Learning with Anne of Green Gables: Educational Perspectives on New Media for Young Girls Children as Content Creators Panel Jason Nolan School of Early Childhood Education Ryerson University

Children as Content Creators Panel

Jason Nolan

School of Early Childhood Education

Ryerson University

Nolan, J. (In Press). “Learning with Anne: Early Childhood Education Looks at New Media for Young Girls.” In Gammel, I. and Lefebvre, B. (Eds.) Anne of Green Gables: New Directions at 100. Toronto: University of Toronto Press. A draft is on your AoIR10 USB stick.

Nolan, J. (In Press). “Learning with Anne: Early Childhood Education Looks at New Media for Young Girls.” In Gammel, I. and Lefebvre, B. (Eds.) Anne of Green Gables: New Directions at 100. Toronto: University of Toronto Press.

A draft is on your AoIR10 USB stick.

L.M. Montgomery’s Anne of Green Gables has sold more than 50 million copies, and has been translated into over 30 languages, and into various forms of online and broadcast media. Anne embodied the model of a self-directed learner who actively engaged with her physical and social environment, making meaning and constructing her own identity and understanding of the world. Montgomery’s characters exemplify both romantic and progressive attitudes towards social relationships and learning that are governed by both imagination and determined self-confidence and continue to be cited as exemplars of both appropriate conduct and subversive practice by fans.

L.M. Montgomery’s Anne of Green Gables has sold more than 50 million copies, and has been translated into over 30 languages, and into various forms of online and broadcast media.

Anne embodied the model of a self-directed learner who actively engaged with her physical and social environment, making meaning and constructing her own identity and understanding of the world.

Montgomery’s characters exemplify both romantic and progressive attitudes towards social relationships and learning that are governed by both imagination and determined self-confidence and continue to be cited as exemplars of both appropriate conduct and subversive practice by fans.

But why are you doing Anne of Green Gables? 1994: “The Electronic Anne: Anne of Green Gables and the Internet.” Ika 1994: Joined Kind_spirits member #10 1998: Island in the Net: Metaphor and Community on the Kindred Spirits E-mail List. CCL . 2007: “Fictions that Changed the World: Anne of Green Gables and Dracula .” Dracula Symposium, Romania. 2008: “Anne of the Undead: changeling child and the uncanny in Avonlea.” ACCUTE Conference

Anne’s on da web! a

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AoGG and Online Communities Kind_spirit since 1994 – fan community LMMontgomery Research Group since 1998 – scholarly community LMM online communities tend to emulate features that follow how LMM constructed community in her novels. LMM was aware of her media persona and constructed her legacy LMM actively solicited fans to get her books made as movies. LMM was multi-media artist: journalism, poetry, novels, life-writing photography, scrapbooks, needlework, etc.

Kind_spirit since 1994 – fan community

LMMontgomery Research Group since 1998 – scholarly community

LMM online communities tend to emulate features that follow how LMM constructed community in her novels.

LMM was aware of her media persona and constructed her legacy

LMM actively solicited fans to get her books made as movies.

LMM was multi-media artist: journalism, poetry, novels, life-writing photography, scrapbooks, needlework, etc.

AoGG: traditional & new media Sullivan Ent’s final commodification & disnification of Anne et al. from Gibson Girl to cartoon

Sullivan Ent’s final commodification & disnification of Anne et al. from Gibson Girl to cartoon

Anne’s Diary • NewMoon Girls • AnneToon Three different online expressions of LMM’s curriculum of community and pedagogy of identity co-construction Lucy Maud Montgomery was a teacher up on progressive learning theory need for identity formation advocate of women-centred community aware of need for subversion for intellectual independence Anne’s Diary, NewMoon Girls & AnneToons commercial new media ventures very different goals and agendas very different opportunities for girls and online informal learning opportunities

Three different online expressions of LMM’s curriculum of community and pedagogy of identity co-construction

Lucy Maud Montgomery

was a teacher

up on progressive learning theory

need for identity formation

advocate of women-centred community

aware of need for subversion for intellectual independence

Anne’s Diary, NewMoon Girls & AnneToons

commercial new media ventures

very different goals and agendas

very different opportunities for girls and online informal learning opportunities

AnneToon.com Disney broadcast media model Transmission model learning Product driven Commodification of lived experience No opportunity for self-expression No opportunity for identity co-construction No opportunity for autonomous community No opportunity for creating a safe social space for children to share and learn together No space for LMM’s narrative

Disney broadcast media model

Transmission model learning

Product driven

Commodification of lived experience

No opportunity for self-expression

No opportunity for identity co-construction

No opportunity for autonomous community

No opportunity for creating a safe social space for children to share and learn together

No space for LMM’s narrative

NewMoon Girls Note: user-generated content, build self-esteem, privacy with women mentoring/monitoring content, women run w/ women prof. advisors

Note: user-generated content, build self-esteem, privacy with women mentoring/monitoring content, women run w/ women prof. advisors

Note: body image, mentoring, science, caring/changing, voice, community, governance. NewMoon Girls

Note: body image, mentoring, science, caring/changing, voice, community, governance.

Anne’s Diary: a dot com-munity

Biometric Anne Keeping kids safe: their fingerprints on our corporate servers. O_o Dolphin Digital Media “creates and manages social networking websites for children utilizing state-of the-art fingerprint identification technology” and has now released Dolphin Secure for the home dolphinsecure.com and the dolphinsurf.com community.

Keeping kids safe: their fingerprints on our corporate servers. O_o

Dolphin Digital Media “creates and manages social networking websites for children utilizing state-of the-art fingerprint identification technology” and has now released Dolphin Secure for the home dolphinsecure.com and the dolphinsurf.com community.

Where the boys aren’t. http://www.annesdiary.com/diary/demos/video/ Keeping daddy’s little girl safe. [ sic ] But where is abuse most likely to occur… at home or online? Welcome to the false sense of security brought to you by the wonders of digital technology!

http://www.annesdiary.com/diary/demos/video/

Keeping daddy’s little girl safe. [ sic ]

But where is abuse most likely to occur… at home or online?

Welcome to the false sense of security brought to you by the wonders of digital technology!

Anne’s Diary Community Locked in a world of their own without windows or doors Isolated by age and gender by technology Modeling outdated notions of gender identity Convent model of learning and socialization Socialized into biometric scanning and surveillance as normal Socialized into seeing community and identity mediated by corporations and male authority figures

Locked in a world of their own without windows or doors

Isolated by age and gender by technology

Modeling outdated notions of gender identity

Convent model of learning and socialization

Socialized into biometric scanning and surveillance as normal

Socialized into seeing community and identity mediated by corporations and male authority figures

Ya, so? What’s your point, Jason? Anne’s Diary is a terrifying vision of the future Annetoons is a product driven environment NewMoon Girls… how close is it to what we really want children to be experiencing online? So, what content are they creating? New project proposal : “Voices from digital natives: informal learning and sociable media in child and youth cultures” to continue the exploration with Jennifer Jenson, Megan Boler, Alex Bal and Yukari Seko. Any questions? [email_address]

Anne’s Diary is a terrifying vision of the future

Annetoons is a product driven environment

NewMoon Girls… how close is it to what we really want children to be experiencing online?

So, what content are they creating?

New project proposal : “Voices from digital natives: informal learning and sociable media in child and youth cultures” to continue the exploration with Jennifer Jenson, Megan Boler, Alex Bal and Yukari Seko.

Any questions?