Adolescents have very obviously become a driving force in utilizing new technologies. David defines them as 12-19.
Which methods are successful in getting adolescents to register for online communities? Did this method have any impact on their level of participation? David and colleagues created a community and recruited youth to participate. FieldTrip is a media rich FieldTrip to stimulate teenagers to think about ownership of education. Youth made digital videos to discuss their beliefs and attitudes about education and learning. David's research group hired the same company that edited the Wire to edit video from the youth.
Recruitment started one month prior using snowballing emails (to UMBC faculty and undergrads) and flyers with incentives. Created groups on Facebook and MySpace and posted to related groups also utilized craigslist. Parents wouldn't be aware of what they were producing and everyone was anonymous as no one could disclose personal information. Adolescents were most responsive to joining an online community through authority figure prompted solicitation (they actually went through with registration
Were there higher levels of engagement from peer prompted solicitation? David notes that the level of participation (number of logins, content viewed and postings) wasn't varied at all based on the recruitment method. Qualitative research found the same result.
David suggests utilizing the best recruitment method that fits with your available resources.
http://www.UMBC.edu/fieldtrip
Henry Mainsah "Ethnic minority youths' expression of identity on a Norwegian social network site"
Henry is looking at how minority youth utilize the Internet in Norway particularly through patterns of self-representation. How do self-authored profiles serve as platforms for reproducing or resisting the main identity narratives that shape the Norwegian multi-cultural space. He finds that people have fragmented and fluid identities online and produce "new ethnicities" particularly among transnational youth
Biip.no is very popular among youth of 15-20 and functions as an SNS in Norwegian. Mainsah has utilized virtual ethonography as he's participated in many SNSes that youth use and has gained an understanding of how these are utilized by youth.
An examination of screen names includes these references:
- Ethnicity/Nationality: Chilena, Afghan Mafia, Cuban Sugar - these reinforce their nation of origin
- Indexing race: Chocolate, Vanilla, Latte, Brown Sugar - reference physical features. In their profile some will write personal narratives and others will write about their ethnicity as collective identity: "Roses are red but LATINOS are everywhere!"
- They also mix language codes, mixing other languages with other slang terms from other languages.
Cultural reproduction through hybridity, creolisation, bricolage. In this case macro-society really shapes how people display themselves online, not necessarily resisting, but often reaffirming normative views
Nadia Kutscher "Worlds Apart? Virtual Spaces of Youth People: The Power of Cultural Capital while using the Internet"
Kutscher is interested in how educational inequality shape participants in Germany.
Attitudes toward Internet use:
- Leisure oriented Internet use
- Information-oriented Internet use (high formal education background, frequent Internet users, focused Internet use, they shop, use wikis, they also often utilize it for Internet)
- Establishing new social networks/relationships (like to chat, register for new sites, often younger)
People surveyed often visited ebay.de and google.de. wikipedia.de never heard of netzcheckers.de lizzynet.de fluter.de. A correlation analysis shows that wikipedia was utilized by mostly formally high educated and Knuddels used by those with a low educational background.
Certain groups will dominate particular sites with views and construct meanings of these spaces/websites. Construction is in flux between website makers and website users, informed by a variety of factors (educational background, targeted audience, actual use of the site), reproduce resource inequalities. Unequal options of mobility can be reconstructed according to the availability of resources. There is a process of social closure which exclude some and make it more exclusive for constituents.
Lynn Schofield Clark "Digital Media and the Generation Gap"
How families utilize digital media to maintain/enhance family ties: Media Rich & Time Poor. How families articulate authority and how teens view attempts of authority in digital media practices.
Lower income families are of course time poor as well, and have more time burdens than gentrified communities: chronic health conditions, extra jobs, etc. The role of digital media is different, but strategies are the same.
Youth people from 1st gen immigrant families - part digital part dream (better futures, "living large"). Want to value culture, but also want to be part of digital environment.
Rise of reflexive parenting - parents need to choose how they parent and how they construct media that reflects that type of parenting. Patterns of authority show that authoritative notions are most effective. What are parental concerns about Digital Media? How do young people interpret that? How do they respond?
Parental concerns:
- Predators
- Porn
- Bad morals
- Abduction
- Lack of experience shapes this
- limited experience shapes this
One child was annoyed with the idea that she would look at porn, knows that her parents trust her. Parents trust her to self-regulate.
Time limited at places where youth were utilizing Internet (family's house, library).
Many believe that abductions are common through the Internet. Youth know that parents believe they don't need to use Internet much, and that they have no real idea what they're doing.
None intentionally restrictive, emphasis on trust; frustrated by what parents were worried about.
Parent strategies relied on others to snoop on children online. Youth will buy their own methods of communication, and deregulate.
Teen strategies: educate parents to gain trust. Rebuffing parents concerns "times are different now." Denigrating and lying: making fun of parent's ignorance of what's going on with the Internet. Just telling parents they've stopped posting pictures when they're concerned, only use it to talk to friends, etc.
Secondary strategies: older siblings will take on parental roles by monitoring use, buying their own technologies and paying the bills (purchasing autonomy).
Gregory Donovon "Whose Safety, Whose Security? Situating Young People in Cyberspace"
Increased surveillance and censorship expands youth's digital footprints and greater mystification of their informational environments.
Young People as Victims:
- To catch a predator
- Access to cyberporn in magazines
- Government advertising as potential drug use, "everyone's space"
- theantidrug.com teaches parents to snoop
- Naive children as a perpetuated narrative which is usually inaccurate
Young People as Charismatic Consumers:
- Informational ideal
- Young people are in themselves marketers
Young People are Criminals:
Filesharing, hackers, copyright infringers
Young people as Actors:
- HR4437 protests organized through new media to bypass authorities (depends on a trusted network)
- Circumventing filters with proxy servers, Peacefire.org
Partcipatory research practices - how can this create an empowered youth citizenry?
- I Spy Surveillence - identify things that were collecting information about them online (looking at cookies, taking pictures of security cameras) reflect on behavioral modifications
- Digital Device Timeline - evocative devices and reflect on how it shaped their identit
- Digital auto-ethnography - bookmarking services, classification of browsing behaviors with reflection
