/10.1136/bmjopen-2023075651(HWF) mixed-methods study BMJ Open 2023;13:e075651. doi: 10.1136/bmjopen-2023-075651

Rodriguez, A., & Levido, A. (2023). “My Little Influencer”: A Toy Ringlight as Proxy to Media Practices and Technopanics. M/C Journal, 26(2). https://doi.org/10.5204/mcj.2948

Ruscoe, A., Barblett, L., & Barratt-Pugh, C. (2023). Discourses in power: Policy and curriculum demands in the first year of compulsory school. Contemporary Issues in Early Childhood, 24(3), 298–312. https://doi.org/10.1177/1463949121990905

Sanders, T., Noetel, M., Parker, P., Del Pozo Cruz, B., Biddle, S., Ronto, R., Hulteen, R., Parker, R., Thomas, G., De Cocker, K., Salmon, J., Hesketh, K., Weeks, N., Arnott, H., Devine, E., Vasconcellos, R., Pagano, R., Sherson, J., Conigrave, J., & Lonsdale, C. (2023). An umbrella review of the benefits and risks associated with youths’ interactions with electronic screens. Nature Human Behaviour. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41562-023-01712-8

Snow, S, Matthews, S, Chen, Y, Yang, S, and Bayley, M (2023). Designing serious games to engage children with energy saving in the home: potential learning outcomes and design considerations. Journal of Computers in Education 1-26. https://doi.org/10.1007/ s40692-023-00302-x

Stevenson, K. J., Jayakumar, E., & See, H. (2023). The Toy Brick as a Communicative Device for Amplifying Children’s Voices in Research. M/C Journal, 26(3). https://doi.org/10.5204/mcj.2957

Torjinski, M., Horwood, S. Associations between nature exposure, screen use, and parent–child relations: a scoping review protocol. Systematic Reviews 12, 217 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1186/s13643023-02367-2

van der Nagel, E., Hutchinson, J., Abidin, C., & Kaye, B. (2023). Black summer on TikTok and ABC news: Shaping cultural identity during an Australian bushfire crisis. Convergence, 29(4), 962-979. https://doi. org/10.1177/13548565231178005

Vella, K., Dobson, M., Rodgers, S., Om, C., Bircanin, F., Dema, T., Pillai, J., Murcia, K., & Brereton, M. (2023). Wired, wild, wonderful: A scoping review of early childhood nature connections fostered by digital technologies. International Journal of Child-Computer Interaction, 38. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijcci.2023.100619

Watts, J, Ekberg, S, Bluebond-Langner, M, Langner, R, Fleming, S, Danby, S, Ekberg, K, Yates, P, Bradford, N, Delaney, A, & Herbert, A (2023) Questions directed to children with diverse communicative competencies in paediatric healthcare consultations. Patient Education and Counseling, Article number: 108103.

Westwood, E., Smith, S., Mann, D., Pattinson, C., Allan, A., & Staton, S. (2023). The effects of light in children: A systematic review. Journal of Environmental Psychology, 89, 102062-. https://doi.org/10.1016/j. jenvp.2023.102062

Williams, Kate E., Hayes, Nicole, Berthelsen, Donna, and Quach, Jon (2023). A longitudinal model of sleep problems and classroom self-regulation across elementary school. Journal of Applied Developmental Psychology 89 101596 101596. https://doi. org/10.1016/j.appdev.2023.101596

Wilson, S., Murcia, K., Cross, E., & Lowe, G. (2023). Digital technologies and the early childhood sector: are we fostering digital capabilities and agency in young children? Australian Educational Researcher. https://doi.org/10.1007/s13384-023-00647-3

Yanes, T., Nathan, V., Wallingford, C., Faragher, R., Nankervis, K., Jacobs, C., Vassos, M., Boyle, F., Carroll, A., Smith, S., & McInerneyLeo, A. (2023). Australasian genetic counselors’ attitudes toward disability and prenatal testing: Findings from a cross-sectional survey. Journal of genetic counseling, 10.1002/jgc4.1788. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1002/jgc4.1788

Finances

Finance Information for ARC Annual Report 2023

NOTE: Information provided for annual income and expenditure may be subject to change due to not receiving the approved acquittal statement of Income and Expenditure from Curtin University at the time of production of this Annual Report.

KPIs

Key Performance Indicators

The Digital Child investigates children’s use of digital technologies and produces evidence-based resources that support young children growing up in a digital world.

digitalchild.org.au