Kids Online Latin America

EU Kids Online has expanded its network into Latin America, where experts from Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Ecuador and Uruguay have asked for collaboration to conduct similar surveys and research in their countries. Brazil has been a pioneer in the region, with national surveys since 2012, thanks to a joint effort between EU Kids Online and the Centro Regional para o Desenvolvimento da Sociedade da Informação. Experts and researchers from these five Latin American countries as well as from EU Kids Online met to form Kids Online América Latina, in order to exchange experiences and produce better ways to measure the use of internet among children in Latin America.

The experts and researchers who gathered to form Kids Online Latin America were: Alexandre Barbosa (Cetic.br, Brazil), Ana Laura Martinez (Plan CEIBAL, Uruguay), Camila Garroux (Cetic.br, Brazil), Cristina Ponte (Universidade Nova de Lisboa - EU Kids Online, Portugal), Daniela Garrossini (Ciespal, Ecuador), Danilo Doneda (Ministério da Justiça do Brasil, Brazil), Ellen Helsper (London School of Economics and Political Science), Ezequiel Passeron (Ministerio de Justicia y Derechos Humanos, Argentina), Fabio Senne (Cetic.br, Brazil), Guilherme Canela (UNESCO, Uruguay), Inês Vitorino Sampaio (Universidade Federal do Ceará (UFC), Brazil), Isabela Coelho (Cetic.br, Brazil), Jorge Patiño (CEPAL, Chile), Luciano Ciotti (INDEC, Argentina), Marcelo Pitta (Cetic.br, Brazil), María José Ravalli (UNICEF Argentina, Argentina), Mário Volpi (UNICEF Brasil, Brazil), Nelson Leoni (UNICEF Brasil, Brazil), Patricio Cabello Cádiz (Pontificia Universidad Católica de Valparaiso, Chile), Tatiana Jereissati (Cetic.br, Brazil), Venssa Henriques (Cetic.br, Brazil), Zena Eisenberg (PUC Rio, Brazil).

The upcoming studies will be compared both within the region as well as to those from Europe, paying attention not only to age and gender, but also to issues such as use, skills and risks that children encounter on the internet, along with their sociocultural environments. Kids Online Latin America does not aim to limit the use of internet among children, but rather to produce research that will help them and their parents to use it in a safe and responsible way, enjoying all the potential benefits that internet may provide them.  

Participant countries - country names in national language (coming soon)

Argentina, Brasil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Uruguay

In English:

Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Uruguay

• On 1st June 2015, the meeting 'Kids Online Latin America: perspectives for the production of regional indicators of children and teenagers online' was held in Sao Paulo, Brazil. Experts and researchers from five Latin American countries gathered to share their experiences and new research, such as the third edition of the study TIC Kids Online Brazil.
• Among the participants was UNICEF Argentina, which has been working for several years on digital citizenship of children and adolescents. Following the guidelines discussed during the meeting, UNICEF Argentina is preparing a new survey on digital citizenship for a deeper analysis.
• Although the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child was drafted before the internet became an all-pervasive communication means, it remains absolutely relevant to developments in Latin America in regards to safeguarding the rights of children to access, publish and share contents in the web.

Reports and publications

• Sozio, M.E., Ponte, C., Sampaio, I.V., Senne, F., Ólafsson, K., Alves, S.J., and Garroux, C. (2015) Children and internet use: A comparative analysis of Brazil and seven European countries. EU Kids Online, London, UK.  
• Barbosa, A., O'Neill, B., Ponte, C., Simões, J.A. and Jereissati, T. (2013) Risks and safety on the internet: comparing Brazilian and European children. EU Kids Online, London, UK.
• ICT Kids Online Brazil Report 2012
• ICT Kids Online Brazil Report 2013
• ICT Kids Online Brazil Report 2014

Surveys

UNICEF Argentina has produced different surveys on access, consumption and ICTs usage from adolescents:

• Access, consumption and behavior of adolescents on the internet (2013, in Spanish): http://www.slideshare.net/unicefargentina/ciudadana-digital-los-adolescentes-en-las-redes-sociales-2013 
• Survey of adolescents on media consumption: internet, social networks, radio, TV and newspapers (2011, in Spanish): http://www.slideshare.net/unicefargentina/unicef-argentina-encuestaconsumosadolescentesembargado
• Report on access and consumption of ICTs of adolescents living in slums (chapter 9) (2013, in Spanish): http://www.unicef.org/argentina/spanish/LasVoces_Techo_Unicef_Web_Final.pdf
• Study on ICTs influence on aspects related to sexual and reproductive health (section 2.4) (2011, in Spanish): http://www.unicef.org/argentina/spanish/salud_comunica_Informe-UNICEF-FH.pdf

Other resources

Guidelines and material for families and the young:

• Grooming. Practical guide for adults (2014, in Spanish): http://www.unicef.org/argentina/spanish/guiagrooming_2014.pdf
• Safe Internet (2011, in Spanish): http://www.unicef.org/argentina/spanish/Unicef_InternetSegura_web.pdf
• Social networks free of discrimination (2014, in Spanish): http://www.unicef.org/argentina/spanish/Unicef_Suple_Popular_Sept2014_Web.pdf
• Responsible Internet (2012, in Spanish): 
  http://www.unicef.org/argentina/spanish/Unicef_Inadi_cronica_baja.pdf 

Press releases

• Chilean and foreign experts take part in the launch of Kids Online Chile, January 2016 [in Spanish]
• Report analyzes children and Internet use in Brazil and Europe, August 2015.

Dr Cristina Ponte
Departamento de Ciências da Comunicação
Faculdade de Ciências Sociais e Humanas,
Universidade Nova de Lisboa (UNL)
Av. de Berna, 26-C
1069-061 Lisboa
Portugal
fax: +351 21 7977759
email: cristina.ponte@fcsh.unl.pt 
CV