Babycam enables us to consider infants' lives while at childcare

Baby's view (image from Press et al., 2011)

Observer's view (image from Press et al., 2011)

For the past few years, I have been fortunate to work with a group of colleagues in early childcare education and psychology on an Australian Research Council Linkage Grant to consider what is life like for babies in childcare. Over the course of the project we developed/used a number of innovative techniques to attempt to get a baby's eye-view on their world. One of these techniques was "babycam" where we placed a lipstick sized camera on a headband/hat worn by the babies. We spent a long time developing this technique (e.g., the smaller sized cameras were too hot).

We have just completed the project where we collected longitudinal and cross-sectional data with babies in long daycare centers and family day care homes. The media has spent the past weekend reporting stories that have come from the project about the competency of these infants in the ways that they relate to one another.

• The Daily Telegraph - Babies looking out for mates: Kid-cam reveals all
• Herald Sun – The secret lives of babies
• Courier Mail - Secret life of babies caught on camera show they look out for their mates
• TopNews Arab Emirates - Toddlers less than 1 year have good communication skills
• Today Online (Singapore) - Your little social butterfly 

In addition, we have just learned that the story has been reported around the globe in the following venues:

ABS CBN News‎, ‎Adelaide Now‎, ‎AFP‎, ‎Bahrain News Agency‎, ‎Bangkok Post‎, ‎Calgary Herald‎, ‎Canada.com‎, ‎Channel News Asia‎, ‎China Post‎,  Daily Star Online‎, ‎DAWN.com‎, ‎Deccan Herald‎, ‎Expressindia.com‎, ‎Focus News‎, ‎FRANCE 24‎, ‎Geo Television Network‎, ‎Gulf Today‎, ‎Himalayan Times‎, ‎Hindustan Times‎, ‎Huffington Post UK‎, ‎Indian Express‎, ‎Indian Express‎, ‎Inquirer.net‎, ‎Jakarta Globe‎, ‎MSN Malaysia News‎, ‎MSN Philippines News‎, ‎Naharnet‎, ‎New Straits Times‎, ‎NEWS.com.au‎, ‎Newstrack India‎, ‎Ninemsn‎, ‎Outcome Magazine (blog)‎, ‎PhysOrg.com‎, ‎Radio Netherlands‎, ‎Sin Chew Jit Poh‎, ‎SKNVibes.com‎, ‎Straits Times‎, ‎Telegraph.co.uk‎, ‎The Nation, Pakistan‎, ‎The News International‎, ‎The West Australian‎, ‎TODAYonline‎, ‎‎TopNews Arab Emirates‎, ‎TopNews New Zealand‎, ‎TopNews United States‎, ‎TruthDive‎, ‎Vancouver Sun‎, ‎Yahoo!7 News‎

We have published book chapters and articles about our work (and there will be more publications in the future)

•  Press, F., Bradley, B. S., Goodfellow, J., Harrison, L. J., McLeod, S., Sumsion, J., Elwick, S. Stratigos, T. (2011). Listening to infants about what life is like in childcare: A mosaic approach. In S. Roulstone & S. McLeod (Eds.), Listening to children and young people with speech, language and communication needs. (pp. 241-250). London: J&R Press.
• Sumsion , J., Harrison, L. J., Press, F., McLeod, S., Goodfellow, J. & Bradley, B. S. (2011). Researching infants’ experiences of early childhood education and care. In D. Harcourt, B. Perry & T. Waller (Eds). Researching young children’s perspectives: Debating the ethics and dilemmas of educational research with children (pp. 113-127). London: Routledge.
• Goodfellow, J., Elwick. S., Stratigos, T., Sumsion, J., Press, F., Harrison, L., McLeod, S., & Bradley, B. (2011). Infants’ lives in childcare: Crafting research evidence. The First Years Nga Tau Tuatahi Journal of Infant Toddler Education, 13(2), 43-48.  
• Sumsion, J., Harrison, L., Press, F., McLeod, S., Goodfellow, J., Bradley, B., & Stonehouse, A., (2009). Infants’ experiences in long day care and family day care. Jigsaw, 53.