During the past 5 – 10 years, all you, children and young people, have been able to access cultural content, not only by visiting museums, theatres and cinemas or by reading books and magazines, you have also been able to log on to the internet.
The digital media landscape has lead to new methods of communication, which again has lead to new forms of relating to one another on the internet and the mobile. We all, adults and children, experience, how digital media has brought changes into our everyday lives. Digital media and online technology has moved into our offices, the class room and into our homes and especially the children’s rooms – including those of my own children.
Today, on Safer Internet Day 2006 an international focus is being placed on blogging and web-etichs with the webevent, Around the World Blogathon. Children from 35 countries write postings to the same blog. A blog is also being compared to an electronic dairy, but this kind of dairy is the kind, that you don’t lock up and hide away under your pillow. On the contrary! The aim and the fun are to have as many as possible to drop by your blog, read your postings and comment on them.
When you share your thoughts and tell about your experiences of your everyday life and publish them on the blog, it almost becomes like a broadcasting channel. It’s a live news channel, which broadcasts from the spot, where you are at any given time. Via your blog, your friends and your network can keep updated on your activities. And with a mobile and wireless broadband access, you can even publish short texts and pictures to your blog 24 hours a day. The blog is a new internet channel, which makes it easy and fast to communicate with your friends, parents and grandparents – and even with people from all over the world.
I am, as minister of culture, pleased, that The Media Council for Children and Young People has taken the initiative to put web-ethics and a safer internet on the agenda. Writing about personal things on the internet does call for caution.
I look forward to reading your postings on the blog.
Brian Mikkelsen
The Danish Minister of Culture
