Work Package 1: Scoping review
June 2023-December 2023
Lead: Simon Hammond
The aim of the scoping review is to examine and map the range of peer-reviewed research available on young children’s use of YouTube Kids and other video sharing platforms (VSP), and how families/carers, educators, and civil society actors experience this. Work Package 1 will also help develop a critical understanding of the research in the field and the complexities of early years digital literacies.
Work Package 2: Mapping the habits, engagements, and experiences of young children, families/carers, and early years practitioners
November 2023 –August 2024.
Leads: Harry Dyer, Elizabeth Scholefield
Drawing on themes identified in Work Package 1, this work package aims to explore the ways families/carers, practitioners, and young children engage with video sharing platforms (VSP) such as YouTube Kids. This includes observing how young children engage with VSP, & exploring how children, families/carers, and early years practitioners feel about VSP.
Work Package 3: Analysis of content on video sharing platforms (VSP)
August – November 2024.
Leads: Harry Dyer, Kate Stewart
Here, we will explore key themes and ideas present in content on YouTube Kids and other relevant VSP. The videos will be drawn from three areas:
Content that families/carers and children engaged with as identified in Work Package 2.
The most watched videos at the time of data collection.
Algorithmic recommendations in YouTube Kids.
Work Package 4: Co-design & disseminate guidance
Nov 2024 - June 2025
Leads: Harry Dyer, Simon Hammond
This work package will translate our data from Work Packages 1-3 into guidance and user-guides that stakeholders (children, families/carers, community actors, early years practitioners) can use to inform their digital literacies and lived experiences of VSP, YouTube Kids and online content for young children more broadly.