DECIDIS Newsletter

Merry christmas and a happy new year!

Thank you for supporting DECIDIS in this past year and we are looking forward to be in touch in 2016.

New study: Media Literacy in Denmark

The study “Media Literacy in a Danish Context” was carried out in collaboration with The Agency for Culture in Denmark and the Media Council for Children and Youth. The purpose of the study was to investigate the level of media competences and media literacy in Denmark and to identify key elements for further studies and initiatives in relation to media literacy. An important scope of the study was to involve a wide range of the Danish population across age, address, background, and media use. Not least, because this project is part of the Agency for Culture’s overall objective on mapping the media development in Denmark.

In total, the project visited and interviewed 20 families who live in the five regions in Denmark. The analysis shows that the participants are quite competent media users with variations across different media. It also indicates that competences are only one aspect of literacy and there were also big differences in how they approached media critically and how they reflected on the role of media in their everyday lives. Generally participants felt that media make their everyday life easier, even though using media fills big parts of it.

The report concludes and recommends that further investigations are needed and suggested new full scale studies focussing on the major groups of ordinary Danes, respectively those with special issues and needs, and finally the very marginalized citizens. All groups require specifically focused studies and initiatives for raising the media literacy level.

The summary and the full report (in Danish) can be found here. A longer summary in English will be posted in January on our blog. Contact for more information: stald@itu.dk

Pilot survey on youth and voting

Thursday December 3rd Danes voted yes or no to the continued maintenance of the Danish legal reservations to the EU. One of the major media stories before the voting was that Danish voters found it very difficult to navigate in the pro et contra arguments and that many did not know how to vote and probably would not. Associate professor Gitte Stald from DECIDIS who has a special research interest in youth, digital media and democracy conducted a 24 hour pilot project among 18 to 24 year old Danes the day before and on the day of the vote. The focus was on intention to vote, if the participant knew what he or she would vote, where he or she had received information respectively had debated the question we voted about and finally perceptions about democracy.

121 young people answered the questionnaire, which was send out on Facebook, Twitter, e-mail and personal contacts across Denmark. There were more woman than men among the respondents, and the majority were between 20 and 24 years old and under some kind of education. The pilot survey is not representative for the age group but is a convenience sample that indicates some interesting and quite surprising replies.

93% of the respondents intended to vote and 82% knew what they would vote. This is surprising compared to the media discourse pre the voting but mirrors the unexpected high general interest as 72% cast their vote. The respondents had received information about the topic for the voting in a broad variety of media and had discussed the questions with friends and family. They found general elections more important to democracy than a public voting like the one in question.

The short report about the survey and the findings will be available on our blog in January.

On-going DECIDIS activities: Pilot study on marginalized citizens in Denmark

Currently, DECIDIS member and research assistant Mette Grønbæk is conducting a pilot study on media literacy and marginalized citizens in Denmark. The study draws on findings from the “Media Literacy in Denmark” project led by associate professor Gitte Stald and associate professor Morten Hjelholt. Primary result was that marginalized groups in Danish society are especially challenged by the fast development of digital media. The purpose of the pilot study is to investigate the connection between social exclusion and exclusion from participation in digital society. Results from the pilot will be presented on the blog in mid January 2016.

DECIDIS welcomes visiting researcher Stefan Larsson

This month the DECIDIS research group welcomes Stefan Larsson from Lund University as a visiting research. His visit is part of his three-year international postdoc studies on legal challenges in a digital context. Part of his study is a large-scale online survey amongst file-sharers as well as a legal and metaphorical analysis. His aim is to examine gaps between law and social norms. Further, he looks into the meaning of traceability online, and how digital and legal phenomena are conceptually understood. Additional information can be found on the project page. Last weekend, Stefan has been commenting on the Swedish debate regarding latest governmental antiterror legislation. The full interview can be found on the radio's website "Godmorgon, världen!" (in Swedish).

DECIDIS in MSc Education: Digital Democratic Citizenship

The specialization, called DIDEC, was developed as part of DECIDIS and is the first time offered in the spring semester 2016. The program is directed towards students who want to critically investigate and understand the larger sociotechnical consequences of their work in the field of communication and design. The one-year specialization is designed to give students tools and competences to analyze the profound and ongoing changes of democracy and citizenship in digital society.nMore information can be found on the IT University Master program description.

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