This thesis examines how families use the internet in the home. The research is longitudinal, tracking families’ uses over a 2 year period. Qualitative data has been collected from 17 families via in depth interviews, diaries and observation. General research questions include: How is the internet used for education, work and leisure? How does the internet fit into the context of everyday life? How is the internet regulated within the home? How do users navigate the web? What are the skills and competencies needed to use the internet? How are these skills developed and what limitations do family members experience? Sue is currently writing up her thesis and hopes to submit in late 2005/early 2006.

Sue has worked at the Institute of Education University of London since 1992. For the last 4 – 5 years, she has worked as a research officer within the School of Lifelong Education and International Development (LEID) on a range of UK and European funded research projects. These have mainly focused on issues of employability and countering social exclusion. Most recently, she has been appointed to a position within the Centre for the Study of Children, Youth and Media (CYM) working as Research Officer on the Mediappro project (see below).

Sue completed her MA in Film and Television Studies at Westminster University in 1994 and her PGCE in English with Media at the Institute of Education in 1989.

Mediappro is a project funded under the European Commission’s Safer Internet Action Plan. It builds on earlier work by a similar consortium of European partners which included CYM at the Institute of Education.  The previous project, Educaunet, devised internet safety resources for schools, parents and communities. Mediappro will research young people’s use of mobile technologies and the internet through quantitative surveys of samples of young people in schools in the partner countries, and follow up qualitative studies of sub-samples. The project is led by the Catholic University of Louvain in Belgium, and partners include France, Greece, Denmark, Poland, Portugal, Italy and Estonia.