Using film to understand young people’s online lives In the past year the Swedish Media Council has increasingly worked with film as a means of communication with children and youths about their online lives – and to ultimately pass this information onto parents and teachers. The last project, My life 2.0, has already resulted in a number of digital stories produced by young people and published online, as well as screened at seminars and events.

On May 7, the Media Council participated in a national anti-bullying event organised by Swedish NGO Friends, presenting My life 2.0 to teachers. A manual, which aims to help teachers with the production and use of digital storytelling in the classroom, was handed out from the Media Council stand. In addition, some 5000 students and teachers who attended the event on this sunny spring day were given the opportunity of producing their own digital stories and watching some of the films already made. This project, which was launched on Safer Internet Day 2008 and which will have its grand finale on Safer Internet Day next year, results from our collaboration with UR – the Swedish Educational Broadcasting Company, and Kulturskolan Stockholm – Stockholm City School of Arts.

The Media Council website also features a Film Room with a collection of film resources. Recently the Council started its own YouTube channel and we are pleased to report that its work with film seem to be a successful way of communicating with young people and to pass on their experiences  –  one of the films on YouTube has been seen more than 800 times during the first month since its publication.