Growing Up Online: Young People and Digital Technologies

287 Pages·2007·1.581 MB·English

by  Sandra Weber, Shanly Dixon (eds.)

Growing Up Online
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Growing Up Online
Young People and
Digital Technologies
Edited by
Sandra Weber and Shanly Dixon
ISBN 978-0-230-62001-8 ISBN 978-0-230-60701-9 (eBook)
DOI 10.1057/9780230607019
GROWINGUPONLINE
Copyright © Sandra Weber and Shanly Dixon, 2007.
Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1st edition 2007 978-1-4039-7814-1
All rights reserved.
First published in hardcover in 2007 by
PALGRAVE MACMILLAN®
in the United States—a division of St.Martin’s Press LLC,
175 Fifth Avenue,New York,NY 10010.
Where this book is distributed in the UK,Europe and the rest of the world,
this is by Palgrave Macmillan,a division of Macmillan Publishers Limited,
registered in England,company number 785998,of Houndmills,
Basingstoke,Hampshire RG21 6XS.
Palgrave Macmillan is the global academic imprint of the above companies
and has companies and representatives throughout the world.
Palgrave® and Macmillan® are registered trademarks in the United States,
the United Kingdom,Europe and other countries.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available from the
Library of Congress.
A catalogue record of the book is available from the British Library.
Design by Newgen Imaging Systems (P) Ltd.,Chennai,India.
First PALGRAVE MACMILLAN paperback edition:May 2010
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
For my brother Lawrence,
never forgotten, always loved.
For my father Kenneth Dixon,
my first and best teacher.
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Contents
List of Illustrations ix
Acknowledgments xi
About the Contributors xiii
Introduction: Perspectives on Young
People and Technologies 1
Sandra Weber and Shanly Dixon
One Playspaces, Childhood, and Video games 17
Shanly Dixon and Sandra Weber
Two “I’m the One Who Makes the Lego Racers Go”:
Studying Virtual and Actual Play 37
Seth Giddings
Three Girls’ Adoption of New Technologies 51
Sandra Weber, with Julia Weber
Four The Girls’ Room: Negotiating Schoolyard
Friendships Online 69
Kelly Boudreau
Five “I Think We Must be Normal.. .There are
Too Many of Us for This to be Abnormal!!!”: Girls
Creating Identity and Forming Community in
Pro-Ana/Mia Websites 83
Michele Polak
Six Private Writing in Public Spaces: Girls’ Blogs
and Shifting Boundaries 97
Brandi Bell
Seven Consuming Fashion and Producing Meaning
through Online Paper Dolls 115
Rebekah Willett
viii ● Contents
Eight Producing Gender in Digital Interactions:
What Young People Set Out to Achieve
through Computer Game Design 131
Caroline Pelletier
Nine Contexts, Pleasures, and Preferences:
Girls Playing Computer Games 151
Diane Carr
Ten Adolescent Girls’ Expression on Web Home Pages:
Spirited, Somber, and Self-Conscious Sites 161
Susannah R. Stern
Eleven Playing At and With Popular Teen Culture
on “Girl” Websites: The Case of Alice 183
Jacqueline Reid-Walsh
Twelve Girl Culture and Digital Technology
in the Age of AIDS 197
Claudia Mitchell and Jacqueline Reid-Walsh
Thirteen New Girl (and New Boy) at the Internet Café:
Digital Divides/Digital Futures 213
Claudia Mitchell and Grace Sokoya
Fourteen Contested Spaces: Protecting
or Inhibiting Girls Online? 229
Leslie Regan Shade
Fifteen Reviewing Young Peoples’ Engagement
with Technology 249
Sandra Weber and Shanly Dixon
Index 263
List of Illustrations
Table
9.1 Games supplied during the term 154
Figures
7.1 Dani’s paper doll outfit 116
8.1 Kate’s screenshot 135
8.2 Liz’s screenshot 136
8.3 Janet’s screenshot 136
8.4 Jak’s screenshot 137
8.5 Tom’s screenshot 138
8.6 Paul’s screenshot 138
8.7 A screenshot from Simon’s game in player mode 145
8.8 A screenshot from the same game in designer mode 145