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I am a fully funded part time PhD student. My PhD qualitatively explores how children aged four- to eight-years-old and their families experienced information literacy practices relating to shared digital reading in their homes during social distancing. It explores children's perspectives on reading activities which use multiple devices and formats. The study is informed by a theoretical framework that includes agential realism and practice theory, as well as the sensitising concept of paratexts.
I used participatory video methods and semi-structured interviews which allowed twenty-five children and their families to present an explanatory narrative of their shared digital reading practices. Using video data allowed young children to demonstrate contextual information that can be difficult to explain in words.
I also employed innovative information giving and consent procedures to explain the research to these children and gain their provisional informed consent to take part. It was also used to gain informed consent from parents on behalf of their children and themselves, as well as other adults comprising grandparents, other extended family members and teachers, who also contributed to the research. Together with an illustrator, I created a picture book as source of information about joining research and have published an article on this subject in the Journal of Documentation https://doi.org/10.1108/JD-09-2022-0203
I recently undertook a placement in the UK Government's Open Innovation team, a cross government unit which works between government policy-makers and academics to generate analysis and ideas. During my time there I worked on a project relating to provision for children with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND).
Prior to my PhD I taught the Children’s Publishing module on the Children’s Literature MA at Goldsmith’s College, University of London for four years. I worked in the children’s publishing industry for thirteen years, including as Communications Director at Macmillan Children’s Books and the UK Sales Director at Walker Books. I am a registered carer.
I am also the volunteer librarian at Grange Primary School and run the UCL Grange Primary school volunteer reading programme.
Grant
AHRC London Arts and Humanities Partnership (LAHP) Research Studentship
Supervisors
Professor Samantha Rayner
Professor Annemaree Lloyd
Publications:
Smales, K., Lloyd, A. and Rayner, S. (2023), "Perry Starlight, Ali Orbit and Kim Cosmos' alien encounter: creating a picturebook as information for children and parents participating in research", Journal of Documentation, Vol. ahead-of-print No. ahead-of-print. https://doi.org/10.1108/JD-09-2022-0203
Conference papers and talks:
Perry Starlight, Space Explorer: Creating a picturebook to explain research to young children, 2023, UCL as a Publishing Place symposium, UCL.
Perry Starlight, Ali Orbit and Kim Cosmos’ Alien Encounter, 2023 PGR Symposium, Centre for Book Cultures and Publishing, University of Reading
The Cats and Pyjamas: Using digital ethnographic methods and semi-structured interviews to surface the voices of young children on their shared digital reading practices at home, 2022 CHAPTER Postgraduate Research Conference 'Books in the Closet: Suppression, Censorship, and the Book
Digital, eBooks, Metadata, 2024, MA Children’s Literature: Illustration, Goldsmiths, University of London.
Guest lectures on the MA Publishing degrees at UCL, City and Bath Spa Universities.
Reaching Buyers and Readers of Children’s Books in the Digital Age, Publishing Masterclass, Kingston University, 4th December 2017.
The Stories We Tell Our Children and what these stories tell us about ourselves. Herne Hill Literary Festival, 6th March 2019.