Our paper, titled “Children’s Password-Related Books: Efficacious, Vexatious and Incongruous“, has been accepted for publication in the Early Childhood Education Journal.
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1. Paper Abstract
Software is developed specifically for children and this often requires them to authenticate themselves, usually by entering a password. Password hygiene is important for children, because the principles they learn in early life will often endure across their life span. Children learn from their parents, siblings, teachers and peers. They also learn from educational resources, such as children’s books.
We carried out a content analysis of a range of children’s books that aim to educate children about passwords. We used directional coding, as informed by a systematic literature review of methods used by other children’s books’ content analyses. We examined the principles the books taught, and whether these were correct. We also analysed how the books portrayed the genders of characters, in various roles.
We found that principle coverage was variable, with books sometimes teaching outdated principles. Genders were evenly represented in the books. Finally, our analysis revealed conflation of the terms “safety” and “security” in the cyber domain. We conclude the paper by justifying the adjectives we use in the title.
Efficacious
The books do a great job of maintaining gender balance, which is important in letting girls know that they, too, can use computers and be actors in this arena.
Vexatious
The books conflate the concepts of security and safety. While this seems harmless, it is actually damaging, because the measures that should be used to prevent harms are different.
Incongruous
The principles the books teach are often outdated, and coverage is variable. See our paper and our video for how to teach password principles to children.
2. Paper to Appear
Karen Renaud and Suzanne Prior. Children’s Password-Related Books: Efficacious, Vexatious and Incongruous. To appear in the Early Childhood Education Journal