Whether old, young, physically impaired or highly gifted, media use is an issue for most people. Just because people have an impairment doesn’t mean they don’t enjoy using media. Perhaps you know this about your child and have wondered how to guide his or her media use well and whether there are special media for children with disabilities.
Most Internet services are designed for people who can use a mouse, keyboard or touchscreen well, read, see and hear – yet there are many people who cannot for various reasons! It is important for everyone to be able to use smartphones and the like as they wish and to be able to participate everywhere.
When everyone can use media the way they want and are not excluded, we talk about digital participation. This is a fundamental right that is also enshrined in the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child. However, media offerings must also be designed in such a way that this is possible. Some people find it difficult to understand long texts on websites well. Or someone can’t read them because he or she is blind. As in road traffic, there are also tools for this on the Internet. On some websites you can have texts read aloud or on your computer is a program that can read texts aloud. However, there are still too few tools available, both on the road and on the Internet. Then it is difficult for some people to participate in the digital world (or road traffic). The prerequisite for this is accessibility. In the FINNreporter video , Lilly explains clearly and understandably what this means and how children can use media who cannot see or hear.
Even if many Internet offers are not yet designed barrier-free, there are some aids so that children and young people, but also adults with impairments can use them.
You may find a few suggestions that will help you and your child have fun using media safely. Observe your child as he or she interacts with the content. There are children who do not yet understand content well, although they should already be suitable according to the age recommendation. Since every child is different and develops differently, this is not a bad thing. Just see if other offers are more suitable. Read more about this in our article “Age-appropriate media for my child“.
A few years ago, there were still cassettes with which children could listen to the stories of Benjamin Blümchen, the little raven Sock and children’s songs of all kinds. Insert the cassette into the recorder, press “Play” and off you go! It was also child’s play to record your own sounds, music or stories on cassette.
Today, small listening boxes such as the tigerbox and Toniebox moved into the children’s rooms. These play stories as soon as an associated figure is placed on the box. A great thing for the kids, but also very expensive. Yet such a radio play box can be recreated with a little skill and a smartphone!
Now this all sounds very technical, but it’s not at all. The radio play box is replaced by a cell phone and the character by an NFC chip. The rest is done by the selected app almost by itself.
First, make sure that the smartphone supports NFC. NFC is short for near field communication. In other words, communication between two elements: the smartphone and the chip, which can only communicate with each other within a few centimeters. You can see if your device supports NFC in the smartphone settings by searching for NFC and activating it. The position of the NFC reader is in the center of the back of the device in most smartphones. Put the purchased NFC stickers ready.
Now it’s about the app, which is supposed to program the NFC chip. It’s easier than it sounds! The matching app is available in the Play Store or Apple Store. With the paid app NFC Tools PRO audio files that are on the smartphone can be programmed directly onto the chip. This doesn’t work as easily with other apps. The corresponding app will now open.
Hold the NFC chip against the back of the smartphone. After the chip has been recognized by the app, its properties are displayed in it (under READ). To describe the chip, it must be assigned a task. To do this, go to TASKS > Add task > Sound & Media > Play a sound file > and select the desired audio file. To program this command now to the NFC chip, Write must be clicked under TASKS. To do this, the chip must once again be held against the back of the cell phone. After that you will receive a confirmation of the overwriting.
Now the chip is programmed and the audio can be played when it is held on the back of the smartphone.
With these basic building blocks, you can now get creative together with your child. The NFC chip or sticker can be attached to game pieces, stuffed animals, etc. A container made of Lego, cardboard or wood for the smartphone can be connected and become a whole personal listening box with a speaker. For ideas on how to create your own audio content, check out our article “Listening Projects for Kids.”
Making your own listening box can be a fun family project. Children and parents learn about technology together and can get creative.
Even more ideas for homemade listening boxes can be found on the following pages:
Flying cars, robots and similar things are what many people imagine when it comes to artificial intelligence. So dreams of the future? Not quite. In this article, you will find out where we already encounter artificial intelligence in everyday life and what this has to do with your child’s media education.
Artificial intelligence, or AI for short, is a very broad term. This usually refers to machines or computer systems that can mimic human intelligence. To do this, they are fed information until they can apply it independently to solve tasks. This also means that they can learn from mistakes and thus constantly improve. For example, if a computer is fed a very large number of photos of human faces, at some point it will be able to tell for sure whether or not a photo has a human face in it. In this case, it is a so-called “weak AI” because it is intelligent only in relation to a specific subject. Research is also being conducted on a “strong AI” that could have the intellectual capabilities of a human, e.g., think logically or plan ahead. However, the strong AI does not yet exist. And if it should exist one day – it will probably not have feelings and thus will be fundamentally different from us humans.
With facial recognition , artificial intelligence has already become part of our everyday lives: Perhaps someone in your family also uses “Face ID” to unlock the smartphone. Here, the smartphone recognizes whether it is the face of a very specific person. AI is also being used in voice assistants and streaming services. Alexa, Siri and Co. “remember” when they are addressed by their name (“Hey, Alexa”). Netflix recommends movies that match the content you’ve recently watched. Algorithms also play a role in this. With so-called smart toys, children can interact while playing – this also works thanks to AI. For example, a smart cuddly toy can search the Internet for answers to your child’s questions and then read them aloud.
Artificial intelligence can make our lives easier in many situations. But there are also risks associated with the use of AI. For example, so-called deep fakes can be used to create deceptively real images or videos that support the spread of fake news. If AI is used at home, for example via a voice assistant or smart toys, it is also important to look at the manufacturer’s data protection measures and use existing security settings. If the data is not stored on the device itself, but in a cloud, there is a risk that third parties can access and misuse the data. There are also many legal questions for which there is no conclusive solution at the present time: For example, who should be liable in the future if a decision made by an AI causes damage? This is one reason why the use of self-driving cars, for example, is not yet readily possible.
Artificial intelligence has arrived in our everyday lives and is likely to become increasingly important in the future. Children and young people are already growing up with many applications based on AI as a matter of course. This makes it all the more important that they understand what AI is and how it works. Younger children often find it difficult at first to distinguish between an object activated by AI and a real living being. Age-appropriate explanatory videos and articles are suitable for teaching children and young people about artificial intelligence. There are also games in which you can train an AI yourself and thus learn to understand how it works in a playful way. Here we have put together a few offers for you:
We come across terms like this all the time when it comes to digital media and the Internet. But what are cookies and what do algorithm and filter bubble mean? Do they influence what we see and read on the web?
When you’re on the web, you’re asked to accept or set up cookies on a perceived constant basis. Before that, you won’t even get to the actual content you want to view. This can be quite annoying. In doing so, this query serves to protect our data.
Cookie comes from English and translates as “cookie” or “cookie”. When people talk about cookies on the Internet, they are referring to small amounts of data. The server stores them permanently or for a certain time when reading web pages. For example, it is stored how long a person was on the page or whether something was purchased. When the person comes to the page again, the server recognizes that they have been there before. Page operators can thus record the behavior and design their page accordingly. Cookies are often used to target advertising.
If personal data is collected with cookies, users must first agree to this or reject it. Therefore, when you visit a web page, the query comes. Even if it is a bit of a pain, it makes sense to set the cookies individually or to accept only “essential cookies” so that as little personal data as possible about you and your child can be stored and possibly passed on to third parties.
Through cookies, certain search terms and our click behavior, algorithms can create a digital profile of a person.
An algorithm is used in a computer application to solve a particular problem. A sequence of mathematical instructions is executed. For example, a navigation system uses an algorithm to find the fastest route to the destination. Another example is Google‘s page rank algorithm, which determines which web pages appear first in the search engine’s hit list.
As soon as a specific topic is searched for on the web, algorithms take effect – also on the basis of cookie data. Priority is given to articles that correspond to one’s own opinion and interest. Although this is practical, because there is so much information on the net that without such software we would not be able to choose the right one so quickly and easily. However, due to the large amount of data collected about us, we can also get caught in a so-called filter bubble .
Filter b ubble or bubble means content and other people that match our opinion and interests. On the Internet, our usage behavior means that we are increasingly being shown content that corresponds to this.
This can lead to the fact that we inform ourselves only one-sidedly, without wanting it. In extreme cases, we speak of a so-called echo chamber: posts and statements that contradict our opinion are blanked out and instead we keep getting our opinion confirmed. This can lead to the fact that only one’s own opinion and world view are perceived as correct. People of extreme opinions can thus become more susceptible to fake news, manipulation and certain ideologies.
In this context, the variety of objective information is important in order to form one’s own opinion and to be able to adapt it to new findings. Unfortunately, however, the filter bubble cannot be completely avoided due to the algorithms on the net. But there are some approaches to keeping it as open as possible:
Even children find themselves in a filter bubble as soon as they are active on the Net. Therefore, talk to your child about such mechanisms on the net and promote comprehensive information and media literacy. This also includes knowledge about and dealing with fake news.
“Alexa, turn on the lights!” Digital voice assistants help many families organize their everyday lives. They have names like Alexa, Echo, Siri or Cortana and are used via so-called smart speakers or smartphones.
In order to adapt the use of the voice assistants to one’s own needs, so-called “skills” can be activated. Skills, like apps on smartphones, are small third-party utilities. Depending on the device, they are also called “actions” (Google) or “additional commands” (Apple). Skills are also used via voice commands.
They give the voice assistants additional functions and can therefore be used individually. Smart home skills ensure, for example, that lamps, thermostats or the TV can be controlled with the help of the voice assistant. Services can be used with service skills. For example, you can look for a suitable train connection, order a pizza from a delivery service or listen to the daily news. Such a voice command reads, for example: “Alexa, ask Deutsche Bahn for a connection from Berlin to Munich tomorrow at 12 o’clock”.
The selection of skills is large. Skills are practical supporters for everyday life, and not just for adults. There is also a wide range of offers for adolescents. For example, children can learn about the countries of the world through play via learning skills or listen to interactive audio stories of their favorite characters. Many companies, but also public broadcasters, make their offerings available in the form of skills, such as the children’s news from KiRaKa or Mikado. The variety of child-friendly skills also opens up many application possibilities for families. Timetable Skills inform parents and children quickly and easily. The teeth brushing skill makes the daily routine easier. Joint games about skills with digital dice cups or imaginary memory cards can also enrich everyday family life. In memory, for example, a pair always consists of two identical sounds and is numbered so that an assignment can be made orally.
When using voice assistants and skills, you should be aware that they are always listening when switched on. Thus, a great deal of personal data and information is collected. How these are stored and processed depends on the respective provider and is not always communicated transparently. With some providers, the voice recording histories can be deleted. Read more in our article Smarter family life with Alexa & Co.?.
The data processing of the individual skills should also be checked with the respective external provider before installation. By using the skills, you agree to the transmission of usage data to the third-party provider. Therefore, when choosing should be well informed.
Skills are for the most part available free of charge. In the meantime, however, there are isolated so-called in-skill purchases. These are, similar to apps, advanced features that are chargeable. When looking for skills for kids, keep this in mind.
As helpful as the digital assistants are, you should still inform yourself carefully before activating them. There is a wide range of extensions. Some skills seem okay at first glance, but they can be used to access content that is not suitable for adolescents. For this reason, it is also advisable to secure adult content and orders with a code. Furthermore, voice assistants should be turned off overnight, at least when you or your family is not at home. Educate your child about how voice assistants and skills work and the disadvantages they bring.
Bot comes from robot – the English word for robot. Social bots are virtual user accounts in social networks such as Facebook or YouTube. They are programmed to perform certain activities, e.g., to post many likes or comments or to respond to certain keywords with pre-programmed texts. Social bots are used to create attention for certain topics so that media report on them and the public talks about them. These bots are also used for advertising and marketing purposes (spam) and for spreading political opinions, false news and hate messages. In this way, they are supposed to influence the opinion of real users and users. If a piece of information is clicked on or shared particularly frequently on the Internet, it is possible that social bots and not real users are behind it.
Most of the time, social bots have neither a profile picture nor personal posts in their profile. Instead, they often post on the same topic. Their language is often flawed and consists of repetitive words. They do not address responses to comments or complex questions.
Children are inquisitive and want to understand things. Perhaps your child has also asked you how the Internet actually works, what structures and processes are behind it. Adults and children come into contact with the Internet every day and are on the move online. For an enlightened approach to it, computer science lessons are increasingly on the agenda in schools as well. For example, children learn how to construct their own programs, known as software, and use them to build robots or transmit messages using small mini-computers called CALLIOPE.
Calliope-mini|Source: https://pixabay.com/de/calliope-mini-calliope-computer-2755554/
But what is software anyway? In order to work on the computer or tablet, it is necessary to install various programs or software. On mobile devices, these are called apps. For example, there are writing programs like Microsoft Word or Internet browsers like Google Chrome. Many of us use so-called “free software” such as Firefox, Chrome, OpenOffice or the VLC media player. Such programs are also installed on many school computers, since free software is mostly available free of charge and has a high level of quality. “Free” means that the program is mostly free to use and you can give away as many copies as you want. So anyone can use this software. The software of the mini-computer CALLIOPE is also included, so that all students can have access to it.
In this context, one often speaks of “open source”. This means the same as Free Software, but focuses on a different aspect. Translated, open source means “free source”. This means that it is disclosed how the software is programmed or how the hardware (i.e. the components of a computer) is assembled. Anyone can access the source and develop it further, modify it or draw attention to errors in the software or hardware. Among other things, students can use computers like CALLIOPE to learn how well-known open source programs like Firefox work. Very many people work on the same program, which allows it to constantly evolve and improve. Despite the mostly free use, there are various license conditions that must be observed (often related to the editing of the source code). A counter-model to open source is “proprietary software”, such as Microsoft Office. With these pay programs, you don’t know what programming is behind them. Also, you can often only install them on one computer – depending on which license you bought.
