Storm in a teacup: it's their space!

So, ok ... unlike Serene, I have never had the occasion to blog about the work that I do. However, that occasion has now arisen (I am volunteering to be a Real Time blogger for CHI2006) and I think that it would be a good idea to start putting my thoughts into the blog and maybe even start making my research ideas more explicit and intentional.

Something that has been occupying both my professional and personal attention lately is the tempest in a teacup over the social networking site, MySpace. I know a lot has been written and debated about the issues that have emerged over MySpace. In fact, today's news highlighted the fact that MySpace recently hired a security monitor- who was a former prosecutor from the Justice Dept, and who helped Microsoft in a similar fashion- to develop online child-safety strategies and educational materials about online sexual predation. (Intriguingly it was interesting to find out that MySpace is owned by the conservative Fox media group…) Don't get me wrong, I certainly think that MySpace's actions are certainly warranted given the knee-jerk reactions of the general public and the level of propositioning that is going on in MySpace. However, I think that simply sanitizing MySpace does not help us understand how young people socialize. And in fact, I think that such actions will drive them away from MySpace.

This whole issue about MySpace has got me thinking about the role that online social software plays in the lives of the young people today and the implications that it may have for educators in the future. I think that the general public has very little understanding of what goes on in MySpace. What is perhaps not appreciated is the fact that the online sociality generated by social networking sites like MySpace helps create a layer of relationships that overlay existing personal social networks. Some of you know that I’m currently in the midst of a study on the use of blogs/social tagging system in the classroom. One of the things that emerged during my interviews with the students is that they were very happy to use the system in addition to class work, because it improved the relationships within the classroom. To paraphrase the interviews, because the ideas that were shared online were public, it was as if everyone was given a glimpse into the inner thoughts of everyone else, and this enabled the creation of some level of social empathy of sorts. Everyone not only knew each other better, but also had a better appreciation, and hopefully respect for each other's point of view. I don’t think enough people, especially educators, value the fact that networked technology can add this layer of sociality. A recent article about a law school professor who banned the use of laptops in the classroom simply indicates to me how much work there is to do in this area to create a heightened awareness for the positive uses of these kinds of programs. I think people are blaming the technology without fully understanding it, and instead of overcoming their ignorance, are blindly indicting the program, instead of the use of it, which I think are two different things. In fact, I was appalled to find out that there is yet to be research done on the effects of the use of technology in classroom. We simply don't know what the effects on student learning are when there is the use of laptop computers while class is being conducted?

And I don’t think that educators are the only ones who don’t know enough about these new technologies. Coming back to MySpace, I recently came across a talk that danah boyd presented to AOL staffers. I thought that danah was highly insightful in her identification of the age stratification that is going on with particular kinds of media and websites. She highlighted the fact that there is an age trajectory in terms of the use of these sites. MySpace appeals to younger teens from age 13 upwards; the 16 - 18 year olds aren't well represented, and from 18 onwards they tend to gravitate towards Facebook. This has a lot to do with the financial and physical mobility from age 16 onwards- car culture takes over, and being highly mobile, you don’t need websites like MySpace (or even want to be associated with the young ones). So, my personal take on this age-divide is that it mirrors the socialization patterns that occur when you are growing up. From age 13 onwards, all you want to do is make more friends, 16 – 18, you only want to hang out with your closest buds; and from 18 onwards - when young people are thrown into the working world or college, socialization becomes important again, but of a different nature. I think that danah's talk gives focus to a larger issue of the lack of knowledge of the parents, media and schools about where and how young people socialize. Perhaps things have changed such that the way young people socialize no longer fit prior conceptions? And perhaps parents- and the general public- shouldn't be blaming MySpace but try to get to know their children better.