About us
 

International Central Institute for Youth and Educational Television (IZI): Aims and Issues

 
The Institute

The IZI wants to contribute to the understanding of the cultural meaning of television for children and young people and of the ways that television is embedded in the children's and young people's lives. In addition to that the IZI aims at contributing to the discussion of broadcasters' public service task and its current realisation as well as the social responsibility of the media in general.

The IZI is a department of the Bavarian Broadcasting Corporation and was established in 1965. Together with the PRIX JEUNESSE INTERNATIONAL the IZI is supported by the Association for the Promotion of International Youth Television. Members of the Association are the Bavarian Broadcasting Corporation, the ZDF (German Public Broadcasting Company), the State of Bavaria, The City of Munich and the Bavarian Centre for the New Media (BLM).

 

 
Research

The IZI conducts empirical research with regard to current programme formats and current issues in the field of children, youth and educational television. In cooperation with international researchers the IZI explores current and publicly relevant issues in order to supply editorial departments, programme planers, pedagogues, journalists and concerned associations with consolidated findings. You can find an overview of current as well as completed research activities here.

 

 
Documentation

The IZI documents the current state of research on children’s, youth and educational television. Scientific literature and other substantive information is indexed and made accessible through the bilingual Internet database IZI-database.org. An English user interface and expert search is available and searchable free of charge.
IZI-database.org is the most comprehensive database of its type compiled in the German-speaking countries, with international documentation and online retrievable full-texts.

In addition, IZI maintains a special library and performs literature searches on request. IZI makes some of its documentary data available for national and international cooperative projects.

 

 
Publications

The IZI publishes its research results in its own journal TelevIZIon and other publications.

 

 
Conferences

The IZI organises national and international conferences as well as workshops at which researchers and programme producers are invited to work together in order to enhance the quality and attractiveness of children, youth and educational television. You can find an overview of past and future conferences here.