Spotlight on Digital Media And Learning

Josh Fouts: State of Play 5 (It’s a Small World After All)

Just back from Singapore, where he attended the State of Play V conference, Josh Fouts shares his thoughts on global collaboration and giving kids worldwide the freedom to innovate.

Early Days of Competition Draw Crowd

Cathy Davidson and David Theo Goldberg of HASTAC (www.hastac.org) report in on the interest generated by the launch of the Digital Media and Learning Competition last week. The Competition will award $2 million in funding to emerging leaders, communicators, and innovators shaping the field of digital media and learning.

Group Discussion on “Virtual Success”—will you know it when you see it?

Lucy Bernholz hosts a discussion with the funding community on what will philanthropy accomplish in virtual worlds, and how will we know?

This Week’s Theme: Virtual World Events in Chicago and Singapore

The 3rd annual SLCC is in Chicago this week and MacArthur is sponsoring a track on non-profits and philanthropy in order to spark discussion about the use of virtual worlds for the public good.

Matteo Bittanti meets the “Angry Gamer.” Smack-talk ensues.

Or “How I stopped worrying and learned to love Xbox live.” Matteo Bittanti discusses the “Angry Gamer” as staged masculine performance.

Dilan Mahendran: Sound Against Vision in Digital Media

How do we define digital media? Dilan Mahendran asks whether digital sound is being left out of our discussions. Are we conflating digital media and visual media?

Sonja Baumer: Self Production and Social Feedback Through Online Video-Sharing on YouTube

Psychologist Sonja Baumer analyzes how YouTube video production and sharing helps young people gain better self-understanding.

C.J. Pascoe: You Have Another World to Create: Teens and Online Hangouts

How does digital media function as a new space to “hang-out” for contemporary youth? 

Competition Launches: HASTAC calls for applications to new Digital Media and Learning Competition

The MacArthur Foundation is supporting the Digital Media and Learning Competition under the leadership of HASTAC (www.hastac.org).  Designed to support new projects that might not come to the Foundation’s attention through other channels, the Competition is designed to award $2 million in grants to enhance the field of learning enabled or advanced by digital media.

Heather Horst: Coming of Age in Networked Public Culture

How has digital media transformed the ways in which youth navigate their place in the world?

Katynka Martínez: Pacman, MacArthur Park, and El Imigrante

Katynka discusses new Los Angeles narratives created by urban youth. Who would be chasing Pacman if he were navigating the city streets of LA?

Patricia Lange: Youth, Identity, and Online Community

Youth today are increasingly living mediated lives in which video cameras, video production and sharing figure prominently in recording and influencing every day, social encounters between co-located and dispersed youth. By studying the dynamics of such mediated encounters we can learn how youth project social identities and how they attempt to negotiate acceptable forms of participation in online communities.

Laura Robinson: Information the Wiki Way

How much do high school students vary in terms of their digital media evaluation skills when they assess the information on Wikipedia compared to other digital information?