Publisher's Synopsis
New technologies are playing an important role in the lives ofyoung people. From mobile phones to social media sites, from videogames to virtual worlds, young people are immersed in atechnologically rich environment, in a participatory culturue wherethey are not only consuming content, but also producing it andsharing it with others.
People learn better when givien opportunities to create theirown projects. The growing fields of the learning sciences andeducational technologies have long acknowledged this. Over the pastfour decades, new tools and approaches have been designed andevaluated to support children in creating and sharing their owncomputer-based projects.
The field of youth development has only recently started toexamine how the creation of content might have an impact onchildren's development. Much of the early work has taken a mediaeffects perspecive by looking at the impact of new technologies onchildren--as opposed to analyzing what children are doing with thetechnology. Also, too often youth experiences with technology havebeen framed in negative terms by highlighting the danger of of newtechnologies.
This issue of New Directions for Youth Developmentexplores the many positive ways in which children and youth in boththe United States and abroad, in urban and rural settings, aretaking advantage of new technologies to create projects with theirown content. In the process, they are embarking on personal andcommunity journeys that engage them in many facet of positivedevelopment.
This is the 128th volume of New Directions for YouthDevelopment, the Jossey-Bass quarterly report seriesdedicated to bringing together everyone concerned with helpingyoung people, including scholars, practitioners, and people fromdifferent disciplines and professions. The result is a uniqueresource presenting thoughtful, multi-faceted approaches to helpingour youth develop into responsible, stable, well-roundedcitizens.
