Libraries, the new Cupcakes!

© Kim Bolan Cullin, 2010, Teen Spaces 2nd Edition's photostream

Via YPulse and NPR, some thought provoking discussion this week about the growing buzz around libraries, and the surprising idea that libraries might be the "new big pop-culture wave." Or, as NPR put it, libraries are (or at least could very well become) the new cupcake.

I particularly enjoyed YPulse's interview with Kim Bolan Cullin, which links the apparent hype around libraries to a widespread movement to rejuvenate the public library system by better targeting and addressing youth, their needs and culture. Bolan Cullin is the author of the American Library Association's resource guide Teen Spaces: The Step-by-Step Library Makeover. The guide is now in its second edition, and will soon be joined by a companion piece on designing spaces for children. She's been studying design trends and devising solutions for several years now, and in the interview describes how much is changing when it comes to youth/children's services within public libraries across the US. For instance, she explains:

Over the years I’ve seen a huge shift in how libraries are thinking about space allocation and "space equity" for teens. This is happening with building revamps and renovations as well as with new building construction. More and more libraries are planning and designing space for teenagers as a priority rather than an afterthought. This is a huge step and I hope to see it continue. I have also been training people to "zone" their children’s libraries in order to create appropriate space for pre-teens, which is essential to this age group. This topic will be part of my upcoming book on Children’s Spaces so I hope to see more people reaching out to 9 – 12 year olds in the future.

In terms of the kind of ideological shifts Bolan Cullin sees as key drivers of this movement is an important change in the way that youth culture is approached and understood. She describes:

Increasingly there is an understanding that “adults are not teens” and adults cannot assume what is important or relevant to teenagers. [...] Many in the profession are looking at what’s behind [the Harry Potter and Twilight] “phenomenon” and trying to understand the appeal and then incorporating what they’ve learned into how they program for teens and how they make recommendations for materials, whether books or media. As many know, youth interests evolve and change faster than the typical adult can keep up with, but “keeping up with it” is part of a librarian’s job and getting teens involved in the whole process, whether it’s by them educating us, or them helping us plan and/or implement, is the true key to success.

Additionally, the movement appears to be striving for better gender representation - library services & collections for youth have traditionally leaned toward female readers (a quick glance at the YA section of any book store shows a similar trend), and so the incorporation of different genres, graphic novels, comics, manga, videogames and other media are apparently being used to create more gender inclusive spaces.

In terms of what this all looks like when put into practice, Bolan Cullin has compiled a Flickr collection of photos of youth libraries that she finds particularly awesome and well designed (as seen in the example at the top of this post). Although the YPulse article doesn't address it specifically, the discussion also reminds me of the recent news articles on library branches popping up in shopping malls as another way of targeting and adapting to youth culture.

My own perspective on this is definitely biased - having just joined a Faculty of Information, my increased exposure to libraries, library issues and news items was clearly inevitable. But that said, I'm nonetheless convinced that's something's up - I've been seeing library sites and videos popping up everywhere all summer, including some especially awesome things like the I Love Libraries website (and Facebook Group), and this pro-library parody of the Old Spice ad put together by BYU.

Mobile Phones in TV (& YA Lit) Depictions of Pretty Little Teen Girls

©2010 Alloy Entertainment, television still from Pretty Little Liars

So, I've been watching Alloy Entertainment's most recent offering, Pretty Little Liars, and I must say it's every bit the guilty pleasure of Gossip Girl (one of Alloy's other hits) or of early seasons of The O.C. It's very much a soap opera, with its impossible plot lines and coincidences, scandalous-to-disturbing romances, and always impeccably beautiful actresses, etc. It also has the usual insane casting found in most TV high school dramas: the actresses playing the 16-year-old Pretty Little Liars are all in their 20s (with the possible exception of Shay Mitchell), the actor who plays Aria's teacher/secret boyfriend is only 3 years older than the actress (he's 24 and she's 21), Spencer and her "much older" sister are played by actresses aged 25 and 26 respectively...the usual silliness which results in everyone looking the same age (since they actually are) and lets writers blur the lines when it comes to in/appropriate behaviours and relationships. But the show also has some interesting things to say about female friendship, and has enough scary moments, thrills and titillating revelations to keep you (well, me, anyway) watching.

One of the things that struck me was the centrality of mobile phones to the show's story lines, action and the characters' daily lives. As in Gossip Girl (especially the first two seasons), and a bunch of cheesy teen horror movies released over the past few years, plot developments often arrive in the form of texts, which the characters receive and must then react to, which in turn drives much of the action. Interestingly, in both GG and PLL the sender of the texts ("Gossip Girl" and "A") is anonymous and threatening. "Her" texts (for in both cases the anonymous sender is encoded/thought of as female) are a source of emotional pain and strife, and/or a catalyst for altercations, confrontations, and destructive behaviours. At the same time, the power of the texts (and their senders) lies in their capacity to reveal and mobilize "truth". In both cases, Gossip Girl and A are seemingly ubiquitous - all seeing, all knowing - and the threat they pose is their ability to expose the characters' lies. And since both shows depict high school as a world of lies, pretense and performance, the characters often see protecting the lies as critical - the only way to preserve their social status, maintain their relationships, be successful, etc.

©2009 Alloy Entertainment: television still of Gossip Girl, courtesy of Videogum

To further complicate things is an underlying morality tale (often, though not always) that "the truth will set you free" - that the immediate pain of a lie revealed is ultimately worth it, that living with the consequences of the truth will make you a better person, bring you and your friends or family closer together, let you escape from the deceit and illusion of harmful high school hierarchies, and of course let you be your "true" self. In both shows, keeping secrets and telling lies is largely what created the trouble that the characters are now in (got themselves into). In PLL, for example, it's strongly implied that if the girls had simply told the truth last summer (when the events driving the show's plot took place), their mysterious tormentor "A" would have nothing to threaten them with and they could go on living their (albeit imperfect) lives uninterrupted.

What I particularly like about the way the shows, and the books before them, don't just include mobile phones but really explore the technology - to the point of occasionally coming close to critical analysis, very nearly deconstructing the role of mobile phones in youth's, and especially teen girls', lives. Pretty Little Liars depicts the mobile phone as taking precedence anytime it rings, to the point of not only distracting the girls from school or social relationships, but overshadowing major events in the girls' lives (e.g. the funeral in the first episode). And this preeminence of the devices -- or rather of the messages they carry -- is very much felt and noticed by the characters. They're disturbed by it and by what their phones are letting in...they try to block the unknown sender, but that causes even more problems (other people are blocked, the sender retaliates, etc.). But the devices themselves are not vilified - in fact, they are a crucial tool for collaboration, for safety and staying in touch. The girls use the phones to call for help, to warn each other, and to rally together to lend support and assistance. A spectrum of facets/uses of the technology are thus explored. The phone can be a source of threat and bullying, but it is more importantly a persistent link to the group.

The show also offers some context to the communicative function of mobile technology, placing it along a continuum of various methods and tools that can be similarly used to bully and torment. In light of the ongoing public discourse around texting and bullying, which often seems to approach this phenomenon as something totally new and totally the fault of the technology, I think this aspect of the story is particularly valuable. When the girls (temporarily) block "A" from calling their mobiles, s/he moves on to more traditional forms of communication - hand written or hand delivered messages, along with video and photographs (which can be digital or not). But this suddenly makes things a lot scarier and more threatening. The message scrawled on Spencer's bedroom mirror in red lipstick means that "A" was in the house with her. As the messages start appearing in increasingly intimate and immediate contexts, the threat is amplified tenfold, and the threat of physical danger all the more tangible. Suddenly the digital texts, though disruptive, don't seem so bad...at least they held an illusion of distance and containment.

©2010 Alloy Entertainment, television still from Pretty Little Liars, courtesy of The Remote Generation

Note: Alloy Entertainment recently launched a new digital division aimed at producing online cross-platform series, which you can read more about here. Seeing as the company started out as an online community turned book packager, and has been a key player in youth market research -based content development, I suppose it's not all that surprising that they (and the creative types they hire to write their books and other media products) spend enough time thinking about information technologies to generate more interesting treatments of them than is usually found on TV (not to mention other traditional media - the way computers and mobile phones are depicted in movies is often laughable).

(Another) CFP Alert: The Childhoods Conference: Mapping the Landscapes of Childhood

"Childhood Map" ©2009 by Joe Beale at ghost blog

Via the Centre for Research in Young People’s Texts and Cultures (CRYTC) website, another CFP for yet another fantastic looking conference on topics related to children's culture & media studies. This one seeks to explore a wide range of issues that will help map the state of child studies in Canada, as well as examine our ever changing notions & understandings of childhood(s). Here's the description from the conference website:

The landscape of child studies has changed. The Childhoods Conference: Mapping the Landscapes of Childhood is meant to engage scholars and practitioners from a wide variety of academic disciplines and institutions to consider the state of child studies in Canada. Beginning in the last decade of the 20th century, disciplines long dedicated to the study of the child and childhood have been revitalized, while those whose attention to childhood had waned significantly since mid-century are newly engaged with the central problematic of what the child and childhood represents. Figured in the plural, childhoods pose a significant crossroads for theoretical and empirical work on the nature of being human and development broadly construed, and childhood as an experience, as a social category, as an artistic and literary construct, as a category for historical and demographic analysis, as a category of personhood, and as a locus for human rights and policy interventions. Considering childhoods of the past, present and future , scholars will present research results, policy approaches, and theoretical paradigms that are emergent in this re-engagement with the child and childhoods. Bringing together divergent networks of expertise organized around childhoods, this conference offers the opportunity for new research collaborations and the scholarly dissemination of innovative research.

Venue: University of Lethbridge, Lethbridge, Alberta, Canada

Date: Thursday, May 5 - Saturday, May 7, 2011

Conference Format:

* Two days of multidisciplinary scholarly panels on conference themes
* Three separate keynote events
* A film night
* One day of poster and practitioner sessions

Conference themes include: Definitions of Childhood; Indigenous Theories of Childhood; Gender and childhood; Globalization; Technology; Adolescence; Empowerment; Health, Disability, and Risk. Keynote speakers include Dr. Allison James (University of Sheffield, Director of Interdisciplinary Centre of the Social Sciences (ICOSS)) and Dr. Mavis Reimer (University of Winnipeg...as well as the Canada Research Chair in the Culture of Childhood and Director of the CRYTC).

To participate in the conference you'll need to submit a 300-500 word proposal/abstract 300 and 500 words through conference website (see links on left hand side) by October 1, 2010. Multidisciplinary panels are welcome. Graduate students are encouraged to contribute posters on current research (there's even a prize attached).

Impressively, the conference will also include a series of practitioner workshops devoted to the following topics: Digital bullying; Brain development; and Changing family contexts.

Find out more (or submit an abstract) here, or by emailing childhoods [at] uleth.ca.

CFP Alert: Fear & Safety in Children's Literature

© 2009 Laika Entertainment, movie still from Coraline

Via the Exploring Childhood Studies mailing list, CFP for a conference next summer in Australia. It sounds positively awesome!

Fear and Safety in Children's Literature

CALL FOR PAPERS

20th BIENNIAL CONGRESS OF IRSCL 4-8 JULY 2011

QUEENSLAND UNIVERSITY OF TECHNOLOGY, BRISBANE, AUSTRALIA

Children’s literature has always been responsive to the tenor of the times. Texts for children and young adults take up the social, political, and humanistic interests and ideologies of the past and present, as well as speculate about the future. Since the earliest fairy tales, children’s writers have given imaginative interpretation to the darker, riskier side of society, while also offering reassurance, hope, and celebration of the human spirit.

The Congress will address a range of critically important topics, texts, and theories related to the theme of Fear and Safety in Children’s Literature. Confirmed keynote speakers are: Professor Mavis Reimer, Canada Chair in the Culture of Childhood, University of Winnipeg; Professor David Buckingham, Director of the Centre for the Study of Children, Youth and Media, London University (UK); and Professor Gillian Whitlock, University of Queensland (Australia).

Submissions for abstracts open: 19 July 2010.

Closing date: November 1, 2010.

Please visit the Congress website for details: http://irscl2011.com/

A Girl Story's "Pay-Per-View" Donations

© 2010 Mahindra Foundation

Via Kidscreen, news today about a fundraising initiative that uses the serial or "pay-per-chapter" model to raise money for girls' education in India. The campaign, called A Girl Story, ties access to a new web-based film series, presented in segments, with user donations. The idea is the result of a collaboration between Nanhi Kali ("For the Girl Child," part of Mahindra Foundation, a global NGO based out of Mumbai) and StrawberryFrog (a self-described "cultural movement agency," but really just a marketing/ad company), who are hoping that viewers will become sufficiently invested in the series that they will continue to donate the money required to keep the series alive. The first installment is free (naturally) and was launched about 3 weeks ago. After that, however, each new chapter or segment will only be added once (and if) viewers have pooled together $1000. A total of eleven segments are currently either in development or ready for broadcast, and viewers are reportedly already close to reaching the first $1K target needed to open the next paid-for segment. I was a bit confused about whether or not this is will be the first paid-for segment opened (and first $1K raised), as there are currently 4 segments available on the website, at the end of which a message appears stating (in the main character Tali's "voice") "I can only get so far if you don't give. Please donate", along with a bar graph indicating that the total raised is at $891/$1000.

Seems promising as a fundraising initiative, particularly since it already claims to be on target despite the fact that it hasn't received much press coverage until this week. The series (and website) itself is very stylish - animated in a sort of DIY aesthetic with basic sitar music (no talking so far). It features a simple but devastating story of Tali, who has to stay home and do housework while her brother gets to go to school and read (as depicted in the screenshot above). It also features some very clever use of Youtube technology, which lines up perfectly with the animated content.

However, to call this project the first donation-based "film series" is pretty far fetched. The segments are very short - the Intro (which could also function as a stand alone ad for the website) is about 30 seconds, while the first 4 "segments" are 14-20 seconds each. As a whole, it felt a lot more like watching a very pretty advertisement than anything like a film, and I'm skeptical that the segments will really be able to "hook" viewers to the point of paying the see the next one. That said, the creativity of the ad, along with the worthiness of the cause, will likely inspire some (perhaps many) to make a donation. Which, at the end of the day, is the point, so kudos should definitely go to A Girl Story as an innovative ad strategy. I just wish the PR around this campaign was more honest about its contents. I cringe at the thought of advertisements becoming pay-per-view content...no matter how pretty or prosocial they might be.

You can read more about it on this post by Brenna Ehrlich over at Mashable, which includes some statements made by StrawberryFrog representatives that give a better sense of their strategy here, such as:

“As far as we know, this is the first donation-based film series,” says Britta Shell, account manager at StrawberryFrog. “It brings users into the donation process.” Basically, if people stop donating, the story stops as well, paralleling what happens to real-life girls when they’re not given enough money to gain an education. “You can really make a emotional connection to the donation,” adds Kris Seto, interactive producer at StrawberryFrog.

I hope that these links are made more explicit as the campaign unfolds - as it stands there seems to be a bit too much emphasis on the "media product" as value added feature, and too little on the ultimate goal of the series to "help real girls" become educated through crowd-sourced micro-donations. This emphasis is, as I mention above, paralleled in the press releases and coverage around the campaign, which similarly highlight the "film series". I should note here that the campaign has also been shortlisted in Cannes Lions, which may explain some of what's happening here.

Anyway, you can check out the site for yourself here. But be sure to also visit the Nanhi Kali website, which includes some very important and depressing information about the status and state of girlhood in India, as well as UNGEI - the United Nations Girls' Education Initiative - which operates in India and many other countries where girls are denied basic rights.

All "Tangled" Up in Gender Norms

Promo image for new feature film Tangled © 2010 Disney

A couple of weeks ago, Disney released its new trailer for an upcoming addition to the Princess line of feature films/media properties, Tangled. Loosely based on the story of Rapunzel, the film is already gaining momentum via the Disney promotion machine, with toy line sneak peaks and now trailer gaining coverage online, along with a number of (strategically placed?) leaks that the movie will contain "swashbuckling action" aimed at broadening the usual Disney Princess audience, i.e. better targeting "boys". According to an LA Times article published back in March, despite the fact that the Disney Princess brand has an estimated value of about $4 billion and has completely saturated girls' culture at the moment, the perceived under-performance of The Princess and the Frog (which, by the way, grossed $267million worldwide despite its many faults) was enough to make Disney rethink its approach to Princesses altogether. As the article states, the biggest 'problem' with the The Princess and The Frog was that it didn't appeal enough to boys:

Brace yourself: Boys didn't want to see a movie with "princess" in the title.

This time, Disney is taking measures to ensure that doesn't happen again. The studio renamed its next animated film with the girl-centric name "Rapunzel" to the less gender-specific "Tangled."

I guess Princess Mononoke and The Princess Bride don't count. Anyway, the same article cites Ed Catmull, president of Pixar/Disney Animation Studios, who claims that the studio is taking an entirely different approach with Tangled than it has with previous Princess titles: "We did not want to be put in a box. Some people might assume it's a fairy tale for girls when it's not. We make movies to be appreciated and loved by everybody." As Jaime Weinman describes on MacLeans.ca, the resulting film has clearly been "focus-grouped within an inch of its life".

Like Weinman, I agree that the trailer is more than a little reminiscent of Shrek (comedic "bad-boy" hero/anti-hero, kung fu fighting princess, cute & quirky side kick, initial adversarial relationship between the love interests, etc.). It also has undertones of Charlie's Angels, Alladin, and a little bit of Bayonetta. Either way, the trailer implies that the film will deviate from the traditional format of Princess as (only) passive and sweet damsel in distress, tormented and imprisoned by an evil older woman (usually step-mother), to be rescued by a one-dimensional prince charming, primarily on the basis of said prince's immediate admiration of the princess' undeniable beauty. In Tangled, the prince is a thief, funny and on the run, charming in a roguish way I'm sure, but himself in need of "saving" of some sort. Though the princess is only revealed mid-way through, I saw this as a typical teaser strategy...the big reveal that in this version, Rapunzel is no prisoner waiting to let down her hair. Instead, her hair is a source of supernatural combat skills, a thing she controls and uses to overpower and entrap intruders. While I'm sure that the movie will ultimately resolve with its gender norms fully intact and gender roles restored to their usual, traditional configuration (it is Disney, after all), the trailer and premise depicted so far are surprisingly progressive...a sort of fractured, potentially subversive re-telling of an otherwise highly conservative fairy tale. Kind of cool, no?

I like Weinman's description of the film as likely incorporating themes and marketing strategies that can be seen as much more "boy friendly" than some of Disney's previous Princess offerings. But I kind of cringe at the idea that's been promoted in many of the other reviews/coverage of the trailer/campaign that I've read so far, which interpret and reduce "gender inclusive" as simply "for boys". For example, Grady Smith's review of the Tangled trailer is titled "A Princess Movie for Boys?" and states:

"After disappointing results for The Princess And The Frog, Disney is targeting boys and using contemporary CG animation with Tangled in hopes that it will join the box office ranks of How To Train Your Dragon and Kung Fu Panda.

[...]

Rather than the subtle grace of poised princesses like Snow White and Belle, Rapunzel is a feisty teenager, proficient in tae-kwon-hair-do. The fact that she only has one line in the trailer (“BEST. DAY. EVER!”) further underscores Disney’s desire to attract boys to Tangled."

I don't think that there's any evidence that straying from narrowly defined, cookie cutter interpretations of female protagonists somehow needs to be understood as necessarily (let alone solely) male-targeted. And I certainly don't like the implication that a tough, grrl power-type heroine means that the movie is therefore "for" boys. There are a number of properties targeted to girls that contain progressive female characters (some of which are mentioned above), just as there are a number of properties that try to break down gender stereotypes and gendered audience segmentation (How to Train Your Dragon and Kung Fu Panda are surely examples of the latter, albeit not perfect examples). Targeting a broader audience and moving away from "fairy tales for girls" could just as well mean "more diverse stories for girls" or better yet, "more nuanced, diverse stories for girls and boys". And from what I've seen of the property's other tie-ins and marketing initiatives, there's absolutely no evidence that Disney is turning its back on its girl audience or even diverging all that far away from its usual Princess strategies.

As seen, for example, in a recent article in The Independent exploring the new tie-in toys that Disney Consumer Products has planned around Tangled:

"Disney's big launch for next year is Tangled, an animated reworking of the Rapunzel myth which has inspired a range of girls' dolls with extremely long hair, which is made from special fibres that glow and twinkle, exploiting traditional play patterns that have been around since the invention of Barbie."

We might consider the following toys as exhibits A & B, courtesy of Disney fan site Stitch Kingdom (© 2010 StitchKingdom.com). Not exactly as evidence of the movie's gender inclusiveness, but rather as a counter to the argument that Tangled should be seen as "for boys" just because it focuses on comedy and action rather than romance and domesticity. Again - a sort of ironic way of using these particular toys, seeing as they are so traditionally gendered and so clearly DO promote conservative notions of domesticity and femininity.

CFP Alert: Write 4 Children & Red Feather

Head's up on a couple of publishing opportunities that are available to both academics and professionals conducting research on or involved in the production of kids' media/lit. The first was advertised on the new "Exploring Childhood Studies" email list recently launched out of the Rutgers-University Camden Department of Childhood Studies, and is more specific to children's literature. The CFP reads as follows:

As we are heading towards the summer we thought we would send out a quick Call for Papers - just in case you are lost for something to do in the long summer months. Send us articles and discussion papers on writing for children or children's literature or even a combination of the two. Authors, publishers, librarians, illustrators lecturers and researchers are all welcome to submit work. There is no restriction other than the piece will be peer reviewed. Work needs to be submitted to write4children@winchester.ac.uk by 1st September 2010.

Check the website for guidelines for authors: www.write4children.org

The "About" section of the journal website provides further details about the scope and mission:

Write4Children seeks to provide an international forum for peer reviewed research papers and debates about writing for children and children’s literature.

It will contain articles and discussions which:

• provide an international forum for high quality academic and pedagogic research into writing for children and children’s literature
• promote best practice and academic research in advancing international debates on writing for children and children’s literature
• stimulate debate in peer reviewed articles and discussions on controversial issues in writing for children and children’s literature: such as, race, class, gender, sexuality, drug culture, sex, multiculturalism and education

The second CFP of potential interest was forwarded to me some time ago by Alissa (Antle) when the journal was first announced. It now has its first issue out and available online, and looks like a very interesting forum for research and inquiries into various aspects of kids' visual culture. Some great subject matter here, for e.g. an analysis of depictions of children in Pixar films by Iris Shepard, a discussion of "tomboyism" in Joss Whedon's Fray by Amy Clayton, and a review of discursive representations of children, freedom and food by Charlene Elliott, etc. I also like the more casual tone adopted in the couple of articles that I've read so far. Here's the CFP, as posted on the journal website:

Red Feather facilitates an international dialogue among scholars and professionals through vigorous discussion of the intersections between the child image and the conception of childhood, children's material culture, children and politics, the child body, and any other conceptions of the child within local, national, and global contexts. The journal invites critical and/or theoretical examination of the child image to further our understanding of the consumption, circulation, and representation of the child throughout the world's visual mediums. Some sample topics include, but are certainly not limited to: studies of images of children of color; child as commodity; images of children in Africa, Asia, Middle East, South America, etc.; political uses of the child image; children in film; children in advertising; visual adaptations of children's literary works; child welfare images; children and war; or any other critical examination of the child image in a variety of visual mediums.

Red Feather is published twice a year, in February and September, and adheres to the MLA citation system. Authors may submit articles in other citations systems, with the understanding that conversion to MLA is a condition of acceptance.

Interested contributors please submit the paper, an abstract, and a brief biography as attachments in Word to debbieo@okstate.edu.

Going to Toronto!!!

© 1992 Jouannigot, Éditions Milan

I realized today that I've let some pretty important, as in life changing levels of important, events slip by without writing a single blog post about them! I blame Twitter and Facebook, where status updates provide the instant gratification of social interaction, in the form of immediate response/dialogue with friends and colleagues. But that's no excuse for failing to make an official announcement, so here goes:

First, I successfully defended my dissertation on May 3rd, and am now a doctor of philosophy. I might write something more about the final stages of that experience someday, but for now you can check out my defense Prezi. I've also posted my abstract and chapter outline on a separate page of Gamine Expedition. I should have some news about downloadable copies or at least some idea of possible (fingers crossed) publication opps by the end of the summer, so stay tuned for that. In the meantime, if you're interested in reading the version submitted to the SFU library, just drop me a line!

Second, as of July 2010, I will be joining the Faculty of Information at the University of Toronto at the rank of Assistant Professor, where I'm going to be researching and teaching in children's new media and literature. I am beyond thrilled and eager to become a part of the iSchool and its friendly, collegial and dynamic faculty; to contribute to the amazing, critical and important work that goes on there; to further develop my research interests in narrative and children's lit; to work with graduate students and foster linkages with children's libraries/librarians; and of course to experience everything that Toronto and UofT have to offer.

I'm particularly excited about all the opportunities for collaboration that this move will afford - both within the iSchool faculty and the larger (very impressive) academic community that I will now have access (and proximity) to, as well as in terms of all the children's media outlets and professionals located in and around T.O. (and Montreal, NYC, etc. etc.).

I'll have new contact info coming soon, which I'll post here and on all the appropriate sites/networks. Until then - YAY!!!!!

Don't Mess with Kids' Culture!

© Jeff Smith, 2006

There have been quite a few important developments of late within kids' culture that I've been meaning to comment on-- particularly around issues of representation and access in children's literature. We all know that kids' culture is a hotbed of controversy: frequently mobilized as a site of moral panic and censorship on the one hand, and used as a tool for hegemonic discourse and other forms of political expression on the other. Media scholars trace this phenomenon back to chapbooks, dime novels and the like, but there are earlier examples (games, toys, etc.) as well. While most of my work looks at how the same controversies resurface around videogames, traditional media forms such as books and comics remain a key locus/target for these types of debates. Book banning, for example, is still a shockingly common practice, and everyday children's librarians, authors, parents, and young readers become embroiled in complex negotiations about censorship, access and cultural rights - often with little public attention or outside support.

The recent development that I want to draw attention to involves an attempt led by a parent in Minneapolis-St. Paul to ban BONE graphic novels from the school libraries in her district. Making misplaced accusations that the series--specifically BONE: The Dragonslayer--contains depictions of "drinking, smoking, gambling and sexual situations between characters," her action made headlines...I think in large part because of how beloved & acclaimed the BONE series is, but also because of creator Jeff Smith's response. In addition to speaking out quite strongly against the ban and the complaints, Smith wrote a formal letter to the school board review committee and followed up on the story on his blog Boneville. My favourite part of his letter is the closing paragraph, which reads as follows:

Many, many children have learned to love reading because of BONE. I know this from meeting and talking to kids and their parents, teachers, and librarians at hundreds of book signings and school visits. I suspect that there are members of the review committee who can attest to this. Since the mid 90’s, millions of parents all over the world have read BONE with their children. This is the first time I have ever heard it suggested that it was age inappropriate. It is hard to imagine that any bad behavior could be seen to be encouraged in these stories. Frankly, I believe it is just the opposite.

The best part about this story is that the review committee voted 10 to 1 against banning the series, with one of the committee members commenting to the press that "educators should be careful what books they ban from the classroom" (read more here).

The BONE decision represents a tiny, but nonetheless important, victory for kids' rights (specifically Article 13*) in the ongoing battle to control what gets into kids' culture. This battle is not limited to conflicts over what constitutes as protectionism and what constitutes as censorship, however, but also involves more subtle forms of control...such as the homogenization and corporatization of content. These issues are often treated as distinct, but they ultimately push toward the same result - a cultural spectrum that is reduced to a narrow range of themes, images, and ideas that best reflect and reproduce a deeply conservative status quo.

Perhaps that's why the BONE story reminded me immediately of another "tiny" controversy that unfolded earlier this year, around Trenton Lee Stewart’s Mysterious Benedict Society book series. This time, it was readers and children's librarians who coordinated a public complaint to the series' publishers (Little, Brown Books for Young Readers) for "whitewashing" the book covers, i.e. depicting all of the books' main characters as white on the covers, including a character who is described & depicted as having "light brown" skin within the text and illustrations of the books themselves. Check out children's lit blog Bookshelves of Doom for a comprehensive overview of the discrepancy. According to Rocco Staino, writing for School Library Journal, this is a surprisingly common practice in the children/youth book publishing world. For instance, over the past year, Bloomsbury USA has had to change the covers on two different books following public complaints that non-white characters were depicted as white on the books' covers. As with BONE, this story too has a happy ending - Little, Brown agreed to reprint all three books in the series with amended cover images. Go children's librarians!!!!

For more info/resources on these issues, be sure to check out:
Freedom to Read Week (CDN)
Kids' Right to Read Project (US)
Banned Books Week

*Article 13 of the Convention on the Rights of the Child states: "The child shall have the right to freedom of expression; this right shall include freedom to seek, receive and impart information and ideas of all kinds, regardless of frontiers, either orally, in writing or in print, in the form of art, or through any other media of the child's choice."

Upcoming Event: G(irls) 20 Summit

Via the MAGIC Network, news that next month Toronto will be hosting the G(irls) 20 Summit, in lead-up to the upcoming G20 meeting (June 26-27). The event is aimed at acknowledging the importance of girls and women within global labor and economic processes, as well as fueling discussions, generating ideas, and creating opportunities for investment and education that would lead to more equal, sustainable and fair treatment of girls and women around the world. i.e. gather together grassroots ideas on "how to reach the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) that most impact women and girls." Here's an excerpt from their mission statement/About Us that gives a pretty clear picture of the issues the summit hopes to tackle.

Women carry out two-thirds of the world's work hours, they receive one-tenth of its income and own less than a hundredth of its property. When a girl or woman earns income, she reinvests 90% of it into their families, as compared to only 30 to 40% for a man. With 3.3 billion girls and women, it is easy to understand how vital girls and women are to the well being of their families, their communities, and their countries.

A pivotal study conducted by GS shows that educating girls and women leads to higher wages, lower fertility, reduced maternal and child mortality, and better health and education for current and future generations. Simply put, investing in girls and women and creating opportunities for them is imperative to building strong, healthy families, communities and countries. Strong and healthy countries boast productive and high performing economies, just societies and political stability.

And here's the description of how the G(irls) 20 Summit fits in:

On June 26th and 27th, G20 leaders will gather in Toronto to discuss measures to promote global financial stability and ways to achieve a sustainable economic growth and development. All organizations and businesses striving for economic growth and development understand the need to utilize all resources -- financial, material and human.

Similarly, world leaders must recognize the importance of leveraging the world's 3.3 billion girls and women in the search for innovative, sustainable and socially responsible solutions to global challenges.

That's why, from Jun 16th -18th, twenty girls from the G20 countries will come together in Toronto to present, discuss and promote tangible, innovative and scalable solutions. If you are a passionate, forward-thinking, solution-oriented girl between the ages of 18-20 from a G20 country you could be one of the G(irls) 20 Summit change makers.

By visiting the website (http://www.girlsandwomen.com/), you can apply to attend the G(irls) 20 Summit (deadline passed), join the Girls & Women campaign, contribute ideas & solutions, and find links to the group's Facebook and Twitter profiles.

You might also want to check out the UN's 2009 MIllennium Indicators Report for more data on promoting gender equality within the areas of economic growth & labour.

Free Comic Book Day 2010

©Ted Naifeh, Courtney Crumrin and the Night Things FCBD edition, May 2003

Tomorrow is Free Comic Book Day - wherein, on the first Saturday of May, comic book stores across North America do their part to spread love and appreciation of comic books/graphic novels by giving away selected free issues to anyone who comes into their stores. The annual event is geared toward expanding readership by introducing people to comics (generally) and by introducing comic readers to new titles. This is a wonderful event - one that I have benefitted from enormously in previous years, through free issues introducing me to indie comics/titles (including my beloved Courtney Crumrin, as depicted above), different distributors, titles I had heard of but never taken a chance on, etc., etc. Check out the official website for the locations of participating stores near you.

And if you're into it, I definitely recommend:

a) making a day of it, by doing a comic book store "crawl" (different stores will be giving away different titles, so visit as many as you can)

b) GETTING THERE EARLY!!!! (seriously, even less popular locations can sell out fast)

c) while you're there, don't be afraid to ask the clerks for recommendations about other (non-free) titles that may be of interest - these people generally know A LOT about comics and graphic novels and Free Comic Book Day presents the perfect opportunity to get in there, break the ice, and get some advice.

d) a good way to try out additional (non-free) new titles while you're there, without spending too much money, is to buy some back issues - although a small few titles gain in value over time, many many DO NOT - if you're willing to delve into an older (not 1st, but older) issue, they're often available at a fraction of the cost of a most recent issue

I'm sure there's a lot more I could list here, but these are some good basic starting points.

Enjoy!

Speaking Engagement: 2010 Consumer Privacy Consultations

As I discussed previously, the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada is holding a series of public consultations this spring, exploring emerging issues around online tracking, profiling and targeting of consumers. The consultations arrive in Toronto this Thursday (April 29), for a full day of discussion about issues relating to advertising, location-based/geospatial tracking and children's online privacy. What I may have neglected to mention is that I will be part of the afternoon panel on Children's Online Privacy, along with the very awesome Matthew Johnson, Media Education Specialist at the Media Awareness Network, kids' privacy researcher Dr. Jacquelyn Burkell (Associate Professor with the Faculty of Information and Media Studies, at the University of Western Ontario), and Catherine Connors, "mommy blogger" and author of www.HerBadMother.com. I believe there will also be an industry rep, though I'm not completely sure who as of yet.

The event is open to the public, but has reached capacity (!). Fortunately, the entire thing will be webcast through the Office of the Privacy Commissioner website. Should be a very interesting day, and I encourage you all to check out the webcast and subsequent coverage, as well as the advertising industry's preliminary response to the idea of broadening privacy protection in Canada (for e.g.) (btw - if you've guessed that they're largely against it, you're right!). Particular issues that I hope to raise/address include the conflation of marketing research and consumer data collection, and the growing importance/depth of corporate use of non-personally identifiable information -- particularly in examples such as Habbo Hotel's Habble and Echometrix's PULSE services.

CFP Alert: Upcoming Conferences on Gaming & Tech (in Canada!!!)

With my PhD defense a mere one week away, I haven't had much time to keep up with the news these days. But my "to do" list for this week includes submitting abstracts to two upcoming conferences that will likely be of interest to some of you. One has an imminent deadline, but has a great line up of confirmed speakers and a very compelling focus, and looks to be well worth dedicating part of an afternoon to crafting an abstract for. The other is being held at my new home in Toronto, and sounds absolutely amazing. Anyway, you can see for yourself below. Here's the basic info, with links to the full details:

THE ONLINE VIDEOGAME: NEW SPACE OF SOCIALIZATION

Bilingual colloquium (French/English)
October 28 , 29 and 30, 2010
Montreal, Quebec, Canada

To play is a vital function for the development of individuals. Play is an activity of socialization which enables learning of the rudiments of social interaction. Since the middle of the twentieth century, our societies have placed more value on the playful practice at all ages. As such, playing is more and more present in numerous spheres of society. Huizinga (1938) and Caillois (1958) assert moreover that any playful activity is social, by definition, and gets its real meaning when it is practised in groups. For Gadamer (1960), the charm of playing lies primarily in the fact that it exercises a fascination in the player. Online videogames gather more and more followers worldwide as this phenomenon becomes more important from day to day. It is no longer necessary to question play as a way to spend time. Through the intervention of videogames, play has also become a way to develop social networks, learn new communication skills and tools, a way to learn a foreign language, a place to keep or develop friendships, an opportunity to participate in an online community, or even a way to be exposed to new cultures. Online videogames have become a media of socialization, that is to say, devices of mediation and mediatization which allow people to share large-scale information thanks to its network of exchanges and meetings. Such spaces of socialization arouse interactions convenient to the construction of the “self” and to the renewal of the representations of others and the world. Online videogames can facilitate socialization and be a carrier of values which are not necessarily different than those found in society. Online videogames can also be a place that facilitate values that are not necessarily present in society in general.

Indeed, the experience as much as the manners and representations in videogames contribute to the moulding of cognitive modes, to the development of both technical and social skills and, in a more general way, to the reconfiguration of one’s relationship to the world. From this perspective, it is imperative to explore the modes of socialization shaped by online videogames and to question the various forms of instrumentalization, of domination, of exclusion, as well as forms of dependence and addiction which this kind of community can facilitate. The criteria from which the players give a value and organize their relations into a hierarchy with other players is potentially defined by the customs and contexts of online videogames. The observations, the descriptions, and the analysis of the manners and representations that are connected to the experience of online videogames become essential as a generation is subject to building their social referents partially through playful cyber universes. This type of study is justified all the more as players become imbedded in innovative modes of socialization, rehabilitation, social reintegration, and learning, not only in school and at home, but also in their workplace. This colloquium aims to make inventory of the researches within game studies, while online videogames are becoming more and more popular. Topics include (but are not limited to) the following themes:

• Forms of socialization in online videogames
• Communicational stakes in online videogames
• Questions of ethics and aesthetics in online videogames
• Innovations and types of appropriation in online videogames
• Questions of law, economy, and politics in online videogames
• Design of games and the communications tools in online videogames
• Therapeutic and educational customs in online videogames

SUBMISSION GUIDELINES: The persons interested to participate in this colloquium have to submit an abstract treating of the higher presented theme (max. 3000 characters, included spaces), as well as a short biographic note. Abstracts should be sent to: recherchehomoludens@gmail.com

CALENDAR
Abstract deadline: April 28, 2010
Notification of Acceptance: May 17, 2010
Full Paper deadline: August 27, 2010
Colloquium dates: October 28, 29 and 30, 2010

INVITED SPEAKERS: Mia Consalvo, PhD; Nicolas Ducheneaut, PhD; Sébastien Genvo, PhD; Miguel Sicart, PhD; Bart Simon, PhD; T.L. Taylor, PhD.

ORGANIZING COMMITTEE : The colloquium is organized by the research group Homo Ludens (Université du Québec à Montréal), with the collaboration of Technoculture, Art and Games (Concordia University)

Charles Perraton, professor at the Department of social and public communication (Université du Québec à Montréal) Magda Fusaro, professor at the Department of management and technology (Université du Québec à Montréal)

Coordination : Maude Bonenfant, postdoctoral researcher, Technoculture, Art and Gaming (Concordia University) recherchehomoludens@gmail.com

And here's the second one, with a little more breathing room on the submission deadline:

DIY CITIZENSHIP: CRITICAL MAKING AND SOCIAL MEDIA

Download the Call for Papers (PDF)

A renewed emphasis on participatory forms of digitally-mediated production is transforming our social landscape. ‘Making’ has become the dominant metaphor for a variety of digital and digitally-mediated practices. The web is exploding with independently produced digital ‘content’ such as video diaries, conversations, stories, software, music, video games—all of which are further transformed and morphed by “modders,” “hackers,” artists and activists who redeploy and repurpose corporately-produced content. Equally, communities of self-organized crafters, hackers, and enthusiasts are increasingly to be found online exchanging sewing and knitting patterns, technical guides, circuit layouts, detailed electronics tutorials and other forms of instruction and support. Many of these individuals and collaborators understand their work to be socially interventionist. Through practices of design, development, and exchange they challenge traditional divides between production and consumption and to redress the power differentials built into technologically-mediated societies.

“DIY Citizenship” invokes the participatory nature of these diverse “do-it-yourself” modes of engagement, community, networks, and tools—all of which arguably replace traditional with remediated notions of citizenship. The term “critical making” refers to the increasing role ‘making’ plays in critical forms of social reflection and engagement.

This interactive conference seeks to extend conversations about new modes of engaged DIY citizenship and politics evidenced by the exponential increase of DIY media, “user-generators”, “prosumers,” “hacktivists,” tactical media interventionists, and other ‘maker’ identities. We invite scholars, activists, artists, designers, programmers and others interested in the social and participatory dimensions of digitally-mediated practices, to engage in dialogue across disciplinary and professional divides. All methodological and theoretical approaches are welcomed. Submissions may include paper proposals, works of art and/or design, short video or audio segments, performances, video games, digital media, or other genres and forms. Potential topics include: the relation between social media and the ‘making’ of new forms of citizenship engagement—thus, for example, making movements; making community; making news; making play; making bodies; making health; making public; making education; making networks.

Plenary speakers include:

Anne Balsamo, Professor of Interactive Media in the School of Cinematic Arts, and of Communications in the Annenberg School of Communications, University of Southern California, co-founder of Onomy Labs, Inc. a Silicon Valley technology design and fabrication company that builds cultural technologies.

Suzanne de Castell, Professor (media, educational technologies) Faculty of Education Simon Fraser University, Vancouver: educational media theory, research, design and development, Founded Canadian Game Studies Association, co-editor of Loading…

Ron Deibert, Professor (Political Science), University of Toronto, Director of the Citizen Lab; a co-founder and a principal investigator of the OpenNet Initiative and Information Warfare Monitor projects; co-founder and VP of global policy and outreach for Psiphon Inc.

Paul Dourish, Professor of Informatics at the University of California, Irvine, co-conspirator in the Laboratory for Ubiquitous Computing and Interaction, and author of Where the Action Is: The Foundations of Embodied Interaction, MIT Press.

Henry Jenkins, Provost's Professor of Communications, Journalism, and Cinematic Arts, University of Southern California. Blogger, henryjenkins.org. Author of Convergence Culture: Where Old and New Media Collide. Currently doing research for MacArthur Foundation on youth, new media, and the public sphere.

Jennifer Jenson, Professor of Pedagogy and Technology, York University, Toronto: video game designer, co-editor of Loading…: The Journal of the Canadian Game Studies Association

Natalie Jeremijenko, artist whose background includes studies in biochemistry, physics, neuroscience and precision engineering. Jeremijenko’s projects which explore socio-technical change have been exhibited by several museums and galleries, including the MASSMoCA, the Whitney, Smithsonian Cooper-Hewitt. Jeremijenko is the director of the environmental health clinic at NYU, assistant professor in Art, and affiliated with the Computer Science Dept.

Steve Mann, professor of Applied Engineering, and Arts and Sciences, University of Toronto, proliferate inventor including wearable computing, hydraulophone, and concept of 'sousveillance': "the effects a surveillance device has on others"

Trebor Scholz, Professor of Culture and Media Study, The New School, New York: media activist, writer, and artist, founder of the Institute for Distributed Creativity. In the fall of 2009, Dr. Scholz convened The Internet as Playground and Factory conference

Conference organizers: Prof. Megan Boler, University of Toronto; Prof. Matt Ratto, University of Toronto.

Please submit a 250-word proposal or description of work/presentation and a one-page artist or scholarly CV to submissions@diycitizenship.com by May 20, 2010. Please include up to five images of work to be shown/discussed or a web URL if appropriate. Notifications will take place by June 15, 2010. For more information, contact info@diycitizenship.com or visit our website at www.diycitizenship.com

Presenters will be invited to submit completed papers for an edited collection with a university press and/or a special issue of a peer-reviewed journal.

Neat-o!

Pink Shirt Day!!!

©PinkShirtDay.ca

Today is Pink Shirt Day in Canada, part of rapidly growing movement to support kids who take a stand against bullying. The idea links back to two teen boys from Nova Scotia, who came up with the idea a couple of years ago as a way to show solidarity with a fellow student who was being bullied for wearing pink. Here's an excerpt from the CBC News coverage of the event when it happened in 2007:

Two Nova Scotia students are being praised across North America for the way they turned the tide against the bullies who picked on a fellow student for wearing pink. The victim — a Grade 9 boy at Central Kings Rural High School in the small community of Cambridge — wore a pink polo shirt on his first day of school. Bullies harassed the boy, called him a homosexual for wearing pink and threatened to beat him up, students said.

Two Grade 12 students — David Shepherd and Travis Price — heard the news and decided to take action.

"I just figured enough was enough," said Shepherd.

They went to a nearby discount store and bought 50 pink shirts, including tank tops, to wear to school the next day. Then the two went online to e-mail classmates to get them on board with their anti-bullying cause that they dubbed a "sea of pink." But a tsunami of support poured in the next day.

Not only were dozens of students outfitted with the discount tees, but hundreds of students showed up wearing their own pink clothes, some head-to-toe. When the bullied student, who has never been identified, walked into school to see his fellow students decked out in pink, some of his classmates said it was a powerful moment.

[...]

The students' "sea of pink" campaign did not go unnoticed outside the province. U.S. talk show host Ellen DeGeneres expressed interest in their story, and other schools are talking about holding their own "pink day."

Read more: http://www.cbc.ca/canada/story/2007/09/18/pink-tshirts-students.html#ixzz0l5umd1Fa

The cause has since been taken up by a number of schools, organizations and celebrities, including Christy Clark of CKNW's The Christy Clark Show, who also manages the official PinkShirtDay.ca website. Show your support today by wearing pink and be sure to spread the word!!!

Jackie Marsh on Digital literacy and play in MMOs/vws for children

Live Blogging alert - I'm writing this post from Jackie Marsh's keynote address on "Digital literacy and play in MMOs/virtual worlds for children," at the Digital Media and Learning Research Hub workshop on kids' virtual worlds. Jackie' is presenting some of her findings from a larger ongoing project on Children's playground games and songs in the new media age project, in collaboration with Rebekah  Willett and Andrew Burn.

Key points:

• Young children in Sheffield, UK, average 2 hours/day of media use
  
• Family scaffold kids' emergent digital literacy
  
• Growing independence among even younger children - 64% of 3-5 year-olds can use a mouse, 37% can turn on a computer by themselves and 56% have used a computer by themselves.
  
• Place of the child in the family (older siblings) very important to children's use - how they are introduced, when, etc.
• Key features identified in commercial vw's for children: customizable avatars, avatar homes, games which earn in-world currency, free chat and safe-chat servers, moderators, links to out-world toys and texts and tie-in products. 
• On this latter point - highlights the importance of online/offline linkages as the products themselves move to mobile technologies. Highlights the importance of market-based hierarchies.
• Her own data derived from a very specific case - "primary school serving a primarily white, working class community in an area of socio-economic deprivation" - 175 kids aged 5 to 11 surveyed, three 11 year olds selected for a series of interviews and online sessions (taped and observed). Much of the more detailed data about Club Penguin and Barbie Girls came from these 3 respondents. 
• 52% of the kids surveyed used virtual worlds on a regular basis. Average of 2 visits per week.
• Most popular CP and BC
• Gender patterns in terms of preferences and choices of virtual worlds - none of the boys surveyed reported going to Barbie Girls. 

Jackie's most recent work focuses in on Club Penguin - a vw that was particularly popular among their subject group at the time of the study. Jackie did a great job of summarizing the contents of the site, identifying the carry-over that occurs between traditional playground behaviours and in-world activities, opportunities for literacy (of various kinds), the importance and emphasis that is placed on commercial relations (disparities between paying and non-paying members. 

She also looked at Barbie Girls (oh no! just like my thesis!!), and the lack of diversity in terms of gender (female only) and ethnicity (depictions of which are limited to skin-tone, and only a few options are possible) of the avatars, and the enormous linkages made between commercial content/branding of Barbie texts and the game - emphasis on shopping, emphasis on V.I.P. memberships and emphasis on Barbie products.

Key Points about these case studies:

• Marsh identifies evidence of the subjectivities of consumption that are constructed in these sites - many examples of children describing themselves in consumer terms & enjoying consumption play (shopping, browsing catalogues, trying on items). But also frustration about purchases of pre-fabricated goods that offer little flexibility or affordances. Key complaint that wigs and hats couldn't be combined on Club Penguin, frustration that the Puffles run away if not taken care of. 
• Online/offline networks - children played with siblings, relatives and classmates, often in pre-arranged sessions. Also played with unknown others. 
• The children interviewed expressed using a range of criteria for accepting in-world friends (if the avatar name was "weird" or "normal" - if the player's igloo was "posh" or "plain"). This latter point shows the integration of social and economic capital in children's negotiation of social relations in-world.
• Classmates who played together online and offline tended to have larger friend networks (around 9 vs. 7). 
• Genres of play: fantasy play, games with rules, "rough and tumble" play (snowball fights, other play that uses avatar movement for contact), socio-dramatic play. In this last category, Marsh noticed a lot of adult-themes, going to the disco, having parties, pretending they're getting "drunk". Ritualized play - playing at flirting, trying to tip the iceberg in CP. 
• Various instances and types of digital literacy - reading the CP Times every day, reading postcards from other players, keeping up with the game lore (reading the books in the reading room, reading the instructions), using CP as an instant messaging service (definitely a chat room). Reading, comprehension, following instructions, etc. 
• She went over 6 different types of literacy identified in CP - she has a paper coming out shortly that describes and explores these, so I won't bother reproducing them here (but I will link to the article once it's available). Suffice to say that many of the forms of literacy identified revolved around social relations and identity construction/expression.
• Among the kids surveyed, Marsh found that many used/viewed Club Penguin-based machinima on Youtube 
• For example, David Cook's  "Time of My Life" - created by a young girl Ineuit2, a self-described 13 year old girl who runs a Club Penguin fan site). Kids use other forums to discuss and coordinate these - for instance, a player advertised for extras for his upcoming CP machinima on a Shaun The Sheep discussion forum, much to the dismay of Shaunthesheep purists.
• Frames that these vw's introduce - the implications for education (as well as some implications that certainly carry over to policy and ethical decisions), including the need for recognition of online activities outside of school, firewall considerations, critical digital literacy - esp. as children are now co-authoring new forms of multi-modal texts (which I'm very interested in myself).

Jackie's talk was followed by a response by Heather Horst, who is a member of the Digital Media and Learning Research Hub, and has done work on kids' digital culture - including Neopets. Among other things, Heather highlighted 3 themes she wanted to raise for further discussion:

• The first, a series of questions involving time and temporal dimensions of virtual worlds - the transience that many kids' express in terms of the worlds, new media use, and their lives/life changes, schedules, age, etc.
  
• The second, space and geographies of play - particularly as this is influenced by the various affordances of the devices/worlds, etc., involved. What guides children's movement between the various genres, sites, technologies, platforms and usages they engage in. For example, getting around design limitations or parental restrictions by moving on to a different device.
• The third, the issue of agency and change - as children age, develop forms of literacy, etc. What's the relationship/role of the low barriers to entry that are usually contained within sites like CP, or within popular culture/commercial culture more generally. How do these worlds contribute to children's agency and dignity - opportunities/challenges, barriers, etc. Are the worlds subject to workarounds, resistance, remixing, do kids actively attempt to change the worlds?

A great talk all around - very enjoyable and comprehensive. I'm very much looking forward to the discussion that will ensue, as well as tomorrow's workshop.

Sources of interest: kzero.co.uk: Virtual Worlds Universe Reports, which lists user populations for a large number of virtual worlds for kids, plotted by age. Very cool data and data visualizations. 

UGC Games Go Portable

Image ©Nintendo, Inc. Via About.com

As regular readers of this blog already know, my next research project (which I'll finally be launching this summer) is on UGC (user-generated content) games designed for kids. My main case studies so far are LittleBigPlanet, Kodu and Spore, but I've been keeping an eye out for other titles to add to the list. I'm still in the process of figuring out the "what" and "how," but I know that my first priority is in finding games that allow players to both create a substantial part of the gameplay - entire levels, entire story lines, etc. - and share that content with other players.

Walking through the games section at HMV over the weekend, I saw that the genre has spread to portable game devices much more quickly than I had previously realized. Some of the titles I was already well aware of (LittleBigPlanet for the PSP, the Spore spin-offs), but others were totally new (e.g. WarioWare DIY). This could potentially open up a whole new angle for my project (especially if there are cross-system linkages). Here's a very brief "list-in-progress" of the portable UGC games I've seen so far (keep in mind, I haven't even started looking into iPhone games). If you know of others, please post in the comments section and let me know!

WarioWare D.I.Y. (Rated E, Nintendo DS)

Released just last week, this offshoot of the Mario Bros/Wario franchise allows players to create their own mini-games, design graphics and music, and produce comics using a variety of customizable options and UGC tools. The games and other content can then be uploaded and shared with other players - the games can be either played or viewed (not quite sure) on the Wii. Here's the official website.

Drawn to Life: The Next Chapter (Rated E, Nintendo DS)

Released last October (2009), this sequel to the original "draw your own hero" game (released in 2007), allows players to insert their own hero, items, obstacles, solutions and other content into the game world by using the stylus to "draw" in elements. The big difference with this one (and I'm not sure about this, just from what I've observed from the PR materials), is that you can now impact the gameplay mechanics AND share the content with other players (who own the game). Here's the official website.

Scribblenauts (Rated E10+, Nintendo DS)

By the creators of Drawn to Life, this game got a heck of a lot of attention when it came out last year. The idea is similar to Drawn to Life, but with more emphasis on puzzle solving, and instead of drawing your solution you type in a word, which makes an object appear in the game. The list of possible words is extensive (well over 20K). The game also includes a level editor, through which players can design/customize levels which they can then share with others through the DS WiFi system. Here's the official website.

LittleBigPlanet PSP (Rated E, Sony PSP)

Just like the original PS3 game, but without the multiplayer mode. Players can complete up to 30 existing levels to find tools, sticker switches and costumes which can then be used to create custom Sackboy/girl avatars and custom levels. Levels can be designed from scratch or from a template - and player designs can be uploaded to an online server where they can be shared with the rest of the player community. Here's the official site.

Spore Creatures & Spore Hero Arena (Nintendo DS)

These spin-offs of EA's Spore, are portable, mini versions that allow you to create creatures and explore the world, encounter others, make friends and/or do battle. There looks to be some significant avatar customization involved, but this is one I'll have to play before I can determine if the game itself really qualifies for the project. Here's the official Creatures webpage and the official Hero Arena page.

Will the Spore spin-off games count? I'm not sure how much players control the gameplay/level design, or if customization/UGC is limited to avatar design. The customization and UGC that goes into avatar design and "virtual doll play" is certainly important, but not quite what I'm hoping to investigate in this project. The idea is really to examine games that give players tools to design the game space, environment, story line, gameplay. And, of course, to share the products with other players, particularly within commercially constructed (and controlled) distribution systems.

I'm already seeing some of the early issues I'm going to have operationalizing this, but for now, delineating a sample and figuring out what my criteria is are probably key.

Any suggestions about games I should look into adding to the list? I know I'm already forgetting some of the games I saw over the weekend, and would like to work out a more comprehensive list over the next couple of weeks as I head into the project launch. Any suggestions would be much appreciated!

Speaking Engagement: Public Lecture on Children's Virtual Worlds & Rules of Play

Screenshot from Disney's Toontown (2008)

I'm very happy to announce that I've been given an amazing opportunity to deliver a public lecture at the University of Toronto Faculty of Information next week. The talk, entitled 'Playing by (and with) the rules', will provide an overview my dissertation findings and future research plans (i.e. next steps), along with a discussion of the larger social, ethical and policy implications of some of the ongoing trends I've identified within children's digital play culture. Here's the abstract and info:

"Playing By (and With) The Rules"

Thursday, March 25, from 4-5:30 pm

Faculty of Information, Bissell Bldg (Room 728)

Abstract: Virtual worlds are now a prominent feature of the children’s digital landscape, as well as a compelling site of study for exploring children’s evolving relationship with new media technologies. Popular children’s virtual worlds such as Club Penguin and Webkinz appear to epitomize the “web 2.0” emphasis on participation and social networking. Upon closer examination, however, it is clear that along with these exciting new opportunities, virtual worlds also present children with a number of important challenges. For one, many of the most popular children’s virtual worlds are owned and operated by media and toy conglomerates, including Nickelodeon, Disney and Mattel. Accordingly, their contents are organized around commercial priorities such as promoting products, avoiding controversy, protecting corporate copyright regimes, and fostering a form of transmedia intertextuality aimed at enrolling children in an ever-expanding, multi-modal, cross-promotional narrative experience. This presentation will examine how these priorities not only shape the design and management of children’s virtual worlds, but also manifest as powerful “rules of play” that children are expected to (but do not always) follow. I will explore how virtual worlds serve as a locus for the ongoing negotiation that occurs between children, parents, corporations, and regulatory bodies about the nature and function of digital play, branded entertainment, and cultural participation within children’s everyday lives. Lastly, I will discuss how the outcome of this negotiation could have significant implications for the current and emerging information practices of younger children, particularly in relation to issues of authorship, cultural rights and children’s participation in the production and sharing of digital content.

Free Admission • General Seating • All Welcome

****Update: You can now view the Prezi slides for this presentation by clicking here.