Stepping Stones

I loved this article that cites Danah Boyd’s (and others) research. She has been a part of a team of researchers at Berkeley and USC that focused on digital youth practices. Danah Boyd focuses on normative teen practices and the ways in which teens engaage in networked publics. So often I hear from teachers and parents about the wasted time on the Internet, it’s a pleasure to hear from researchers who are debunking these stereotypes.

The findings can be viewed and downloaded here:

• Two page summary (pdf)
• White Paper – Living and Learning with New Media: Summary of Findings from the Digital Youth Project (pdf)
• Book – Hanging Out, Messing Around, Geeking Out: Living and Learning with New Media

Teenagers’ Internet Socializing Not a Bad Thing – NYTimes.com

Good news for worried parents: All those hours their teenagers spend socializing on the Internet are not a bad thing, according to a new study by the MacArthur Foundation.

“It may look as though kids are wasting a lot of time hanging out with new media, whether it’s on MySpace or sending instant messages,” said Mizuko Ito, lead researcher on the study, “Living and Learning With New Media.” “But their participation is giving them the technological skills and literacy they need to succeed in the contemporary world. They’re learning how to get along with others, how to manage a public identity, how to create a home page.”

The study, conducted from 2005 to last summer, describes new-media usage but does not measure its effects.

Carried out by researchers at the University of Southern California and University of California, Berkeley, the digital youth project explores how kids use digital media in their everyday lives. Read more