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  • Rolle Marquee, University of Plymouth

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This school event consisted of a talk (a lecture), debate and a workshop on youth/children’s digital rights. 

Professor Andy Phippen’s lecture reviewed recent policy and educational approaches to online safety and contrasted that with his own research with young people on how they use digital technology. He raised concerns around whether the rights of children are being ignored in the drive to ensure they are 'safe' online. 

The talk was followed by a facilitated debate/discussion and closed with an activity in which pupils were asked to create their own rights charter. The charters were then judged and the best charter was awarded with a prize.

The importance of the awareness of the digital rights

This specific event/topic was highly relevant nowadays as for young people life without information and communications technology seems as unfathomable and quaint as an era before sliced bread (Rallings, 2015). They undoubtedly will receive some form of online safety education in their schools, and many will have their social lives impacted by filtering, monitoring or surveillance applied by adults in their lives justified by the need to keep them safe.

It is sometimes difficult for older generations to properly appreciate just how quickly the environment young people are growing up in today is being changed by technology. Technology, internet and digital world is building, creating and connecting local and international communities and not only influencing our daily social life, it is also shaping and changing (affecting) our working environment. The rapid uptake of digital media globally presents a range of new risks of harms to children (Third, 2016). Nonetheless, amidst the concerns about children’s online safety, new research is beginning to demonstrate and document a broad range of benefits associated with children’s online participation. The research shows that digital engagement can have benefits for children’s formal and informal learning; health and wellbeing; literacy; civic and/or political participation; play and recreation; identity; belonging; peer, family and intergenerational relationships; individual and community resilience; and consumer practices (Swist et al., 2015).

Children’s rights in the digital age are presently undermined by a mix of innocence, ignorance and media pressure. It is for the benefits of economy, society and the whole World to wake and inform the young generation of the positive/negative impact ‘the digital’ environment causes without developing a dysopian view of safeguarding which closes off many of the opportunities afforded by the digital world. Children’s wellbeing and their digital rights and awareness are interlinked and inseparable features.

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Biography: Professor Andy Phippen

Andy is a professor of social responsibility in information technology at the University of Plymouth. He has worked with the ethical and social responsibility, and how technology impacts in the social world, with companies such as British Telecom, Google and Facebook. In the last ten years he has specialised in the use of ICTs by children and young people, carrying out a large amount of grass roots research on issues such as sexting, pornography, cyberbullying and online harassment. 

He is a research partner with the UK Safer Internet Centre and is a frequent media commentator on children and the Internet.

Andy Phippen
 
Elena Novakova

Biography: Elena Novakova

Elena Novakova acts as the liaison between schools and the Faculty of Business to engage pupils with the faculty's programmes and raise awareness of entrepreneurship education to schools and colleges in the region.

 

Biography: Sarah Stevenson

Sarah Stevenson is the manager of the Futures Centre for Entrepreneurship and the Talent Hub, and has responsibility for the creation and delivery of co-curricular opportunities for students in Plymouth Business School. 

Sarah ensures the centre provides opportunities and supports the development of social enterprise in the University and beyond.


Sarah Stevenson
 
Raphael Dennett, graduate BSc (Hons) Business Management

Biography: Raphael Dennett

Raphael is Entrepreneur in Residence in the Faculty of Business. A BSc (Hons) Business Management graduate of the University, Raphael has started several successful businesses in the South West with a global list of clients.

He teaches entrepreneurship, intrapreneurship, enterprise, start Up, media, learning technology, marketing and business technology as part of his activities with the Futures Entrepreneurship Centre.

 

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