🚸More Than Robots #43 / July 2021

Hello,

"You can't be a real country unless you have a beer and an airline. It helps if you have some kind of a football team, or some nuclear weapons" Frank Zappa

It may be the final whistle or we might still go to some variant of extra time - whatever the result this month here are some stats, punditry and reasons to celebrate.

📆 More Than Robots Meet Up

The next More Than Robots meet up will take place via zoom on Friday 9th July 10.00 - 12.00
Presentations include:

  • Children's Code Transparency Champions / ICO
  • Helping young people find and access local support - My Best Life / NPC
  • Helping care experienced young people share their digital preferences with carers / UKCIS
  • Reach - Online safety for children in foster care / Nominet/Parent Zone
  • Fully Human: space for education to think / PSHE Association
  • Understanding and utilising age assurance / Yoti
  • VR connection, support and participation for young people and families / Antser Social VR

Save you place

📖 Research

Digital poverty: what still needs to happen / Parent Zone
27% of C2DE parents said children missed out on some of their education because they did not have an appropriate device to work on and 10% went into debt to pay for a device

Lessons Learnt From Lockdown: The highs and lows of the pandemic's impact on disabled children and young people / CDC
Some young people said communicating with people online actually made it easier because the screen would put the person speaking big, you could turn off your camera and also there was less pressure to read non-verbal cues

Governance of data for children’s learning in UK state schools / Digital Futures Commission
The governance framework that applies to Learning EdTech used in UK schools is complicated, and there is a lack of government guidance for both Learning EdTech companies and schools to follow to ensure they are complying with the law

Closing the Digital Divide for Good: An end to digital exclusion for children and young people in the UK / Unicef / Carnegie UK Trust
A definition of digital inclusion must be agreed in partnership with children and young people themselves, as well as school staff, parents and other organisations

Teaching privacy: A flawed strategy for children’s online safety / University of New Hampshire
What is generally being considered in privacy discussions is actually protection against an extremely varied, but often poorly specified, set of different harms to people’s safety, reputation and interests

📎 Resources

Report remove / IWF / Childline
Support for under 18s to remove nude images or videos that have been posted online

Youth Participation in a Digital World: Designing and Implementing Spaces, Programs, and Methodologies / Berkman Center
Examples and insights around ways of building participation models that 'enable meaningful youth engagement in our digital world'

Safety by Design Assessment Tools / Australian eCommissioner
Interactive audit tools that 'guide and support technology companies to embed safety into the culture, ethos and operations of their businesses – from the ground up' See also: Online safety guidance if you own or manage an online platform / DCMS

Art Encounters / Henry Moore Institute
Short videos, interactive activities and worksheets to support teachers and learners to discover artworks and artists from the institute

Recognising tech abuse​ / Refuge
Guidance on identifying, reporting and gaining help around tech mediate abuse

💬 Inspiration and opinion

Fully human: Pornography and Human Futures
'In order for young peo­ple to flour­ish, their intrin­sic val­ues, auton­o­my, and capac­i­ty for con­nec­tion need to be sup­port­ed and pro­tect­ed as they grow.... the main­stream online porn indus­try active­ly vio­lates these needs, manip­u­lat­ing young peo­ple to demote core parts of them­selves'

Children’s rights in a digital world: Can COVID-19 move governments from evidence to action?
'The pandemic accelerated a series of digital transformations already underway, making it all the more urgent that society addresses the consequences for children’s lives, whether beneficial or harmful'

Reflections on a co-produced research project undertaken during a global health pandemic
'The transition from in-person activism to online activism can be difficult. While it does become more accessible to some young people, we found that others may be digitally disadvantaged and lack the facilities needed to take part in campaign groups that meet online'

Playing in a Pandemic
'I worry more about the loss of the play opportunities that arose through boredom in lockdown, than I do about the nebulous concept of ‘learning loss’...Far from playing catch up, children and young people need opportunities to continue to be playful'



...and finally
'Ferris Bueller's day off' has been hacked via TikTok to become 'Covid bubble's week off' -  or at least it makes a good story

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Jamie Larson
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