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In early 2019, following the example of the Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg, youth-led climate movements around the world demonstrated massively and persistently for a more ambitious climate policy. News media gave extensive coverage to the climate activists; given that the demonstrations were mostly on school days, public debates on young people’s rights, obligations and political agency were tense and polarized. In this article we take Belgium as a case study and discuss how the Youth for Climate movement was framed in four Dutch-speaking newspapers. Based on an inductive and deductive frame analysis of 126 newspaper articles, we found six frames. Most of the frames tend to challenge persistent views of young people’s political agency, whereas remarkably few support the idea that young people are unfit for politics.

Purpose Through investigating how Belgian LGBTQ people evaluate gay-themed print and television advertising in mainstream media, the purpose of this study is to explore how gay-themed advertising strategies are evaluated in relation to context. Design/methodology/approach Qualitative in-depth interviews were conducted with 17 Flemish self-identified lesbian, gay male and bisexual people. Findings Findings of this research demonstrate the importance of the situated context in which LGBTQ people receive and evaluate gay-themed advertisements. By offering a common stock of social knowledge and experience, context creates a framework against which LGBTQ people evaluate gay-themed advertisements. In this specific research that was conducted in a Western-European LGBTQ-friendly society (Belgium), critical evaluations of gay-washing and the dirty laundry effect were found. The positive evaluations of explicit gay-themed and inclusive advertisements also highlighted the importance of advertising an inclusive society. Research limitations/implications In considering how gay-themed advertising evaluations relate to context and lived experiences, this research contributes to current knowledge on gay-themed advertising and its reception within LGBTQ groups. Practical implications This research offers valuable insights to marketers on how to target sexual minorities in LGBTQ (un)friendly societies. Social implications Findings highlight the social importance of minority-oriented advertising. Not only can such advertising promote civic inclusion and social recognition of minority groups, it also has the potential to play a key role in the construction and normalisation of identities. Originality/value In an effort to reinvigorate current marketing debates on gay-themed advertising, this study builds on theoretical insights gained via reception research and LGBTQ studies. In doing so, this research yields a more nuanced and contextualised understanding of LGBTQ people’s engagement with various gay-themed advertisements. Considering within a Western European society the relevance of context when researching gay-themed advertisement reception, the results add to primarily US-based research on this topic.

In this study, both performance and polymedia serve as important conceptual lenses to examine how university students in the Global South handle the social media landscape in enacting cultural identity. Based on 17 focus groups with 105 students from Bolivian universities, we argue that in performing their multiplex identities, this group of Bolivian young people navigate social media as polymedia environments, taking advantage of its possibilities and testing its constraints. The research generated three key findings: (1) students mainly reported examples of cosmopolitan and national identity performances; (2) performances of national belonging showed an ambiguous mixture of self-glorification and self-reflexivity; (3) indigenous identities were rarely performed on the platforms used.

The transnationalization of television production has been examined by studies on formats and multinational media companies, which have often highlighted the resilience of the local in the global. This article investigates transnationalization on the micro level of television production, drawing on participant observations in a Dutch production company that is partly owned by an American conglomerate. It explores the deep entanglement of the local with the global in different facets of production ‐ including legal, organizational and market aspects ‐ as manifested in daily practices and decision-making in television production. Our analysis reveals an industrial logic of formatting that is not only induced by transnational ownership structures and business models but also deeply ingrained in production routines and programme conventions. Through this logic, transnationalization shapes media professionals’ daily work, the selection of programme ideas and the process of content development.

Through a sensemaking lens, this article investigates the concrete appropriation of the so-called transdisciplinary learning communities-approach (TLC for short) as part of a Flemish–Bolivian university cooperation project for development. The article has its empirical basis in ethnographic research conducted between 2017 and 2020 on four campuses of the Bolivian university UCB. The primary data is the so-called organisational talk, gathered through interviews, participant observations, and meetings with Bolivian university staff members who are the main players involved in the Flemish–Bolivian university cooperation project. The analysis suggests that an informal, horizontal, and symmetrical style of organisational communication between organisational members seems to have a positive impact on the appropriation of TLC, which in turn leads to more successful experiences of cooperation with communities and other external partners in the social environment.

Studies that analyse people's perceptions of their living environment as an explanatory factor for residential mobility are scarce at best. The study presented in this article addresses this deficit by investigating how people's perceptions of cities as living environments influence their relocation behaviour within metropolitan areas. After gathering information on relocation behaviour from 1,056 survey respondents in the Brussels Capital Region, we analysed the data using our self-developed ‘resonance analysis’ methodology. Our findings indicate that the variability of residential mobility is greatly influenced by people's perceptions of the city. They also demonstrate the ways in which qualitative data on people's perceptions and subjective experiences can be combined with quantitative data to improve statistical predictions of relocation behaviour.

L’image extrêmement négative de Bruxelles dans la presse, souvent citée comme un facteur expliquant le manque d’attrait de la ville en tant que lieu de vie, fait rarement l’objet de recherches. Cette étude porte sur la façon dont les journaux belges présentent la vie bruxelloise, ainsi que sur la façon dont ces représentations sont corrélées à des schémas culturels plus généraux qui influent sur les perceptions de la population. Une analyse des correspondances multiples nous a permis de constater que dans l’ensemble, la presse regroupe des concepts pour forger deux représentations diamétralement opposées : la première correspond à une perception « phobique » de Bruxelles, centrée sur les aspects négatifs de la vie citadine, tandis que la seconde traduit une vision « cosmopolite » de la capitale, l’accent étant mis sur son dynamisme et sur d’autres atouts qui lui sont propres. En outre, en matière de description de la vie bruxelloise, les différences entre les journaux tiennent davantage à leur orientation (élitaire ou populaire) qu’à la langue de publication (néerlandais ou français). De zeer negatieve afschildering van Brussel in de pers wordt vaak aangehaald als factor in de verklaring waarom de stad niet zo’n aantrekkelijke plek is om te wonen, maar is amper empirisch onderzocht. Deze studie onderzoekt hoe het stadsleven wordt beschreven in Belgische kranten en hoe de gehanteerde frames resoneren met bredere culturele schema’s die de percepties van mensen over Brussel beïnvloeden. Aan de hand van een meervoudige correspondentie analyse ontdekten we dat de krantenberichtgeving twee tegenovergestelde frames gebruikt: het eerste frame stemt overeen met een fobische perceptie van Brussel, waarbij de focus ligt op de negatieve aspecten van de stad, en het tweede met een kosmopolitische kijk op de hoofdstad, die gericht is op het bruisende karakter en andere troeven van de stad. Bovendien hebben de verschillen tussen kranten in hun afschildering van het leven in Brussel meer betrekking op hun oriëntering (elitair versus populaire) dan op de taal waarin ze artikelen publiceren (Nederlands versus Frans). Brussels’ overwhelmingly negative depiction in the press is a frequently mentioned but little researched factor in explaining its lack of appeal as a place to live. This study examines how city life is framed in Belgian newspapers as well as how said frames resonate with broader cultural schemes that influence public perceptions. Using multiple correspondence analysis, we found that the press by and large groups concepts into two diametrically opposed frames: the first corresponding to a phobian perception of Brussels that centres on the negative aspects of city life and the second to a cosmopolitan view of the capital that focusses on its vibrant nature and other inherent advantages. Furthermore, differences between newspapers in their portrayal of life in Brussels relate more so to their orientation (elite versus popular) rather than to their language (Dutch versus French).

It took several consecutive years of devastating droughts sweeping through Europe, causing substantial economic losses, for many to realise how urging it is to improve the water directives, making critical sectors like agriculture more resilient to a changing climate. Shrinking water supplies and growing demand further forced stakeholders to seek alternative sources, drawing their attention to projects previously considered economically unjustified. Therefore, water re-use and reclamation became one of the EU’s priorities fulfilling the ambitions of the European Green Deal to implement circular water management strategies. To facilitate the transition and support new legislation, in-depth research in the feasibility and environmental impacts of aquifer recharge with reclaimed wastewater is essential. The GROW project investigates this issue on multiple levels, among which the effect of reclamation of wastewater through aquifer recharge on local and regional scale groundwater levels.At the experimental site in Kinrooi, Belgium, the groundwater levels are closely monitored with automatic submersible data loggers installed in 21 monitoring wells distributed on the investigated agricultural field and its vicinity. Data on water levels in the underlying Quaternary, porous aquifer are collected hourly and are verified through monthly manual measurements taken to ensure an unhindered operation of the infrastructure.A distributed, transient-state flow model is used to simulate the groundwater table’s response to the effluent sub-irrigation at the desired rate. The model’s flexibility also allows making predictions of the aquifer behaviour under changing climatic conditions by augmenting the soil-water balance model with revised weather data. The model’s performance is tested against the high temporal resolution dataset obtained from the monitoring network. Attention is also paid to the experiment’s effect on the water levels in the adjacent hydrological network, while the effluent is partly rerouted from the hitherto used surface water discharge to the sub-irrigation system.The data collected in our experiment is used to determine the capability of the aquifer to store and recover the reclaimed wastewater during drought periods. That would reduce the demand for traditional, inefficient surface irrigation and increase the climate resilience of the agricultural sector in Flanders. Together with data from similar projects carried out throughout Europe, our results can be used to facilitate long-expected EU legislation enabling circular water use. To support this process, we also investigate the impact of the re-use of treated wastewater for agriculture on groundwater quality and the public perception of this sensitive issue.

Re-use of treated wastewater is receiving increasing attention as method to reduce water stress resulting from population growth, socio-economic development and climate change. In 2018, the European Commission issued a policy strategy entailing minimum water quality requirements for water re-use for agriculture and aquifer recharge. However, the environmental impact of such solution is yet to be determined.The VUB in collaboration with private and public sector partners set up a field experiment in Kinrooi (Belgium) in which the effects of re-using treated domestic wastewater for sub-irrigation of an agricultural field are monitored. This is an interdisciplinary project which includes analyses of the effects on water quality and quantity in the subsurface saturated and unsaturated zone and nearby surface water, the effects on crops as well as research on the public perception.Within this project, one of the aims is to create an advection-dispersion groundwater transport model to investigate how the chemical composition of the shallow groundwater would change after the treated domestic wastewater is applied through sub-irrigation. Observation data of tracers of the re-used water in the groundwater are needed to calibrate the transport model. Therefore, it is critical to choose a suitable tracer, allowing to unambiguously tell apart the effluent and groundwater end members. Literature suggests the use of chemical properties such as stable isotopes and Cl/Br ratios to use as wastewater tracers. Stable isotopes of hydrogen and oxygen are investigated, but the focus is currently on the use of Cl/Br ratios, which shows promising results. The use of this ratio as tracer is based on the close to ideal conservative behaviour of bromide and chloride ions in water caused by their small size and hydrophilic characteristics. This implies that physical processes such as dilution and evaporation happening in the environment influence the absolute concentrations of the ions but leaves their ratio constant. At the moment, 21 monitoring wells are installed on the field of which 9 monitoring wells have been sampled for data on Cl/Br tracers.In general, the results indicate that finding a suitable tracer is not straightforward because chemical and isotopic compositions of the groundwater and treated wastewater are often similar. Therefore, the research continues to focus on improving the analytical methods used to analyse the currently used tracers (e.g. Cl/Br ratio and stable isotopes) and on the selection of other tracers such as anthropogenic organic compounds (e.g. pharmaceuticals and artificial sweeteners) to quantify the influence of the effluent end member and to enhance modelling performance.

The looming threat posed by climate change-fueled droughts has triggered a slew of projects concernedwith the reuse of treated wastewater for agricultural purposes. Across the globe, there is also a growing interest in the direct consumption of treated wastewater. Whilst the requisite technology is well established and safety can be guaranteed, the instigators of these projects still anticipate consumer resistance. However, there are currently few studies that provide insight into the public acceptance of treated wastewater. Moreover, the results of these studies are often inconsistent or inconclusive, particularly in regard to the relationship between the acceptance of wastewater reuse and environmental concern. Using representative survey data gathered from 300 respondents living in Flanders, Belgium,we show that water conservation behaviour and a sense of environmental group-efficacy positively affect public acceptance. Our study also demonstrates that feelings of disgust and fear of contamination are keydrivers of consumer resistance towastewater reuse and potentially override environmental concern. In the discussion,we propose an alternative approach to better understand consumer's environmental attitudes and their resistance to the use of treated wastewater. In the conclusion, we briefly highlight the relevance of our findings for public communication and policy.

The development of TV program ideas is increasingly taking place in a transnational context. Around the world, independent TV production companies are owned by multinational conglomerates and the trade in TV formats facilitates the exchange and integration of ideas, production practices and standards across borders (Chalaby 2016). Whereas industry members themselves celebrate creative synergy and inspiration as the key benefits of transnationalisation, scholars see the rise of a cosmopolitan elite of media workers who share their international orientation, practices, and standards (Kuipers 2011; 2012). Recently, scholarly attention for the actual effects of transnationalisation on TV production organizations, executives, practices and content has grown (Baltruschat 2010; Esser 2016; Havens 2014). This paper focuses on the process of idea development in the transnational field of TV production. How does the development of TV program ideas actually come about in this so-called transnational field? To what extent is idea development inherently transnational? And how is this transnational orientation concretized in everyday work practices? Data for this study were collected during 10 weeks of participant observation and interviews at a Dutch independent production company that was founded in 2018 by two Dutch TV executives together with the American production and distribution giant MGM. Processes and practices of developing, pitching and pre-producing non-scripted entertainment shows were observed. The analysis is multimodal, combining insights gained from the interviews with those of the participant observation. The results show how foreign ownership, the global format trade, and international personal networks in the production industry shape the selection, development and sales of new program ideas. By analysing one project in further detail, this study shows how the development of entertainment programming is situated in a complex force field in which not only the global market and international ownership structures, but also personal networks and local production contexts affect the output of production companies. We argue that transnationalisation encompasses more than ownership structures and format adaptations; it is deeply and banally rooted in everyday practices in the TV production industry. However, the celebratory accounts on the benefits of transnationalisation, articulated by managers and executives alike, are countered by a complex forcefield that is both locally and globally situated.

This paper questions the shifting meaning of the ethical categories of proximity and alterity in the light of the technological and social changes that virtual social worlds went through. It takes Roger Silverstone’s key theme of “proper distance” as a point of departure, and discusses the significance of this concept by linking it up with the more media-theoretical approaches on virtual communication as developed in McLuhan’s and Baudrillard’s body of thought. It is argued that today’s virtual realities ask for both a philosophical and media-sociological reconsideration of the traditional ethical category of alterity. As such, it links up with Feenberg’s idea that “online groups are indeed a qualitatively new medium” (A. Feenberg and M. Bakardjieva, “Virtual Community: No ‘Killer Implication,’” New Media & Society 6(1) (2004): 37–43, 41), but at the same time challenges Feenberg’s reservations about a theory of media centrism.

This chapter focuses on the present the case of Finnish Communication Camps as an example of an informal learning experience that complements the school by promoting the development of intergenerational bridges between digital natives and digital immigrants. The classifications of digital natives and digital immigrants make sense, and before proceeding any further, they should be more clearly understood on an empirical basis. The distinction between digital natives and digital immigrants remains an ongoing issue. Nowadays in these societies Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) such as the internet and the mobile phone represent essential instruments for managing work, social life and leisure activities. The chapter also focuses on Traditional Mobile Applications: Phone Calls and SMS. Digital natives and digital immigrants regarded phone calls and SMS as their favourite media because they are both quick and easy. Digital natives preferred SMS texts not only because they are not as expensive as the calls, but also because it is fun to send SMS.

Throughout the last century, childhood has undergone some significant changes. Children evolved from miniature adults working in factories to specific actors with rights of their own. This transformation also altered the way that society perceived childhood and the way people thought children should be treated and cared for. The process has been documented on a macro level. The transformation of children themselves is somewhat overshadowed by larger study domains, but nevertheless is just as interesting. Obviously, after all, social scientists are increasingly treating children and childhood as specific research topics. This article deals with the question of how popular media have co-constructed and defined the concept of the healthy child in the 1940s and in the 1960s, two time periods with different socioeconomic and cultural climates when it comes to children, health and food. The main research goal is to find out how society perceived the healthy child and how society was concerned with the health of children. How were children portrayed and what can this tell us about the dominant discourses regarding the health of children ? Based on a quantitative visual content analysis of 548 advertisements in Libelle, the earliest Flemish women’s magazine published in Belgium, we discuss how the imaging (both visual and textual) of the healthy child has changed during the post-World War II decades in the Dutch speaking part of Belgium. The findings are contextualized within the global historical transformation that childhood, health and food culture went through in the 1940s and 1960s., L’âge tendre a traversé plusieurs changements au cours du siècle passé. Les enfants se sont transformés d’adultes miniatures, travaillant dans des ateliers, dans des êtres avec des droits spécifiques. Ce changement a modifié la façon dont la société a considéré l’âge tendre et dont les enfants doivent être traités. Cette évolution a été étudiée sur un niveau macro, par exemple à travers l’industrialisation. Toutefois, l’histoire des enfants même a été négligée, bien qu’elle soit des plus intéressantes. C’est ainsi que plusieurs chercheurs ont entamé la recherche d’aspects spécifiques de l’histoire de l’enfance. Cet article analyse la façon dont les médias populaires ont construit et défini l’image de l’enfant sain dans les années 1940 et ’ 60 (deux périodes assez différentes du point de vue social, économique et culturel en ce qui concerne l’enfant, la nourriture et la santé). Comment les enfants étaient-ils représentés et quelle était la signification de cette image pour le discours dominant des deux époques ? Basée sur une analyse quantitative et visuelle de 548 publicités dans Libelle, une revue pour femmes parue depuis les années 1940, nous suivons l’image de l’enfant sain dans la période d’après-guerre en Belgique. Les résultats sont situés par rapport aux transformations de l’enfance, de l’alimentation et de la culture en général en Belgique dans les années 1940 et 1960., In de loop van de voorbije eeuw onderging de kindertijd enkele belangrijke wijzigingen. Kinderen evolueerden van miniatuurvolwassenen die in fabrieken werkten tot specifieke actoren met hun eigen rechten. Deze transformatie veranderde ook de visie van de maatschappij op het concept “ kindertijd” en de manier waarop mensen meenden dat kinderen hoorden behandeld en verzorgd te worden. Dit proces is gedocumenteerd op een macroniveau. De transformatie die kinderen zelf ondergingen, wordt enigszins overschaduwd door grotere studiedomeinen, maar is toch even interessant. Sociale wetenschappers beschouwen kinderen en de kindertijd immers in toenemende mate als een specifiek onderzoeksdomein. Dit artikel onderzoekt hoe populaire media het beeld van het gezonde kind mee vorm gaven en definieerden in de jaren 40 en 60, twee decennia met een verschillend socioeconomisch en cultureel klimaat wat betreft kinderen, gezondheid en voeding. Het voornaamste doel van deze studie is nagaan hoe de maatschappij een gezond kind opvatte en hoe zij begaan was met de gezondheid van kinderen. Hoe worden kinderen voorgesteld en wat vertelt dit over het dominante discours over de gezondheid van kinderen ? Steunend op een kwantitatieve visuele inhoudsanalyse van 548 advertenties in Libelle, het eerste Vlaamse vrouwenblad dat in België gepubliceerd werd, bespreken we hoe de beeldvorming (zowel visueel als tekstueel) van een gezond kind veranderde in de decennia na de Tweede Wereldoorlog in Vlaanderen. De resultaten worden in verband gebracht met de globale historische veranderingen die de opvattingen over kindertijd, gezondheid en eetcultuur doormaakten in de jaren ’ 40 en ’ 60., Van Den Cruyce Nele, Bauwens Joke, Segers Katia. Reflections of a Child. Depicting Healthy Childhood in the 1940s and 1960s. In: Revue belge de philologie et d'histoire, tome 87, fasc. 3-4, 2009. pp. 759-774.

The theoretical framework of this chapter starts from the tension which typifies the public discourses on young people and children in late modern society. On the one hand, media discourses on children's use of and exposure to media technologies are predominantly framed by adult, hence moral and disciplining ideas about childhood and youth in modern society (Drotner, 1999; Wartella & Jennings, 2000; Critcher, 2003; Critcher, 2008). On the other hand, there is this broader international movement to a more participatory approach on children, following the UNCRC (see Hamelink, 2008), as being entitled to communicative rights, citizen's rights and political agency. The tension between these competitive visions of children's social positions is considered in the present context of journalism, affected by a crescent market-driven and competitive news media coverage (Harcup & O'Neill, 2001; Tuchman, 2002), in which an orientation to the private sphere and to children as news subjects is becoming more visible (Altheide, 2002). Within this theoretical framework, the coverage on children's both successful and harmful use of and exposure to online technologies is examined in 12 European countries that are economically, socially and culturally distinct from each other. More particularly, due to their orientation to the elites/opinion-makers and their influence on the public discourse (Sparks, 2000), focus is on the media coverage in the so-called quality newspapers, widely circulating in the 12 countries under study. Based on comparable data from a two-month media analysis (October-November 2007) and on EU Kids Online reports, the questions under discussion are threefold. First, how do news media across Europe present internet-related risks and opportunities, what is the newsworthiness of these stories based on and what are the dominant/marginal frames of media coverage? Second, because of the impact of media coverage on the public and policy debates over internet regulation, this chapter considers in particular which voices the media are representing. What are the voices that are heard in the news and what is their relevance for children's experiences and rights? Third, the chapter examines similarities and differences between newspaper media coverage across 12 European countries. Taking into account cultural, economic and social differences that shape the public discourses on children and the internet across Europe, we ask how the newsworthiness and framing of stories change from one country to another.

Twenty years after the United Nation Convention on the Rights of the Child, this article examines how the participating child is represented in European newspaper coverage on children and the internet. More particularly, the representation of the participating child is considered in terms of (1) its communicative rights (its right to give opinion on matters that involve it, to have its voices heard and to be taken seriously by adults) and (2) its agency (its competence to act). Focus is on news coverage about the relationship between children and the internet, because of the high personal significance of this matter to children themselves and because of the participatory meaning attached to the technology and its users. The findings are based on a quantitative content analysis of 70 European newspapers (quality, popular, regional and specialized newspapers) in 13 European countries, realised within the EU Kids Online project. They show that the role, engagement and voice of children are still underrepresented in news media coverage. At the same time, cross-national variations demonstrate that media-structural and cultural variations across Europe affect the way newspapers are dealing with news that touches on young citizens.

Part of the EU Kids Online research on children's online experiences and their broader contexts , this paper presents a cross-national comparison on news focusing on children and the internet. It reflects on the news media processes at work, which are affected by the tension between traditional and new contexts of children's rights. On the one hand, media discourses on children's use of and exposure to media technologies have been predominantly framed by adult, hence moral and disciplining ideas about childhood and youth in modern society. On the other hand, there is the international movement to a more participatory approach on children, following the UNCRC, as being entitled to communicative rights. The tension between these competitive visions is considered in the present context of journalism, affected by a crescent market-driven and competitive coverage, in which an orientation to the private sphere and to children as news subjects is becoming more visible. Based on the EU Kids Online framework onrisks and opportunities and on framing theory, the coverage on children's both successful and harmful use of and exposure to online technologies was examined in a two-month media analysis (October-November 2007), conducted in 14 European countries. The questions under discussion are threefold. Firstly, how does news media across Europe present internet-related risks and opportunities, what is the newsworthiness of these stories based on and what are the dominant/marginal frames of media coverage? Secondly, because of the impact of media coverage on the public and policy debates over internet regulation, this paper considers in particular which voices the media are representing. What are the voices that are heard in the news, including editorial voices, and what is their relevance for children's experiences and communicative rights? Thirdly, the paper examines similarities and differences between newspaper media coverage across 13 European countries. Taking into account cultural, economic and social differences that shape the public discourses on children and the internet across Europe, we ask how the newsworthiness and framing of stories change from one country to another.

In this article, we discuss the push and pull dynamics of the introduction of interactive digital television and the discrepancy between promised and actual practices as experienced by the audience. Our analysis is based on a case study of iDTV in Flanders in which we analysed both the promises found in the political economical rhetoric about iDTV and the lived appropriation practices of viewers with their motives to switch or not to switch to interactive digital television. For viewers that have made the switch, we found there are different arguments that led them to choose for iDTV. Furthermore, it is not only the question ''Will I switch'', but also the selection for a specific platform provider that is sometimes an issue. Next to these considerations of users, we find it equally important to look at the non-users and their hesitations or motivations not to switch. The findings show how the place and signification of a media technology like iDTV in economy and society is the result of an interplay between political and economic push factors and the lived practices and pull dynamics by users.

All across Europe, both the restructuring of the economy and the immigration of new citizens from disadvantaged countries show that relations of inequality are dynamic, but still persistent. Given the diversity of European countries, in social, cultural and economic terms, the gap between the rich and the poor arises in various forms and degrees. At the same time social inequalities within countries are still a key concern of social politics. In particular political economists point out that dynamics of inclusion and exclusion continue to affect the communicative rights and competencies of considerable groups of citizens (Murdock & Golding, 2004). Hence the move towards a society which is increasingly mediated, experienced and encountered through the internet, keeps raising the question if and how vulnerable families are getting the best out of the social, informational, educational and cultural opportunities of online technologies (Livingstone, 2009). As the younger children are, the more they need parental education in using the internet adequately. Further, we assume that a lower educational status affects parental mediation, and consequently provides the resources children can draw upon to build competencies for using the internet and coping with online risks. When children grow up, they show a more unrestricted use of the internet, as their parents increasingly refrain from intervening in their personal times and spaces (see e.g. Wang et al., 2005; Livingstone and Helsper, 2008; Bauwens et al., 2009). However, the degrees of liberty children enjoy and how they deal with it often is the product of a particular family culture. Drawing on sociological and psychological theoretical perspectives, this chapter elaborates on two research questions. How does parents' formal education influence children's internet use? And how does children's development by age interact with their family background in terms of an autonomous and competent use of the internet? In particular the interrelation between these two processes, i.e. parental socialisation and development by age, helps us understand the interplay of children's activities in dealing with the internet and their parents' handling on that. Building on other empirical studies, we firstly discuss the persistent importance of social inequality for ICT use in the industrialized countries. Secondly, we elaborate on a theoretical framework by discussing both children's and parents' individual agency and how these are interlinked with respect to their societal status. Focus is hereby on parental formal education as one of the key indicators of SES. Finally, based on a multilevel analysis of the EU Kids Online dataset, we test out the theoretical ideas and hypotheses and ask how parental socialisation shapes young people's online competences, and how children's development by age interacts with structural processes and dynamics of socialisation.

Children's growing use of the Internet creates both opportunities and risks. Collecting and comparing empirical findings on risks and opportunities experienced across 20 different European countries shows significant differences between them. Using Qualitative Comparative Analysis (QCA), this article investigates which factors contribute towards a high degree of online risk experienced by children across these countries. The research shows that patterns of similarities and differences do not seem to coincide with regional, political, and historical divides across European Union countries. The findings seem to endorse the multilayered approach of multi-stakeholder governance, which stresses the co-responsibility in securing children's online safety. However, one of the most important country conditions explaining high risk appears to be the lack of positive online content provision.

This article explores young children's moral sensitivity regarding online disclosure. Drawing on psychological theory, moral sensitivity is defined as the ability to express and show moral consideration in terms of empathy, role-taking and pro-social moral reasoning. Twenty-five preadolescent children aged 9 to 11, all living in Belgium, were asked in focus group interviews to share their reflections about and experiences with self-disclosure and privacy in internet environments. The findings demonstrate that young children are capable of imagining the moral consequences of disclosing personal information about oneself and about others. Their moral reflections are embedded in a more general concern of children's vulnerability to other, more powerful information circulators in their social networks, such as older children, siblings, but also parents or the internet crowd. A strong sense of children's entitlements to online privacy is articulated. Also, the decision of disclosing personal information about the other is carefully considered when the other is emotionally important to the children.

Uitgangspunt van deze paper is de prominenter wordende aanwezigheid van nieuwe communicatietechnologieën in de leef- en beleefwereld van jongeren. Hun communicatiepatronen, vrije tijd, opvoeding en consumptiepraktijken zijn in toenemende mate verweven met het gebruik van deze nieuwe technologieën. In deze paper wordt ingezoomd op de sociale interactie tussen jongeren onderling en de wijze waarop deze vandaag in steeds grotere mate plaatsgrijpt via e-mail, MSN, chat en GSM. Hoewel deze gemediatiseerde interactie tussen jongeren de andere vormen van sociale interactie niet vervangt, maar net deel uitmaakt van een bredere interactiemix (cf. Thompson (1995)), wordt er vaak van uitgegaan dat de nieuwe communicatietechnologieën de bestaande sociale interactiepatronen tussen jongeren onderling en de sociale verhoudingen tussen jongeren en ouderen een andere invulling geven. In deze paper ligt de focus op de rol die de nieuwe communicatietechnologieën spelen in het proces van machtsverwerving, machtstoe-eigening, maar ook van machtsverlies. Hoe zijn die processen aan het veranderen? Op welke manier leiden de nieuwe communicatietechnologieën tot een reconfiguratie van de hiërarchische verhoudingen tussen jongeren en hun opvoeders (ouders, leerkrachten)? Welke rol spelen deze technologieën in machtsprocessen tussen jongeren onderling?

Tieners worden in populaire discours vaak omschreven als de sleutelgeneratie van de informatiesamenleving en krijgen daarbij etiketten als web generation of cyber-wizards opgespeld. Daarmee wordt verondersteld dat ze over grote internetvaardigheden beschikken. Zonder hun kunde en kennis meteen te onderschatten, leert een meer genuanceerde en empirisch gestaafde blik ons dat er significante verschillen bestaan tussen jongeren onderling inzake toegang en gebruik van internet. Bovendien schatten zij hun internetvaardigheden zelf niet altijd zo hoog in als in de mediaberichtgeving of volksmond over hen wordt beweerd. Precies de verschillen tussen adolescenten op het gebied van internettoegang en -gebruik, de mythevorming rond hun internetpraktijken en hun eigen verzuchtingen en onzekerheden over hun omgang met internet, vormen het uitgangspunt van dit hoofdstuk. Op basis van onderzoek naar het internetgebruik van tieners staan we stil bij het perspectief en de ervaringen van jongeren zelf. Tot slot bekijken we waar zij zelf vragende partij zijn voor een betere internetbegeleiding en -opvoeding.