Higher Education New Media Pop Culture Technology Web 2.0

Teens Thrive in Digital Age

Mizuko Ito

In conjunction with our central communications office and the MacArthur Foundation, Mizuko Ito (a faculty member in the area which I serve as Communications Director for) has released the following:

UCI researcher show time spent online is important for young people’s development

Teens who are into texting, gaming and “geeking out” are not wasting their time, according to results from the most extensive U.S. study on young people and their use of digital media. Instead, the study shows that when America’s youth go online, they are developing important life skills that adults often are hard-pressed to appreciate.

“There are myths about kids spending time online – that it is dangerous or making them lazy,” said Mizuko Ito, UC Irvine researcher with joint appointments in information and computer science and humanities and lead author on the study. “But we found that spending time online is essential for young people to pick up the social and technical skills they need to be competent citizens in the digital age.”

Released Thursday, Nov. 20, the study suggests that parents should help facilitate their teens’ online participation and that educators could benefit from creative classroom experimentation with digital media.

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Web2.0 Summit: Obama, Prop8, New Media, Green Tech

I would have loved, wait… LOVED to have been able to attend the Web2.0 Summit.  In fact I had an invite to meet someone there, but alas real life got in the way.

Moya Watson gives a great recap on her blog.  Here are some highlights that I enjoyed from the recap:

Web meets the president

“Were it not for the Internet, Obama would not have been elected President,” said Arianna Huffington in Friday’s great panel, The Web and Politics (with John Heilemann, Arianna Huffington, Gavin Newsom, and Joe Trippi). “It wasn’t the age of the candidate that mattered in this election,” she continued, “It was the age of the ideas.”

Web meets (dirty) politics

We’ve just experienced the terrible flipside of “truth into our living rooms,” which is that the Internet can also be used, with devastating effectiveness, to spread attacks and lies into our living rooms. Here are some specific examples from the fight against Proposition 8 — all true:

  • Videos propagated on YouTube in which the official “Yes” campaign equated gays with Hitler
  • No On Prop 8’s Web site attacked by denial-of-service (which we overcame mightily, thanks to our Web techs)
  • Personal attacks from people in the blogosphere throughout open, unmoderated threads (when another side might have had closed threads)
  • Videos propagated by the official “Yes” campaign using children without their parents’ agreement or permission
  • Gay people (and straight alike) getting anti-gay “Yes” ads served on their site because the yes campaign invested heavily in Google AdWords

Web meets TV

“TV is the biggest medium in America that hasn’t been democratized yet,” said @ev. “Twitter changes how people connect with people – if you expand that to a very large user base, it can change culture.” Pointing out that it’s not just social, Evan continued, “it has potential to see aggregate real-time information, like during the election.” Add Current TV to the mix and what happens?

“With Twitter and this broadcast model together, what happens is that you can get alternate viewpoints WHILE they’re being broadcast” -@ev

Green is the new Web

Calling himself a “recovering politician,” Al Gore took stage late at the summit to a standing ovation, saying that the “redeeming quality of the election” was that “all humans are created equal” and that this “would not have been possible without the Internet.”

Web meets the iPhone

AND more…. read the whole blog post and video/photos links here.

Hoping to get to the Web2.0 Expo in the spring.  Anyone wanna’ go with??

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I-Pain

T-Pain (Wikimedia Commons)

I have a migraine tonight.

So to divert the energy of agonizing about the pain, I thought up of new lyrics to T-Pain’s Apple Bottom Jeans:

[Chorus]
I have them Apple, Google stocks [stocks]
Shares with a promise  [With a promise]
Got the Wall Street lookin at her
Stocks hit the floor [Stocks hit the floor]
Next thing you know
Dow got low low low low low low low low

Them banks saying we cants
And bad loans with the straps [With the straps]
Feds turned around and gave the Fannie n’ Freddie a smack [Ayy]
Stocks hit the floor [Stocks hit the floor]
Next thing you know
Dow got low low low low low low low low

[Verse 1:]
I ain’t never seen nuthin that’ll make me low,
This crazy market losin’ my dough
Had a million dollar vibe and a bottle to go
Dem analysts, they stole the show
So miserable, I was once able
Professional, drinkin X and ooo
Hold up wait a minute, do i see what I think I
Whoa
Did I think I seen prices get low
Ain’t the same when it’s up that close
Make it rain, I’m gonna hold
Work the goal, I want the bank roll
Imma say that I prefer them hi stocks
I’m into that, I love portfolios
Stocks once were good for me, I gave Dow more
Cash ain’t a problem, as long as it grows

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PS3

If I blog about the Wii… it’s only appropriate that I give fair web-time to the PS3. So here it is:

Trade your PlayStation 3 and get free Taco Bell for life

The fast food company will trade $12,500 in Taco Bell Bucks for a PlayStation3 and then donate the game console to a Stanton teen center.

The Orange County Register

IRVINE – Taco Bell announced today that it is offering a lifetime of Taco Bell food to the first person who agrees to trade a new PlayStation 3 game console. Taco Bell will then donate the PlayStation 3 to the Stanton teen center of the Boys & Girls Club.

“The PlayStation 3 is on every teen’s holiday wish list,” said Bob Fulmer, Taco Bell Foundation executive director. “That’s why we’re offering one lucky individual tacos for life in exchange for giving Boys & Girls Club teens a gift that will keep them in the game.”

The tacos will be awarded in the form of $12,500 in Taco Bell Bucks, redeemable at participating locations.

Interested PlayStation 3 owners should e-mail their name and phone number to tacobellnews@tacobell.com. The first person to respond, based on the time the e-mail is received, and then send their PlayStation 3 will be awarded the Taco Bell Bucks.

The offer expires at 6 p.m. Dec. 1, Fulmer said.

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Wiiiii…

I think people who line up in front of stores to be the first to have a first generation game console are CRAZY! Unless you’re a professional gamer, is it really worth risking getting sick — or even shot? Good thing this was in the OC, California where it was a balmy 95-degrees today.
Target, Irvine, CA

Frahg took this photo while he, his fiancée and Luxion sat, slept and ate in line for nearly 24 hours.

Although I have to say the new Wii looks pretty cool (I like the bowling game!). If anyone wants to give theirs away, I will gladly accept.

It wasn’t too long ago that PkTwilite and I just got one of these:

FamiCom

Let me draw the supply and demand curve for the recent PS3 and Wii phenomena. Nah, nevermind.

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