Online Identity

I finished the book Youth Online, and I really enjoyed it. The book talked about the way teenagers interact and develop online and why that doesn't have to be a horrible things. It draws a lot of parallels with the way teenagers act in the offline world in comparison to how they behave online. I was really enraptured with the ideas it presented Some of the things the author talked about really strikes a core in me and a lot of it will help me with my final project.

The book followed a basic chapter by chapter outline that helped the author explain her overall argument. She starts out with an introduction where she talks about a lot of the psychological aspects of being online and other theories in order to give the reader a basic understanding of the tools she is using to argue her point. Then she gives a basic overview of her argument in the second chapter "The Virtual Self" This is where she talks about the stereotypical "being online is like being me without the bad parts." Throughout the next chapter she introduces five young adults that are heavily involved in the online world. She has them tell their stories and uses them throughout the next few chapters as examples of the points in her argument. She touches on Youth participation, identities, literacy, and socialization in her argument for the benefit of children interacting with each other online.

This book discusses the different ways children become "themselves" throughout their teenage years. She explains how they explore their sexuality and display themselves as "who they want to be" by the use of avatars (193). It also talked about the legitimacy of online friendships and the way the children displayed themselves to others. In all, children interacted with each other the same way they would if they had been talking face to face: by trying to show the other their best self. The book also displayed how children are learning leadership skills while being online (185) as well as expressing their creative sides and learning how to connect with others in order to create creative content (130).

I think this book was extremely interesting. I wish there was a little more counterargument throughout, since this would have answered questions I routinely had while reading her argument, but in the conclusion she addresses many of those issues I had and made me comfortable in her answer. I wasn't completely satisfied, but I at least understood why she didn't deeply address the issues of pornography of child predators online. I did find that I was a little disappointed in her focus on girls in the book. As a general rule, she was fair in giving explanations on both male and female interactions online, but during the chapter on avatars she chose to focus on why girls choose certain types of avatars (dominating, sexual, equal) and what that meant. But she didn't explain why the boys might have chosen different avatars or what their motives might have been. Her focus on female sexuality made me sad simply because I would have preferred a more equal discussion. Girls are not the only ones who want to be seen as desirable and boys are experimenting with their sexuality at this stage as well.

As a general rule, I think this book did an excellent job of making its point clear and arguing it fairly. It was refreshing to read something that acknowledged the good things that children learn while interacting online, such as problem solving, management skills, cooperation, friendship, creativity, and mastery over language. While there were times that I wished she addressed a few of the downsides of being online all the time (exercise, pornography exposure, etc,) I think that she did what she could with the time allotted to her and didn't want to get too distracted from her original point. I would definitely recommend this book to anyone who had the desire to learn more about youth online! It was really weird for me when I realized that the book was published in 2007. The children in the book are my age now, which helped me identify with the subjects. I had a similar childhood (with less liberties on the internet) and it made the book that much more personal to me.

Here's my goodreads review if you'd like to hear more about what I had to say about the book! https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/742677240

Chris Anderson's "The Long Tail" Book Review

Here is my Goodread's review of The Long Tail: Why the Future of Business is Selling Less of More by Chris Anderson:

http://www.thelongtail.com/the_long_tail/2006/04/the_cover.html

I read the first edition of this book (yes, I know I said that I'd be reading the second edition, but Amazon messed up my order) and I thought Chris Anderson did an excellent job of explaining what he calls "the new economics of culture and commerce" through his concept of the long tail. Since I have virtually no background in economics, I appreciated Anderson's colloquial language as he explained some of the more difficult concepts. I also appreciated his use of case studies to further illustrate these difficult concepts. From these case studies, it is very clear that Anderson did plenty of research before writing this book, as well as having a good background in economics before writing this book as seen in the analysis he offers after each case study. I also loved how he didn't just focus on today's world, but also looked back at how the long tail was used to influence business models well before the internet was invented.

The chapters are broken up into specific topics which allow the reader to jump around nicely. I chose to read it from cover to cover, which allowed me to see that some concepts are repeated throughout the chapters. By doing this I got a clearer picture of what concepts are most important when doing serious business in niche/long tail subjects.

Overall the book was very well done. This first edition is a bit outdated (it's seven years old), but I think the concepts still apply today. I am hoping to read his latest edition in the near future!

"Grown Up Digital" Book Review

I read "Grown Up Digital: How the Net Generation Is Changing Your World," by Don Tapscott, and here is my Goodreads review of it:

Even though I am part of the Net Generation, I've always been a little cynical when it comes to allow children and youth spend so much time on the internet or playing video games. I've been really fascinated with learning about the benefits that come from doing those things and how people are actually growing when they involve themselves in such activities. 

Grown Up Digital is a very good and informative book, with a clear message that the Net Generation is better than they get credit for. Tapscott incorporates many references to specific videos, articles, and studies that help him address his point. He also provides a lot of statistical data in graphs and study results that really help prove his point, which was great. The only downside to that is that this book came out in 2009 and his large three year research study on the Net Generation began years before that, so it doesn't really show me what is happening right now in the current year. There's no real way to get around that though if you're publishing it into a book. 

I found it very interesting, although difficult to read a lot in one sitting. I needed to break it up. Personally, I felt it was written more for the older generations that look down on the Net Generation, thinking they're lazy or not contributing to society. Personally, I learned a lot of how I am benefitting from the digital age in ways that I didn't realize. 

The beginning few chapters are geared to introduce the reader to the Net Generation and familiarize themselves. It goes through the characteristics, mentality, expectations, and behavior of the Net Gen. Then the following few chapters are spent discussing how and why we should change certain institutions to adapt to the digital age. Personally, this was my favorite section of the whole book. Then the ending chapters focus on how democracy and our government would benefit from the Net Gen, how Net Gen is making the world a better place through volunteering and serving through the internet. The last chapter revisits common questions of concern and stereotype regarding the Net Generation and Tapscott takes time to address each one. 

Tapscott really did his homework when writing this book. He has an answer for every question and provides statistical proof to back up his arguments. I really appreciated this and all of the visual graphs he includes as well that look at the Net Gen globally. 

I recommend this book to anyone. It's a great look into the digital age and how it is affecting youth in ways that will benefit them individually and in turn, benefit society as a whole.

Digital Culture Classroom

I found the neatest article post today while working on my curating and book project. I'm a huge visual learner, so this was fun for me to read through. It's a great visual that displays the healthy and unhealthy directions and outcomes of when children use the internet and technology. It does a great job showing how we can teach our children at a young age, such as preschoolers, to use the internet in healthy ways, based off of what medical experts and psychologists recommend.

While I have been reading through my book, "Grown Up Digital," by Don Tapscott, I really enjoyed the chapter that specifically addresses the net generation as learners and how we should rethink education to adapt to them.

It first references a YouTube video made by Kansas State University to illustrate the challenges students face in the classroom. The chapter's mainly advocating to move from broadcast learning to interactive learning. By doing this, is transitions from "learning about" to "learning to be," and is more collaborative learning instead of individualistic learning. It's a very tailored way of education in order to fit a person and to help a student realize how the content is personally relevant to them and help them learn and create. I thought this was so interesting! As a college student, I can't say that I don't benefit or learn from any class or teacher that doesn't apply interactive learning. I think you learn what you allow yourself to learn.

I read a great article here that came out in June and it reveals the results of a three-year study that shows in a classroom, technology combined with individualized reading instructions result in a higher and better reading proficiency.

I really do agree that education should incorporate more technology and digital methods of creating into the classroom. The digital culture class that I am in right now has been a great proving point for me in understanding how beneficial it is. While the class may not focus primarily on sentence structure or memorizing poems, I have learned so much in this class that I have been able to use to further my career and family goals. Out of all of my classes, it is the one where I feel like I will continue to use what I am learning and to apply it in every aspect of my life and future learning. I think a strong presence of digital culture in a class really does enrich the learning process for students of any age.

The video here focuses on coding, but it's a great example that represents the digital culture as a whole and why and how we can incorporate it into the classroom more:

Curating Digital DIY

Using  Diigo, I have bookmarked many different types of media I have found through Google Blog Search that have helped supplement my reading of Chris Anderson's Makers: A New Industrial Revolution.

Anderson has three key components that make up the Maker Movement and I have curated content to further extend my understanding of the first: Digital DIY.

Digital DIY

In reading a post from Professor Michael MacDonald's blog, it lead me to Mozilla's new platform called Webmaker.

The website is really cool because it advocates, "We're a global community dedicated to teaching digital skills and web literacy. We explore, tinker and create together to build a web that's open and made by everyone."

The whole Digital DIY is focused on remixing content and creating new things and Mozilla's new platform is based on teaching others how to use the web to create.

On this website, I found +Amy Burvall, who is a remix artist that says, "Let’s foster lovely experiences and impromptu creativity on a global scale. Dare to make and share!" I added her on my Google Plus circle and have been looking into a lot of projects she has initiated on Webmaker. 

I also found found that many others are engaging in Digital DIY. The following documentary trailer is sponsored on Kickstarter and has already raised over $30,000. Anderson is featured in the following documentary and its popularity is evident that DIY movement is picking up and it's making some big impacts on the economy as people use available resources to develop ideas.

DIY: The Product of Remix and Copyright

I was reading about remix culture and it was really promoting creativity by using the works of others to create something completely different. At the end of the post, the author posed the question,

"What inspires you, and how will you make something original out of it?"

I thought about that and immediately realized that very concept may be the reason I have been interested in the DIY. The Maker Movement thrives on the desire to share and obviously there is a big controversy regarding the copyright laws involved.

Picture by Dawn Endico

I very much agree with Dr. Burton in his view of the digital world as a sharing-oriented, abundant economy. The maker movement seems to combine the frustration of limiting copyright laws with the idea of remixing content for originality. I'm so excited to keep reading about the impact of the DIY culture and how it combats the issues of copyright and remix.

So to answer his question...

I'm inspired by DIY. It makes me feel good to embody new skills and share the fruits of my labor with others. It makes me want to share what I've created with others. And it makes me feel good to have accomplished something.

The truth is that we really are influenced by everything around us and it's our responsibility to synthesize new, inspiring things from the world around us. The digital world is a constant synthesis of the past and present unifying in a way that reflects our experiences.

We need to be responsible in educating ourselves in copyright law so that we can appropriately use remix culture to express ourselves in a way that everyone can enjoy (insert Dr. Burton's plug for Creative Commons).

Remixing

I was in classes all of Friday afternoon, so unfortunately I couldn't attend the copyright forum, but I am really looking forward to listening to the recording of it. In the mean time, after spending all day researching and studying Copyright laws, I am either more acutely aware.... or more paranoid. This has been a good subject for me to familiarize myself with, because I consider myself to be in the group of people that just use any photo or video that I find online and use to my need.

First and foremost, the one thing that has been very interesting to me is realizing that we are creating all of the time, whether or not we realize we are. While learning about copyrighting, I came across a website that focuses on remixing. I watched every clip on the site - I just found it to be very fascinating to consider. The website is called Everything is a Remix. The author behind it is Kirby Ferguson, a New York filmmaker. In his website he gives a lot of visual examples of songs and movies where a creator/songwriter/filmmaker had borrowed from an earlier product of the same medium without giving credit.

His idea is that we need to just embrace a form of dependent creativity, because we are not inspired from within, but by outside forces and works. I read more of his site and found that he actually gave a TED talk about his idea of nothing being original and the hypocrisy behind copyright lawsuits.

I struggle a little bit with this concept; with brushing aside copyrighting our creations. I think that authors, artists, creators should have the right to protect their own creations. He doesn't explicitly say this, but I got the impression that he just doesn't think intellectual property laws and copyrighting should even be enforced, let alone exist. I do think that IP laws should still exist. If anything, rewritten, but not abolished in their entirety. 

On the other hand, I do think that there is truth to some of what Ferguson is saying. Especially with his idea of how when we want to copy, we're completely justified, but if someone else wants to copy our own work, then we will go at them with full force to ensure they don't. 

The end result: I'm so curious now! Anytime a song has come on in a playlist of mine in iTunes, I begin to consider the possible influences on the song that are not credited, from other artists.

My husband is actually really considering practicing patent law and the whole field of copyright and intellectual property, so this has been interesting for both of us to research together!