Session
Organizer 1: William Bird, Media Monitoring Africa
Organizer 2: Daniela Tews, Deutsches Kinderhilfswerk e.V.
Speaker 1: Leyla Nasib, Technical Community, Western European and Others Group (WEOG)
Speaker 2: Phakamile Phakamile, Civil Society, African Group
Speaker 3: Daniela Beyerle, Private Sector, Western European and Others Group (WEOG)
Nomshado Lubisi, Civil Society, African Group
Daniela Tews, Civil Society, Western European and Others Group (WEOG)
William Bird, Civil Society, African Group
Daniela Tews, Civil Society, Western European and Others Group (WEOG)
Other - 90 Min
Format description: This workshop will be a combination of presentations and a tutorial. The session will start with a short presentation of two international Best/Good Practices. During the second part of the session the participants will experience some of the methods and tools first hand. The tutorial will end with a moderated discussion about the participants’ experiences and learnings.
Why are children's views and experiences relevant to different stakeholders of the digital environment? What responsibility do society, politics and business have for a good and safe growing up in the digital environment and the Internet? What are good practise examples to involve perspectives of children effectively and responsibly? Which tools and methods could enable companies and politics to better involve the perspectives of children and adolescents?
GOAL 3: Good Health and Well-Being
GOAL 4: Quality Education
GOAL 10: Reduced Inequalities
GOAL 12: Responsible Production and Consumption
GOAL 17: Partnerships for the Goals
Description: The workshop presents good practise examples for different ways of collaboration of companies or politicians with children. On the one hand, participants of the workshop can learn why perspectives of children and youth are relevant to consider in their own working context. On the other hand, participants can learn about and experience first-hand methods and tools that enable the participants to design and think from a „user’s perspective“. The session will start with a short presentation of two international Best/Good Practices („Designing for children’s rights guide“ and „Web Rangers“) that successfully managed to involve the children’s and adolescences’ perspective within their projects. The presentation is followed by a brief introduction into human centered design (minds & makers), explaining the „why" as well as the „how“. During the second part of the session the participants will experience some of the methods and tools first hand. In small groups they are invited to work with templates for e.g. personas or customer journeys and will present their results to the whole group. The tutorial will end with a moderated discussion about the participants’ experiences and learnings throughout the session. Agenda Outline 1. Presentation good/ best practice (15 min) 2. Presentation good/ best practice (15 min) 3. Presentation human centered design (15 min) 4. Interactive tool sessions in small groups and result presentations (30 min) 5. Reflections and discussion about the learnings (15 min)
Expected Outcomes: • Understanding of the importance and chances of involving children and adolescence effectively and responsibly • Learning from and being motivated by international best/ good practices • Brief understanding of human centered design • Practical experience with using various tools and methods for involving children’s and adolescent's perspective
For the entire tutorial there will be a host. The host will introduce the topic and agenda as well as guide through the whole session. For the interactive part of the session we will provide templates and materials the participants are invited to work with. The participants will work in small teams, which stimulates a more intense exchange. The three speakers as well as the organizers will be part of the small teams and give their input if needed. For the closing discussion about the participants’ learnings we will provide a structure and one of the speakers will moderate this part.
Relevance to Theme: Protecting children and young people from the risks and harm that the Internet and digital media can cause is indisputably important. However, to allow them to participate/engage in an age-appropriate and child-friendly way in developments and decisions that open up safe, creative and protected possibilities of using the Internet, is an approach that is still under-represented. Governments, public authorities and businesses make decisions about conditions, rules and opportunities for using the Internet and digital media and content that must also take into account the best interests of children and young people. Today, children are not only subjects to be protected from risks and harmful contents or experiences. They are not only consumers of media and devices. They are producers, readers, gamers and influencers, they have expertise, impact and power which can help understanding their views and changing policies in a human rights based and child-friendly way. Perspectives of children and youth are of course as different as the regions and cultures as well as the living conditions and chances of human beings. But children have the right to be heard in every issue they are affected of. That’s what the UN-Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) stands for and what has to be realised from the duty-bearers of the Convention – the States parties, the companies and all adult persons. The respect for and implementation of Children's Rights has an essential dimension particular in digital contexts. At the same time, digitization offers a high potential for realizing to a greater extent the previously unrealized or under-implemented rights of children. The right to access to mass media (Art. 17 CRC) , the right to privacy (Art. 16 CRC), the right to freedom of expression (Art. 13 CRC), the right to be protected from violence (Art. 19 CRC)– these are only a few dimensions, which open the view for discussions on this issue.
Relevance to Internet Governance: Mediatisation and digitization has led to a serious change in childhood and adolescent environments in recent years. The fact that digital media such as smartphones and tablets as well as the use of the Internet would soon find its way into many children’s hands or class rooms, was not foreseeable at the time of the resolution of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child in 1989. Nonetheless, Article 17 UN CRC makes it clear that States parties must allow children access to mass media and thus to "information and material from a variety of sources". Children's rights must accordingly come to their full development in the digital world. This means to take the views and experiences of children into account when discussing, developing and regulating the Internet in a worldwide context. But participation is not only a question of how to include perspectives in an equal and justice way but also how to guarantee fair and equal access to mass media at all.
We will inform people from our diverse network about the date and topic, format and policy questions of our workshop, that they are able to participate online to bring in their perspective and questions.
Proposed Additional Tools: Twitter/ Instagram: One of the organizers will moderate these channels during the session.
Report
- Why are children's views and experiences relevant to different stakeholders of the digital environment?
- What responsibility do society, politics and business have for a good and safe growing up in the digital environment and the Internet?
- What are good practise examples to involve perspectives of children effectively and responsibly?
- Which tools and methods could enable companies and politics to better involve the perspectives of children and adolescents?
In general, it was a fruitful discussion based on the perspectives of different projects including children’s views from the global north and south. Besides the NGO D4CR represented by the Berlin Chapter the Co-Organizers Media Monitoring Africa presented their project “Web Rangers”. It was clear by their presentation and the following discussion there are different issues being tackled in projects in the global south in regard to the way and the acceptance of involving children´s perspectives. Thus, in line with the strategy of the IGF to promote greater participation of developing countries the workshop was able to include and show these perspectives resulting in a more complete picture of the issue.
The discussions and questions were along the following topics:
- Someone indicated the challenge, of while involving perspectives of children effectively how can there be process of productive feedback between the different actors being included.
- Someone brought forward the issue of fairness. It’s an issue of having access to mobile devices and technology in general. Further, the chance to express their own opinion. Having an output to speak out, to family, friends or even media. Third, the awareness of students on internet issues not knowing or not having the feeling their voices are important and respected. These three aspects should be looked at in trying to increase and enable child participation.
- An online participant made the point that government and companies have not kept up their role to bring awareness of issues and dangers from children in the internet.
- The panel argued that we cannot wait on governments and public sector to push on including children and recognizing child rights. It can be done by non-profit or civil society organizations by including children’s perspective, lobbying and realizing processes on their behalf.
- Governance issue:
- Web rangers project or projects with a similar goal as a segment in all schools to focus more on digital literacy tackling the spread of misinformation partly via social media algorithms but also being able to reflect critically contents of the internet in general.
- Economic issue:
- Designers (in companies) of web applications including the perspectives of children while respecting child rights. Thus, the online security for children and the youth can be increased at least. Also by including a diverse group of children barriers by social background could be overcome.
- Social issues
- It is important to include the perspectives of institutions (schools, curricula’s), children and parents in decision making processes concerning regulations in the digital environment. Only if the realities of the actual recipients of the regulations are included the legal and regulatory actions can be successful.
- Web Rangers Project by Media Monitoring Africa
- Workshops for digital literacy
- Challenges concerniong digital literacy and in the digital environment
- Creating video about what they learned, show other young people about its process and sharing the experience on its mistakes and learnings in relation to digital literacy
- Feeling confident and free in the digital environment
- D4CR – designing four childrens rights
- Technology offers great opportunity but also dangers
- Design perspective on creating the internet looking at the perpectives of children
- Designers are mediators, too
- Ethical design: how can designers include the perspectives of children
- How can you give children the right tools?
- A new normal: „childrens best interests first“
- Goal: A generation that is more critical and has the right tools
- Minds and makers
- Human centered design
- Bases: qualitative user research
- Kids initiative to raise awareness for inclusion (Aktion Mensch)
- Enabling kids with and without abilities to voice there interests and needs
- Went to schools with disadvantaged children and did projects
- School is open – inlclusive university praxis school
- Co-creation workshops with parents
- Getting all perspectives: schools, children and parents
- The issue of digital literacy could be tackled by projects such as the web rangers project having workshops on digital literacy and sharing those experience and their path via social media for other children to be educated and enabled as well.
- By including children’s perspective in designing internet services companies can create and administer their products or platforms respecting child rights.
- The aspect of fairness, access and voice being three fundamental aspects for the ability for children to participate.
- In general, the IGF can put all three issues on the agenda putting pressure on the responsible actors. Although in particular the IGF ecosystem could do something on the last aspect with the three fundamental aspects. In the organizing of and mobilizing for the IGF, the perspectives of children could and should be involved to have their views and issues included on topics relating to the digital environment.
onsite participants: around 30, women: 15
We didn't discuss gender issues