JGC - Networked Participation Workshop Summary

Hi all,

I'm currently attending a day long workshop set up with the Joan Ganz Cooney Center - the workshop has brought together about 15 experts in social media and networking for kids (lots of professors and brainiacs here, I'm feeling like a dork) - I'll post some interesting thoughts on this blog that I think you'll find interesting.


Aim: to better understand ways in which social networking technologies mediate kids (below age 12) socializing and providing opportunities or limitations for participation.

- They found there's not that much research out there for kids under 12.
- What types of platforms, venues and activities are being researched? What are not?
- Need to push debates beyond the same old issues.
- Need to broaden the scope when it comes to who and what we talk about when it comes to kids and social networking.

Starting points for defining social network in this discussion:
- a public or semi public profile within the system
- a list of other users with whom connections are shared eg friends
- the ability to view others list of connections (tempered by new affordances, privacy settings, child-centric design.)
- distinction between 'friendship-driven and interest driven genres of participation which correspond to different genres of youth culture, social network structure etc.

Age
- There was a lot of focus on young adults, teens and tweens.  There's very little data on kids under 12, in particular kids under 9. However recent studies that hav included younger kids identify online social networking activities among children as young as 8 years.   Use among this group varies significantly by age as well as by country, cultural context etc.

Digital Divides
- Issues remain, although inequality must move beyond simple questions of 'access' or 'use' / 'non-use'. Think about what kinds of participation, types of activities and under what conditions.

Broadening Platforms
- include platform systems (eg. LittleBigPlanet, Nintendo 3DS)
- need to think beyond traditional ways of learning. social networking is a key platform.

Discourses
- kids and social networking attracts alot of negative attention.
- must examine risk, controversy.
- What's not being discussed when the discussion is framed in the terms of privacy, copyright, safety?