Program Info

From My Space to Hip Hop: New Media In the Everyday Lives of Youth

A MacArthur Foundation/Common Sense Media Forum
Wednesday April 23rd, 2008
Hewlett Teaching Center, Building 200, Stanford University
370 Serra Mall

Featured Panel Participants

5:00- 5:15 Introduction
Julia Stasch, Vice President of the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation will present an overview of MacArthur's $50 million digital media and learning initiative and introduce speakers

5:15 - 6:30 Research Presentations
Researchers from the Kids' Informal Learning with Digital Media project will present case studies from a three-year ethnographic study that seeks to document what young people are doing with new media and online networks, from the perspective of youth themselves. The research has been conducted through a set of 22 distinct case studies that target different online sites, practices, and populations. The complete research study is to be published in summer 2008.

Teen Socialization Practices in Networked Publics
danah boyd, University of California Berkeley
Drawing from interviews of teens across the U.S., boyd will explain how social network sites such as MySpace and Facebook have become an integral part of how youth relate to one another and develop their social identities.

Understanding New Media in the Home
Heather Horst, University of California Berkeley
Looking across a range of case studies, Horst will examine how families of varying backgrounds negotiate the changes and challenges of incorporating new media into everyday family life.

Hip Hop Music and Meaning in the Digital Age
Dilan Mahendran, University of California Berkeley
Based on his study of youth hip hop production in the Bay Area, Mahendran will describe how young people learn, mobilize, and develop meaning through collaborative digital media production.

New Media from a Youth Perspective
Mimi Ito, University of Southern California and Principle Investigator of the Kids' Informal Learning with Digital Media project
Ito will conclude the research presentations with an overview of project cases studies, ending with a discussion of what parents, educators, and technology developers can learn from youth engagement with new media.

6:30-7:30 Panel Discussion
A panel of respondents representing four constituencies - educators, parents, media, and technology leaders - will highlight the implications of the research findings and pose questions to the presenters to stimulate audience conversation

Tim O'Reilly, Founder and CEO O’Reilly Media

Deborah Stipek, Dean, Stanford University School of Education

Linda Burch, Chief Program and Strategy Officer, Common Sense Media

Kenny Miller, EVP & Creative Director MTV Networks Global Digital Media

Moderated by
Connie Yowell, Director of Education MacArthur Foundation

7:30 Reception
An opportunity to converse with a broad group of people interested in digital media and learning. Research team members from all 22 cases involved in the Kids' Informal Learning with Digital Media project will be on hand to discuss their projects in a poster session format.

MacArthur Foundation
The MacArthur Foundation launched its five-year, $50 million digital media and learning initiative in 2006 to help determine how digital technologies are changing the way young people learn, play, socialize, and participate in civic life. Answers are critical to developing educational and other social institutions that can meet the needs of this and future generations. The initiative is both marshaling what is already known about the field and seeding innovation for continued growth.

Common Sense Media
Common Sense Media is the nation's leading non-partisan non-profit organization dedicated to improving the media lives of children and families. Today, hundreds of thousands of parents, educators, and young people will turn to the Common Sense Media Guide for trustworthy information, easy-to-use tools and practical guidance they need to raise a generation of media savvy kids and families. To become a member, please visit us at www.commonsensemedia.org

Stanford University School of Education
The Stanford University School of Education is a leader in groundbreaking, cross-disciplinary research and analysis that help shape educational practice and policy. Internationally distinguished faculty integrate practice and research by working collaboratively with administrators, teachers and policy leaders around the world. The school develops the knowledge, wisdom and imagination of its students to enable them to take leadership positions in efforts to improve the quality of education around the globe.