For the last three years, I’ve been a part of a team of researchers
at Berkeley and USC focused on digital youth practices. This project,
funded by the MacArthur Foundation, brought together 28 different
researchers (led by Mimi Ito and my now deceased advisor Peter Lyman)
to examine different aspects of American youth life. As many of you
know, I focused on normative teen practices and the ways in which teens
engaged in networked publics. We are now prepared to share our
findings:
- 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
Already, write-ups of our research have hit the press:
- Teenagers’ Internet Socializing Not a Bad Thing (NY Times)
- Time online teaches kids important skills, study finds (Mercury News)
- … and many more
Needless to say, we’re excited by our research and uber excited by
the coverage that we’re getting. For years, we’ve been finding that
youth do amazingly positive things with the technology that they use.
Yet, during that time, we’ve watched as parents and news media continue
to focus solely on what is negative. We’re hoping that this report will
help adults get a decent sense of what’s going on.
For those who are only familiar with my research, I strongly
encourage you to check out the report to get a better sense of the
context in which I’ve been working. I focus primarily on
“friendship-driven practices” but the “interest-driven practices” that
motivate creative production, gaming, and all sorts of user generated
content are tremendously important. I focus primarily on what happens
when teens “hang out” but there’s also amazing learning moments when
they mess around and geek out with one another.
The book is currently available only in draft form but an updated
print version will be available in the future. In the meantime, enjoy,
and feel free to ask questions!
