Is it technically possible to make the digital world age appropriate?

SUBMISSION OF OUTCOMES 

Title of session: Is it technically possible to make the digital world age appropriate? - Session 316

Name of Organisation: Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), Inc.

Relevance with the WSIS Action Lines – please specify the Action Lines C1 to C11C10. Ethical dimensions of the Information Society

C11. International and Regional Cooperation

C6. Enabling Environment

C4. Capacity building

Key achievements, announcements, launches, agreements, and commitments 

Online products and services can provide tremendous benefits, such as social connection to loved ones far away, information from around the world, and learning opportunities for underserved communities, as well as risks, such as manipulation, misinformation, and reputational harm, so it is critical to better design digital products and services to maintain the human rights and thriving of children.

Given the technical foundation of digital environments, engineers have an important role to play. They must include children and child-development experts in the design of services for children, and they can meet policymakers from the bottom up and help by making tools that respect and uphold children’s rights. We will discuss examples of products and services designed in such a way, and the example of IEEE standard 2089-2021 - IEEE Standard for Age Appropriate Digital Services Framework - Based on the 5Rights Principles for Children. This standard sets out processes through the life cycle of development, delivery, and distribution that will help organizations ask the right relevant questions of their services, identify risks and opportunities by which to make their services age appropriate, and take steps to mitigate risk and embed beneficial systems that support increased age appropriate engagement.

Main outcomes highlighting the following: 

The session highlighted both the urgency of addressing age appropriate product design but also the opportunities that are coming with the increased awareness at governmental levels and within the continued evolution of technology through standards development bringing opportunities to support the design of online digital services for children that are age appropriate.

• A series of IEEE Case Studies that illustrate how to bridge principles to best practices and foster trustworthy and positive online/offline experiences for children. They demonstrate how thoughtful approaches to important aspects around children’s rights can enhance trustworthy online/offline experiences. The case studies and related activities can be found at:: https://standards.ieee.org/initiatives/artificial-intelligence-systems/childrens-data-governance/

• Platforms are going to start to look at different techniques to help determine the age of the users, to treat someone differently based on their best interests by their age. It is not just age-gating but rather about how we can create environments where people of different ages can co-exist. Age appropriate design thinking will be needed across a multitude of sites, not only child-directed sites but others as well, in the same way that designing for accessibility is considered with web content accessibility (WCAG) guidelines. [Note: IEEE standard 2089-2021 - IEEE Standard for Age Appropriate Digital Services Framework serves this purpose.]

• The ability to incorporate a risk register that allows for traceability in the design process will contribute toward responsible innovation practice.
  

Quotes 

Katina Michael - Arizona State University:

• “Designing digital services that are age-appropriate for children is not a piece of hardware - it’s a process.”

Julie Dawson - Yoti, UK:

• “ in a games environment; how we can enable age appropriate moderation and allow gamers of different ages to co-exist in the same space - this is the way forward players will expect .”

• “Implementing age-appropriate solutions is an ongoing journey.”

Overall outcomes of the session highlighting

• main conclusions reached during the discussion 

• the vision for implementation of WSIS Action Lines beyond 2015

The main conclusions reached during the session included the key takeaway that although organisations are gaining awareness, they need to go beyond ideating in a boardroom without children. The challenge is how to break away from how we typically did/do things, e.g.  look at existing digital services to make sure age is appropriate and to use tools such as IEEE standard IEEE 2089-2021 - IEEE Standard for Age Appropriate Digital Services Framework - Based on the 5Rights Principles for Children. We must get onboard and claim responsibility to do better and enable children to thrive online.

We must ensure that our children are protected in the digital space -- and that is a feasible exercise since the technology to do so is here.

Main linkages with the Sustainable Development Goals (please specify the SDGs) 

The links between enabling a digital, age-appropriate world and Goal 3: Ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all of the Sustainable Development Goals are based on the technical foundation of digital environments, where engineers have an important role to play. 

Diverse stakeholders relevant to the design, development and delivery of age appropriate digital services are required, inclusive of children and child-development experts in design. They can meet policymakers from the bottom up and help by making tools that respect and uphold children’s rights, and therefore ensure children’s physical and mental well-being.

Emerging Trends related to WSIS Action Lines identified during the meeting

Continued focus on industry standards and involvement of organisations developing technologies for the digital world in the design process to ensure age-appropriate online experiences is critical to meeting the WSIS Action Lines.

Suggestions for thematic aspects that might be included in the WSIS Forum 2023

Children’s rights in the digital world, age-appropriate tools and standards that enhance trustworthy experiences online.

Towards WSIS+20 and WSIS beyond 2025, please share your views on the challenges,  achievements, and opportunities in the implementation of the WSIS Action Lines to date. 

Market-driven, collaborative work and standards are a good start in a fragmented online world.

Citation: Karen McCabe, Moira Patterson, Katina Michael, Julie Dawson, Teki Akuetteh, 20 May 2021, “Is it technically possible to make the digital world age appropriate?”, WSIS22, https://www.itu.int/net4/wsis/forum/2022/Agenda/Session/316