To understand what good looks like for children’s play in a digital world, we cut through today’s anxious confusion by integrating insights from multiple sources of expertise to synthesise the value of play in childhood. Informed by public consultation, we will then evaluate opportunities to transpose the qualities of play into digital contexts, and propose ways to enhance them. Our first report, A Panorama of Play, reviews the rich history of ideas about free play and proposes the qualities of play that matter in a digital world. Download PDF here.
Publications
Blogs
Problematising freemiums in digital games
By Al Mik A lot has changed in the world of digital play over the past decade. The speed and power of processors have produced »
Possibilities for a future Pokémon Go
By Kruakae Pothong and Sonia Livingstone Back in 2016, the number of daily active users of Pokémon Go rocketed close to 45 million users within »
Is the gaming world getting more diverse?
By Al Mik The first stage of the Digital Futures Commission has focused on rethinking play for a digital world. This is an incredibly broad »
Reimagining digital play: we want more sociability, hybridity and safety, with fewer tricky freemiums
By Kruakae Pothong In our digital play consultation we are hearing from children and young people how they are finding ways to enjoy online the »
Why play matters in a digital world
By Sonia Livingstone To ask afresh why children’s play matters, and to figure out how to design a better digital world, we have already taken »
Interview with Gerison Lansdown
To understand the right to play and how that manifests in the digital world, Sonia Livingstone and Kate Cowan spoke to Gerison Lansdown, an expert »