Spotlight MacArthur Foundation

Connie Yowell: In Memory of Peter Lyman

Filed at 5:06 pm on August 6, 2007 in IdentityLeave a comment

We present the next series of blog posts in memory of Peter Lyman, a valued colleague and leader in the field of digital media and learning who died last month. Over the next few weeks, in his honor, we spotlight the work of his colleagues and students at Berkeley and USC working on a large ethnographic study of young people’s informal learning using new media.

As has been noted in several thoughtful and touching posts by danah boyd, Mimi Ito, Henry Jenkins, Peter was a wonderful person, researcher, thinker and friend.

I first met Peter at a meeting we sponsored at the Exploratorium in 2004.  Peter was the one at the table regularly taking pictures, singing the praises of his graduate students and willingly expressing confusion or asking for further clarification of points far too sophisticated for me.  I was immediately touched by his humility and his insightfulness.  He and his graduate students later wrote a literature review for us outlining the critical questions to be explored in an investigation of how digital media may be influencing young people.  The literature review and his presentation to the MacArthur Board of Directors were part of the first critical steps leading to the Foundation’s involvement in Digital Media and Learning.  The new initiative may not have started without Peter.  He was truly extraordinary and we can think of no better way to honor him than to Spotlight the work of his colleagues.

Series Index (please check back as we update this):

Next: Laura Robinson: Information the Wiki Way > >


< < Previous: Greg Trefry: A Shared Learning Process

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Spotlight magazine showcases the projects and people funded by the MacArthur Foundation’s Digital Media and Learning Initiative and covers the intersections of technology and learning.  We go beyond the research to show how digital media is being used in classrooms and programs around the world.

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