1.5 million for research on children's media use and algorithms in the family
Researchers Hallvard Moe, Emilija Gagrcin and Andreas Roaldsnes receive over 1.5 million from the Norwegian Media Authority for the projects MedBarn and "The family as a source of media literacy"
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Andreas Roaldsnes is researching the socialization of children as cultural consumers, and has been awarded funding for the project “MedBarn - Children’s media diversity”.
The MedBarn project will investigate media use among children and young people, and especially children who are too young to be captured in traditional media usage statistics. Roaldsnes will defend his PhD thesis in March, where the main theme is inequalities in the socialization of children as cultural consumers through the family. One of the hypotheses in the project is that similar structures are relevant to children’s use of media and help control the diversity of media they are exposed to.
– This could potentially affect children here and now, but also what opportunities they have to participate in democracy when they get older. I am looking forward to starting the project, says Roaldsnes.
Algorithms in the family
Professor Hallvard Moe and researcher Emilija Gagrcin are leading “The family as a source of media literacy”, a project which will address the role of the family in intergenerational learning around algorithmic media.
Algorithmic media – platforms such as Instagram, TikTok, Finn.no, Tinder and the like – have a major impact on what kind of information we see, when, and how we understand it. Understanding how algorithms work has therefore become important for developing critical media understanding. For many – especially adults who are no longer in the school system – it is through experimentation and sharing experiences with family and friends that they develop their understanding of algorithms. Now researchers can study how this happens in practice.
Moe and Gagrcin are both affiliated with the research project Prepare. Distributed and prepared. A new theory of citizens` public connection networks in the age of datafication (ERC, 101044464).
We are very pleased that our researchers are given these opportunities, says head of department Marija Slavkovik. - The awards confirm that our research environments are important knowledge providers for media Norway and public authorities.
The Norwegian Media Authority is the state's supervisory and administrative body in the media area, and as part of its activities, it annually announces funding for media research. In 2025, 5.3 million was awarded to 12 projects.
