"Hanging Out, Messing Around, and Geeking Out fills this gap, reporting on an ambitious three-year ethnographic investigation into how young people are living and learning with new media in varied settings-at home, in after school programs, and in online spaces. By focusing on media practices in the everyday contexts of family and peer interaction, the book views the relationship of youth and new media not simply in terms of technology trends but situated within the broader structural conditions of childhood and the negotiations with adults that frame the experience of youth in the United States.
Integrating twenty-three different case studies-which include Harry Potter podcasting, video-game playing, music-sharing, and online romantic breakups-in a unique collaborative authorship style, Hanging Out, Messing Around, and Geeking Out is distinctive for its combination of in-depth description of specific group dynamics with conceptual analysis."
"The sooner educators, especially tech directors and administrators, accept that these things are a permanent part of the educational landscape, the sooner attention will be paid to using them positively and productively."
"Here's an article written in 1944 by Stephan M. Cory (University of Chicago January 1944 edition of Childhood Education). It is a classic satire written in the first person of a seventh grade student discussing his experiences in elementary school.
I think it's a great example of the contrast of learning in rigid formal environments and learning in the context of meaningful problems and authentic tasks. The focus is public education but it's not a stretch to extend to classroom training in the workplace."
"Reading is a foundational skill for 21st-century learners. Guiding learners to become engaged and effective users of ideas and information and to appreciate literature requires that they develop as strategic readers who can comprehend, analyze, and evaluate text in both print and digital formats. Learners must also have opportunities to read for enjoyment as well as for information. School library media specialists are in a critical and unique position to partner with other educators to elevate the reading development of our nation's youth."
One theme at the conference was "one size doesn't fit all." Most kids are actually pretty savvy about keeping themselves safe from serious harm, but others - who are taking big risks - need more serious intervention. Risk prevention specialist Patti Agatston suggested we consider using health prevention models for Internet safety education - basic safety advice for most youth and intense counseling from mental health professionals for the small minority of young people who are taking extraordinary risks both on and offline.
Online safety must be relevant to youth, or we're talking to ourselves. It must accommodate the growing body of research on youth risk and what kids themselves say about how they use digital media, and it must be respectful-of both young people and the new media conditions they're ably exploiting.
If properly developed, it can guide and empower them the rest of their lives. Its other pluses:
# Comes universally pre-installed, free of charge
# Has no socio-economic barriers to "adoption"
# Is automatically customized in micro detail as it's used
# Works at the "operating system" level
# Not only doesn't conflict with, but supports and enhances, all other "applications"
# Improves with use
# Is the No. 1 online-safety tool.