W8 - Converged Media: Abstract 1

Livingstone, S. (2003) "Children's Use of the Internet: Reflections on the Emerging Research Agenda", New Media & Society, Vol. 5 (2), pp. 147-166.

Article identifies the increased domestic access to the internet in mass English-speaking markets such as Europe and North America, focusing on children and young people. Children's internet use generates concerns within the public which can create research topics but also undermine them. Opportunities for further research are further identified, research on children and the internet must go beyond access to examine the nature and quality of their internet use. There is a small amount of previous research and author believes that key questions within this area are now begun to be addressed. Opportunities and dangers of internet use identified as communication, identity and participation, education, learning, dangers of use, dangers of exclusion and the digital divide. There is a small amount of previous research and key questions within this area are now addressed. To guide research on these issues in the years to come, this article has also identified an emerging theoretical framework together with pressing methodological and policy-related challenges facing the field.