Young People And New Media

We can no longer imagine leisure, or the home, without media and communication technologies, and for the most part, we would not want to. Yet as worldwide the television screen in the family home is set to become the site of a multimedia culture integrating telecommunications, broadcasting, computing and video, many questions arise concerning their place in our daily lives. Young People and New Media offers an invaluable up-to-date account of children and young people's changing media environment at the end of the twentieth century. By locating the insights drawn from a major empirical research reported in Young People, New Media within a survey of the burgeoning but fragmented research literature on ne

Computer games, the Internet, and other new communications media are often seen to pose threats and dangers to young people, but they also provide new opportunities for creativity and self-determination. As we start to look beyond the immediate hopes and fears that new technologies often provoke, there is a growing need for in-depth empirical research. Digital Generations presents a range of exciting and challenging new work on children, young people, and new digital media. The book is organized around four key themes: Play and Gaming, The Internet, Identities and Communities Online, and Learning and Education. The book brings together researchers from a range of academic disciplines – including media and cultural studies, anthropology, sociology, psychology and education – and will be of interest to a wide readership of researchers, students, practitioners in digital media, and educators.

Combining a comprehensive literature review with original empirical research on young people's use of new media, this book provides a fresh and in-depth discussion of the increasingly complex relationship between the media and childhood, the family and the home.

For many years now, studies rejecting the idea of a direct causal link between the media and children's behaviour and beliefs, have been generating insights into children's interactions with all kinds of media forms. This book is designed as an accessible introduction to these important research findings, for students of cultural and communication studies, psychology, and education; for professionals working with children and young people, and in the media industry; and for parents. 'Wired Up' comprises separate studies of a wide range of electronic media forms including television, video, computer games and the telephone, and includes coverage of a broad age-range, from pre-school children to adolescents and young adults. It provides insights into such diverse issues as the gendered nature of media consumption, the role of parental regulation and peer groups, and the significance of narrative, realism and morality.

This book examines youth media practices on social media, introducing the concept of connective journalism as a precursor to collective political action.

Examines how young people approach online activities and identifies moral and ethical oversights youth make with regard to privacy, property, and hostile speech, while suggesting ways in which parents can foster positive actions.

Social networking, blogging, vlogging, gaming, instant messaging, downloading music and other content, uploading and sharing their own creative work: these activities made possible by the new digital media are rich with opportunities and risks for young people. This report, part of the GoodPlay Project, undertaken by researchers at Harvard Graduate School of Education's Project Zero, investigates the ethical fault lines of such digital pursuits. The authors argue that five key issues are at stake in the new media: identity, privacy, ownership and authorship, credibility, and participation. Drawing on evidence from informant interviews, emerging scholarship on new media, and theoretical insights from psychology, sociology, political science, and cultural studies, the report explores the ways in which youth may be redefining these concepts as they engage with new digital media. The authors propose a model of "good play" that involves the unique affordances of the new digital media; related technical and new media literacies; cognitive and moral development and values; online and offline peer culture; and ethical supports, including the absence or presence of adult mentors and relevant educational curricula. This proposed model for ethical play sets the stage for the next part of the GoodPlay project, an empirical study that will invite young people to share their stories of engagement with the new digital media. The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation Reports on Digital Media and Learning

Contributors discuss how growing up in a world saturated with digital media affects the development of young people's individual and social identities. As young people today grow up in a world saturated with digital media, how does it affect their sense of self and others? As they define and redefine their identities through engagements with technology, what are the implications for their experiences as learners, citizens, consumers, and family and community members? This addresses the consequences of digital media use for young people's individual and social identities. The contributors explore how young people use digital media to share ideas and creativity and to participate in networks that are small and large, local and global, intimate and anonymous. They look at the emergence of new genres and forms, from SMS and instant messaging to home pages, blogs, and social networking sites. They discuss such topics as “girl power” online, the generational digital divide, young people and mobile communication, and the appeal of the “digital publics” of MySpace, considering whether these media offer young people genuinely new forms of engagement, interaction, and communication. Contributors Angela Booker, danah boyd, Kirsten Drotner, Shelley Goldman, Susan C. Herring, Meghan McDermott, Claudia Mitchell, Gitte Stald, Susannah Stern, Sandra Weber, Rebekah Willett