A CYBERWISE COMPANION GUIDE

NEW MEDIA

© CyberWise 2012

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A CYBERWISE COMPANION GUIDE

New Media

How To Use This Guide

This guide accompanies the CyberWise Guide to New Media which hopefully you just watched. If you are reading this guide online then simply click the links within to access the material they reference. You can also print this guide in order to have a hard copy on hand. Either way, we hope you find the information within useful. Enjoy!

Webtreats, Flickr

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If you just watched the CyberWise Guide to New Media video then you know that a simple definition of new me-dia is that it’s “the online and digital way of exchanging information.” While for many this way of communicating is no longer new, the fact that tools and technologies are constantly emerging and changing makes it feel new and different for most of us (es-pecially busy parents and educators!).

So What is Digital Media?The term “digital media” is used interchangeably with “new media.” It can be thought of as the different plat-forms on which people communicate electronically.

And What About Social Media?“Social Media” is a subset of new media that allows for online interac-tion and engagement. It doesn’t refer to specific tool or platform, but rather how that tool is used.

What are the Tools & Technologies?The confusing part is making sense of all the tools and technologies cur-rently available. So we’ve compiled a list on the following pages that pro-vides a broad overview of the landscape.

Remember, all of this is continually changing and many of these tech-nologies span more than one “type.” Hopefully this list will at least allow you to wow your friends, students, and children with your new media knowledge.

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What Is New Media?

While words like new media, digital media, social media, Inter-net, Web 2.0, online, etc. are often used interchangeably, what is important to remember is that we are now living in a “par-ticipatory culture” (Jenkins, et al, 2005) which means new on-line tools enable us to be to be both producers and consumers of media. You’ll learn more about “participatory culture” in the next lesson.

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TYPE EXAMPLES USES

Social Networking Sites (SNS):

Facebook

Linked In

Google+

Online communities that enable users to connect with and share common interests with “friends.”

Video Sharing Sites

YouTube

Vimeo

Video hosting and sharing sites where users upload, share, view and comment on videos.

Photo Sharing Sites

Flickr

Photobucket

Image hosting and sharing sites where users upload, share and comment on photos.

BlogsBlogger

Wordpress

Blogs are websites (or parts of websites) that let users share commentary. They are usually updated regularly and encourage dialogue with readers.

TYPES EXAMPLES USES

Micro-Blogs Twitter

Users send “tweets,” or short messages, of up to 140 characters to “followers.” Messages can be sent via computer or mobile device.

Social Bookmarking Sites

StumbleUpon

Delicious

Allows users to organize, save, manage, and discover bookmarks of resources.

AggregatorDigg

Reddit

Similar to Social Bookmarking Sites, “aggregates” and shares information from multiple online sources.

Virtual Worlds Second Life

An online community that takes the form of a simulated environment where users can interact with one another, use and create objects.

New Media Tools & TechnologiesTM

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TYPE EXAMPLES USES

WikisWikipedia (15 M)

PB Works

A wiki allows many users to collaborate on the creation and editing of any number of interlinked web pages.

Search EnginesGoogle

Firefox

A web search engine enables users to search for information on the World Wide Web using search terms.

Content Syndication RSS

Web syndication allows for web feeds from a site to provide a summary or update of a website’s content.

Texting

A way of sending information from a mobile device. Also referred to as messages being sent via “SMS” or short messaging service.

TYPE EXAMPLES USES

App

Short for “application,” an app is computer software designed to perform a specific task.

Podcast

A blend of “ipod” and “broadcast,” a podcast consists of audio or video files you can listen to or watch on your computer or portable device.

This list is by no means exhaustive. And, really, the only way to

understand the benefits of new media is to jump in and give it a

try. There’s no need to feel intimidated. The good news is that we

are all learning, trying, and testing together!

New Media Tools & Technologies (continued)

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Jump In and Give It a Try!

Here are some links to get you started:

★TOP 15 MOST POPULAR SOCIAL NETWORKING SITES

★TOP 10 MICRO-BLOGGING SITES

★TOP 10 SEARCH ENGINES FOR BEGINNERS

★TOP 10 PLACES TO SHARE & UPLOAD ONLINE VIDEO

★TOP 10 FREE IMAGE HOSTING SITES

★ BLOGGING SITES: THE TOP 10 & OTHER BONUSES

★FIVE BEST SOCIAL MEDIA MANAGERS

★TOP 15 MOST POPULAR BOOKMARKING SITES

★10 BEST RESEARCH WEBSITES

★FIVE BEST NEWS AGGREGATORS

★TOP 10 VIRTUAL WORLDS

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Read the rest of this guide at: http://davelinabury.com/internet-guide-for-baby-boomers/

Have a Laugh

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This is a simple guide to help parents and educators understand new me-dia and why it matters.

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1. AEP= As Early As Possible

2. ALP= As Late As Possible

3. BRB= Be Right Back

4. B4N= Bye For Now

5. CD9= Code 9 (means parents are around)

6. F2F= Face to Face

7. FWIW= For What It’s Worth

8. HAK= Hugs and Kisses

9. IMHO= In My Humble Opinion

10. IRL= In Real Life

11. J/K= Just Kidding

12. L8R= Later

13. M4C= Meet For Coffee

14. NUB= New person to a game or site

15. OIC= Oh, I See

16. OT= Off Topic

17. P911= Parent Alert

18. PAL= Parents Are Listening

19. PAW= Parents Are Watching

20. POS= Parent Over Shoulder

21. ROTFLMAO= Rolling On The Floor Laughing My Ass Off

22. SITD= Still In The Dark

23. TFH= Thread From Hell

24. TTYL= Talk To You Later

25. VBG= Very Big Grin

Sujin Jetkasettakorn, , Flickr

25 Text Acronyms Every Grownup Should Know

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Okay, let’s start by defining new media.The short definition is that new media is the online and digital way of exchanging information.

The terms online, digital, the Internet, and World Wide Web simply refer to the virtual space where all this information is being ex-changed on digital devices like computers, ipads and mobile phones.

Got it? Oh yes, one more in case you blinked in the last few years, we are now on Web 2.0, which is the second generation of the Internet. And Web 2.0 enables users to interact and collaborate with each other as both consumers and producers of media.

In other words, as media guru Henry Jenkins would say, we are living in a “participatory culture.”

And when it come to new media, this is important.

Okay, so here is what you need to know.

According to the most recent study by the Kaiser Family Foundation, the average 8- to 18-year-old spends 7 hours and 38 minutes (7:38) using media on a typical day. Or, as we just learned: participating with media.

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Additionally, because today’s young people are so good at multi-tasking, (like texting their friends while watching television for example), they actually fit 10 hours and 45 minutes (10:45) worth of media content into those 7½ hours. In fact, kids spend more time with media than they do with their families or in school. Yikes.

Why? That’s a good question.

So good in fact, that the MacArthur Family Foundation has spend $50 million dollars studying digital media and learning trying to find out.

One of the things they’ve learned is that while the pace of all this technological change is dizzying to adults, for young people the underlying practices of sociability, learning, play, and self-expression are the same as they have for hundreds of years. It’s just that today there are fewer public places for kids to hang out, so instead they are hanging out on these online friendship-driven social networks (boyd, 2007). Like Facebook.

In fact, social networks like FaceBook have surpassed email as the preferred method of communication in all age groups. And if Facebook was a country, it would be the third largest, after India and China.

So who exactly are they hanging out with?

boboroshi , Flickr

CyberWise Guide to New Media Video Transcript

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CyberWise Guide to New Media Video Transcript (continued)

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Surveys of U.S. teens indicate that most teens use social media to socialize with people they already know or are already loosely connected with. Good news, right?

But what exactly are they doing in cyberspace?

A survey from the National School Boards Association (2007) reported that 60% of young people use their social network sites to talk about educational topics, and 50% talk specifically about schoolwork. (big

sigh of relief).

But what about all that texting?

Well, great news! Text speak doesn’t hurt language skills. A popular assumption is that the

act of texting is damaging our children’s ability to successfully write Standard English prose.

However, two studies involving over 700 young people found the higher daily use of texisms, was related to better informal writing. Results also showed that those who had the high textism density had higher verbal reasoning scores and that textism density was also positively related to word reading, vocabulary, and phonological awareness.

U wold also think that texting would encourage poor Spelling. But ac-cording to a study in the UK u would be wrong.

Another study of 8- to 12-year olds showed that children who regu-larly use texting shorthand actually improve their ability to spell.  Texting, it turns out, requires an understanding of what the original word should be.

Okay, so why does this matter?

Well in April of 2011 a report from the American Academy of Pediatrics stated that new media helps students:

•Enhance their communication skills

•Facilitate social interaction

•Develop technical skills

•Enable collaboration

•Increase community engagement

•And shape identity

You get the idea

In fact, new media could be a useful adjunct to, and in some cases is already replacing, traditional learning methods in the classroom.

Because lets face it, in this participatory culture traditional teaching methods are kinda boring.

So lets help our kids. Our teachers. And our schools. Be CyberWise!

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boyd, danah. (2007). Why youth (heart) social network sites: The role of networked publics in teenage social life. MacArthur Foundation Se-ries on Digital Media Volume (ed. David Buckingham). Cambridge, MA: MIT Press. http://www.danah.org/papers/WhyYouthHeart.pdf

Itō, M., Baumer, S., Bittani, M., boyd, d., Cody, R., Herr-Stephenson, B., Horst, H.A., Lange, P.G., Mahendran, D., Martinez, K.Z., Pascoe, C.J., Perkel, D., Robinson, L., Sims, C., Tripp, L. (2010). Hanging out, mess-ing around, and geeking out: Kids living and learning with new media. Cambridge, Mass: MIT Press. http://mitpress.mit.edu/books/full_pdfs/hanging_out.pdf

Jenkins, H., Purushotma, R., Clinton, K., Weigel, M., & Robinson, A. J. (2006). Confronting the Challenges of Participatory Culture: Media Edu-cation for the 21st Century. http://newmedialiteracies.org/.

Lenhart, Amanda, and Mary Madden. 2007. Social networking websites and teens: An overview. Pew Internet & American Life Project. Washing-ton, DC: Pew/ Internet. http://www.pewinternet.org/Reports/2007/Social-Networking-Websites-and-Teens.aspx

National School Board Association Study can be found at: http://www.marcprensky.com/blog/archives/000050.html

Plester, B., Wood, C. and Joshi, P (2009). Exploring the relationship be-tween children's knowledge of text message abbreviations and school lit-eracy outcomes. British Journal of Developmental Psychology, Volume 27, Number 1, March 2009 , pp. 145-161(17). http://www.eric.ed.gov/ERICWebPortal/search/detailmini.jsp?_nfpb=true&_&ERICExtSearch_SearchValue_0=EJ874495&ERICExtSearch_SearchType_0=no&accno=EJ874495

Pondiscio, R. (2010, Jan. 2). OMG! Texting doesn’t harm spelling. The Core Knowledge Blog. http://blog.coreknowledge.org/2010/01/22/omg-texting-doesnt-harm-spelling/

Rideout, V.J., Foehr, U.G., & Roberts, D.F. (2010). Generation M2: Media in the lives of 8- to 18- year olds. A Kaiser Family Foundation Study. http://www.kff.org/entmedia/8010.cfm

Rosen, L.D., Chang, J., Erwin, L., Carrier. M and Cheever, N.A. (April 2010). The relationship between ''textisms'' and formal and informal writ-ing among adults. Communication Research 2010 37: 420, originally published online 7 April 2010. http://crx.sagepub.com/content/37/3/420.abstract

Subrahmanyam, Kaveri, and Patricia Greenfield. 2008. Online communi-cation and adolescent relationships. The Future of Children 18(1):119–46. http://crx.sagepub.com/content/37/3/420

CyberWise Guide to New Media References

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Suggested Viewing

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ibJaqXVaOaI http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YmwwrGV_aiE

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“Did You Know 3.0” is the 2012 version of the video about the progression of information technology (researched by

Karl Fisch).

Henry Jenkins, Director, Professor of Communication, Journal-ism, and Cinematic Arts at the University of Southern Califor-

nia and author of “Confronting the Challenges of Participatory Culture: Media Education for the 21st Century,” talks about the

new media landscape.

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Suggested Reading

In this new book, cyberculture expert Howard Rheinold ex-plains how to use new media intelligently, humanely, and

above all, mindfully. This is an essential guide to understanding how to make use of online tools without being overloaded with

too much information.

What Next?

So what exactly does it mean to be “media literate” in the 21st century? Watch the CyberWise Guide to Media Literacy (the next lesson in the “Let’s Get Digital” series) and find out!

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