Digital Generation – Children, Youth and Digital Media

Within the framework of the EU funding programme Horizon 2020 of the European Commission, ÖIF was conducting the project 'The Impact of Technological Transformations on Children and Youth - DigiGen' in a consortium. You can find all the information on the EU project at DigiGen website and on the social networks Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn.

The consortium, led by Storby Universitetet - Oslo, Norway (OSLOMET), comprises the partner universities:
Panteio Panepistimio Koinonikon Kaipolitikon Epistimon – Athen, Greece (UPSPS)
University of Leicester – Leicester, United Kingdom (ULEIC)
Universität Wien, Austrian Institute for Family Studies – Vienna, Austria (UNIVIE)
Universitat de Girona – Girona, Spain (UdG)
Universität Paderborn – Paderborn, Germany (UPB)
Universitatea Babes Bolyai – Cluj Napoca, Rumania (UBB)
Tallinn University – Tallinn, Estland (TLU)
Confederation des Organisations Familiales de L’Union Européenne – Brussels, Belgium (COFACE)

Duration: December 2019 – November 2022

Project Lead at the Austrian Institute for Family Studies, University of Vienna: Dr. Olaf Kapella

 

The final publication of the DigiGen Project as a PDF-Document.

Papers published as part of WP3 - for further publications see DigiGen website:

  • Olaf Kapella, Eva-Maria Schmidt, Susanne Vogl (2022): Integration of digital technologies in families with children aged 5-10 years: A synthesis report of four European country case studies. DigiGen Working Paper No. 8. DOI: 10.5281/zendo.6411126
  • Olaf Kapella, Merike Sisask (ED. 2021): Country reports presenting the findings from four case studies, Austria, Estonia, Norway, Romania. DigiGen Working Paper No.6. DOI: 10.6084/m9.figshare.19070090
  • Olaf Kapella, Eva-Maria Schmidt, Merike Sisask (2022): Recognising digital technologies as a key part of 'doing family' in the digital era. DigiGen Policy Brief. DOI 10.5281/zendo.6655609
  • Tove Lafton, Halla B. Holmarsdottir, Olaf Kapella, Merike Sisask, Liudmila Zinoveva (2022): Children's Vulnerability to Digital Technologiy within the Family: A Scoping Review. DOI: 10.3390/soc13010011
  • Idunn Seland, Halla B. Holmarsottir, Christer Hyggen, Olaf Kapella, Dimitris Parsanoglou, Merike Sisask (2022): Conditions Contribution to Positive and Negative Outcomes of Children's ICT Use: Protocol for a Scoping Review. Societies, 12/5. DOI: 10.3390/soc12050125
  • Theresa Lorenz, Olaf Kapella (2020): Children's ICT use and its impact on family life. Literature review. DigiGen Working Paper No.1. DOI: 10.6084/m9.figshare.12906737

Central questions dealt with the effects of the use of information and communication technology (ICT) on children and young people. In order to present the life worlds of children and young people as comprehensively as possible, the project was divided into eight Work Packages (WP), which are primarily characterised by a qualitative empirical approach:

  • Work Package 1: Management and overall coordination (Lead: University of Oslo).
  • Work Package 2: Mapping the digital transformation in Europe. This is an overview of existing studies in different areas of children's and young people's lives (Lead: University of Girona).
  • Work Package 3: Technological Transformation in the Family (Lead: University of Vienna, Austrian Institute for Family Research)
  • Work Package 4: ICT and the Transformation in Leisure Time (Lead: University of Greece)
  • Work Package 5: ICT in Education (Lead: University of Paderborn)
  • Work Package 6: ICT and the Transformation in Civic Participation - Digital Citizens (Lead: University of Leicester)
  • Work Package 7: Comparison, reflection and integration of all results (Lead: University of Oslo)
  • Work Package 8: Impact, scientific and public participation and dissemination of results (Lead: COFACE)

Methodological approach in WP 3 and WP 4:

The ÖIF was in charge of managing, designing, implementing and summarising the results of the empirical work carried out under WP 3. Estonia, Norway, Romania as well as Spain carried out empirical work under WP 3:

  • Overview of relevant studies and data on the use of ICT in the family and possible impact on children, adolescents and the family.
  • Conduct focus groups with children aged 5 to 6 years.
  • Conduct focus groups with children aged 9 to 10 years.
  • Conducting individual interviews with children of both age groups and a maximum of two other family members of the children, e.g. parents, grandparents, siblings.

In WP 4, the ÖIF was involved in the following empirical work, among others:

  • Semi-structured interviews with children aged 9 to 12 and 13 to 15.
  • Communication diaries using a mobile phone application to be developed as part of the project (MyView app)
  • Group discussions by means of an online video game to be developed