Derek E. Baird :: Barking Robot

Trend Watch: People Are Online What They Are Offline--Divided, and Slow to Build Bridges

IN 2007 Danah Boyd heard a white American teenager describe MySpace, the social network, as “like ghetto or whatever.” At the time, Facebook was stealing members from MySpace, but most people thought it was just a fad: teenagers tired of networks, the theory went, just as they tired of shoes.

But after hearing that youngster, Ms Boyd, a social-media researcher at Microsoft Research New England, felt that something more than whimsy might be at work. “Ghetto” in American speech suggests poor, unsophisticated and black. That led to her sad conclusion: in their online life, American teenagers were recreating what they knew from the physical world—separation by class and race.

A generation of digital activists had hoped that the web would connect groups separated in the real world. The internet was supposed to transcend colour, social identity and national borders. But research suggests that the internet is not so radical. People are online what they are offline: divided, and slow to build bridges.

via www.economist.com

Summer Must-Read for Kids? Any Book

Has your child cracked a book this summer?

Although adults often jump at the chance to catch up on their reading during vacations, many children and teenagers, particularly those from low-income families, read few, if any, books during the summer break from school.

But the price for keeping the books closed is a high one. Several studies have documented a “summer slide” in reading skills once school lets out each spring. The decline in reading and spelling skills are greatest among low-income students, who lose the equivalent of about two months of school each summer, according to the National Summer Learning Association, an education advocacy group. And the loss compounds each year.

Now new research offers a surprisingly simple, and affordable, solution to the summer reading slide. In a three-year study, researchers at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, found that simply giving low-income children access to books at spring fairs — and allowing them to choose books that most interested them — had a significant effect on the summer reading gap.

Read more >> well.blogs.nytimes.com

In Google We Trust: Young Adults’ Evaluation of Web Content [Research]

ReadWriteWeb has an interesting piece about a research study, Trust Online: Young Adults’ Evaluation of Web Content, out of Northwestern University which found that the much lauded "digital natives" aren't so savvy and that they may trust Google a little too much.

Sure those digital kids can surf the web and text, but when it comes to web credibility and media literacy, they are lacking the skills necessary to properly vet digital resources.

As readers of this Barking Robot are aware, this is a topic that I've been talking about for some time.

Here's the RWW with a breakdown of the study:

"In Google we trust." That may very well be the motto of today's young online users, a demographic group often dubbed the "digital natives" due their apparent tech-savvy.

Having been born into a world where personal computers were not a revolution, but merely existed alongside air conditioning, microwaves and other appliances, there has been (a perhaps misguided) perception that the young are more digitally in-tune with the ways of the Web than others.

That may not be true, as it turns out. A new study coming out of Northwestern University, discovered that college students have a decided lack of Web savvy, especially when it comes to search engines and the ability to determine the credibility of search results.

Apparently, the students favor search engine rankings above all other factors. The only thing that matters is that something is the top search result, not that it's legit.

During the study, one of the researchers asked a study participant, "What is this website?" Oh, I don't know. The first thing that came up."

That exchange sums up the overall results from this study: many students trusted in rankings above all else. In fact, a quarter of the students, when assign information-seeking tasks, said they chose a website because - and only because - it was the first search result.

Trust Online: Young Adults' Evaluation of Web Content

Houle: Your Kids Are Different and It's Okay!

Futurist David Houle has an interesting series of articles over on Oprah.com that explore the world of Millennials and the challenges of raising kids in the digital age.

The thing that I really like about Houle's column is that he takes a rational and, unlike so many other guru's, non-alarmist approach to the subject.

There are so many fear based stories out there about kids, digital technology and social media, so it's refreshing to see such a balanced approach on the subject.

The one area where I disagree slightly with Houle is his use of the term "digital natives." I'm sure from his perspective and based on his conversations with CEO's and other corporate types, that Millennials in the workplace, compared to their older colleagues, appear to be super digital, technology gifted whiz kids.

Coined by author Marc Prensky in 2001, the phrase has its usefulness in helping us adults grasp the major media shift we're experiencing and embrace young people's openness to it.

But two leading new-media thinkers – Sonia Livingstone of the London School of Economics and Henry Jenkins at the University of Southern California – both have concerns about the phrase becoming too definitive.

Sure kids can work an iPod or update their status on Facebook, but what about using technology in an authentic, useful context? But when it comes to using technology in a situated context to complete a task, navigating privacy settings and all around digital literacy, or using technology at school kids still come up a bit short. 

Over the last decade there has been lots of talk, in both the press and educational circles, about the technological prowess of digital natives. We've heard a lot about what's exciting in educational technology, but the reality is that teachers still see a lot of kids struggling to use technology.

In the end, what's important here, and I'm sure Mr. Houle would agree, is to take a balanced position when it comes to kids and technology. As a parent or teacher, don't be afraid to jump into the technology and social media pool and get your feet wet. Use this as an opportunity to spend time with your kids and  learn more about how they are using technology, mobile phones and social media in their lives.

Most importantly, don't panic! As a wise man once said, 'your kids are different...and it's okay!'

Image Credit: www.oprah.com

Research: Adolescent Peer Relationships and Behavior Problems Predict Young Adults’ Communication on Social Networking Websites

This University of Virginia study (Mikami, Szwedo, Allen, Evans, and Hare, 2009) examined online communication on social networking web pages in a longitudinal sample of 92 youths (39 male, 53 female). Participants’ social and behavioral adjustment was assessed when they were ages 13–14 years and again at ages 20 –22 years.

At ages 20 –22 years, participants’ social networking website use and indicators of friendship quality on their web pages were coded by observers. Results suggested that youths who had been better adjusted at ages 13–14 years were more likely to be using social networking web pages at ages 20 –22 years, after statistically controlling for age, gender, ethnicity, and parental income. Young Adults Communication on Social Networking Websites

Overall, youths’ patterns of peer relationships, friendship quality, and behavioral adjustment at ages 13–14 years and at ages 20 –22 years predicted similar qualities of interaction and problem behavior on their social networking websites at ages 20 –22 years.

Findings are consistent with developmental theory asserting that youths display cross-situational continuity in their social behaviors and suggest that the conceptualization of continuity may be extended into the online domain.

Trend Watch: Those Digital Natives? Not So Savvy.

via www.economist.com

"THEY are variously known as the Net Generation, Millennials, Generation Y or Digital Natives. But whatever you call this group of young people—roughly, those born between 1980 and 2000—there is a widespread consensus among educators, marketers and policymakers that digital technologies have given rise to a new generation of students, consumers, and citizens who see the world in a different way. Growing up with the internet, it is argued, has transformed their approach to education, work and politics.

But does it really make sense to generalise about a whole generation in this way? Not everyone thinks it does. “This is essentially a wrong-headed argument that assumes that our kids have some special path to the witchcraft of ‘digital awareness’ and that they understand something that we, teachers, don’t—and we have to catch up with them,” says Siva Vaidhyanathan, who teaches media studies at University of Virginia.

Michael Wesch, who pioneered the use of new media in his cultural anthropology classes at Kansas State University, is also skeptical, saying that many of his incoming students have only a superficial familiarity with the digital tools that they use regularly, especially when it comes to the tools’ social and political potential.

Only a small fraction of students may count as true digital natives, in other words. The rest are no better or worse at using technology than the rest of the population." |  Read More >>

Related: The Myth of the Digital Native

The Myth of the Digital Native

“If we over-estimate their skills we underestimate the support they need and misunderstand their practices.” – Dr. Sonia Livingstone

Over the last decade there has been lots of talk, in both the press and educational circles, about the technological prowess of "digital natives." We've heard a lot about what's exciting in educational technology, but the reality is that teachers still see a lot of kids struggling to use technology.

Sonia Livingstone 2010 Digital Media and Learning Conference Keynote

During her keynote at DML 2010, Dr. Sonia Livingstone (London School of Economics) shared the following examples from her research and interviews with both parents and kids on the difficulties "digital natives" face using technology:

• Example: Going to a Web site–can take a half hour, involve parents & most give up.

• Example: Parents thought their child was very savvy, but something about the style of her use didn't reveal her struggles. "Megan" is confident, but one can observe her many struggles while she uses technology.

• Example: 17-year-old, quoted: "With books it's a lot easier to research. I can't really use the internet for studying." Another, "Every time I try to look for something, I can never find it. It keeps coming up with things that are completely irrelevant."

• Example: Teens often didn't know how to change their privacy settings, unsure about what to click to manage this task. (Nervousness about unintended consequences: stranger danger, parental anxiety, viruses, crashed computers, unwanted advertising, etc.)

When it comes to youth and digital media we tend to be conservative in the type of content we give young people and far more aggressive when approaching them with digital media tools.

It’s important to remember that just because we include digital media doesn’t mean youth know how to make meaning or engage with these technologies.

Seven Actionable Marketing Trends

Expanded Version - Seven Actionable Marketing Trends

View more documents from Helge Tennø.

A Behavior Model for Persuasive Design

A Behavior Model for Persuasive Design | Dr. BJ Fogg | Persuasive Technology Lab | Stanford University

How People Use Twitter at Conferences

A group of scholars, Wolfgang Reinhardt, Martin Ebner, Guner Beham & Cristina Costa, have written a very interesting case study titled How People are using Twitter During Conferences.

Overall, the paper is deeply rooted in social psychology and learning theory. I'm sure that many of the findings could be transferred into an educational, corporate, or any other type of community of practice.

The paper contains an overview of web 2.0, micro-blogging and focuses on "how Twitter can enhance the knowledge of a given group or community by micro-connecting a diverse online audience."

Here are some of the key points and survey results:

• At Conferences Twitter Serves Three Primary Functions: Organizational Enhancement, Effective Sharing of Information, and Easier to build a conference community.

• Microblogging tools like Twitter provide a flexible, inclusive platform for knowledge sharing & discourse

• Twitter should be seen as a new form of communication where "ideas, simple notifications, news, pictures (via TwitPic), links and other information are shared in real time."

• Information Seeker: Observes the Twitter stream but doesn't contribute to the conversation, no active participation. (Note: In educational psychology this concept of "lurking" is widely referred to as Legitimate Peripheral Participation.)

• Information Source: Comprised of those people who contribute knowledge to the Twitter stream.

• Primary goal of micro-blogging is "enhance one's cyberspace presence."

• Twitter as "Mobile 2.0." The mobile nature of Twitter and third party apps are a key factor in why Twitter is a valuable tool for knowledge exchange.

• Hashtags allow users to create a "theme" thereby making it easier to follow the conference and "generate a resource based on that theme."

• Survey Results: 67% reported to have tweeted during the conference, 52% had conversations based on presentations via DM (direct messages).

• Survey Participant Feedback: "In the Twitter back channel we discussed things more deeply than the guy on the stage", "You get to know unexpected things and people", "Twitter gives people a greater sense of community" and "encourages participation."

Related Links

• 2009 YPulse Live Blog & Tweets
• Twitter 101 for Business
• Twitter Handbook for Teachers
• UK Students May Be Required to Master Twitter
• Directory of Learning Professionals on Twitter

Digital Storytelling: Sharing the "We Story"

Somewhere between the turkey, decking the halls, lighting the menorah, and the ushering in of a new year, countless family stories will be told and retold.

Some of the stories you've heard a thousand times. And perhaps this year, some of the stories will be shared for the first time.

Telling the "WE story"

Storytelling is a collaborative, social learning practice that strengthens family and cultural ties while also providing a context for information to be carried forward to future generations. These family stories (folklore, food traditions, and oral histories) are a mirror of where we have been and shape where we are going as families, society, and individuals.

Even things you wouldn't suspect, like cherished family recipes, may exist only in a verbal format. If you don't ask grandma how she makes that incredible pumpkin pie, chances are it could be lost forever.

In his book, The Art of Possibility, Benjamin Zander calls the invisible threads that hold us together "the WE story."

As Zander explains:

"The WE story defines a human being in a specific way: It says we are central selves seeking to contribute, naturally engaged, forever in a dance with each other. It points to relationship rather than to individuals, to communication patterns, gestures, and movement...Like the particle-and-wave nature of light, the WE is both a living entity and a long line of development unfolding.

By telling the WE story, an individual becomes a conduit for this new inclusive entity, wearing its eyes and ears, feeling its heart, thinking its thoughts..."

An Orange for Christmas

A few years ago I asked my grandma why she always put oranges in our Christmas stockings. I mean, we lived in Southern California, so we always had oranges. We had an orange tree in our yard and even if they were out of season, we could always just go to the store and get one.

So it always seemed strange to have that orange stuffed in the top of the stocking. Even stranger, nobody in the family--including her own children--had ever asked her why we always had oranges in our stockings.

My grandma explained to me that as a child growing up in Nebraska, during the Great Depression no less, an orange was an exotic, welcome, and indulgent treat. In the depths of a Great Plains winter, an orange from California or Florida was a reminder that the snow and frigid winds would soon give way to days filled with playing in the sun, tall prairie grass, and climbing her favorite tree.

At that moment, the family ritual was set in stone and the orange in the stocking became a necessary part of our shared Christmas experience. And this year, our first without her, we will put an orange in the Christmas stockings and share the story with my niece and nephew.

Families, History, & Digital Storytelling

GreatSchools.net, in conjunction with Yahoo! Education, have put together an oral history resource guide to help you collect, record, and preserve your family stories. GreatSchools has even compiled a list of interviewing tips and questions to help you get the memories flowing.

There are lots of digital technologies out there to help you save these stories--iPod, wiki, or even the good old tape recorder.

So this holiday, take some time to sit down and preserve some of your family stories. Engage in the dance of the "WE story." It doesn't matter how you preserve these stories, it just matters that you do!

Links

• GreatSchools.net
• Center for Digital Storytelling
• Technology Kills Storytelling (...but wait!)
• Yahoo! Education
• Wes Fryer > Digital Storytelling

Penguin Books: We Tell Stories 6

Penguin Books UK recently launched, We Tell Stories, an ambitious digital reading project aimed squarely at the reading styles of Gen Y students. This is a pretty innovative project and one that I'm sure will engage more than just Gen Y students. Here's the scoop:

"In collaboration with fêted alternate reality game designers Six to Start, Penguin has challenged some of its top authors to create new forms of story - designed specially for the internet.

Over six weeks writers including Booker-shortlisted Mohsin Hamid, popular teen fiction author Kevin Brooks, prize-winning Naomi Alderman and bestselling thriller authors Nicci French will be pushing the envelope and creating tales that take full advantage of the immediacy, connectivity and interactivity that is now possible. These stories could not have been written 200, 20 or even 2 years ago."

There is a lot of talk in education circles about the lack of reading among Gen Y and the population at large. I would argue that the practice of reading is still alive and well, but the way we do it has changed. Reading isn't just confined to a printed book. It can be done via iPhone, iPod or book readers like the Kindle.

However you choose to read, the important thing is to, well, just do it! And if it has been awhile since you cracked open a book, the We Tell Stories program is a great way to rediscover the joy of reading.

Related Resources

• Readius: Pocket eBook
• Barnes & Noble Studio
• Professor Garfield > Reading Ring

The Office: Generational Warfare

“Everything has been figured out, except how to live.” - Jean-Paul Sartre

It's June. A time for graduation and big dreams. But generational conflicts, stemming from the spread of social media into the workplace, have made navigating the office politics just a little more difficult.

And the conflict isn't just between Boomers and Gen Y.

Gen X are still here (do you hear us now?) and they have a message for the newbie Gen Y's ready to climb that career ladder: not so fast. And X'rs are also wondering when the heck are the Boomers going to retire?

Here's the latest round up of articles on the 21st Century workplace:

• Young Employees Quit Jobs due to Blocking Facebook: "What would make you quit your job? Lack of insurance or other benefits? A lengthy and expensive commute? Limited advancement opportunities? No Facebook access?"

• 10 Reasons Why Gen X Are Unhappy at Work: "I’m worried about Generation X and corporations. As far as I can tell, these two have a tentative relationship at best – and are likely headed for some rocky times ahead."

• The "Millennials" Are Coming: 60 Minutes reporter Morley Safer on the New Generation of American Workers.

• 20 Things I Wish I Had Known When Starting Out in Life: I’m nearly 35 years old, and I’ve made my share of mistakes in my life. I’m not a big believer in regrets …however, there are a few things I wish I had known when I was graduating from high school and starting out as an adult in life.

• The Web 2.0 Resume: "The paper résumé may soon go the way of the eight-track tape, Betamax and the manual typewriter (visual aids included for those of you who have never seen any of these things)."

• Move Over, X. Here Come the "Global Teens": "Work hard, play hard, spend hard, live hard. The children of the baby boom — what Douglas Coupland calls "global teens" — have no time for Generation X whining and self-doubt."

Totally Wired: On the Road

Anastasia Goodstein is an award-winning blogger and expert on how American tweens, teens and twentysomethings use technology. She is also the creative genius behind the Ypulse blog and Ypulse Mashup conferences (including the Tween Mashup in NYC this month).

Most recently she is the author of a book about teens and technology called Totally Wired: What Teens and Tweens are Really Doing Online. In her book Anastasia explores what Gen Y is doing on the Internet and with social media and mobile technology. She also delves into issues around cyberbullying, MySpace (and other social networks), as well as how all this technology is impacting schools and educators.

Anasatasia, thanks to the folks over at Proctor & Gamble, is going on a fall book tour. In addition to being incredibly knowledgeable in how teens are using technology, she is also keenly aware of how technology is being (or not) integrated in the classroom to support the burgeoning digital learning styles of today's Gen Y student.

From personal experience, I can tell you that Anastasia is an engaging and interesting speaker who has the ability to explain (in real English, not geek speak!) how teens use technology, as well as the benefits and drawbacks of their total immersion in technology.

If you have the opportunity to hear her speak, please do so! You'll be glad you did.

Related Resources

• Schedule > Totally Wired Book Tour
• Powell's Books > Totally Wired
• Totally Wired Blog
• Proctor & Gamble > Being A Girl
• YPulse Blog
• YPulse Tween Mashup
• YPulse Mashup 07

Teaching on the Web

"Designing Courses and Teaching on the Web: A "How To" Guide to Proven, Innovative Strategies" Dr. Mercedes Fisher

Here is a practical, "how to" book written for new online web instructors. It will also be helpful to course designers, trainers, administrators, or anyone interested in the potential of online learning and training by providing an excellent introduction to the online education arena.

With direct and clear content, this book emphasizes that web-based learning should be active and engaging for students while supporting them in their learning journey.