Varesenews among the children of the media tribe

The world will be changed by children and young people. As a result, it is essential to given them the instruments to express themselves and to communicate. Thus, Varesenews has become involved in a special project, which uses our experience on the Web, and which focuses on children and teenagers from Nicaragua.

It is a multi-blog, which is going to be created, in collaboration with Hagam, to follow a number of children and teenagers from several parts of the central American country.

On Wednesday morning, we are taking part in the Milan initiative “TOTEM – I Bambini della tribù dei media” (“Children of the media-tribe”), the first media education village, created by Terre des Hommes, which, today, opened their doors in the “Palazzo delle Stelline” Conference Centre, in Milan. There is a full and varied programme of workshops on old and new media dedicated to children from Milan schools, their teachers, their parents and communication professionals.

The topics range from social networks to videogames, touching on comics, commercials, mobile phones, newspapers and news agencies, to geolocation and the selection of information on the web, all while paying attention to on-line safety, but at the same time exploiting the great opportunities that the new media offer even to the youngest children. On this occasion, Terre des Hommes is seeking to stress the increasing importance of new media in children’s education, and to promote a conscious and responsible use of it, in a prelude to complete digital citizenship, from which children cannot be excluded.

A number of meetings are dedicated to parents and children, including “Educate for cultural and media consumption. A chance to grow and have fun”, which will provide interesting tools for navigating the world of young people, and “Who wants to be more connected?”, quizzes in which young children teach the use and language of mobile phones to their mums and dads.

The workshop “Virtual threats and real opportunities – children and new media” is dedicated to journalists, students and communication operators.

On 20 November, the Universal Children’s Day, a condensed version of “TOTEM”, will take place in Explora – the Children’s Museum of Rome.