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9781403978141ts01.qxd 5-7-07 07:09 PM Page i Growing Up Online This page intentionally left blank 9781403978141ts01.qxd 5-7-07 07:09 PM Page iii Growing Up Online Young People and Digital Technologies Sandra Weber and Shanly Dixon 9781403978141ts01.qxd 5-7-07 07:09 PM Page iv GROWING UP ONLINE Copyright © Sandra Weber and Shanly Dixon, 2007. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles or reviews. First published in 2007 by PALGRAVE MACMILLAN™ 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, N.Y. 10010 and Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire, England RG21 6XS Companies and representatives throughout the world. PALGRAVE MACMILLAN is the global academic imprint of the Palgrave Macmillan division of St. Martin’s Press, LLC and of Palgrave Macmillan Ltd. Macmillan® is a registered trademark in the United States, United Kingdom and other countries. Palgrave is a registered trademark in the European Union and other countries. ISBN-13: 978–1–4039–7814–1 ISBN-10: 1–4039–7814–X Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available from the Library of Congress. A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library. Design by Newgen Imaging Systems (P) Ltd., Chennai, India. First edition: October 2007 10987654321 Printed in the United States of America. 9781403978141ts01.qxd 5-7-07 07:09 PM Page v For my brother Lawrence, never forgotten, always loved. For my father Kenneth Dixon, my first and best teacher. This page intentionally left blank 9781403978141ts01.qxd 5-7-07 07:09 PM Page vii Contents List of Illustrations ix Acknowledgements xi About the Contributors xiii Introduction: Perspectives on Young People and Technologies 1 Sandra Weber and Shanly Dixon One Playspaces, Childhood, and Videogames 15 Shanly Dixon and Sandra Weber Two “I’m the One Who Makes the Lego Racers Go”: Studying Virtual and Actual Play 35 Seth Giddings Three Technology in the Everyday Lives of “Tweens” 49 Sandra Weber, with Julia Weber Four The Girls’ Room: Negotiating Schoolyard Friendships Online 67 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 81 Michele Polak Six Private Writing in Public Spaces: Girls’ Blogs and Shifting Boundaries 95 Brandi Bell Seven Consuming Fashion and Producing Meaning through Online Paper Dolls 113 Rebekah Willett 9781403978141ts01.qxd 5-7-07 07:09 PM Page viii viii ● Contents Eight Producing Gender in Digital Interactions: What Young People Set Out to Achieve through Computer Game Design 129 Caroline Pelletier Nine Contexts, Pleasures, and Preferences: Girls Playing Computer Games 149 Diane Carr Ten Adolescent Girls’ Expression on Web Home Pages: Spirited, Somber, and Self-Conscious Sites 159 Susannah R. Stern Eleven Playing At and With Popular Teen Culture on “Girl” Websites: The Case of Alice 181 Jacqueline Reid-Walsh Twelve Girl Culture and Digital Technology in the Age of AIDS 195 Claudia Mitchell and Jacqueline Reid-Walsh Thirteen New Girl (and New Boy) at the Internet Café: Digital Divides/Digital Futures 211 Claudia Mitchell and Grace Sokoya Fourteen Contested Spaces: Protecting or Inhibiting Girls Online? 227 Leslie Regan Shade Fifteen Reviewing Young Peoples’ Engagement with Technology 245 Sandra Weber and Shanly Dixon Index 259 9781403978141ts01.qxd 5-7-07 07:09 PM Page ix List of Illustrations Table 9.1 Games supplied during the term 152 Figures 7.1 Dani’s paper doll outfit 114 8.1 Kate’s screenshot 133 8.2 Liz’s screenshot 134 8.3 Janet’s screenshot 134 8.4 Jak’s screenshot 135 8.5 Tom’s screenshot 136 8.6 Paul’s screenshot 136 8.7 A screenshot from Simon’s game in player mode 143 8.8 A screenshot from the same game in designer mode 143 This page intentionally left blank 9781403978141ts01.qxd 5-7-07 07:09 PM Page xi Acknowledgements irst and foremost, we wish to thank the talented and collaborative authors who made editing this book such a pleasure. We learned so Fmuch from them. Next, to all the young people—girls and boys, tweens and youth, children, nieces and nephews—who participated in the various research projects, we offer a heartfelt cheer for their generosity, their lively spirits, and the many insights they gave us. Without them, this book would not be possible. The impetus and suggestions provided by members of the Digital Girls research project (many of whom are also this book’s authors) were invaluable at the cru- cial proposal writing stage of this book project. The financial support of the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada was also essential and much appreciated. We are also grateful to Amanda Moon, and Katie Fahey at Palgrave Press for their support and guidance. If this book is clearly written, much of the credit should be given to the talented scholar and doctoral candidate Maija Harju who worked long hours with us to improve and clarify portions of the text. We know that all the authors join us in thanking her profusely for her insightful suggestions and comments. Working way beyond the call of duty, Research Assistant Lysanne Rivard gave us just the kind of calm and effi- cient support we needed to get the manuscript ready for submission. Merci beaucoup, Lysanne. To all the Concordia MA Child Study graduate students enrolled in our course on Children and technology, we send a sincere thank you for helping us test out some of the book’s ideas and for challenging our thinking. A special thank you, as well, to Poppy Baktis, Lara Nasser Shuraida, and Kelly Boudreau for all the many ways, large and small, in which they contributed to our work. We also wish to acknowledge the influence and inspiration we derive from other scholars in the field, 9781403978141ts01.qxd 5-7-07 07:09 PM Page xii xii ● Acknowledgements some of whom we have the privilege of studying or working with closely. The references in our chapters reflect their impact. And finally, our deepest appreciation, as always, to our wonderful families and close friends for their support and understanding. Their patience during the long hours we spent holed up away from them to work on this book is duly noted, with gratitude. 9781403978141ts01.qxd 5-7-07 07:09 PM Page xiii About the Contributors Brandi Bell is a doctoral candidate in the Joint PhD program in Communication Studies at Concordia University. Her academic and research interests are broadly encompassed within youth, citizenship, and technology studies and her doctoral work is focused on examining how active citizenship discourses are applied to Canadian youth. [email protected] Kelly Boudreau is a graduate student in Sociology at Concordia University in Montreal and a founding member of the Montreal GameCODE project. Her research focuses on forms of mediated social- ity ranging from the dynamics of social identification in online com- puter games and virtual worlds to the fusion of internet activity and everyday life. [email protected] Diane Carr is a computer games theorist, and a Research Fellow at the Institute Of Education, University of London. Diane has published work on meaning, narrative, play and representation in various com- puter games, and she is co-author of Computer Games: Text, Narrative and Play (Polity, 2006). [email protected] Shanly Dixon is a doctoral candidate in the Humanities: Interdisciplinary Studies in Society and Culture program at Concordia University in Montreal. Her disciplines include Sociology, Communications and Education through which she utilizes an ethnographic methodology to research young people, new media and technology. [email protected] 9781403978141ts01.qxd 5-7-07 07:09 PM Page xiv xiv ● About the Contributors Seth Giddings is Senior Lecturer in Digital Media and Critical Theory in the School of Cultural Studies at the University of the West of England. He is a co-author of Lister et al. (2003) New Media: a critical introduction, London: Routlege. [email protected] Claudia Mitchell is a James McGill Professor in the Faculty of Education, McGill University and an Honorary Professor in the School of Language, Literacies, Media and Drama Education, University of KwaZulu-Natal. She is the co-author/co-editor of 8 books. Her latest book is a co-edited volume Combating gender violence in and around schools (with F. Leach). [email protected] Caroline Pelletier is a researcher at the Institute of Education, University of London. She is based in the school of Culture, Language and Communication. Her work is concerned with how new media technologies shape conceptions of knowledge, learning and teaching. [email protected] Michele Polak Doctoral Candidate Miami University English Department Currently a doctoral candidate in English and Women’s Studies, I have been writing about girl-related issues and online dis- course for almost a full decade. With a cadre of nieces aged 20 years down to four months, I expect I will always have a source of inspiration. Speak loudly, girls. [email protected] Leslie Regan Shade is an Associate Professor at Concordia University in the Department of Communication Studies. Her research focus since the mid-1990's has been on the social, policy, and ethical aspects of information and communication technologies (ICTs), with particular concerns towards issues of gender, globalization, and political economy. [email protected] Jacqueline Reid-Walsh is a specialist in historical children’s literature, girls' popular culture and old and new media. She has published on topics ranging from girls reading in the 18th century to early move- able books to children’s websites and computer games.