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Jon Katz, "The Rights of Children"
Stephanie K. Dalquist
-The point about the lack of differentiation between "underclass" and
middle-class problems is notable, specifically because these differences
are probably overemphasized currently. What evidence was used for this
claim?
-Rational parents presenting their objections to MTV, rap: Would all/most
kids understand the symbolic/political nature about this?
-It'd be great if things like this could be worked out, but it seems that
many decisions that have to be made are not ones that can be made entirely
by and for children, especially when financial and time/responsibility
issues arise. There is still something to be said for life experience.
-How does the reaction of this author/our culture compare to those of
the Babyboomer era he starts off with? And what about the Victorians?
All supposedly find their children to be inferior not different cultures.
What's the difference? Can these comparisons be made?
Anindita Basu
-How can parents be educated to ease their fears about a new medium which
their children understand and use more easily than they do?
-What are some of the developmental ramifications of this new media? Katz
explores the social dimension in much more depth in terms of how parents
and children can forge a new relationship around web culture, but do children
actually develop differently, such as more rapidly, with greater access
to information?
David Spitz
-Katz makes some strong assumptions about the media effects hypothesis,
but, since they are not made explicit, I wonder if we all agree what those
assumptions are. On a related note, he advocates an EFF for kids to provide
"truthful information about violence, pornography and online safety" --
what sort of truthful information is that? Where might he be getting this
information?
Hilarie Claire Tomasiewicz
-"And nobody wants a government...to take on family life as well." nobody?
i disagree. What about the millions of working parents who leave thier
children to the after-school wolves? I would be inclined to say that if
the actions of these parents do in fact reveal indifference, then someone,
quite possibly the government, needs to make sure these kids do not fall
through the cracks.
-How do you make adults realize that "the lives of children are far too
complex to generalize about?" I think that one of the central issues surrounding
the media regulation controversy is the oversight of the complexity of
kids' lives. The needs of children must be correctly identified before
anything constructive can actually be implemented.
Christian Baekkelund
-I love Jon Katz. He beautifully outlines a couple of the larger good
and bad points with regards to kids raised using the Internet. Now, here's
the big question: the latter (the cons) seem to get ALL the attention
from parents, the media, schools, etc....how do we make "adults" see the
pros? How do we convince adults of the newfound spatial orientation skills
for example, and the benefits these provide?
Girim Sung
-Katz argues that children are not being made dumber through television
and emphasizes the rise of SAT scores. But even the author of N-Gen mind
acknowledges that "there is evidence that TV may adversely affect a number
of conditions that are important for creative imagination. . .reflexive
style of thinking...etc." Are children being made dumber or is the research
(methodologies) flawed in some way?
Char DeCroos
-How can culture not at least in one way affect the moral sense of children?
I agree with Katz that underlying social, socioeconomic, and familal themes,
but from our dicussion about media effects it certainly hasn't been disproven
that culture affects children in this manner.
Melanie Wong
-Katz basically blames the parents for not teaching their children good
values, allowing the V-chip to be the parent. Isn't it ironic that Katz
likes the technology and blames the parents, yet if the parents work long
hours to provide their children with computers and other media, this leaves
the parents with less time to interact with their children around the
computer?
Daniel Huecker
-Just as Gillligan's article tries to establish a voice for girls and
ends up narrowly defining girl culture, so too does Katz assume that all
children are digitally oriented. Why does Katz base the need for a new
social contract between adults and kids upon new media technology?
Jennifer Chung
-But subjects disagreeing with a monarch can revolt (difficult as that
may be), and supplant the monarch with either a new ruler or a new government
system. What alternatives do children have for revolting against their
parents? Running away from home? Calling the police? The former is something
I don't think we want kids doing; the latter will only be helpful if the
parents are doing something illegal. (Strangely enough, I'm reminded of
the case several years ago wherein a young boy divorced his parents..
I can't remember the circumstances, though.)
Don Tapscott, "The N-Gen Mind"
Stephanie K. Dalquist
-I don't know about the acceptance of diversity business, but aren't curiousity
and assertiveness/self-reliance rather timeless charcteristics of children,
though sometimes considered mischevious traits, maybe manifesting themselves
differently (especially the assertiveness part). It seems that the kids
going into the haunted house to see what's there is one of the classics.
Anindita Basu
-Is there a rift between the way wired and unwired children think? Does
this cause problems in "the real world?"
-Around what age do these differences in thought become evident and become
very important?
-Are children more adept at handling large quantities of information?
Have they adapted to accomodate what we consider to be information overload?
-Tapscott does not address the importance of physical play. It seems particularly
vital for children to interact on multiple levels and while net play should
be allowed and encouraged, life offline continues.
David Spitz
-Even if today's children are substantially different from parent generations,
as Tapscott claims, how do we know that the computer is causal of that
difference? For example, if children are suspicious of authority, may
that not be just as much a product of, say, post-Nixon political culture
as anything else? To what extent does Tapscott's reverse induction hold
up?
Hilarie Claire Tomasiewicz
-The article talks of kids wanting and finding support opposed to advice
from their peers on the Net. I'm confused as to how they actually differ.
Advice from a peer is fundamentally different than advice from an adult,
but is "advice" termed "support" here merely because it refers to its
peer origin?
Christian Baekkelund
-We've talked a lot about gender in this class so far. Out of curiousity,
why does Tapscott choose to use female pronouns in this paper? Starting
in the "Responsible Child" section: "He or she is a teenager, or close
to it. She meets these critera...", and then female pronouns are continuously
used through the rest of the paper. What is the point/difference Tapscott
is trying to make?
-Also, what about the "Irresponsible Child"? Do they lose their rights?
Obviously adult criminals lose (some of) their rights and go to jail,
but what about irresponsible children that aren't necessarily criminals,
but just maybe, "don't carry her weight at home" for example?
-Finally, Tapscott says that "Children need concrete political power",
but doesn't state how this should happen. What are differing theories/alternatives
in this respect?
Girim Sung
-The author argues against the notion that computers isolate children
and that children are losing social skills. But haven't we said all along
that there is no substitute for face to face interactions? Why is it a
good thing that our children are choosing virtual playmate interaction
over a human one?
Char DeCroos
-I wonder if in Tapscott's model is accurate in the sense that all the
attitudes were facilitated by the internet could instead manifestations
of childhood mapped on to a tool. Aern't children tolerant, curious, and
assertive if given the chance?
Melanie Wong
-I love the computer! It is a great tool for mobilization...but, I so
is war, persecution, mistrust, injustice, etc. Would more people be activists
in the 1960s or be involved with World War II if computers were available
(to the public) then?
Daniel Huecker
-How do the new media technologies produce an N-Gen mind? The author seems
to be attributing far-reaching social changes to the internet, surprising
since most kids do not have any access, and the ones that do have only
had it for a few years at most. Perhaps the internet is a response to,
and not the cause of, social change?
Jennifer Chung
-Does the apearancelessness of the Internet (that is, the "judgment is
based on mind, not looks" theory of how kids interact on the 'Net) cancel
out the alleged influence of physical-attractiveness pressure from, for
instance, supermodels?
Amy Bruckman, "Community Support for Constructionist
Learning"
Stephanie K. Dalquist
-Much of the situational stuff seems supplied by the program. Why not
allow the children to guide the characterization as if writing a story?
Would this fit in with the developmental age group? What about adding
some visuals? They could then create these environments verbally/visually
and interact within them...
-How does this fit in with some of the roleplaying/fantasy/MUD/other games
that have been popular in middle schools for years? (funny - wrote that
before seeing the comment from Uzi's mother) How is MOOSE more scientific
than a MUD?
-Most readings seem to focus on the use of MOOSE for children. I'm glad
to see the adults compared to here. Would this be beneficial in job skills
training, or for the elderly or handicapped? Limitation to children would
be unfortunate for this project...
-Is fear of success with computers also a problem for groups other than
young girls?
Anindita Basu
-What is important for children to learn beyond creation? This seems to
encourage only one type of learning. There is value to taking things apart
and understanding what makes them work, how they work, instead of building
from scratch--more of a deconstructionist learning. MOOSE Crossing works
well for engineers or creators of other sorts. . . what methods could
be used for biologists, for example, who do not create so much as they
observe and analyze to understand underlying processes.
David Spitz
-Katz writes that of all the resources available to kids on the Internet,
the "most significant and potentially political...is one another." What
might be the political potential of the enviroments Bruckman describes?
Hilarie Claire Tomasiewicz
-"Learning from peers is refreshing because it equlaizes the power relationships.
In fact sometimes those relationships are reversible: adults often learn
from kids." This is undoubtedly a source of discomfort for some adults.
How could this adult discomfort be related to the current call for more
prohibitive measures regarding the content/accessibilty of media for children?
Christian Baekkelund
-MOOs and MUDs are out-dated in addition to being purely textual. How
do all the problems described in this paper apply to more modern/graphical
environments? For example, do more simplified user-interfaces result in
less frustration because it is more obvious how to move somewhere or do
something?...or perhaps more frustration, since then people want to be
able to do even more in a limited graphical environment where avatars
look quite static?
Girim Sung
-Are there ever cultural conflicts (i.e. south africa vs midwest US) that
surface in these virtual environments?
Char DeCroos
-Kinda off the wall, but can't MIT ILG's be considered such community
supported constructionist evironments that Bruckman speaks about? They
are certainly given the opportunity to collectively create something meaningful
to them.
Daniel Huecker
-Never having MOO'd or MUD'ed before, it is difficult for me to understand
the experience that the participant has as he or she begins to interact
with and construct in MOOSE crossing. My question is what is being built/constructed?
Is it a social community, a complex system of shared fantasy, a world
with lots of complex and unintuitive rules, a place to talk, a place to
build?
Jennifer Chung
-How likely are children of different ages and genders to actually try
out different personas in electronic form, when no one can call them on
it? (I imagine that trying out describing onesself as being of different
ages isn't so uncommon, but aside from juvenile pranks of the "group of
boys/girls poking fun at a specific person" type, how often do they try
out the other gender?)
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