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CHILDREN AND THE INFORMATION SOCIETY RESEARCH PROJECT 2001-2003
The University of Tampere

Background

Aim

Children and the Information Society research programme takes a cross-disciplinary approach to the analysis of the position of children in contemporary Finnish society. The project focuses on children as actors in the information society and produces multidisciplinary knowledge on children's thoughts, well-being and activities in the information society.

Co-ordination

Co-ordinated by the Information Society Research Centre, University of Tampere, Children and the Information Society research project was launched in early 2001. From the beginning of 2002, the project has been co-ordinated by the Children and the Information Society research unit at the University of Tampere. Riikka Kivimäki is the head of project.

Steering group

The following persons form the project`s steering group
As the groups´s chair and director of the project, Recearcher Riikka Kivimäki, Work Research Centre, University of Tampere. Members:
Professor Anja Riitta Lahikainen, Department of Sociology and Social Psychology, University of Tampere,
Marjatta Kangassalo, Department of Teacher Education; Early Childhood Education, University of Tampere
Lecturer Pentti Hietala, Department of Computer and Information Sciences, University of Tampere
Research Director Antti Kasvio, Information Society Institute, University of Tampere
Professor Frans Mäyrä Hypermedia Laboratory, University of Tampere
Project Manager Tommi Inkinen, Information Society Institute, University of Tampere.

The subprojects and their leaders

2. Children's well-being and media, Anja Riitta Lahikainen

3. Children, information technology and learning, Marjatta Kangassalo and Pentti Hietala

4. Game research, Frans Mäyrä

5. Children and information society strategies, Tommi Inkinen

The application and societal significance of the research results

The research project will produce new knowledge on information society development from the point of view of children and assess the ramifications of information society development on the lives of children and families with children. The project will construct Finnish and international research networks based on a more child-oriented approach to issues related to the information society.

The research project strives to enhance public debate on the position of the child in information society through offering multidisciplinary information as the basis for decision-making. The research programme promotes the incorporation of children's needs in decision-making in the field of social policy and assist in the creation of innovations in the field of product development.

The reporting of the results:

1. The results of the subprojects

In 2001 the project has organised two open seminars and published two books. The first book was a collection of articles entitled Lasten tietoyhteiskunta(Children's information society) and edited by Marjatta Kangassalo and Juha Suoranta (Tampere University Press 2001), where a range of authors describe children's position in the information society in the light of earlier studies and consider the methodological aspects of studying children.

The second book, Lapset tietoyhteiskunnan toimijoina(Children as actors in the information society) (Information Society Research Centre, University of Tampere 2001), written by Juha Suoranta, Hanna Lehtimäki and Sampsa Hakulinen, sums up the central results of the first phase of the new research. The book aimed to convey children's own perceptions as they emerged in the survey and thematic interviews that supplemented it.

The end results of the subprojects will be compiled into another book that will explore the information society through the study of children and bring forward a view of the child as an active individual.

2. Reporting of results

Information on the results of the subprojects and the whole research project will be communicated extensively also to people outside of the research community both through the media and directly to decision-makers and non-governmental organisations.

3. Seminar

The research program will conclude in an international 'Children and the Information Society ' held in Tampere. The research network that has originated through the research programme will continue co-operation.

1. Family-friendly practices in working life

Leader:

Researcher:
Katri Otonkorpi-Lehtoranta
katri.otonkorpi-lehtoranta@uta.fi

Project profile

This study looks at the practices of reconciling work and family life. It will shed additional light on the question what family-friendliness actually is from the workplace point of view. The study will be carried out in three phases. During the preliminary research period, a few cases will be introduced as examples to see what kind of good practices can be found at Finnish workplaces. In the second phase, the characteristics of human resource policies regarding the work-life interface in Finnish workplaces will be examined by conducting a survey.

The results of this survey will be compared to an earlier survey research carried out in four European countries (Laura den Dulk 2001: Work-family arrangements in organisations - A cross-national study in the Netherlands, Italy, the United Kingdom and Sweden).

In the third phase, workers from the workplaces introduced in the preliminary research and their families will be interviewed. In this phase of the study, the child perspective will be emphasised. Examining families and workplaces as a "closing loop" is a new approach and will be used in this study. The human resource strategies of workplaces, reconciliation of work and family by workers, and the everyday life of interviewed workers and their families, including children, will be examined as an entity that consists of different pieces.

Tasks:

- to shed light on what kind of good practices and human resource policies in Finnish workplaces have been implemented to support the work-life interface of workers
- to consider what kind of cross-national comparison can be done on the basis of the study
- to examine the experiences of the family members and especially of the children in the practices introduced at the studied workplaces

Further Plans for the Year 2004

The ongoing study has raised several interesting questions for further research. Our aim is to continue examining "family-friendly" practices on the basis of the outcomes of the study. Further research is needed in order to gain deeper understanding of the significance of organisational culture in supporting work-life integration in different workplaces and working environments.

One of the questions emerged during the ongoing study is stakeholder value. The discussion about corporate social responsibility and stakeholder value has hardly started in Finland, but there is an increasing tendency toward dealing with these questions. What would this mean from the perspective of work-life issues? Could family be seen as a stakeholder that is important for wellbeing of personnel?

We are going to search organisations and workplaces which would be interested in developing their working practices and sensitivity to work-life issues.

2. Children's well-being and media

Leader

Anja Riitta Lahikainen, Professor in Social Psychology
Department of Sociology and Social Psychology, University of Tampere,
e-mail address: ssanla@uta.fi
Tel. +358 3 215 6570

Co-researchers:Inger Kraav, Professor in Pedagogy University of Tartu
Juulia Paavonen, MD, University of Helsinki
Post graduate students:
Merle Taimalu, Lic. of Education, University of Tartu
Irina Heikkilä, MA (Education.) University of Helsinki,
Satu Valkonen, MA (Social Sciences), University of Tampere,
Graduate students: Marjo Pennanen, Ulla Matikkala

Background

The research project is rooted in two previous projects concerning childhood:
1."Childhood, society and development in Nordic Countries" (BASUN-project financed by NOS-S and Academy of Finland (led by Dencik, Dencik & Jörgensen 1999 ). The project owes BASUN for utilising the interview-technique developed and for the idea of flexibility and context-dependency of child development documented by Basun-cases
2."Children's well-being in Estonia and Finland" (led by Anja Riitta Lahikainen, financed by Academy of Finland ) is a comprehensive evaluation study of children well-being (Lahikainen et al. 1995, Kirmanen 2000). A specially interesting result to be mentioned here is that the Estonian and the Finnish children's fears differed in many respects on the basis of child-interview data. Three types of children were found:
a) children whose insecurity is mainly associated with mental images (fears of nightmares and of television programmes were dominating).
b.) children with multi-faceted insecurities, who expressed many kinds of fears (fears of loss and death were dominating)
c ) children whose fears were associated with the everyday life (fears of animals and of behaviour of significant adults were dominating.)

The majority of Finnish children (80%) belonged to the group a and the majority of Estonian children belonged to the group c (73%). A new type of insecurity risk, associated with mental images, was connected both to the large extra-familial social networks, and is generally supposed to be linked to the expansion of media in society. These observations form the basis for the planning of this new phase of research project. The findings are also in harmony with the results gained in studies concerning ill-effects of children's television-viewing (Owens et al. 1999, Singer, Slovak, Frierson & York, 1998).

Objectives and methods

The project focuses on the influence of increasing media (television, mobile phone, computer) exposure on the well-being and development of young children. -the role of media in everyday life in different cultural contexts is described -the connections between media use and social relations, psychiatric morbidity, and sleep quality is studied.

The early years of development are formative to the development of social orientations toward other people and to the development of exploration (Bowlby, Valsiner). The role of media is explored as a factor which interferes in complex ways in processes of social-emotional development of the child and processes of care of the parent/caretaker. Many kinds of uses of television are explored:
a) guided, intentional,
b) explorative, innovative
c) passive, unintended.
Two main ways of uses of mobile phone and computer are differentiated:
a)contact use,
b)game/entertainment

One special target is the training of child researchers with high quality competence.

Samples

- Children aged five to six ( representative, random, non-clinical samples)
in Finland 1993-1994 approx. 240, 2003 approx 200-400
in Estonia 1994 approx 120, 2002 approx 100
- Children aged eight to ten In Finland 2001, n 945

Methods

Survey for the parents and interviews of the children; parents are asked about the material conditions of the family, about family interaction and television viewing patterns as well as children's behavioural characteristics, standardised questionnaires for psychiatric symptoms and sleep disorders are included. Child-interview for five to six year olds; special interview technique has been previously developed. The semi-structured interview focuses on the children's significant other people and fears, television related fears, popular programs, nightmares. The survey of children aged 8-10 deals children's use of television, computer and mobile-phones ( gathered 2001, Information Society Programme, University of Tampere.). Case studies: parent interview, participant observation. Qualitative analyses of the most popular television programs and of dream contents of children.

Schedule and intermediate objectives of the research

2002:
- planning, recruiting and training of child interviewers, ( special training in three one- day seminars and individual guidance for five interviewers, covered by University of Tampere) 2003:
- planning and training continued (covered by University of Tampere)
- new data gathering in Finland;
- interviews (12 researcher months) of 200-400 children in Tampere and in Helsinki, five interviewers, ( maximum amount of interviews allowed in a day is two)
- analysis and reporting (12 researcher months)
- transcriptions of interviews, encoding new data,
- analysis of 8 to ten years old children's media (television, computer, mobile phone) use
- analysis and reporting of television-viewing habits and TV-fears of young children

2004:
quantitative data analysis continues; qualitative text analyses of favourite TV-programs and of nightmares combination of data from years 1993 with data from 2002-2003 in Estonia and in Finland

2005: final reports

Networks and international connections

The project is co-ordinated as a part project in Children and Information Society, where Anja Riitta Lahikainen is a member of guidance group together with Leader of Information Society Institute Antti Kasvio, Professor Frans Mäyrä, Hypermedia laboratorium, Researcher Riikka Kivimäki, Researcher Hanna Lehtimäki and Lecturer Pentti Hietala. Childhood and Family Research Centre in the University of Tampere integrates research and organises seminars and network for researchers. The researchers are allowed also to join to the programme of postgraduate school of family research by Academy of Finland. International network of childhood researchers.

Outcomes

Preschool children
-Association media exposure and/or TV viewing habits and fears as well as sleep quality (such as insomnia, nightmares, sleep deprivation) (Paavonen, Pennonen et al)
-prevalence rates of various psychiatric symptoms (such as depression, anxiety, behavioural problems and hyperactivity) in children with different degrees of media exposure and/or different TV- viewing habits (Paavonen, et al)
-associations between attachment styles, TV-viewing patterns and fears; (Heikkilä et al)
-media as a transmitter of the world interpreted through favourite programs and nightmares of young children (Valkonen)

Eight to ten years old children
-describes clustering of children through their media use, media use as organiser of social relationships and factors related to excessive media use (Matikkala et al)

As a whole the design of the project is like a natural experiment: Comparison of children's well-being in many ways comparable societal settings in Finland and in Estonia, in two time-intervals, soon after Estonia had regained independence and turned from socialist ideology and order to post-socialist market economy gives invaluable data about how societal changes have an influence at the individual level. At a general level, this research project is an evaluation study of welfare politics, taking children a special group which needs special care and protection. It serves new information of the new challenges of information society for further developing social security of children in altering society.

3. Children, information technology and learning

"Small researchers and innovative technology"

Leaders

Marjatta Kangassalo,
University of Tampere, the Department of Teacher Education; Early Childhood Education
marjatta.kangassalo@uta.fi,
Tel. +358 3 2157 815

Pentti Hietala,
University of Tampere, Department of Computer and Information Sciences / Interactive Technology
pentti.hietala@uta.fi,
Tel. +358 3 2156 780

The Children, Information Technology and Learning Project focuses on environments where children have ample opportunities to use new technological facilities in addition to traditional materials for their collaborative exploratory action. Our main research emphasis on the following areas: children's progressive inquiry and collaborative learning, knowledge construction process concerning phenomena in question, learning confidence, the development of conceptual thinking, and finally, on adult's guidance. The research is conducted by observing the activities of the same children in pre-school age in different projects: first in a day care environment and then in the first grade of primary school.

Research team consists of an interdisciplinary group of 9 researchers from several disciplines and departments of the University of Tampere - Department of Teacher Education / Early Childhood Education - Department of Psychology - Department of Computer and Information Sciences / Interactive Technology The group includes also kindergarten and elementary school teachers.

Methods

Our first research experiment was carried out in Spring 2002 at the Metsästäjä Kindergarten and the second experiment was carried out at the first class of the Atala elementary school, in Tampere. The number of the pupils was 23 aged between 5 to 7.

In the research experiments the focus was especially on children's actions when they were exploring natural phenomena in their neighbourhood. The children had in their use many technological possibilities e.g. drawing software supporting multiple input devices (e.g. two mice), an interactive whiteboard, animation software, digital camera, an electronic microscope and Internet. The children were motivated to learning through research, i.e. by asking questions, planning their investigations, solving problems, exploring and discussing themes in groups. The themes and ways to explore were based on the children's own wonderings and thoughts. The children came up with various ideas, e.g. cultivated a plant and followed its growing, drew pictures, joined pictures to animations, took digital photos, looked over cones with a computer microscope. The children's inquiry in small work groups was active and enthusiastic. Boys and girls were equally creative and open-minded with the new technology adopting the new technology very naturally as part of their work and play.

An extensive corpus of data has been collected by videotaping children's work, collecting the results (drawings, artefacts, etc.) of children's work, interviewing children, their parents and their teachers and logging children's work with the computer.

International connections

The research project has national and international research partners. With some of them the cooperation has been continued already some years and some partners would like to start cooperation with our project. We would like to mention the following international research partners: Professor Setsuo Ohsuga, Waseda University, Tokyo, Japan Professor Yuzuru Tanaka, Meme Media Laboratory, Hokkaido University, Sapporo, Japan Director Osamu Fujii, Day Care Center, Takatsukasa Hoikuen, Koyto, Japan Professor Janet C.Read, University of Central Lancashire (UCLAN)Preston, England Professor John Siraj-Blatchford, Faculty of Education, University of Cambridge, England

4. Game research

Children as the Actors of Game Cultures

Leader:

professor Frans Mäyrä, PhD
University of Tampere, Hypermedia Laboratory
frans.mayra@uta.fi Tel. +358 3 2157 933

Introduction, background

"Children as the Actors of Game Cultures" is a research project that is a part of the Children and the Information Society research consortium that aims to have children's viewpoint on the information society and to grant them a status of actors (subjects) rather than objects in the formation of our society. Starting from this ethical and practical point of departure, "Children as the Actors of Game Cultures" project will study the use and significance of digital games for contemporary children and young people.

One of the motivations for taking a qualitative and contextual (real-world) research angle to games is related to the history of game research. Previous research of digital games has tilted towards searching only the negative 'media effects' of games. Such research has also often been conducted as laboratory experiments looking for specific cause-and-effect patterns. There is need for a new kind of games research that is rooted in the real-life contexts and that takes into consideration the many dimensions and social dynamics of games playing.

The goal of Hypermedia Laboratory in University of Tampere is to be one of the first-rate nodes of expertise in user and content focused research of interactive media. Focusing in a specific area of this dynamic field, it is our view that digital games and their playing are creating the new language and new culture for these new media forms. Games are also one of the key focus areas of Laboratory's Experience Design Research Group. Headed by professor Frans Mäyrä, the research group has played active role in the establishment of academic game research by organising seminars and conferences (e.g. Computer Games and Digital Cultures 2002), as well as by involvement in international research networks and in Digital Games Research Association (of which professor Mäyrä is its founding President).

Short description of the project

The main aim of "Children as the Actors of Game Cultures" project is to study the nature of contemporary games and game playing without any predetermined bias: we want to ask what kinds of games are being played and why the young gamers play them. There are probably some sources of pleasure to account for the popularity of games (recorded in many previous studies), but we want to look for some explanations, derived from children and young people themselves. We will also ask about potential problems associated with games and their playing. Aiming for results that can be widely utilized, we also want to map the solutions for that kind of game related problems, and ourselves develop and test new and experimental game concepts. This is done by the research group in an applied research subproject that is informed by the basic research. Thus, the project is divided into two research tasks or subprojects:

1. Power and Control of Gaming
2. Mobile Games and Learning

1. The first subproject will look into the game related practices and significance of games (and their use) in the real world contexts. The primary aims are 1) to examine the pleasure derived from different games and 2) to analyse the different strategies developed by young people (and their families) to situate and control game playing. The main research methods will consist of group and individual interviews, ethnographic field observations and some activation methods (illustrations, mental maps, photographs). Results will be delivered to funding partners in the form of the project report, and also developed into publications that are communicating the guidelines and media literacy related issues to parents, educators and policy makers in various fields.

2. The second subproject will aim to apply the results derived from the first subproject into use in a research and development oriented work experimenting with innovative concepts of mobile gameplay. The research will employ social team play and communication approach in a mobile game concept that is characterised by physical play, movement and exploratory learning (so-called EduGaming). The subproject will examine what are the most promising approaching for creating a mobile multiplayer game, where success will demand physical exercise, communication with other players and development of various problem-solving strategies. This will offer an alternative paradigm to the video game genres dominating contemporary games industry.

The need for resources for both projects is 12 person-months at the first phase of research (c. 40 000 € each). The research has started in subproject one ("Power and Control of Gaming") in the beginning of February 2003 with initial funding from Ministry of Communication and Transportation, and will conclude by December 2003. The second subproject is still looking for funding.

Facilities, previous research

The teaching and research of games can rely on the Game Research Lab, which is currently under construction to unit's new premises in Pinni2 Building in Tampere University's central campus area. The design of these facilities aims to establish Hypermedia Laboratory as the state of the art research environment of digital games for different platforms (PC, consoles, mobile, iDTV). The physical, technological and software infrastructure is only one element in achieving this: for research purposes the research methods and evaluation models used for approaching games are equally important.

Close contacts to the game designers and producers, as well as to the key game research institutions in different parts of the world are constantly bringing new ideas and elements to the Game Research Lab, as well as visiting professors and researchers, interested in analysing and experimenting with games and new gameplay innovations. The research and teaching projects in the Game Research Lab are creating new knowledge and know-how, applicable to a variety of purposes from academic game studies to applied game research and development projects. The larger contexts of Hypermedia Laboratory and University of Tampere join this work to the wider concerns of researching digital communication, community formation, different user groups and cultures as well as different new media genres and online services.

The research group has done previous games related research work in several projects, including Communication and Community in Digital Entertainment Services (see Järvinen, Heliö & Mäyrä 2002) and Future interaction Television; use scenarios, service concepts and evolution of mobile media has been researched, among others, in MPLP and AHNaK projects.

International collaboration

The game research conducted in Hypermedia Laboratory is tightly connected with the work of key international game research centres. The games research network, coordinated by professor Mäyrä, has currently over 300 research members, from more than 20 countries from different parts of the world. Key partners include Interactive Institute (Play Studio, Zero Game Studio) and Swedish Institute of Computer Science - SICS (Sweden), IT-University of Copenhagen (Denmark), Universities of Wolverhampton, Nottingham, Liverpool and Manchester (UK), Conservatoire National des Arts et Métiers (France), Massachusetts Institute of Technology - MIT (USA), and as international associations IGDA (International Game Developers Association) and DiGRA (Digital Games Research Association). Networks and associations mentioned have several members from areas such as Asia and Oceania (Australia, New Zealand, Japan, Korea), or South America (Argentina, Brazil), offering opportunities for international comparisons and collaborations in the future stages of the research.

5. Children and information society strategies

Leader:

Tommi Inkinen,
University of Tampere, Information Society Institute,
tommi.inkinen@uta.fi
Tel. +358 3 2158 072

Researcher: Sampsa Hakulinen, sampsa.hakulinen@uta.fi

Introduction

Information society is largely being build and steered by strategies and strategic planning. Predominant strategic planning is based on reasoning that emphasizes competitive advance, separated planning and implementation and stresses the importance of the professionalism in the planning processes. This seems to have been a successful approach, at least in the light of Finland's position as one of the leading information societies in the world. At the same time it appears to have been able to maintain itself as a welfare state.

However, the present strategic planning and thinking is not unproblematic. Participation, or preferably the lack of it, has been criticized already for quite a while. At the moment strategic planning presents one sighted story of the (information) society, and doesn't outline other ways to approach and comprehend what might be the desirable future. The lack of different approaches and views weakens the possibility of innovations.

Children and young persons are groups that seem to have remained fairly invisible in present information society strategies at European Union level. This is a twofold phenomenon. On the other hand children are objects of strategic planning, and on the other hand, they are active participants in the planning process. eEurope -action plan is one of the key strategies along with Union's member states own information strategies at the European context outlining the future actions, issues and objectives. Action plan has also had strong influence to national strategies, which stresses its importance even further.

A short description of the project

Children and Information Society Strategies -project will focus primarily on how children and young people are visible in the present national information society strategies at European Union member states and how children and young people could be engaged to strategy's planning process. Since presumably they do not have active role, being understand as targets of actions, we also seek for ways in which children and young people can participate and be heard in other kinds of planning or decision making processes.

Among these ways of engaging children and young people is great variation in the scope and selected method. Examples or best-practise models that are selected in our study will range from European Union level to small municipalities. Some of the methods used in these selected best-practise models are traditional, primarily focus being on the implementation of the new technology as a mean to engage children and young people to action in question.

International co-operation

The project is well connected to various international and national research networks via personal contacts. The contact network includes partners from Sweden, Germany, US, Australia, Great Britain and Estonia. The project aims actively to present its results in international meetings and gatherings.