We are delighted to welcome our keynote speakers, Dr Hayley Davies and Dr Marion Oswald to our inaugural conference.
Dr Marion Oswald is a Senior Fellow in Law and Director of the Centre for Information Rights at the University of Winchester. Her research focuses on information rights, technology and privacy. She has a particular interest in the use of algorithmic technologies in the public sector and issues around children’s privacy in the digital environment.
Dr Hayley Davies is Lecturer in Childhood Studies at the School of Education, University of Leeds. Her research is located in the social studies of childhood with a particular focus on children’s perspectives on and experiences of their family and relational lives and how children’s views can be used to consider and critique policy that affects them. Hayley’s recently published book explores many of these issues: Davies, H. (2015) Understanding Children’s Personal Lives and Relationships.
Marion’s keynote, 'Amusing ourselves to death’ at what cost to children? Will address the cultural phenomenon of ‘sharenting’ to consider ‘sharenting’; the ‘YouTube Families’ phenomenon; the way that younger and younger children now feature on mainstream broadcasts, with public comment via social media using the inevitable hashtag? Her talk will focus upon the grown-ups and how certain actions of responsible adults contribute to, and perpetuate, this digital culture. It will argue that law and regulation have fallen behind, and that privacy ‘expectations’ of children must be rewritten for this new information environment, ensuring that opinions and experiences of children are represented.
Hayley’s keynote ‘Keeping each other safe: a role for digital animations in safeguarding children? ‘will present findings from her project ‘Keeping Each Other Safe’, which investigated children’s strategies for staying safe. Children’s ideas, about the value of technology and concern about not being heard, inspired Hayley and her collaborators to develop a set of digital resources for children and professionals who work with children to help children stay safe. The animated videos focus on children’s rights to be and feel safe, and the importance of finding a trusted person to tell.