Professor Sonia Livingstone

Biography

Sonia Livingstone is Professor of Social Psychology and Head of the Department of Media and Communications at LSE. She is author or editor of sixteen books and many academic articles and chapters. She has held visiting professor positions at the Universities of Copenhagen, Stockholm, Bergen, Illinois, Milan, and Paris II, and is on the editorial board of several leading journals. She was President of the International Communication Association (2007-8) and served for six years on ICA's Executive Committee.

Her research examines media audiences; children, young people and the internet in social, domestic and educational contexts; media and digital literacies; the mediated public sphere; internet use and policy; and the public understanding of communications regulation. These interests also shape her teaching on core MSc courses in theories and methods of research in media and communications, her graduate option course 'The audience in media and communications', and her supervision of PhD students.

Currently, Sonia Livingstone directs a 33-country network, EU Kids Online, for the EC's Safer Internet Programme. She serves on the Executive Board of the UK's Council for Child Internet Safety, for which she is the Evidence Champion. She has, at various times, served on the Department of Education's Ministerial Taskforce for Home Access to Technology for Children, Ofcom's Media Literacy Research Forum, and the boards of Voice of the Listener and Viewer and the Internet Watch Foundation. She has advised Ofcom, Department for Education, Home Office, Economic and Social Research Council, BBC, The Byron Review on children's online risk, and Higher Education Funding Council for England.

Books

	Lunt, P., and Livingstone, S. (2012) Media Regulation: Governance and the interests of citizens and consumers. London: Sage. See flyer|.		Couldry, N., Livingstone, S., and Markham, T. (2010) Media Consumption and Public Engagement: Beyond the presumption of attention. Houndmills: Palgrave MacMillan. See also project report| and flyer|.
	Livingstone, S. (2009) Children and the Internet: Great Expectations and Challenging Realities. Cambridge: Polity. See book flyer for UK| and USA|.		Livingstone, S., and Haddon, L. (Eds.) (2009) Kids Online: Opportunities and risks for children. Bristol: The Policy Press. See book flyer.| See introduction| and conclusion|.
	Millwood Hargave, A., and Livingstone, S. (2009) Harm and Offence in Media Content: A review of the evidence. Second edition. Bristol: Intellect. See book flyer|		Lievrouw, L., and Livingstone, S. (Eds.) (2009) New Media. Sage Benchmarks in Communication (Volumes 1-4). London: Sage|. See contents|.
	Drotner, K., and Livingstone, S. (Eds.)(2008) The International Handbook of Children, Media and Culture. London: Sage. See book flyer|.		Livingstone, S. (2006) Lo Spettatore Intraprendente: Analisi del pubblico televisivo. Translated by Daniela Cardini. Rome: Carocci.
	Lievrouw, L., and Livingstone, S. (Eds.) (2006) Handbook of New Media: Social Shaping and Social Consequences. Fully revised student edition. London: Sage.		Livingstone, S. (Ed.) (2005) Audiences and Publics: When Cultural Engagement Matters for the Public Sphere. Bristol: Intellect Press|. Read chapter 1|.
	Lievrouw, L., and Livingstone, S. (Eds.) (2002) Handbook of New Media: Social Shaping and Social Consequences. London: Sage.		Livingstone, S. (2002) Young People and New Media: Childhood and the Changing Media Environment. London: Sage. Draws on the report: Young People, New Media|. See report summary|.
	Livingstone, S., and Bovill, M. (Eds.) (2001) Children and their Changing Media Environment: A European Comparative Study. Hillsdale, N.J.: Lawrence Erlbaum. See overview|.		Livingstone, S. (1998) Making Sense of Television: The Psychology of Audience Interpretation. 2nd Edition. London: Routledge. Read update on final chapter|.
	Livingstone, S., and Lunt, P. (1994) Talk on Television: Audience Participation and Public Debate. London: Routledge.		Lunt, P., and Livingstone, S. (1992) Mass Consumption and Personal Identity: Everyday Economic Experience. Buckingham: Open University Press.  Download the book.|

Research projects

• Media Audiences
• Mediated Citizens in the Public Sphere
• Children and online opportunities, risk and safety
• Educational and Social Impact of New Technologies on Young People
• Media Literacy
• Public Understanding of Regimes of Risk Regulation
• Child Audiences
• Children and Advertising 
• Research Methods

Selected articles can be downloaded here or visit http://eprints.lse.ac.uk| and search 'Sonia Livingstone'.

Media Audiences

I am interested in all aspects of media audiences, focusing on people's interpretative engagement with different media genres, as discussed in Making Sense of Television (2nd ed., Routledge, 1998) and in Talk on Television (with Peter Lunt; Routledge, 1994). For selected online articles, see:

• Livingstone, S. (1990) Interpreting television narrative: How viewers see a story. Journal of Communication, 40(1), 72-82.
• Livingstone, S. (1991) Audience reception: The role of the viewer in retelling romantic drama. In Mass Media and Society, J. Curran and M. Gurevitch (Eds.), London: Edward Arnold. First ed.
• Livingstone, S. (1992) The resourceful reader: Interpreting television characters and narratives. Communication Yearbook, 15, 58-90.
• Livingstone, S. (1993) The rise and fall of audience research: an old story with a new ending. Journal of Communication, 43(4), 5-12.
• Livingstone, S. (1998) Relationships between media and audiences: Prospects for future audience reception studies. In Liebes, T., and Curran, J. (Eds.), Media, Ritual and Identity: Essays in Honor of Elihu Katz. London: Routledge.
• Reiner, R., and Livingstone, S. (1997) Discipline or desubordination? Changing media images of crime. End of Award Report to the ESRC.
• Livingstone, S. (1998) Audience research at the crossroads: the 'implied audience' in media and cultural theory. European Journal of Cultural Studies, Vol. 1(2), 193-217.
• Livingstone, S. (1999) New media, new audiences? New Media & Society, 1(1), 59-66.
• Livingstone, S. (2000) Television and the active audience. In D. Fleming (Ed.), Formations: A 21st Century Media Studies Textbook (175-193). Manchester: Manchester University Press.
• Livingstone, S., Allen, J., and Reiner, R. (2001) The audience for crime media 1946-91: A historical approach to reception studies. Communication Review, 4(2): 165-192.
• Livingstone, S. (2003) The changing nature of audiences: From the mass audience to the interactive media user. In A. Valdivia (Ed.), The Blackwell Companion to Media Research (337-359). Oxford: Blackwell. Second ed. (2006).
• Livingstone, S. (2004) The challenge of changing audiences: or, what is the audience researcher to do in the internet age? European Journal of Communication, 19(1), 75-86.
• Livingstone, S. (2006) On the influence of 'Personal Influence' on the study of audiences. In P. Simonson (Ed.), Politics, social networks, and the history of mass communications research: Re-reading Personal Influence. The Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, 608: 233-250.
• Lievrouw, L., and Livingstone, S. (2006) Introduction to the updated student edition. In Lievrouw, L., & Livingstone, S. (Eds), Handbook of New Media: Social Shaping and Social Consequences (1-14). Fully revised student edition. London: Sage.
• Press, A., and Livingstone, S. (2006) Taking audience research into the age of new media: Old problems and new challenges. In M. White and J. Schwoch (Eds.), The Question of Method in Cultural Studies (175-200). Oxford: Blackwell.
• Livingstone, S. (2007) On the material and the symbolic: Silverstone's double articulation of research traditions in new media studies. New Media & Society, 9(1): 16-24.
• Livingstone, S. (2007) Audiences and interpretations. e-Compós, vol. 10. At http://www.compos.org.br/files/01_Livingstone.pdf
• Livingstone, S. (2009) On the mediation of everything. ICA Presidential address 2008. Journal of Communication, 59(1), 1-18. |

Mediated Citizens in the Public Sphere

The 'Media Consumption and Public Connection' project has been reported in Couldry, N., Livingstone, S., and Markham, T. (2010) Public Connection? Media Consumption and the Presumption of Attention (2nd ed.). Houndmills: Palgrave.

• The final project report is available here. It observes that, underlying many views of democratic politics is an assumption that shared media sustain people's connection to the public spaces where politics goes on and citizenship is enacted. But how is that connection sustained, and how do individuals think about the ways in which they are, or are not, connected to wider public spaces? Related publications are below:
• Livingstone, S. (2005) On the relation between audiences and publics. In S. Livingstone (Ed.), Audiences and Publics: When Cultural Engagement Matters for the Public Sphere (17-41). Bristol: Intellect.
• Livingstone, S. (2005) Critical debates in internet studies: Reflections on an emerging field. In Curran, J., and Gurevitch, M. (Eds.), Mass Media and Society, Fifth Ed (9-28). London: Sage.
• Livingstone, S., and Markham, T. (2008) The contribution of media consumption to civic participation. British Journal of Sociology, 59(2): 351-371.
• Couldry, N., Livingstone, S., and Markham, T. (2008) 'Public connection' and the uncertain norms of media consumption. In K. Soper and F. Trentman (Eds.), Citizenship and Consumption (104-120). London: Palgrave Macmillan.

Children and online opportunities, risk and safety

EU Kids Online is a thematic network directed by Sonia Livingstone and funded by the EC Safer Internet plus Programme. See www.eukidsonline.net| for information on both projects and for downloadable copies of all reports. For further updates, please sign up on the website.

• The first project, EU Kids Online I (2006-9), examined European research on cultural, contextual and risk issues in children's safe use of the internet and new media in 21 member states.
• The second project, EU Kids Online II (2009-11) is conducting a multinational comparative survey of children's online uses, risks, safety and parental mediation across Europe.
• The third Project, EU Kids Online III (2011-2014) will begin in Autumn 2011.
• See Livingstone, S., and Haddon, L. (Eds.) (2009) Kids Online: Opportunities and Risks for Children. Bristol: The Policy Press.
• Livingstone, S., Haddon, L., and Gorzig, A. (Eds.) (due 2012) Children, Risk and Safety on the Internet: Kids online in comparative perspective. Bristol: The Policy Press.

UK Children Go Online was an ESRC funded project which combined a national survey of 9-19 year olds and their parents with a range of qualitative methods to ask how the internet may be transforming - or may itself be shaped by - family life, peer networks, risks to inclusion and safety, and informal learning processes.

• See Livingstone, S. (2009) Children and the Internet: Great Expectations, Challenging Realities. Cambridge: Polity.

For more on children and the internet, see:

• Livingstone, S. (1998) Guest editor for special issue, 'Young People and the New Media in Europe.' European Journal of Communication, 13(4).
• Livingstone, S. (2001) Online freedom and safety for children. IPPR/Citizens Online Research Publication No. 3.
• Livingstone, S., and Bober, M. (2003) UK children go online: Listening to young people's experiences. London: LSE Report.
• Livingstone, S., and Bober, M. (2004) UK children go online: Surveying the experiences of young people and their parents. London: LSE Report.
• Livingstone, S., Bober, M., and Helsper, E. J. (2004) Active Participation or Just More Information? Young people's take up of opportunities to act and interact on the internet. London: LSE Report.
• Livingstone, S., and Bober, M. (2004) Taking up opportunities? Children's uses of the internet for education, communication and participation. E-Learning, 1(3), 395-419.
• Livingstone, S. (2005) Mediating the public/private boundary at home: Children's use of the internet for privacy and participation. Journal of Media Practice, 6(1), 41-51.
• Livingstone, S., Bober, M., and Helsper, E. J. (2005) Active participation or just more information? Young people's take up of opportunities to act and interact on the internet. Information, Communication and Society, 8(3), 287-314.
• Livingstone, S., Bober, M., and Helsper, E. J. (2005) Internet literacy among children and young people. London: LSE Report.
• Livingstone, S., Bober, M., and Helsper, E. J. (2005) Inequalities and the digital divide in children and young people's internet use. London: LSE Report.
• Livingstone, S. and Bober, M. (2005) UK children go online: Final report of key project findings. London: LSE Research Online.
• Livingstone, S. (2006) Drawing conclusions from new media research: Reflections and puzzles regarding children's experience of the internet. The Information Society, 22(4), 219-230.
• Livingstone, S., and Bober, M. (2006) Regulating the internet at home: Contrasting the perspectives of children and parents. In D. Buckingham and R. Willett (Eds.), Digital Generations (93-113). Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.
• Livingstone, S. (2007) Strategies of parental regulation in the media-rich home. Computers in Human Behavior, 23(3), 920-941.
• Livingstone, S., and Helsper, E. J. (2007) Gradations in digital inclusion: Children, young people and the digital divide. New Media & Society, 9: 671-696.
• Livingstone, S. (2007) The challenge of engaging youth online: Contrasting producers' and teenagers' interpretations of websites. European Journal of Communication, 22(2), 165-184.
• Livingstone, S., and Bober, M. (2007) UK children go online: A child-centred approach to the experience of using the internet. In B. Anderson, M. Brynin, J. Gershuny and Y. Raban (Eds.), Information and Communication Technologies in Society: E-Living in a Digital Europe. pp. 104-118.
• Livingstone, S. (2008) Taking risky opportunities in youthful content creation: teenagers use of social networking sites for intimacy, privacy and self-expression. New Media & Society, 10(3): 393-411. http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/27072
• Livingstone, S., and Haddon, L. (2008) Risky experiences for European children online: Charting research strengths and research gaps. Children and Society, 22: 314-323. http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/27076/
• Livingstone, S., and Helsper, E. J. (2008) Parental mediation of children's internet use. Journal of Broadcasting & Electronic Media, 52(4), 581-599. http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/25723/
• Livingstone, S., and Tsatsou, P. (2009) Guest editors, for special issue, 'European Children Go Online: Issues, findings and policy matters.' Journal of Children and Media, 3(4).
• Staksrud, E., and Livingstone, S. (2009) Children and online risk: Powerless victims or resourceful participants? Information, Communication and Society, 12(3): 364-387. http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/30122
• Livingstone, S., and Brake, D. (2009) On the rapid rise of social networking sites: New findings and policy implications. Children and Society, 24(1): 75-83. http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/30124
• Livingstone, S. and Helsper, E.J. (2010) Balancing opportunities and risks in teenagers use of the internet: The role of online skills and internet self-efficacy. New Media & Society, 12(2): 309-329.
• Livingstone, S. (2011) Digital learning and participation among youth. International Journal of Learning and Media, 2(2-3): 1-13.
• Livingstone, S., Mascheroni, G., and Murru, M. F. (2011) Social networking among European children: new findings on privacy, identity and connection. Hermes, 59: 89-98.
• Livingstone, S. (in preparation) Guest editor for special issue, 'Children, Internet and Risk in Comparative Perspective.' Journal of Children and Media.

Educational and Social Impact of New Technologies on Young People

This ESRC funded Seminar Series ran from 2007-2009, organised jointly by the University of Oxford's Department of Education (Chris Davies and John Coleman) and LSE's Department of Media and Communications (Sonia Livingstone). It sought to engage researchers who combine a knowledge of adolescent development, an interest in new technologies, and a commitment to capacity building in the research community. It was guided by the recognition that, although new technologies are frequently seen as potentially harmful to children and young people, the positive benefits too often go unrecognised. The seminars brought together those who have an interest in sharing ideas about the positive benefits of technology for young people. The reports from the seminar series are available here:

• Seminar 1 Theorising the benefits of new technology for youth
• Seminar 2 Changing spaces: young people, technology and learning
• Seminar 3 Digital literacies: tracing the implications for learners and learning
• Seminar 4 Digital identities: tracing the implications for learners and learning

See Davies, C., Coleman, J., and Livingstone, S. (2011) Special issue, 'The Educational and Social Impact of New Technologies on Young People in Britain.' Oxford Review of Education.

Media Literacy

With the growing importance of media, information and communications in society, media literacy serves three key purposes, contributing to (i) democracy, participation and active citizenship; (ii) the knowledge economy, competitiveness and choice; and (iii) lifelong learning, cultural expression and personal fulfilment. Selected academic and policy papers are available below.

• Livingstone, S. (2004) Media literacy and the challenge of new information and communication technologies. Communication Review, 7: 3-14.
• Livingstone, S., Van Couvering, E. J., and Thumim, N. (2005) Adult media literacy: A review of the research literature. London: Ofcom.
• Livingstone, S. (2004) What is media literacy? Intermedia, 32(3), 18-20. September.
• Livingstone, S. (2008) Internet literacy: Young people's negotiation of new online opportunities. In T. McPherson (Ed.), Unexpected outcomes and innovative uses of digital media by youth (101-121). Cambridge, Mass: The MIT Press.
• Livingstone, S. (2008) Engaging with media - A matter of literacy? Communication, Culture & Critique, 1(1), 51-62. http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/4264/
• Livingstone, S., van Couvering, E., and Thumim, N. (2008) Converging traditions of research on media and information literacies: Disciplinary, critical and methodological issues. In D.J. Leu, J. Coiro, M. Knobel and C. Lankshear (Eds.) Handbook of Research on New Literacies (103-132). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates. http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/23564/
• Livingstone, S., and Wang, Y. (2011) Media Literacy and the UK's Communications Act 2003. A dossier. LSE: Media Policy Project blog.
• Livingstone, S., and Wang, Y. (2011) Media Literacy and the Communications Act: What has been achieved and what should be done? LSE Media Policy Project Brief 2.

Public Understanding of Regimes of Risk Regulation

This project examines the implications for audiences and publics - or citizens and consumers - of the changing regimes of regulation in the media and communications, and financial services sectors, following the establishment in the UK of Ofcom and the FSA. See www.lse.ac.uk/collections/PURRR/|.

New book to be published in December: Lunt, P., and Livingstone, S. (2012) Media Regulation: Governance and the interests of citizens and consumers. London: Sage. See also:

• Livingstone, S., Lunt, P., and Miller, L. (2007) Citizens and consumers: Discursive debates during and after the Communications Act 2003. Media, Culture & Society, 29(4): 613-638.
• Livingstone, S., Lunt, P., and Miller, L. (2007) Citizens, consumers and the citizen-consumer: Articulating the interests at stake in media and communications regulation. Discourse and Communication, 1(1): 85-111.
• Livingstone, S., and Lunt, P. (2007) Representing citizens and consumers in media and communications regulation. In 'The Politics of Consumption/ The Consumption of Politics, The Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, 611: 51-65.
• Lunt, P., and Livingstone, S. (2007) Regulating markets in the interest of consumers? On the changing regime of governance in the financial service and communications sectors. In M. Bevir and F. Trentmann (Eds.), Governance, citizens, and consumers: Agency and resistance in contemporary politics (139-161). Basingstoke, UK: Palgrave Macmillan.
• Lunt, P., Livingstone, S., and Malik, S. (2008) Public understanding of regimes of risk regulation: A report on focus group discussions with citizens and consumers. Social Contexts and Responses to Risk Network (SCARR) Working Paper series (WP26). http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/21445
• Lunt, P., and Livingstone, S. (2008) Final project report: public understanding of regimes of risk regulation. London: Brunel/LSE.
• Lunt, P., and Livingstone, S. (2009) The regulator, the public and the media: Imagining a role for the public in communication regulation. InterMedia, 37(1): 26-29. http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/24556/

Child Audiences

Between 1995 and 2000 I led a pan-European team exploring the access, uses and meanings of media - old and new - for children and young people. Comparing 12 European countries, using qualitative and quantitative methods, we examined the extension of the 'child audience' into 'new media users', updating the seminal LSE study from the mid-50s when television arrived in British homes (Himmelweit et al's Television and the Child, 1958).

• Livingstone, S., Young People and New Media (Sage, 2002).
• Livingstone, S., and Bovill, M. (eds), Children and their Changing Media Environment (Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, 2001). Selected articles are also available below:
• Livingstone, S. (1998) Mediated childhoods: A comparative approach to the lifeworld of young people in a changing media environment. European Journal of Communication, 13(4), 435-456.
• Livingstone, S., d'Haenens, L., and Hasebrink, U. (2001) Childhood in Europe: Contexts for comparison. In Livingstone, S., and Bovill, M. (Eds.), Children and their Changing Media Environment: A European Comparative Study. Marwah, NJ: Erlbaum.
• Bovill, M. F., and Livingstone, S. (2001) Bedroom culture and the privatization of media use. In Livingstone, S., and Bovill, M. (Eds.), Children and their Changing Media Environment: A European Comparative Study. Marwah, NJ: Erlbaum.
• Livingstone, S., and Millwood Hargrave, A. (2006) Harmful to children? Drawing conclusions from empirical research on media effects. In U. Carlsson (Ed.), Regulation, Awareness, Empowerment: Young People and Harmful Media Content in the Digital Age (21-48). Goteborg: Nordicom/Unesco.
• Livingstone, S. (2007) Do the media harm children? Reflections on new approaches to an old problem. Journal of Children and Media, 1(1), 5-14.
• Millwood Hargrave, A., and Livingstone, S. (2008) Harm and Offence in Media Content: An update on the 2005 literature review. London: The Office of Communications. Annex to Ofcom's response to The Byron Review, www.ofcom.org.uk.
• Livingstone, S. (2008) On the future of childrenÕs television Ð a matter of crisis? In T. Gardam and D. Levy (Eds.), The Price of Plurality: Choice, Diversity and Broadcasting Institutions in the Digital Age (175-182). Reuters Institute/Ofcom. http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/27102/
• Livingstone, S. (2009) Half a century of television in the lives of our children and families. In E. Katz and P. Scannell (Eds.), The end of television? Its impact so far. The Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, 625: 151-163.
• Livingstone, S. (2010, December) Meet the new iFamily. Prospect.

Children and Advertising 

• Livingstone, S. (2004) A commentary on the research evidence regarding the effects of food promotion on children. Report, Research Department of the Office of Communications (Ofcom), February.
• Livingstone, S., and Helsper, E. (2004) Advertising 'unhealthy' foods to children: Understanding Promotion In The Context Of Children's Daily Lives. A review of the literature for the Research Department of the Office of Communications (Ofcom), April.
• Livingstone, S. (2005) Assessing the research base for the policy debate over the effects of food advertising to children. International Journal of Advertising, 24(3), 273-296.
• Livingstone, S., and Helsper, E. J. (2006) Does advertising literacy mediate the effects of advertising on children? A critical examination of two linked research literatures in relation to obesity and food choice. Journal of Communication, 56: 560-584.
• Livingstone, S. (2006) New research on advertising foods to children: An updated review of the literature Prepared for the Research Department of the Office of Communications (Ofcom), January. Published as Annex 9 to the report, Television Advertising of Food and Drink Products to Children. London: Ofcom, March 2006.
• Livingstone, S. (2006) Does TV advertising make children fat? What the evidence tells us. Public Policy Research, 13(1), 54-61.
• Panel Member (2009, December) The Impact of the Commercial World on Children's Wellbeing: Report of an Independent Assessment . London: Department for Children, Schools and Families.

Research Methods

Online publications relating to research methods for audiences, especially comparative research and research with children, can be downloaded below.

• Lunt, P., and Livingstone, S. (1996) Rethinking the focus group in media and communications research. Journal of Communication, 46(2), 79-98.
• Livingstone, S. (2003) On the challenges of cross-national comparative media research. European Journal of Communication, 18(4): 477-500.
• Livingstone, S., and Lemish, D. (2001) Doing comparative research with children and young people. In Livingstone, S., and Bovill, M. (Eds.), Children and their Changing Media Environment: A European Comparative Study. Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
• Lobe, B., Livingstone, S., and Haddon, L., with others (2007) Researching Children's Experiences Online across Countries: Issues and Problems in Methodology. EU Kids Online Deliverable D4.1 Methodological Issues Review for the EC Safer Internet plus programme. London: LSE.
• Lobe, B., Livingstone, S., Olafsson, K., and Simoes, J. A. (2008) Best Practice Research Guide: How to research children and online technologies in comparative perspective. EU Kids Online Deliverable D4.2 the EC Safer Internet plus programme. London: LSE. http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/21658/ Available online as Frequently Asked Questions at www.eukidsonline.net