The Nordic Research Network on Digitalising Childhoods is pleased to announce two open online keynotes addressing research methodologies and ethics in the study of children and childhoods in the digital age.
The Network is led by the University of Helsinki and also involves the University of Oslo, University of Gothenburg, University of Southern Denmark and University of Reykjavik. The Network is funded by the Joint Committee of Nordic Research Councils in the Humanities and Social Sciences, NOS-HS program, coordinated by the Academy of Finland.
Keynote 1
Researching the datafied child
Dr. Giovanna Mascheroni, Department of Communication, Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, Italy
Date & Time: Tuesday 2nd March, 12.30 - 13.30 (GMT+1)
The talk analyses the datafication of childhood from a mediatization perspective: namely, it foregrounds children and their everyday life and discusses how these are shaped by data-based artefacts and with what consequences. Drawing on a non-media-centric approach and epistemologies of the everyday, the talk then explores the challenges of researching the data practices of children and their families in non-deterministic ways. It will also address how these challenges are complicated and amplified in time of a pandemic.
Suggested readings:
Mascheroni, G. (2020). Datafied childhoods: Contextualising datafication in everyday life. Current Sociology, 68(6), 798–813Mascheroni, G. Holloway, D. (2019). The quantified child: discourses and practices of dataveillance in different life stages. In Erstad, O., Flewitt, R., Kümmerling-meibauer, B., Pereira, I. (Eds.), The Routledge Handbook of Digital Literacies in Early Childhood (pp. 354-365). London: Routledge.
Keynote 2
Ethics and Researching Young Children’s Digital Lives and Learning
Dr. Rosie Flewitt, Manchester Metropolitan University, UK
Date & Time: Wednesday 3rd March, 13.00 – 14.00 (GMT+1)
This talk revisits the assumptions made in humanist research ethics frameworks and posits how a new materialist stance might challenge and extend traditional ethics boundaries by embracing a situated, relational and dialogic approach. The aim is to open up debate about issues that have often been missing from research ethics, such as attuning to the many ways children express their understanding, questioning why language is considered more trustworthy than action or matter, and adopting flexible and reciprocal ethics when researching young lives that do not conform to heteronormative models of childhood. We will also revisit the ethics of using digital research technologies that denaturalize the researcher gaze and produce visual records of young children’s lives.
Suggested Readings:
Flewitt, R.S. (2020). ‘Ethics and researching young children’s digital literacy practices.’ In O. Erstad, R.S. Flewitt, B. Kümmerling-Meibauer and I. Pereira (eds). The Routledge Handbook of Digital Literacies in Early Childhood. London: Routledge.
Flewitt, R.S. & Ang, L. (2020). Research Methods for Early Childhood Education. London: Bloomsbury Academic. (Chapter 2 ‘Ethics and Early Childhood Research’).
Schulte, C. (2020). Ethics and Research with Young Children: New perspectives (eds), London & New York: Bloomsbury Academic.
Everyone interested is welcome to join the keynotes!