Why Kids use Technology ...
Posted by Ingrid Thomson | 21 Nov, 2008Spotted on my alerts:-
The Digital Youth Project, a MacArthur-funded three year, 22 case study, $3.3 million ethnographic study of what kids are doing online, has wound up and published its results. The project is the largest and most comprehensive study of young peoples' internet use ever undertaken in the US.
According to the posting on BoingBoing: "The conclusions are sane, compassionate, and compelling: in a nutshell, the "serious" stuff we all hope kids will do online (researching papers and so on) are only possible within a framework of "hanging out, messing around and geeking out." That is to say, all the "time-wasting" social stuff kids do online are key to their explorations and education online.
The reports (summary, white paper and online book) are available at the Digital Youth Research website.
A 2006 article in the US News & World Report on MySpace and other social networking sites is also a useful and sane read on the topic.