aimed to attract a more diverse audience of gamers and non-gamers – and to bring video games off the screen and into the living room. While not all games are well suited for multiplayer play – ‘It’s hard to avoid getting in each other’s way and impeding rather than advancing game progress’ (p. 133) – most games are intended to be played while in the room with other people. ‘The Wii is just the latest attempt by Nintendo to bring a version of this kind of social gaming into the living room, closer to arcade parties and karaoke than to, say, bouts of online multiplayer military simulations’ (p. 142). Jones and Thiruvathukal’s book is as much a user’s manual for the potential of the Nintendo Wii as it is an academic and technical deconstruction of the console as a computing platform. Their joint approach to considering the topic works well, but it isn’t until the very end of the book that Jones’ cultural contextual approach really shines. In the final six pages of the sixth chapter (pp. 143–148), the authors consider the paratext of the Wii, as well as the diegetic and nondiegetic elements of video games – and the various layers of the platform and the games, interactions and activities it supports. ‘This social layer of a video game platform is an essential part of what the system means, because it’s the environment in which the platform gets used’ (p. 148). Much of the existing literature on Nintendo – such as Osamu Inoue’s (2010) Nintendo Magic: Winning the Videogame Wars and Jeff Ryan’s (2011) Super Mario: How Nintendo Conquered America – concentrates on the company’s success as a business. The more technical literature to date focuses on the use of the Wii Balance Board, another controller for the platform, in healthcare and therapeutic settings. This text sits comfortably in the middle, Wiimote and Nunchuk controllers in hand, making a valuable contribution to the study of the Nintendo Wii and how technology and culture work together.

It’s Complicated: The Social Lives of Networked Teens

Communication from the Commission to the Council, the European Parliament, the European Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of the Regions: Annual Policy Strategy for 2008

Social media? It's serious! Understanding the dark side of social media

Exposure to the marketing of unhealthy foods and beverages is a widely acknowledged risk factor for the development of childhood obesity and noncommunicable diseases. Food marketing involves the use of numerous persuasive techniques to influence children’s food attitudes, preferences and consumption. This systematic review provides a comprehensive contemporary account of the impact of these marketing techniques on children aged 0–18 years and critically evaluates the methodologies used. Five electronic academic databases were searched using key terms for primary studies (both quantitative and qualitative) published up to September 2018; 71 eligible articles were identified. Significant detrimental effects of food marketing, including enhanced attitudes, preferences and increased consumption of marketed foods were documented for a wide range of marketing techniques, particularly those used in television/movies and product packaging. Together, these studies contribute strong evidence to support the restriction of food marketing to children. However, the review also signposted distinct gaps: Firstly, there is a lack of use of qualitative and physiological methodologies. Secondly, contemporary and sophisticated marketing techniques used in new media warrant increased research attention. Finally, more research is needed to evaluate the longer-term effects of food marketing on children’s weight.

/pdf/food-marketing-influences-children-s-attitudes-preferences-591snogig9.pdf

Food Marketing Influences Children's Attitudes, Preferences and Consumption: A Systematic Critical Review.

In this article, we reflect critically on the research agenda on children’s Internet use, framing our analysis using Wellman’s three ages of Internet studies and taking as our case study the three phases of research by the EU Kids Online network from 2006 to 2014. Following the heyday of moral panics, risk discourses and censorious policy-making that led to the European Commission’s first Internet Action Plan 1999–2002, EU Kids Online focused on conceptual clarification, evidence review and debunking of myths, thereby illustrating the value of systematic documentation and mapping, and grounding academic, public and policy-makers’ understanding of ‘the Internet’ in children’s lives. Consonant with Wellman’s third age, which emphasizes analysis and contextualization, the EU Kids Online model of children’s online risks and opportunities helps shift the agenda from how children engage with the Internet as a medium to how they engage with the world mediated by the Internet.

/pdf/european-research-on-children-s-internet-use-assessing-the-2q8y2slp4q.pdf

European research on children’s internet use: assessing the past and anticipating the future

Digital technologies have reshaped children’s lives, resulting in new opportunities for and risks to their well-being and rights. This chapter investigates the impact of digital technologies on children’s rights through the lens of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child. Up until now, not all rights have received the same level of attention in the digital context. Legal and policy discourse in the area of children and digital media predominantly focuses on ‘protection’ rights, albeit with a growing awareness of the tension between ‘protection’ and ‘participation’ rights. ‘Provision’ rights are not often emphasised, other than in the important domain of education. However, all children’s rights should be supported, valued and developed in both online and offline spheres of engagement. Governments, parents, educators, industry, civil society and children’s rights commissioners or ombudspersons should all take up their responsibility to enhance children’s rights in relation to digital technologies, while actively listening and taking account of children’s views when developing laws, policies, programmes and other measures in this field.

/pdf/children-s-rights-and-digital-technologies-3cod6i5fmk.pdf

Children’s rights and digital technologies

From social media service to advertising network: A critical analysis of Facebook’s Revised Policies and Terms

Looking for needles in a haystack: Key issues affecting children's rights in the General Data Protection Regulation

Marketing in digital media presents major new challenges to those seeking to identify, for research or monitoring purposes, the extent and nature of children’s exposure to marketing of foods and non-alcoholic beverages high in fat, salt and sugar The WHO Commission on Ending Childhood Obesity called for reductions in children’s (including adolescents’) exposure to such marketing in all media and for the closing of regulatory loopholes Assessing the extent and nature of such exposure and the effectiveness of proposed regulation is challenging in a new digital media era, however, as marketing is increasingly personalized, based on Internet users’ behavioural patterns The ethics and legality of accessing personal data are not yet clearly established and the closed, “black box” nature of much digital data presents a significant challenge
This paper builds on conclusions of a workshop at the WHO Regional Office for Europe that aimed to inform policy-makers, funders, researchers and regulators by summarizing the ethical and legal considerations researchers need to address in study design The workshop considered digital ethics guidance, European Union law and terms and conditions of social media platforms; it concluded that such research can be carried out ethically, although it is particularly important for stakeholders to make case-by-case assessments and to view consent as a process Nevertheless, the terms and conditions of digital platforms and applications present legal access challenges

https://biblio.ugent.be/publication/8723136/file/8723140.pdf

Valerie Verdoodt

Papers

Children’s rights and digital technologies

From social media service to advertising network: A critical analysis of Facebook’s Revised Policies and Terms

Looking for needles in a haystack: Key issues affecting children's rights in the General Data Protection Regulation

A safe glimpse within the “black box”? Ethical and legal principles when assessing digital marketing of food and drink to children

Toying with children’s emotions, the new game in town? The legality of advergames in the EU