Living and Learning with New Media: Summary of Findings from the Digital Youth Project
The reading demonstrates how social network sites, online games, video-sharing sites, and gadgets such as iPods and mobile phones have become part of youth culture. The reading demonstrates how social network sites give youth a new platform for communication and extension of friendship and interest. Dunkels (2011) States:
"Social network sites are websites that allows users to create personal profiles to represent themselves and connect with other users-most typically, users who are part of their offline social network. Social network sites members can chat, share media, post blogs, and expand their social networks by connecting with new people. (pg.128.)"
The popularity of participation of social network sites allows youth to take part in constant on-line contact with their fiends via on-line chats and instant messaging. This option gives the chance youth to share their interest which creates a bond between suers and makes meeting new people more exciting and easy. The globalisation of the new media can also act as tool ofexpression within youth. The likes of YouTube and MySpace lets youth express their talent, skills, interest and freedom of speech to a wider audience who may share the same features. Ito (2008) comments: "the more ambitious musicians would use a MySpace music template as away to develop profiles that situated them as musicians rather than a stand teen personal profile. (pg.33)". This shows how social networks have integrated within young people in a way that are able to express who they really.
The reading also looks at how New Media can act as a form of educator. As Ito (2008) States: “the growing availability of information in online spaces has started to transform young people’s attitudes toward the availability and accessibility of information” pg.3. An example the University Of Winchester encourages student to write blogs of each week readings as part of the assessment criteria for the given modules. This is just one of the ways how the internet is introduced to society and submitted as a tool or form of educator. Also by accessing the internet you are able to find a wider set of information from online resources at all time. The internet in a way exploits new opportunities of learning.
The article also states that the New Media is becoming part of youth's culture because of itsintegration and globalisation within them. The fast and growing participation of youth using digital media show how it has become part of youth's everyday living.
References
Dunkels. E & Franber, G.M. & Hallgren C. (2011) Youth Culture and Net Culture: Online Social Practices. Hershey: IGI Global. p.128
Ito, M. & Horst, H. (2008) Living and Learning with New Media; Summary of Finding From DIgital Youth Project. Available: http://learn.winchester.ac.uk/file.php/3205/digitalyouth-WhitePaper.pdf Last Accessed: 27th February 2012
Word Count 470
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