Global Kids' Digital Media Initiative

The teens in this year's Digital Media Youth Advisory started out the year in force, beginning with a re-write of a survey for the MacArthur volume on civic engagement.

The volume approached Global Kids with their plans to survey teens in MySpace. However, when we saw their questions, we were delighted to run them through the advisory to create a more youth-friendly approach. After a significant re-write, the teens submitted the following questions, which were incorporated into their MySpace page. If you are a member of MySpace, log in and post your own response.

Continue reading "[DMI] Digital Media Youth Advisory Helps Civic Engagement Volume Create MySpace Survey" »

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Essay Winner - Mike L. (audio). This podcasts focuses on an essay winner. The winner is be interviewed and talks about their lives and read excerpts from their essays.

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Essay Winner - Kyle (audio). This podcasts focuses on an essay winner. The winner is be interviewed and talks about their lives and read excerpts from their essays.

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Essay Winner - Stephanie (audio). This podcasts focuses on an essay winner. The winner is be interviewed and talks about their lives and read excerpts from their essays.

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Essay Winner - Mike H. (audio). This podcasts focuses on an essay winner. The winner is be interviewed and talks about their lives and read excerpts from their essays.

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Essay Winner - John (audio). This podcasts focuses on an essay winner. The winner is be interviewed and talks about their lives and read excerpts from their essays.

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Awards Ceremony (video). This podcast presents video from the Global Kids Annual Youth Conference's essay contest award ceremony as well as the simultaneous award ceremony within Second Life.

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Youth Voices (audio). An introduction to Global Kids' Digital Media Essay Contest. This podcast includes audio of the youth evaluating the submitted essays.

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Meet the Teens (audio). This podcast provides an overview of the Digital Media Initiative and an introduction to each of the youth serving on the Digital Media Youth Advisory.

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Here is a very insightful blog entry by Arlene Goldbard, the writer of the Digital Media Essay Contest report, focusing on her generation's exclusion from the new world of digital media.

She writes:

If you don't know these worlds firsthand from a teenager in your household or neighborhood, I urge you to take a tour. I have seen the future, but I cannot enter fully into this strange new world.

Visit her blog to read more.

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The series of winning essays from the Digital Media Essay Contest have been published as THiNK books within Second Life. This method of creating a digital book, originally created by Toneless Tomba, allows you to embed textures onto each page and when read in world it reacts as a normal book would, able to turn pages, etc. There are 14 books in total and they were designed by Rhiannon Chatnoir.

You can pick up copies of the books in the SL Teen grid on the Global Kids sim or within the adult grid at TBA.

For pdf versions of the books, click below.

• Book #1: Thanks, Uncle Ben by Mike L., Belpre, Ohio
• Book #2: From Gutenberg to Gateway by Mike H., Louisville, Kentucky
• Book #3: Digital Media and Me by Stephanie M., Madison, Alabama
• Book #4: Digital Media in My Life by Kyle M., Wheatland, Wyoming
• Book #5: From Legos to the Big Screen by John P., Athens, Georgia
• Book #6: Digital Media through the Monitor of a H4x0r by Chris F., Louisville, Kentucky
• Book #7: Untitled Essay by Dahye H., Brooklyn, New York
• Book #8: Digital Revolution by Rebecca H., Belpre, Ohio
• Book #9: Megabyte of the Teen Scene by Sylvia M., Madison, Alabama
• Book #10: Teenagers and Technology by Kristen M., Madison, Alabama
• Book #11: Untitled Essay by Emmanuel P., Kokomo, Indiana
• Book #12: Digital Media in Education (or “Hey, I’m a Nerd!”) by Alister B., United Kingdom
• Book #13: Inspiration by Nick C., New Hampshire
• Book #14: Why Games Affect My Life by Stuart D., Idaho

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Read the report, which focuses on Global Kids' first Digital Media Essay Contest (DMEC). It identifies and analyzes the key themes that emerged.

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The Second Life Teen-grid produced version of the Metaverse Messenger carried an article in their March 30th issue, entitled "Digital Kids Holds Mixed Reality Awards Show." Within the issue they also republished three of the winning essays written by Second Life teen residents.

To view the pdf of this, click here.

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Tony Walsh, of the blog Clickable Culture, quotes from a number of the winning essays and offers some critiques in his post Teen Tech Tales.

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While there were only 14 winning essays, the majority of the over 130 essays offered some insight into and perspective on the role of digital media amongst today's teens. The following is a collection of some of the best quotes around the topic of Isolation/connectedness.

Continue reading "[DMEC] Essay Quotes: Isolation/connectedness" »

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While there were only 14 winning essays, the majority of the over 130 essays offered some insight into and perspective on the role of digital media amongst today's teens. The following is a collection of some of the best quotes around the topic of Generational Change.

Continue reading "[DMEC] Essay Quotes: Generational Change" »

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While there were only 14 winning essays, the majority of the over 130 essays offered some insight into and perspective on the role of digital media amongst today's teens. The following is a collection of some of the best quotes around the topic of The only constant is change.

Continue reading "[DMEC] Essay Quotes: The only constant is change" »

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While there were only 14 winning essays, the majority of the over 130 essays offered some insight into and perspective on the role of digital media amongst today's teens. The following is a collection of some of the best quotes around the topic of Things learned.

Continue reading "[DMEC] Essay Quotes: Things learned" »

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While there were only 14 winning essays, the majority of the over 130 essays offered some insight into and perspective on the role of digital media amongst today's teens. The following is a collection of some of the best quotes around the topic of Identity.

Continue reading "[DMEC] Essay Quotes: Identity" »

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While there were only 14 winning essays, the majority of the over 130 essays offered some insight into and perspective on the role of digital media amongst today's teens. The following is a collection of some of the best quotes around the topic of Balancing the dangers.

Continue reading "[DMEC] Essay Quotes: Balancing the dangers" »

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While there were only 14 winning essays, the majority of the over 130 essays offered some insight into and perspective on the role of digital media amongst today's teens. The following is a collection of some of the best quotes around the topic of Who makes the rules?.

Continue reading "[DMEC] Essay Quotes: Who makes the rules?" »

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While there were only 14 winning essays, the majority of the over 130 essays offered some insight into and perspective on the role of digital media amongst today's teens. The following is a collection of some of the best quotes around the topic of In/tolerance.

Continue reading "[DMEC] Essay Quotes: In/tolerance" »

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While there were only 14 winning essays, the majority of the over 130 essays offered some insight into and perspective on the role of digital media amongst today's teens. The following is a collection of some of the best quotes around the topic of Digital Media in Schools.

Continue reading "[DMEC] Essay Quotes: Digital Media in Schools" »

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While there were only 14 winning essays, the majority of the over 130 essays offered some insight into and perspective on the role of digital media amongst today's teens. The following is a collection of some of the best quotes around the topic of Legitimacy.

Continue reading "[DMEC] Essay Quotes: Legitimacy" »

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While there were only 14 winning essays, the majority of the over 130 essays offered some insight into and perspective on the role of digital media amongst today's teens. The following is a collection of some of the best quotes around the topic of Empowerment.

Continue reading "[DMEC] Essay Quotes: Empowerment" »

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While there were only 14 winning essays, the majority of the over 130 essays offered some insight into and perspective on the role of digital media amongst today's teens. The following is a collection of some of the best quotes around the topic of Digital Divide & Access.

Continue reading "[DMEC] Essay Quotes: Digital Divide & Access" »

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While there were only 14 winning essays, the majority of the over 130 essays offered some insight into and perspective on the role of digital media amongst today's teens. The following is a collection of some of the best quotes around the topic of Games and Violence.

Continue reading "[DMEC] Essay Quotes: Games and Violence" »

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On March 23^rd, 2006, Global Kids held a youth conference in New York City for over 600 teens and educators. At the conference, we held an awards ceremony to celebrate the winners of our nationwide Digital Media Essay Contest. As part of this ceremony, we featured winners who participated in the contest via an online virtual world called Second Life. At the conference, we had a screen displaying a live feed of teens who were joining us from within Second Life. Simultaneously, we set up a screen within Second Life, so the teens who were gathered there could watch a live broadcast of what was going on at our real world Global Kids conference.

Continue reading "[SL/DMEC] Transcript of the DMEC Award Ceremony on GK Island in Teen Second Life" »

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The 2006 Global Kids Digital Media Essay Contest Winners

Grand Prize Winners
• Thanks, Uncle Ben by Mike L., Belpre, Ohio
• From Gutenberg to Gateway by Mike H., Louisville, Kentucky
• Digital Media and Me by Stephanie M., Madison, Alabama
• Digital Media in My Life by Kyle M., Wheatland, Wyoming
• From Legos to the Big Screen by John P., Athens, Georgia

Continue reading "[DMEC] The List of 2006 Winners" »

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Every generation has a distinguishing characteristic that separates them from all the rest. Beatniks, hippies and grunge rockers all define a specific generation and conjure memories, stereotypes, and images of what a group of people claimed as their own mark in history. I have often wondered how my generation will be remembered and be identified and whether people will even care in 50 years. I’ve spent a lot of time thinking of some common bond that we all share, some new trend or cultural change that we pioneered. I couldn’t think of anything that my generation would be known for, so I popped in my earphones, played a relaxing song on my iPod and Googled the answer while I texted my friend’s cell phone asking if he wanted to go to the new Wi-Fi coffee house to get a raspberry mocha flavored soy latte. That’s when it hit me: my generation will be known for having an abundance of absurd latte flavors!

Continue reading "[DMEC] Grand Prize Essay: Thanks, Uncle Ben" »

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In the year 1041 AD, a remarkable invention changed the way ideas were spread: the printing press was invented by Johannes Gutenberg. Although his invention allowed people to communicate faster than ever before, even Gutenberg could never have imagined the technology that is commonplace in today’s world. Today, almost all the information that humans have gathered over thousands of years is at the tips of my fingers… or those of anyone who cares to use this incredible technology.

My generation, those born in the early 90’s, are the first humans to be so profoundly impacted by today’s new technology. Every day I use the power of digital media for entertainment, schoolwork, and learning. As I type this essay, I use the Internet to find a few words and facts that fit in with my writing. For example, I used Google, a popular search engine, to find the facts about the printing press. All I had to do was go online, type www.google.com in the address bar, and press Go. Then I just typed in “printing press” and Google searched the Internet for every website that contained those words. I then simply had to look at the results of the search to find my information. To me, this was as easy as opening a book and reading; I was raised using this technology. In a typical day, I would estimate that I use digital media for about two or three hours.

Continue reading "[DMEC] Grand Prize Essay: From Gutenberg to Gateway" »

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When it comes to digital media I’m a complete novice. I like to say that I’m technologically inept; it makes me sound educated when I tell people that. Now that I’ve explained my handicap I can talk about digital media.

The only things on the computer that I use are Microsoft Word and the Internet. I just recently got high-speed internet and I feel special because I can be on AIM and the phone at the same time. The problem with AIM and Myspace is that personality and expressions are limited. There are smiley faces, wallpaper, and icons, but those are two-dimensional. There are only so many designs you can choose from and people are so diverse that not everyone can find something that fits them. A real person has many facets. When I speak to someone face to face it is more enjoyable. I use hand gestures and facial expressions to get my point across. I like seeing other people’s reactions. On AIM it’s completely different. A person’s tone of voice can’t be heard and you don’t know if someone’s joking or not when they say something offensive until they say something like “LOL” or “J/K”. AIM “convos” can’t compare to everyday talk.

Continue reading "[DMEC] Grand Prize Essay: Digital Media and Me" »

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America's youngest generation is not destined to become the useless unknowledgeable generation that many media types have predicted it will be. As a person of this generation, I know first hand what the values of my generation are, and I know what is coming in the future. Despite the negative uses for the Internet, there is an equal upside to this communication that gives me great hope and confidence.

The changing ways that kids think have three main points. They have a greater acceptance for diversity, are becoming more curious, and have great self-reliance and assertiveness. If this is truly the way minds are changing, I'm happy to be a part of it. Since there is no way to tell who people are when they're online, people have to be accepted for who they are. We learn to think about what a person says often times without knowing who said it, thus eliminating any possible bias.

Continue reading "[DMEC] Grand Prize Essay: Untitled Essay by Kyle M." »

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Computers have been a part of my life almost since I can remember. Although I didn't know it, I was being introduced to digital media everyday, in many ways. I learned how to use the computer and most of its common uses at the same pace as my parents, but as I got older I began to explore more on my own and learned a lot about what the computer was capable of doing.

The thing I found I enjoyed the most about computers was digital movies. I first got into digital movies when I received Lego Studios for a Christmas present a few of years ago. This was no ordinary Lego set. Steven Spielberg endorsed it. It came with a USB webcam better than most out today and a very slimmed down version of Pinnacle Video Editing Software.

Continue reading "[DMEC] Grand Prize Essay: From Legos to the Big Screen" »

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My mother and father often scold me for disregarding their counsel concerning my media-viewing habits. In a given day, I usually watch two or three Flash animations, a couple of Quicktime videos, and often download a song or two that may have been stuck in my head during school. Through my experience, I know better than to worry about the RIAA cracking down on music pirates. Why shell out fifty dollars on The Lord of the Rings Trilogy when I can leave my computer on for a week and obtain the very same for no cost? My parents should praise my frugality.

Flash animations, probably one of the most common forms of media online, are embedded in web pages and load when the page is accessed. They can contain sound, movement, and can even serve as a cool way of displaying text content. Flash acts as a superb outlet of emotion, whether it is deep and insightful or ruthless and violent. The beauty of Flash is that because the tools with which you create these files are so extensive, the possibilities are infinite. The hideousness of Flash is that the software required to create Flash media files is $700. How are those who aren't extremely affluent intended to gather experience with such a glorious media type?

Continue reading "[DMEC] Winning Essay: Digital Media through the Monitor of a H4x0r" »

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Today I missed my bus for school, so I went to school little late. As I was arriving, I got a phone call from my classmate who said our teacher was absent. So I went to deli, got breakfast and walked to school slowly. In my third period class, my friend Jenny sent me a text message saying. "yo d ms.v isn here wanna go out after 6". As I was replying to her message my English teacher caught me. Thanks to my PDA phone, I turned on the dictionary and said I was looking for some word I didn’t know. My teacher began to complain about the new technology students carry and that they are ruining students.

My teacher is in her early forties, and she said when she was a high school student she didn't have a cellular phone, not even beeper. When she had homework that required research, she had to go to library, and check the entire card catalog to find the book she needed. She didn't have digital cable like we do with hundreds of channel. She didn't have Internet like we do now. The only media that was available in her day were television, radio, and newspaper. "Why do you need all that stuff for?’ she asked. “It's ruining teenagers."

Continue reading "[DMEC] Essay Finalist: Untitled Essay by Dayhe H." »

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Teenagers of “Generation Y” know what they like. They know how to have fun. They know where to find friends. And they know things should be fast. “Generation Y” knows Digital Media.

Not only do these teenagers know it all, but they have it all. They listen to music on their own Walkmans. They watch movies on their own IPODs. They talk on their own cell phones.

Teenagers own the present, will control the future, and have free access to the past. Digital Media has improved the possible and done the impossible. This technology has taken the best and made it even better. Digital Media has shaped “Generation Y” and has revolutionized me.

Continue reading "[DMEC] Essay Finalist: Digital Revolution" »

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I sit down at my desk; wiggle my mouse to get the screen-saver off my over-worked computer. My gaze falls down to the assignment in front of me. I pull up the internet, Google to be exact; click on Myspace which is conveniently located under Favorites. No comments; maybe because it was checked only five minutes ago. I sigh, and stare back at my paper describing this digital essay project trying hard to avoid the pull to see if any of my friends have logged on. I can hear the murmur of the TV; my cell phone beeps. Just another text. Practice has been cancelled.

This is when it hit me: teenagers really don’t realize how much technology we use, the impact it holds on our lives, and how much we could use it to learn. I started interviewing my friends to see how they use technology in their lives.

Continue reading "[DMEC] Essay Finalist: Megabyte of the Teen Scene" »

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For adults, the image of the typical teenager conjures memories of listening to the radio and going to drive-in movies. Times have changed. The typical teenager living in America, including myself, usually distracts himself/herself with a wide variety of technological gadgets and games. These gadgets and games could be educational or leisure related. Maybe it’s an xbox. Maybe it’s an iPod. Maybe it’s a blackberry. Maybe it’s a cell phone. Regardless, technology is the center of an average teenager’s life.

An example of technology that practically every teenager uses is a computer. I use my computer everyday. To put it simply, the computer can be used for almost anything! Because of its versatility, I devote many hours of my life to my computer.

Continue reading "[DMEC] Essay Finalist: Teenagers and Technology" »

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On school days I usually wake up at six o’clock. My morning starts with me turning on my computer and listening to my music while I take a shower and brush my teeth. After that I get dressed watch TV with the volume off while still listening to my music from my computer. When my ride comes I turn off the music I had been listening to all morning, grab my cell phone, my iPod or my PSP and head out the door. When I get into my to school my first period is a Study Hall. My teacher, Mr. Johnson, is very lenient, so he lets the students in Study Hall listen or play with any of their digital devices. During 6th period I have a class called SRP. This class is just like Study Hall, so I usually do the same thing I do in Study Hall. My last period is called TV Productions where the majority of the time in this class is spent using digital media. Either we are filming on a video camera or we are editing on a Power Mac G5 computer.

Continue reading "[DMEC] Essay Finalist: Untitled Essay by Emmanuel P." »

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As you probably guessed from the title, my name's Alister. Over the next few pages, I'm going to be giving a little talk about my life, and how digital media, computers, and the Internet have helped me with my education. Please, try and concentrate, and if you really have to crunch on potato chips, please wait until the end of the talk.

I started out in my secondary education in a school in Wales. It all went fairly OK for a term, apart from the usual boring lessons and the absolutely diabolical canteen food (take one bite out of it and throw the rest away kind of diabolical). Then, as usual, the obligatory bully came along and made life hell for me. I eventually was told, leave or be expelled, so I left the school peacefully. I then was home educated for about 6 to 7 months, with the occasional mathematics lesson from my mother. This didn't go down well though, as I didn't have my own computer at that point, and Internet access was a 56Kbps dial-up effort.

Continue reading "[DMEC] Essay Finalist: Digital Media in Education or "Hey, I'm a Nerd!"" »

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Hiya! I’m nik385 D. I’m going to talk about Teen Second Life, a massive online game where you can interact with friends! I think that Second Life is a great place for kids and adults alike. In Second Life, you can do just about anything or be anything. In Second Life there aren’t very many bullies. There are a lot of gay and bi people, and unlike in real life, they aren’t taunted by jerks and mean people very much. Me and a few friends hold little parties for everyone usually shunned by society, like nerds, gay/bi, disabled, and just about anyone else that feels bad about themselves.

Without Second Life, some people wouldn’t have many friends. It’s not just Second Life that has groups of people, as there are other games such as Runescape, a massive multiplayer role playing game, but there are a lot of mean people there. There is also another thing that separates people on Runescape: character levels. Character levels can cause people to be mean to the 'noobs,' which are new people. On Second Life there aren’t levels to judge your ability. Second Life isn’t about how good you are at doing things. It’s about having fun and being with friends.

There are moderators that work for Linden Lab (the creators of Second Life) named Lindens; they get paid in US cash. Some people don’t like the Lindens but I think Lindens are cool. Nigel Linden is one of my best SL friends. Whenever Nigel is on the Teen Grid (that’s the place where teens go in the game) we try to hang out for a while and make things and script things. Scripting is when you make something do stuff. He has given me lots of stuff. The only reason Lindens may seem 'bad' to some people is because they enforce rules that some people don’t like. I have learned my lesson about having illegal items; I got reported and suspended for a week for having an object of 'mature content'. At first I was really angry because I had been suspended, but then I realized it was my fault for having the object in the first place.

Continue reading "[DMEC] Essay Finalist: Inspiration" »

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My name is Tochareah. I'm 16 years old and I'm writing this essay for Global Kids in the Teen Grid of the virtual world Second Life.

Before I started playing games I was a heavy drug addict. I spent all my money from my job for marijuana. I needed an escape from my family and my friends. I just needed something to just be away. I hung out with the wrong crowd and resorted to drugs that caused anger issues.

I first started gaming when I found Dance Dance Revolution( DDR). I noticed my drug habits decreased as DDR helped me to deal with my anger issues. I played DDR for close to a year and still play it. I found out that games help me. Games are my anti-drug. So I saved up my money to buy a new computer for more games.

Continue reading "[DMEC] Essay Finalist: Why Games Affect My Life" »

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