Daniel makes stuff, and, in his spare time, writes about things like movies, kid culture, and geek stuff.
Are Kids Destined to Grow Up With Tablets?

Fast Company magazine, on Penguin’s recent demo of how they intend to use the iPad for revolutionizing books:

The iPad and its forthcoming tablet competition absolutely have the potential to become indispensable tools for children, replacing books with interactive, connected apps. And in the process, kids become indoctrinated with technology, adopting to new interfaces and developments easily due to early exposure to, well, the iPad Spot the Dog app. This is the way the world is moving, with younger and younger kids learning their way around technology, and the tablet may be the most important gadget category of this generation.

Mar 10, 2010 :: Tagged under: , :: #

Matt Legend Gemmell on iPad Application Design

Once and for all: It’s not just an “oversized iPod touch.”

The essence of the new opportunities on iPad is that this class of device is a natural home not just for the viewers and small utilities we’ve seen on our phones, but also for creators and editors as we see on desktop platforms. Productivity applications, and sophisticated workflows. There are entire genres of applications which haven’t been truly feasible on an iPhone OS device until now; this is an opportunity to literally pioneer a high-profile touch-screen version of those applications.

Gemmell gets a bit technical – he’s writing for app makers, after all – but it strikes me very much that he’s putting the flesh onto the bones of Steven Frank’s earlier, excellent essay about Old World vs. New World computing. Frank lays out a case for how the iPad represents a fresh new ideology of computing, and Gemmell shows us what that ideology looks like, so to speak.

Mar 05, 2010 :: Tagged under: , :: #

"A Souped-up Picture Book"

Thoughts from Christopher Harris on what Apple’s iPad might mean for school libraries and the future of children’s reading.

The critical question for me right now is whether […] children would select a traditional, printed volume or a digitally enriched electronic version. Not what we would select, but what our students would choose. We know children aren’t born with the love and respect we have for print books; consider volumes from your own collection, which young ones have drawn in, gnawed upon, or otherwise destroyed. So why are we often so intent on imposing our preferences on our students?

I’ve been thinking a lot about the Apple iPad since, well, long before it was announced – and the possibilities for how it will revolutionise literacy are immense. More relevantly, I don’t think any of us really know how kids are going to interact with the device, and what it will be like to grow up reading digitally. I’ve taken a few stabs at pondering this future (including in the Talkback for Christopher’s post, and a few unfinished essays about it), but I always stop myself short simply due to the awesome, far-reaching potential.

It’s fascinating to think about, and I don’t think we’re giving near enough prescience to to the quiet revolution that is about to take place.

Mar 02, 2010 :: Tagged under: , , , :: #

"The Internet Will Make You Smarter"

A survey of 895 web users and experts found that more than three-fourths of respondents believe the Internet is improving people’s reading, writing and “the rendering of knowledge.”

Fascinating perspectives here:

[The study] was prompted in part by an August 2008 cover story in the Atlantic Monthly by technology writer Nicholas Carr headlined: “Is Google Making Us Stupid?”

Carr suggested in the article that heavy use of the Web was chipping away at users’ capacity for concentration and deep thinking. Carr, who participated in the survey, told the authors he still agreed with the piece.

“What the ‘Net does is shift the emphasis of our intelligence away from what might be called a meditative or contemplative intelligence and more toward what might be called a utilitarian intelligence,” Carr said in a release accompanying the study. “The price of zipping among lots of bits of information is a loss of depth in our thinking.”

But Craigslist founder Craig Newmark said, “People are already using Google as an adjunct to their own memory.

“For example, I have a hunch about something, need facts to support and Google comes through for me,” he said in the release.

I’m with Craig on this one; being able to pull out my iPhone and do a quick Google search or pull up Wikipedia has profoundly changed the types of information I bother remembering. I don’t remember who said it (ha, case-in-point), but: “It’s not how much information you can remember, but it’s what you do with that information that matters.”

In that sense, the exact opposite of what Carr suggests is true (at least for me): The Internet has actually freed me from worrying about the superfluous to allow me to engage in those “bigger picture” things that do require concentration and deep thinking.

Feb 21, 2010 :: Tagged under: , , , :: #

Turning a School Bus Ride into a Rolling Wi-Fi Zone

The New York Times:

On this chilly morning, as bus No. 92 rolls down a mountain highway just before dawn, high school students are quiet, typing on laptops.

Morning routines have been like this since the fall, when school officials mounted a mobile Internet router to bus No. 92’s sheet-metal frame, enabling students to surf the Web. The students call it the Internet Bus, and what began as a high-tech experiment has had an old-fashioned — and unexpected — result. Wi-Fi access has transformed what was often a boisterous bus ride into a rolling study hall, and behavioral problems have virtually disappeared.

“It’s made a big difference,” said J. J. Johnson, the bus’s driver. “Boys aren’t hitting each other, girls are busy, and there’s not so much jumping around.”

Man, kids these days… why, back in my day, we just had our Gameboys to play with. And, more often than not, they had black and white screens. BLACK AND WHITE SCREENS. Can you imagine the horror?

Feb 12, 2010 :: Tagged under: , , , :: #

A Continuing Conversation About New Media and Education

Part two of a series of posts from Henry Jenkins, about “Learning in a participatory culture.”

Feb 12, 2010 :: Tagged under: , , , :: #

A Conversation About New Media and Education

Part one in a series from Henry Jenkins entitled “Learning in a Participatory Culture.” A must-read for anybody interested in education, technology or how children learn and why they choose to spend so much of their time in front of a computer or playing video games.

Here’s one particular lesson we could all stand to remember:

At the end of the day, it isn’t about the technology. It certainly isn’t about the screen per se. It is about the informational affordances and cultural practices which have taken shape around the computer and other interactive technologies. It isn’t about the computer replacing the book. It is about a world where students learn with a book in one hand and a mouse in the other, rather than one where they are taught that book culture is so fragile it needs to be protected from the computer.

‘Informational affordances’ is an important frame to view technology through – it emphasizes what’s good about technology, and is a refreshing break from the ‘Doom and Gloom’ rhetoric we’re used to. It urges us to think about what technology allows children (and the rest of us) to do that they couldn’t have done before, rather than focusing solely on its own detriments. In short: There’s something that attracts kids to technology, and we would be wise to find out what it is instead of immediately writing it off. We need to consider the sheer, unending wealth of possibilities an Internet-equipped computer has to offer – the unending knowledge of Wikipedia, the direct, global visual communication that YouTube offers, the vast meta-narratives and stories that video games put forth to indulge in – and then compare that to the increasingly restricted mobility kids are given outside, the shocking dearth of compelling outdoor environments and stimulating activities, and the social sanctions we implicitly place against children when they do decide to “hang out” in public spaces. When we think of it like that, it’s no wonder they retreat indoors – they simply get ‘more’ by sitting in front of a computer.

If we truly want kids to play outside more, then we’ll have to consider the obstacles in the way of enjoying the outdoors – and not only work to minimize them, but find ways to turn the outdoors into a space that also offers similar affordances to what children get from technology. Even more preferable than this, we have to think about how technology and the outdoors can complement, and their affordances can be enjoyed in a balanced, holistic way of living.

Henry Jenkins is the first guy I go to to better understand how to do this.

UPDATE: For another perspective, Morgan Leichter-Saxby urges us to consider our own technological habits, in a piece called “Do As I Say, Not As I Do.”

Feb 08, 2010 :: Tagged under: , , :: #

How Will the Apple Tablet Change Our Kids’ Lives?

GeekDad’s resident GeekMom, Jenny Williams – on Apple’s revolutionary new iPad, and what it means for our kids:

The possibilities are really endless, limited only by our imaginations. We shall see how the tablet really affects us, but children will instantly invite this technology into their lives. Watch how they use it, and you’ll learn new areas to develop. Inevitably, children invent new ways to use technology, so pay attention. You might learn something.

I can’t help but think that we’ve gotten one huge step closer to a glorious “Star Trek”-like future – and I’d be so excited to be a kid today, amid all of it. Sure, it can scare us all, and as adults and parents, we might not know how to react to new technologies like this. But as in “Star Trek,” humanity always adapts, and usually ends up the better for it. You just have have some trust in the future – and in our own and our kids’ limitless capacity to boldly meet that future.

Jan 27, 2010 :: Tagged under: , , , , :: #

Parents Spying on Teens' Online Conversations?

A great perspective on the issue from Anastasia Goodstein and the ever-wonderful Henry Jenkins.

Jan 26, 2010 :: Tagged under: , , , :: #

10 Best Things We'll Say to Our Grandkids

A bit of an old piece from Wired Magazine, but I can’t help but be attracted to #3 on this future list of “how things were in the old days”:

3. Televised contests gave cash prizes to whoever could store the most data in their head.

Hopefully in the near future the same thing will be said about education, tests and grades in general (in a past, no-longer-present tense). When our schools are about helping kids learn how to use data, how to aggregate and manipulate it meaningfully – instead of simply memorising it to regurgitate later on a test – that’s the day I’m looking forward to.

Jan 26, 2010 :: Tagged under: , , :: #

Texting Improves Kids' Read Ability

New studies out that again touch on how children’s texting actually helps – not hinders – their ability to read, write and spell regular English:

The proportions of textisms that kids used in their sentence translations was positively linked to verbal reasoning; the more textspeak kids used, the higher their test scores. Another study found a high correlation between spelling scores and the proportions of textisms. And the kids who used the most textisms consisting of abbreviated words (like nite instead of night) or youth-type slang (wanna, gonna, hafta, etc.) were also high scorers on spelling tests.

I mentioned before how I think technology-based communication should actually be thought of as an additional, “dual” language – say, akin to learning a secondary language like Spanish in elementary school, to go along with English. In fact, this study’s authors use similar framework: stating that children “could slip between standard school English when it was required in [standardized English] tests, and casual text language when that was appropriate.”

The best news, though, is that the increased exposure to written language – whatever the platform, including texting – has a greatly positive impact on literacy. So again: Don’t freak about your kid using technology or texting nonstop. It’s a good thing.

Jan 21, 2010 :: Tagged under: , , :: #

Would You Track Your Kid By GPS?

Annnnd… there it is. Geekdad is the one to ask the question. And, really oddly – for the otherwise really cool Geekdad – they’re actually serious when they ask the question, only stopping to consider the costs and potential privacy/“technology falling into the wrong hands” issues. Yet nobody’s asking whether there is a privacy issue for the kid himself? Whatever happened to parents putting a little bit of trust in their kids? Whatever happened to letting our kids be Free Range?

Thankfully, there’s the best comment in the world following the post:

“If I had a teenager, I’d be the proudest dad in the world if my kids figured out how to defeat the device.” – cv0098

UPDATE: Okay, the new best-comment-in-the-world now actually comes from a teenager himself. Here’s what “starwing123” had to say about things:

As a teenager, I must be completely opposed to this idea. Even when I was 9 or 8, I don’t think this would have been necessary. It completely violates a child’s rights. Children and teens get annoyed when our parents call us a lot, let alone track us. If you really can’t trust your kid or neighborhood that much, you really should move or do a better job parenting. […] The best part of childhood is the exhilaration that comes when a parents is not around and you feel free. It also forces children into thinking they cannot fend for themselves. That they cannot take care of themselves. Is that what you want your child to feel like?

Amen to that.

Jan 11, 2010 :: Tagged under: , , :: #

How Young Is Too Young for the Internet?

Rob Frappier responds to a recently posted question by CNN about children and the Internet, and points out that children now live in a political economy dependent on technology and the web; to cut them off from the Internet completely would be foolhardy. Instead, Frappier says a proactive approach of balance is required.

As the internet continues to grow, with social media leading the way, it is vital that we all take steps to make it a safer place through our actions. The current generation of children has a unique opportunity to set the tone for internet discourse over the next half century. If parents and educators take the time to teach them the right way to act, they can help usher in an era of responsibility and accountability online.

(Via Amy Pritchard.)

Nov 12, 2009 :: Tagged under: , , :: #

Texting, Surfing, Studying?

This pretty much sums up the state of adults’ understanding of children and their relationship with the new digital age we live in.

The New York Times:

Parents are digital immigrants, Dr. Christakis said; children are digital natives. “In the 20th century, you worried about a digital divide separating rich from poor,” he said. “That’s narrowed, and the one that’s emerging is separating parents from their children. We’re fairly clueless about the digital world they inhabit.”

Oct 18, 2009 :: Tagged under: , , , , , , , :: #

Walter Cronkite, the News, and the Challenges Facing Youth Today

An intelligent piece by Larry Magid, writing for CNET News about the challenges – as well as blessings – facing online youth today:

There’s something to be said for having access to thousands of media outlets. Unlike those of us who grew up in the 1950s, 60s and 70s, young people who smartly use the Internet to consume news today don’t have to worry about everything being filtered by a small, elite, and typically white male cadre of journalists working for one of only three broadcast networks or one or two local newspapers. And it’s no longer a one-way street. Today’s news consumers can also be producers thanks to blogs, social-networking sites, YouTube, podcasting, and microblogs like Twitter.

But, as I look back at the career of Walter Cronkite, who died last Friday, I also worry that young people are finding it harder to come by trusted sources for news and information. The Internet’s strength as a news resource is also its weakness. We never will nor should return to the days of only a handful of media outlets, but today’s diversified media landscape and especially the Internet, do bring new challenges to consumers of news.

Magid lends a certain healthy awareness of “the way things were” in our past to our collaborative discourse about how they are today and will be in the future; this isn’t one of those “Back in my day” lectures of remorse, but rather a simple, honest examination of how society has changed – especially when it comes to how we get our news –and what the new challenges may be facing those growing up in a digital age.

Without an almost universally respected news anchor to tell us “the way it is,” we have to figure it out for ourselves. It’s not that we don’t have resources—we have more than ever and that’s a good thing. But it does put more pressure on us to think critically about what we see, hear, read, and say.

(Via KidScreen.)

Jul 22, 2009 :: Tagged under: , :: #

Computers in Kids' Homes = Lower Scores?

Duke University professor Jacob Vigdor reaches a perhaps unexpected conclusion about what kind of an impact having a computer present in their home does for children’s academic performance.

Peter Martin, reporting for The Age:

When year three to year eight students in North Carolina take end-of-year tests, they are also asked a number of other questions, including whether they have a PC at home and what they use it for. Using five years of answers to compare the average performance of each student before and after their home acquired a PC, Professor Vigdor found the computer made their results significantly worse in reading and mathematics.

“The bad effects fade somewhat over time, but even after five years they are still negative,” he said.

Vigdor’s explanation is that computers, while offering some new, helpful affordances to children’s studying, also introduce games, email, social networking, and other distractions to kids – that ultimately take their attention off of the homework the computer was originally supposed to help them do.

Not bad in and of itself, no. But the crux of Australia’s concern about all of this – reporter Peter Martin and The Age are both Australian – is that their Prime Minister, Kevin Rudd, has made putting computers in the homes of families with children a centerpiece of his educational policy. And in that sense, based on the kinds of results the Australian government are expecting as a payoff for this investment, maybe helping parents put computers in every home wasn’t such a great plan.

I do have to wonder personally, though, whether this is one of those instances where the world changes far too fast – and education is still struggling to catch up. Vigdor might believe home computers hurt children’s academic performance in school, but are the expectations of what “academic performance” looks like really that accurate – or meaningful at all? And since when are we only concerned about how children do on a test?

Always, I think, we should be looking at things in terms of Affordances vs. Impacts. The home computer might have, as Vigdor finds, a (negative) impact on math and reading scores – but the opportunities it affords children are easily too numerous to list.

Jul 21, 2009 :: Tagged under: , :: #

13-Year-Old Swaps iPod for Walkman for One Week

How would the youth of today respond to the technology of yesteryear? BBC Magazine has a 13-year-old swap his iPod for a Walkman to find out.

Hilarious.

(Via Daring Fireball.)

Jun 29, 2009 :: Tagged under: , :: #