Dr. Sara M. Grimes is the Wolfe Chair in Scientific and Technological Literacy and a Full Professor in the Department of Art History and Communication Studies at Ď㽶ĘÓƵ. Her research and teaching are centred in the areas of children’s digital media culture(s) and children’s rights in the digital environment, with a focus on games. Her published works explore the commercialization of children’s play cultures and creative expression, discussions of children’s labour and intellectual property in content creation platforms, responsible AI and children, and the legal and ethical dimensions of marketing to children online. Her award-winning book, Digital Playgrounds: The Hidden Politics of Children’s Online Play Spaces, Virtual Worlds, and Connected Games, was published by the University of Toronto Press in August 2021.
Professor Grimes is the Director and Founder of the , a research lab dedicated to understanding emerging trends and issues related to the technologization of childhood, and supporting the development of technologies and policies that advance children’s rights, free play, and wellbeing. She is the Principal Investigator of the SSHRC Insight grant-funded Child Appropriate Game Design (CAGD) project, a cross-cultural exploration of how ideas about “age appropriateness” impact how digital games are designed, regulated, and played in Canada, the UK, and the US. She is also collaborating on a project funded by the Privacy Commissioner of Canada’s Contributions program, Jeu Dangereux, led by Professor Maude Bonenfant (UQAM), examining privacy and data collection in mobile games and apps targeted to child players.
Community outreach forms a core part of Dr. Grimes’s professional practice, and she regularly speaks at media and tech industry conferences, participates in policy consultations, and engages in action research projects and cross-sector partnerships aimed at building a better, more inclusive, and rights-based children’s digital ecosystem. Current projects include an ongoing partnership with A-Game Studios on the development of a rights-by-design game for 8-to-12-year-olds that will deepen children’s climate science literacy and resiliency through fun and empowering play. This project is funded by the Canada Media Fund and Ontario Creates, and is part of the community led by the Joan Ganz Cooney Centre, UNICEF and LEGO.
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Recent Peer-Reviewed Publications
Grimes, S.M., Jayemanne, D., & Giddings, S. (2023). Rethinking Canada’s approach to children’s digital game regulation. Canadian Journal of Communication 28 (1): 142-162. .
Grimes, S.M. (2022). The politics of children’s privacy. European Data Protection Law Review 8 (1): 14-18.
Grimes, S.M. (2021). Digital playgrounds: The hidden politics of children’s online play spaces, virtual worlds and connected games. University of Toronto Press.
Grimes, S.M. & Merriman, V. (2021). “Technically they’re your creations, but...: Children making, playing, and negotiating UGC games.” In L. Green, D. Holloway, L. Haddon, K. Stevenson, & T. Leaver (Eds.) Routledge Companion to Digital Media and Children (pp.275-284). Routledge.
Fields, D.A., & Grimes, S.M. (2020). Shaping learning online for making and sharing children’s DIY media. In N. Holbert, M. Berland, & Y.B. Kafai (Eds.) Designing Constructionist Futures: The Art, Theory, and Practice of Learning Designs (pp.255-263). The MIT Press.
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Recent Research Reports
Grimes, S.M., Antle, A., Steeves, V., & Coulter, N. (2024). Responsible AI and Children: Insights, Implications, and Best Practices. AI Insights Policy Brief. CIFAR.
Swerdfager, B., Grimes, S.M., McNair, R., & Bui, A. (2024). CAGD Project Report: Year One. Toronto: Kids Play Tech Lab/KMDI.
Bui, A., Grimes, S.M., & Brown, D. (2022). The Media Ratings Project Report: A Cross-Cultural and Cross-Media Comparative Analysis. Toronto, ON: KMDI.