DSI Research in Beta: Is the Kiddie Pool in the Deep End?

"Children are often invisible in digital spaces that were designed for adults, by adults, and therefore are served a range of inappropriate, hyper-commercialized, or exploitative content that mismatch with their unique stages of development. Although public discourse regarding children and media focuses on ‘screen time’ and other individual responsibility constructs, research is needed that examines the structural and systemic design features that shape children’s behaviors, concept development, norms, and sense of self. This presentation provides an update on some initial progress from a new children's application research laboratory led by Jenny Radeksy (Motts Pediatrics) and Scott Campbell (Communication & Media). The talk will workshop progress and ideas that help fulfill the overarching aims:

- Evaluate the major internet platforms that children access and what content their algorithms are surfacing first
- Reveal the stereotypes, design abuses and manipulative advertising that arise in non-human-moderated content whose creation is driven by engagement incentives – not by an understanding of how children operate in the world
- Document the churn of low-quality/janky/exploitative products and content in app stores and video sharing platforms likely to be accessed by children
- Examine how children of different backgrounds are targeted in distinctive ways "