Hi Kerry,
Great to see you've made a start even before we've properly begun to work on the exam. In this project all material you use has to be properly referenced. So for example, the review (i preusme) of David Buckingham's book in your post below needs to have a source and an author. You have to put all this detail onto a form you submit in the exam. I'll show you a copy in the next lesson.
Sean
Friday, 14 March 2008
Death of childhood blame games say the uk
An open letter in the UK's Daily Telegraph newspaper condemns "junk culture" -- junk food, junk entertainment and a fast-moving culture -- for its effect on children, with sombre phrases like "ruining our children" and "the death of childhood" weighing down its paragraphs. From the letter:[Children] still need what developing human beings have always needed, including real food (as opposed to processed "junk"), real play (as opposed to sedentary, screen-based entertainment), first-hand experience of the world they live in and regular interaction with the real-life significant adults in their lives.A scathing commentary on the evils of modern life -- and what's more, plenty of readers agree that the hands-off parenting enabled by video games is a big problem for today's youth. Perhaps the high profile given to this complaint (a national broadsheet) will open up some serious debate on the matter, rather than give a platform for rabid anti-gaming propaganda to spread to the UK as well.
Research media consumption
Striking a Balance: the control of children's media consumption The BBC, the Broadcasting Standards Commission (BSC) and the Independent Television Commission (ITC) have today published the results of research undertaken between November and December 2001 that looked at the mechanismsparents use to control their children's media consumption. The study included interviews with 36 parents, carers and children from London, Solihull, Newcastle, Cardiff and Glasgow from homes with and without access to multi-channel television and the Internet. In addition, over 500 parents of children aged 5-16 took part in a survey. The survey revealed that with the continuing rapid changes in home entertainment many parents are facing new challenges in exercising control over what their children see, seeking to strike a balance between an open, trusting relationship with their children, while also wishing to protectthem from harm. They are concerned over issues of sex, violence and bad language, but acknowledge that context and treatment have a bearing on these issues.
In striving to strike a balance parents use various informal controls to regulate their viewing. This involves keeping an eye on their children's media consumption and the programmes and channels they watch, limiting the time children are allowed to watch television, random checks and discussions about programme content with children.The research reveals parents feel these methods ensure that TV content is generally "safe".
The Watershed remains a highly valued mechanism in regulating children's television viewing, although there is concern about the pre-Watershed content of some genres, particularly some of the themes contained in the storylines of soaps and police/crime dramas.The study showed that television is considered to be effectively regulated by external bodies and the prospect of stronger regulation is unwelcome. Parents said they would like to have better information about programme content to help them regulate their children's viewing. Their main sources of information are the television listings magazines or pre-broadcast on-air announcements before the commencement of programmes.
Electronic programme guides and film/video classifications were the best received of all tools available. Parents indicated that they would like to see more consistent and more widely disseminated information about age suitability of programmes in television listings. This they felt would give them the flexibility to decide their children's viewing based on the maturity of their child and their own value system. The Internet as a medium raises more concerns and uncertainties than television for parents. Parents are worried because of the vastness of the Internet. Media publicity had made them cautious about sites featuring pornography and paedophilia, and about chat rooms. Even when they were confident in their children's ability to regulate their own use of the Internet, they still worried about accidental exposure. Despite their concerns and the availability of control mechanisms, in practice parents did very little to control their children's Internet usage.
Most control, as with television, was informal - such as placing the computer where it was visible or only allowing the parent to switch on the computer.Parents felt this was the most effective way of balancing their anxieties with the educational potential of the Internet. Most parents felt that the current technical tools available for controlling their children's use of the Internet were too complex to install and lacked simple age categorisation. They wanted simple labelling and easy to use filtering systems. The research shows that many parents can and want to play an active role in working with their children to develop their media literacy skills and help them avoid inappropriate content.
It indicates that finding new ways of ensuring parents and other users can make informed choices about what access will be a challenge for broadcasters, content providers and regulators alike.
In striving to strike a balance parents use various informal controls to regulate their viewing. This involves keeping an eye on their children's media consumption and the programmes and channels they watch, limiting the time children are allowed to watch television, random checks and discussions about programme content with children.The research reveals parents feel these methods ensure that TV content is generally "safe".
The Watershed remains a highly valued mechanism in regulating children's television viewing, although there is concern about the pre-Watershed content of some genres, particularly some of the themes contained in the storylines of soaps and police/crime dramas.The study showed that television is considered to be effectively regulated by external bodies and the prospect of stronger regulation is unwelcome. Parents said they would like to have better information about programme content to help them regulate their children's viewing. Their main sources of information are the television listings magazines or pre-broadcast on-air announcements before the commencement of programmes.
Electronic programme guides and film/video classifications were the best received of all tools available. Parents indicated that they would like to see more consistent and more widely disseminated information about age suitability of programmes in television listings. This they felt would give them the flexibility to decide their children's viewing based on the maturity of their child and their own value system. The Internet as a medium raises more concerns and uncertainties than television for parents. Parents are worried because of the vastness of the Internet. Media publicity had made them cautious about sites featuring pornography and paedophilia, and about chat rooms. Even when they were confident in their children's ability to regulate their own use of the Internet, they still worried about accidental exposure. Despite their concerns and the availability of control mechanisms, in practice parents did very little to control their children's Internet usage.
Most control, as with television, was informal - such as placing the computer where it was visible or only allowing the parent to switch on the computer.Parents felt this was the most effective way of balancing their anxieties with the educational potential of the Internet. Most parents felt that the current technical tools available for controlling their children's use of the Internet were too complex to install and lacked simple age categorisation. They wanted simple labelling and easy to use filtering systems. The research shows that many parents can and want to play an active role in working with their children to develop their media literacy skills and help them avoid inappropriate content.
It indicates that finding new ways of ensuring parents and other users can make informed choices about what access will be a challenge for broadcasters, content providers and regulators alike.
Research for children and consumpion
'Tweenagers' risk losing childhood
Children can learn adult attitudes from television
The pressure on young people to grow up too quickly is taking away their chance to enjoy childhood, says a head teacher.
George Marsh, head teacher of Dulwich College Preparatory School in south London, says that so-called "tweenagers" - young people aged about 9 to 13 - were missing out on the innocence of the last years of their childhood.
I'm not suggesting putting the clock back to Victorian times, but children need time to play, to dream and to hope - time to have a childhood
George Marsh, chairman Incorporated Association of Preparatory Schools
Speaking to the Incorporated Association of Preparatory Schools' annual conference, Mr Marsh said that children were exposed to more media influences than ever before that pushed them into adopting the attitudes of older teenagers.
"I'm not suggesting putting the clock back to Victorian times, but children need time to play, to dream and to hope - time to have a childhood," said Mr Marsh.
"But they're facing so many consumer-led images of fashion and ideas, on television and in magazines, that push them towards conforming and growing up in a way that means they miss out on being children."
Mr Marsh, who is chairman of the independent primary school association, also argued that schools were in danger of "over-testing" pupils and putting at risk the creativity of young people.
And he urged schools to encourage the kind of imaginative and emotional development that could not be taken as another exam
Children can learn adult attitudes from television
The pressure on young people to grow up too quickly is taking away their chance to enjoy childhood, says a head teacher.
George Marsh, head teacher of Dulwich College Preparatory School in south London, says that so-called "tweenagers" - young people aged about 9 to 13 - were missing out on the innocence of the last years of their childhood.
I'm not suggesting putting the clock back to Victorian times, but children need time to play, to dream and to hope - time to have a childhood
George Marsh, chairman Incorporated Association of Preparatory Schools
Speaking to the Incorporated Association of Preparatory Schools' annual conference, Mr Marsh said that children were exposed to more media influences than ever before that pushed them into adopting the attitudes of older teenagers.
"I'm not suggesting putting the clock back to Victorian times, but children need time to play, to dream and to hope - time to have a childhood," said Mr Marsh.
"But they're facing so many consumer-led images of fashion and ideas, on television and in magazines, that push them towards conforming and growing up in a way that means they miss out on being children."
Mr Marsh, who is chairman of the independent primary school association, also argued that schools were in danger of "over-testing" pupils and putting at risk the creativity of young people.
And he urged schools to encourage the kind of imaginative and emotional development that could not be taken as another exam
David Buckingham
What will be the fate of childhood in the twenty-first century? Will children increasingly be living 'media childhoods', dominated by the electronic screen? Will their growing access to adult media help to abolish the distinctions between childhood and adulthood? Or will the advent of new media technologies widen the gaps between the generations still further?
In this book, David Buckingham provides a lucid and accessible overview of recent changes both in childhood and in the media environment. He refutes simplistic moral panics about the negative influence of the media, and the exaggerated optimism about the 'electronic generation'. In the process, he points to the challenges that are posed by the proliferation of new technologies, the privatization of the media and of public space, and the polarization between media-rich and media-poor. He argues that children can no longer be excluded or protected from the adult world of violence, commercialism and politics; and that new strategies and policies are needed in order to protect their rights as citizens and as consumers.
Based on extensive research, After the Death of Childhood takes a fresh look at well-established concerns about the effects of the media on children. It offers a challenging and refreshing approach to the perennial concerns of researchers, parents, educators, media producers and policy-makers.
In this book, David Buckingham provides a lucid and accessible overview of recent changes both in childhood and in the media environment. He refutes simplistic moral panics about the negative influence of the media, and the exaggerated optimism about the 'electronic generation'. In the process, he points to the challenges that are posed by the proliferation of new technologies, the privatization of the media and of public space, and the polarization between media-rich and media-poor. He argues that children can no longer be excluded or protected from the adult world of violence, commercialism and politics; and that new strategies and policies are needed in order to protect their rights as citizens and as consumers.
Based on extensive research, After the Death of Childhood takes a fresh look at well-established concerns about the effects of the media on children. It offers a challenging and refreshing approach to the perennial concerns of researchers, parents, educators, media producers and policy-makers.
Thursday, 13 March 2008
Your first ideas
Children and the Media
Do parents encourange their children to grow up too fast in relation to consumption of products?
The focus of your hypothsis, above, is not media, so we need to change it a little. How about looking at representations of childhood in the media, and the development of the "tweenager" first, then exploring parents' - anc children's - attitudes to it. You could focus on girls mags aimed at 8-12 year olds.
I like your insistence that it's happening for economic reasons and that this group has become a target market. I think it could be an excellent project.
You may find some relevant stuff in David Buckingham's After the Death of Childhood - the first chapter looks at how childhood has been constructed and represented. Also see what you can find here: http://www.aber.ac.uk/media/sections/advertising.html.
Primary reseach could be interviews with chidlren and parents about the images/representations you are exploring.
Sean
Do parents encourange their children to grow up too fast in relation to consumption of products?
The focus of your hypothsis, above, is not media, so we need to change it a little. How about looking at representations of childhood in the media, and the development of the "tweenager" first, then exploring parents' - anc children's - attitudes to it. You could focus on girls mags aimed at 8-12 year olds.
I like your insistence that it's happening for economic reasons and that this group has become a target market. I think it could be an excellent project.
You may find some relevant stuff in David Buckingham's After the Death of Childhood - the first chapter looks at how childhood has been constructed and represented. Also see what you can find here: http://www.aber.ac.uk/media/sections/advertising.html.
Primary reseach could be interviews with chidlren and parents about the images/representations you are exploring.
Sean
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