Anna van Someren
Comparative Media Studies
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
projectNML
connect communicate create collaborate
project new media literacies: education in a participatory culture

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is someone like jessica a “digital native”?

is someone like jessica a “digital native”?

“digital natives vs. digital immigrants”
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a problematic metaphor

“digital natives vs. digital immigrants”
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a problematic metaphor

“digital natives vs. digital immigrants”
erases differences between experiences

“digital natives vs. digital immigrants”
overemphasizes & isolates digital technology

“digital natives vs. digital immigrants”
ignores connection between youth and adults

“digital natives vs. digital immigrants”
devalues what adults bring

“digital natives vs. digital immigrants”
devalues what adults bring

our view: three core challenges
“Increasingly, children and young people are divided
into those for whom the internet is an increasingly
rich, diverse, engaging and stimulating resource of
growing importance in their lives and those for whom
it remains a narrow, unengaging, if occasionally useful,
resource of rather less significance.”
- Sonia Livingstone, 2005
the participation gap

our view: three core challenges
≠
the participation gap

our view: three core challenges
the transparency problem

our view: three core challenges
the ethics challenge

multitasking:
the ability to scan one’s environment, shifting
focus as needed to salient details

play: the capacity to experiment with your
surroundings as a form of problem-solving

appropriation: the ability to meaningfully
sample and remix media content

networking: the ability to search for,
synthesize, and disseminate information

collective intelligence: the ability to pool
knowledge and compare notes with others
toward a common goal

collective intelligence: the ability to pool
knowledge and compare notes with others
toward a common goal

collective intelligence: the ability to pool
knowledge and compare notes with others
toward a common goal

performance: the ability to adopt
alternative identities for the purpose of
improvisation and discovery

performance: the ability to adopt
alternative identities for the purpose of
improvisation and discovery

circulations: the ability to shape the flow of media