Being Young, Being Digital

[Filipe Correia]

Nome: Being Young, Being Digital: some observations on young people's
new media behaviours
Datas: 20 de Junho 2008
Local: FEUP, Porto
URL: http://www.fe.up.pt/si/noticias_geral.ver_noticia?P_NR=8107

Conferência intitulada "Being Young, Being Digital: some observations
on young people's new media behaviours", proferida pelo professor
Craig Watkins. A entrada é livre.


Sinopse:

From the moment new communication technologies began to infiltrate
American homes, young people have been among the early explorers and
early adopters of computers and the Internet. Today, teens and young
adults are credited for the ascent of social media platforms like
MySpace, Facebook, and YouTube. The social web has been variously
characterized as empowering, participatory, and communal. Drawing from
original research including survey data and in-depth interviews this
paper considers the consequences of "being digital."

Designed more as a public discussion about the steadily evolving role
of digital media technologies in young people's lives the paper
considers three themes. The first theme offers a present day portrait
of young people's new media behaviors. To what extent has the web and
mobile technologies, especially cell phones, emerged as the preferred
communication platforms in daily American life? Moreover, what is the
impact of the new media's rise on the more than fifty-year hegemony of
television in daily American life? Next, the paper explores what it
means to be a citizen in the digital age. Focusing primarily on issues
like cyberbullying, constant connectivity, and virtual community the
paper offers some insights on the social consequences of digital
media.

Finally, the paper explores how issues of social inequality matter in
any conversation about youth and today's technological environment.
What do young people's use of social network sites like MySpace and
Facebook tell us about the racial and class aspects of social media?