Hanging Out, Messing Around and Geeking Out, by Mizyko Ito and others

Chapter	Topics
1 Media Ecologies	Genre of Participation: Hanging Out – activities include keeping in touch, listening to music, contacting friends, texting, not productive   Messing Around – More intense; looking for information, “fortuitous searching;” learning through trial and error (no concern about mistakes); need access and time Common activities to reading – making, adjusting and confirming predictions also  predictions about how to navigate text on line   Geeking Out – Very intense, often on one subject; require high level of specialized knowledge; willingness to bend or break social and technological rules; requires time, access, resources and ability to connect with community of experts
2 Friendship	New media is important to develop and maintain friends Similar to the 1980s malls 1950s were start of the separate teen culture With new media, teens can extend status negotiations as well as drama when away from school On-line and in-person considered the same Usually do not connect with new people through new media – mostly used to communicate with current friends. One new aspect – forced and public announcements of social connections
3 Intimacy	Dating is less formal than in the 1970s and 1980s Pairs are in constant contact with each other Status is public – both when become connected and when break-up
4 Families	Parental concerns: Have lost control – kids too dependent on devices Spend too much time with friends and devices Less fact-to-face interactions   One issue – location of media in home Mom still mostly in charge
5 Gaming	There is little evidence that violent games cause aggression Five genres of gaming: Killing time, solitary Hanging out – social Recreational gaming – more males, more intense, more difficult games Organizing and mobilizing – play in organized groups Augmented game play – expand time to other texts such as cheat sheets, fan sites, also sometimes remake and customize game
6 Creative Production	Learning Development of skills New forms of literacy Peer feedback and evaluation
7 Work	Activities seen as serious and productive work Preparation for future jobs and careers Out-of-school media programs: Form of remedial classwork Vocational training? Lower income students experiences very different from those of higher income and from highly educated families
8 Conclusion	The authors concluded that “Kids’ participation in networked publics suggests some new ways of thinking about the role of public education….what would it mean to think of education as a process of guiding kids’ participation in public life more generally, a public life that includes social, recreational, and civic engagement?”  (page 352-3)

 For discussion:

NOTE:  All page numbers are from hardback edition.

1.            How different is friendship with new media than when you were in school?  Consider the following:

                       ·        Drama

·         Boyfriend/girlfriend connections

·         Breaking-up with significant other

·         Gossip

·         Bullying

2.            Two questions the study sought to answer were:

·         “How are new media being taken up by youth practices and agendas?” (Page 339)

·         “How do these practices change the dynamics of youth-adult negotiations over literacy, learning and authoritative knowledge?”  (Page 339)

What are the answers?

3.            Why do you think the teens choose the names they did when they did not want to use their own name?   For example, AbsoluteDestiny, NubMuffin and orangefizzy.   What name would you choose for yourself?

4.            In chapter 6, Creative Production, there were many positive activities that correspond to what many try to do in  and out of the classroom to enhance learning.   These include out-of-school learning, access to a wide range     of  experts, collaboration, peer-based learning and peer evaluation.   Can we use this interest and motivation in the classroom?

5.            Did the description of everything involved in gaming (page 232) as well as the collaborative effort to kill Tiamat (page 326) change your opinion of “gamers?”

6.            Discuss your reading experience.  Did it give you any insights into your students’ reading?  How would your experience have been different, or how was it different, reading the book as an ebook?