Children’s digital content creation: Towards a processual understanding of media production among Danish children

ABSTRACT

This article explores how we may study children’s digital content creation as creative processes of production. Based on a case study of 6-16-year-olds’ filmmaking in an out-of-school context, the analysis identifies three interlaced categories marking the production processes: Social interaction, semiotic negotiation and practice-based learning. Results demonstrate that joint creation of new film narratives unleashes students’ playful exploration, trains multimodal skills, and catalyzes modes of reflexivity that are germane to complex problem-solving. In conclusion, it is argued that digital content creation needs added pedagogical attention as a means of advancing children’s democratic rights of expression as societal resources, not as individual requisites.

KEYWORDS:

• Children
• adolescents
• filmmaking
• media
• youth media
• digital creativity
• children’s rights
• film education
• digital content creation
• media literacy

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Kirsten Drotner

Kirsten Drotner, Dr.phil., is chair of Media Studies at the University of Southern Denmark and founding director of DREAM (Danish Research Centre on Education and Advanced Media Materials) and Our Museum. She has published widely on youthful audiences, media and information literacy and media history and is currently directing a national research and development programme on digital engagements in museum settings.