By Anja Kjærgaard Photo by Wilfred Gachau

The early days of the internet also changed childhood – but how? And how has the early internet shaped the ways children and young people today use digital media? A new research project led by Helle Strandgaard Jensen, associate professor of history at Aarhus University, will uncover this. The research project is called: WEB CHILD: Changing Childhoods in the Early Era of the WWW and has received DKK 15 million from the European Research Council (ERC).

"The project explores how the spread of the World Wide Web (WWW) changed childhood from the mid-1990s to the mid-2000s — the decade when the Internet became part of everyday life in many homes. Children's use of the interactive and unregulated web created both optimism about children as "digital natives" and concern about risks such as internet addiction. By analysing this part of the childhood story, the project will provide important insight into how technology and culture together shape childhood—both then and now," says Helle Strandgaard Jensen.

By comparing three different countries, Denmark, the United States and South Korea, Helle Strandgaard Jensen and her research team will uncover both global similarities and national differences in how children used the internet and how it was perceived and created for them.

Advanced digital methods are combined with classical historical approaches
The project uses a combination of advanced digital methods such as text mining and network analysis of archived websites in interaction with classical historical approaches such as analysis of newspaper articles, interviews and early guides to the internet. All of this sources a new understanding of how the internet changed society's view of children and children's everyday lives.

"I therefore also predict that the project will be a major methodological contribution to contemporary history by demonstrating how archived web material and digital analysis methods can be used for historical research in the period from the mid-1990s onwards. This is an area that has so far been relatively unexplored, and I hope that we can pave the way for more historians to use archived internet material and digital methods to investigate recent history. In a larger perspective, I expect that the project's results can provide new perspectives on how technology shapes children's lives and how we as a society can navigate the technological challenges of the future with a greater understanding of children's perspectives," says Helle Strandgaard Jensen.

Facts
The ERC is a European organisation that funds excellent research across all scientific disciplines. The ERC is part of the EU's Horizon Europe programme and aims to support cutting-edge research and innovation by giving researchers the freedom to pursue their most ambitious ideas.
Consolidator Grants (CoG) are awarded to young, promising research talents and research leaders for up to between 7 years and 12 years after obtaining a PhD degree. Up to EUR 2 million will be allocated to ground-breaking research projects over a five-year period.

Contact

Helle Strandgaard Jensen, Associate Professor
Department of History and Classical Studies
School of Culture and Society
Aarhus University
Mobile: +45 2720 1234
Mail: hs.jensen@cas.au.dk