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Entries for May 2006
Learning From MySpace
[SUMMARY—What all marketers can learn from the social networking behemoth.]
(WORLD) With over 70 million users, you can learn a lot from MySpace
Trend research company Zandl Group offers some insights:
Filed by DK on May 31 2006 | READ IT »
Youthquake Alert
[SUMMARY—The changing face of youth music.]
(UK) The 'youthquake' (nice term) I refer to is how young people and the internet are changing the face of the music industry, but also how this could be the saviour for the British music business.
Perhaps you have been aware that the Arctic Monkeys and now Lily Allen have emerged into stardom via reputations constructed online. But you may know nothing of the scale, homogeneity and ragged amiability of the community that produced them. This strange, largely middle-class world of DIY stars and fans may just be about to restore legitimacy and style to British pop.
Filed by DK on May 31 2006 | READ IT »
Need More Details
[SUMMARY—Where is the £6 million going?]
(UK) Does anyone know or have more details about the £6 million for 'media projects' announced in last months budget by the UK government?
Filed by DK on May 31 2006 | READ IT »
Media Smart Youth Programme
[SUMMARY—Another programme designed to enable kids to decipher the media.]
(US) The National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) have developed an after-school programme aimed at 11-13 year olds. Its focus is to enable young people to become ‘media-smart’ and therefre make better choices about what they eat and how they exercise.
Here are the program’s goals in more depth:
• Help 11- to 13-year olds become aware of—and think critically about—how media can affect their nutrition and physical activity choices.
• Help young people build the skills to make good decisions about being physically active and eating nutritiously in daily life.
• Encourage young people to establish healthy habits that will last into adulthood.
Media-Smart Youth: Eat, Think, and Be Active
Filed by DK on May 30 2006 | READ IT »
Biting the Mosquito that Bites You
[SUMMARY—How kids can turn a negative technological advance into a postive.]
(US/UK) In honor of final exams spreading across the land the last few weeks, and summer vacation looming ahead, a final ‘quiz’ for you:
Which is worse?
• Teenagers
• Mosquitos
Filed by DK on May 29 2006 | READ IT »
The World Has Changed…#1
[SUMMARY—Embracing the changing nature of the world.]
(WORLD) … and it’s not looking back.
The opening lines of MediaSnackers sums it up and here are a few illustrations:
Filed by DK on May 29 2006 | READ IT »
The Hole In The Wall
[SUMMARY—Illustrating and enabling the innate curiousity of all kids.]
(IND) Indian researcher Sugata Mitra created The Hole In The Wall by creating an avenue for 'slum-children' to access a high-speed broadband-enabled computer.
The result:
… he discovered that slum children quickly taught themselves how to surf the net, read the news, and download games and music. Mitra then replicated the experiment in other locations. Each time the results were similar: within hours, and without instruction, the children began browsing the Internet.
The Idea (1min.40sec. 4.6MB)
The Inspiration (1min.17sec. 4.7MB)
The Aftermath (1min.27sec. 4.5MB)
WOW!
Via Globalvision.org (where you can order your copies of the Hole In The Wall documentary.
Filed by DK on May 29 2006 | READ IT »
MediaSnackers Digest
[SUMMARY—MediaSnackers In Digestable Chunks]
SIGN UP TO THE MEDIASNACKERS DIGEST
Filed by DK on May 29 2006 | READ IT »
Multiplatfornication
[SUMMARY—MTV mashes up platform offerings.]
(US) MTV are really focussing hard on developing and offering its content across many platforms (multiplatfornication), but the mobile phone is one area which it has it's eyes virmly set on.
Wallpapres, screen-savers, voice-mail greetings, ring-tones, news, snippets of programming etc.—all offer a unique avenue to disseminate content further.
Viacom (MTV parent company) has assets that play well to what's called content snacking. What works well on a phone is not the full meal you get at the plasma TV screen.
Great to hear someone getting the whole 'mediasnacking' discourse and metaphor :-)
Hollywood Reporter article link
Filed by DK on May 26 2006 | READ IT »
Playboy Launches Media Scheme
[SUMMARY—They intend to teach us what not to watch...]
(US) Tha daughter of Playboy founder and owner Hugh Hefner, Christie is launcheding an educational initiative to ‘help parents keep unwanted programming from the eyes of children’.
Take Parental Control is the campaigns website and Playboy Entertainment Group president Jim Griffiths says:
From a point of view of having people take advantage of the parental control options that are available to people across all platforms while preserving our legacy and our belief in and support of the First Amendment, it made perfect sense that we be should be one of the key leaders in this campaign.
Filed by DK on May 26 2006 | READ IT »
Wanting Friends
[SUMMARY—Do we really need the networks we create?]
(WORLD) 10 years ago if you had a friend chances were that you’d met them at least once, spoke to them on the phone occasionally and they’d visited your house or you’d visited theirs. People had a group, outside of their family, that they could fall back on when they needed emotional or social support. For the most part though they liked to meet up with their friends and chat, watch sport or just hang out.
Filed by DK on May 26 2006 | READ IT »
Edutopia
[SUMMARY—Edutopia rules!]
(US/WORLD) If you have any interest in young people you must be interested in education. The George Lucas International Foundation (or Edutopia) is a veritable goldmine of information, examples of good practice and everything else yuo would need to know about the educational system in the US.
If you're new to this organisation then please sign up to their weekly e-newsletters. Need more convincing then check the following three examples:
Filed by DK on May 25 2006 | READ IT »
Depression Texts
[SUMMARY—Mobile phone use and obsession indicates depression.]
(US) Another new report makes the link between those teens who obsessively use their mobiles more than 90 times a day (wow) could be doing so because of boredom and even depression.
With the average time spent texting or talking on the mobiles rising to over an hour a day, Dr. Jee Hyan Ha, lead author of the latest report, said:
I thought that there would be some kind of craving, but that is not what I saw. They are trying to make themselves feel better by reaching out to others.
Via Textually and image thanks
Filed by DK on May 25 2006 | READ IT »
LA Youth
[SUMMARY—State youth publication goes from strength to strength.]
(US) LA Youth is publication with a print run of 120,000 each issue and a readership of more than 400,000 young people.
Not surprisingly they have a generous corporate partner in the Los Angeles Times who provide eqiupment, employee volunteering schemes, production and editorial support.
Donna C. Myrow is founder and executive director of L.A. Youth, says:
L.A. Youth articles are often about traditional teen interests, such as summer jobs, getting into college, education, and getting a date for the prom. But there is room for controversy in the paper, too. When our teenagers set out to explore difficult and complicated topics like teen pregnancy, substance abuse, AIDS, race relations, homelessness, and gangs, L.A. Times reporters, editors and lawyers have shared their expertise.
Youth Media Reporter article link
Filed by DK on May 25 2006 | READ IT »
Tots TV
[SUMMARY—The next generation of MediaSnackers are already here.]
(US) Stepping out of the youth focus for a minute, a new study in the states have revealed that one third of tots (under 5s) are avid TV watchers.
Nice quote from lead researcher Victoria Rideout of the Kaiser Family Foundation, on how parents are actively encouraging thier tots to watch:
I had this sense of kids clamoring to use media and parents trying to keep their finger in the dam. I found that not to be a very accurate picture in most cases.
Filed by DK on May 25 2006 | READ IT »
NYA Concerns Over MySpace
[SUMMARY—Should we panic about the 'digital natives'?]
(UK) Came across this article from the National Youth Agency outlining concerns for the online habits of young people, in particular their use of social networking sites such as MySpace.com and also their ever evolving use of multi-tasking.
… is living in a virtual world the same as the real one? I don’t think so. Do discussions with friends on MSN and other chat rooms alter the way young people communicate when they meet each other in the real world? How do judgments about other people’s emotions, needs and sensibilities change when you communicate electronically, often at great speed, in text language and in sentences rarely more than four words long?
Filed by DK on May 22 2006 | READ IT »
I Like Company
[SUMMARY—Want to get involved in MediaSnackers?]
(WORLD) If you've already been to the 'join' page and want more information on how to get involved, then download the short .pdf below which gives more information on the opportunities available.
DOWNLOAD 'I LIKE COMPANY' .PDF (232KB)Filed by DK on May 22 2006 | READ IT »
The News Is Dead
[SUMMARY—God rest her soul…]
(US) We all have experienced the changing face of news media—in its attempt to become participatory it has reached out to the general public and has started to include their footage (usually via mobile phone and text) into their mainstream coverage.
However, the biggest threat is not that young people don't want the news but that they are moving away from traditional sources and more into defined mediums such as blogs and other sites:
The future course of the news, including the basic assumptions about how we consume news and information and make decisions in a democratic society are being altered by technology-savvy young people no longer wedded to traditional news outlets or even accessing news in traditional ways.
Carnegie Reporter article link
Filed by DK on May 21 2006 | READ IT »
Digital Rights
[SUMMARY—Do we need new laws to protect our rights to access technology and software?]
(US) Alternative Freedom is a documentary about the invisible war on culture and apparently the pressing argument of Copyright Law and Digital Rights Management. Is this the future young people will be facing?
Via Houtlust
Filed by DK on May 19 2006 | READ IT »
Virgin Comics
[SUMMARY—Branson moves into print with a focus on Asia.]
(ASIA) Virgin Comics is an interesting move by Branson but one with some other heavyweight players for company: author Deepak Chopra, acclaimed filmmaker Shekhar Kapur and South Asia's leading publisher of comic magazines, Gotham Entertainment Group LLC are all on board for the ride.
Kapur says:
Comic book characters—traditional and digital—are the new cult, the new religion. India's 600 million teenagers are now at the forefront of the creation of these new gods. For these new Indian comic gods are derived directly from the vast ocean of mythology."
Filed by DK on May 18 2006 | READ IT »
Generations Apart
[SUMMARY—Ofcom study on generational technology use.]
(UK) Ofcom surveyed 5,000 parents and their children in an attepmt to understand the digital gap between the generations.
The results aren’t surprising as they reveal technology becoming central to kids lives whilst for their parents lag behind in their understanding and use of new and emerging platforms.
Here’s the pick of the results:
Filed by DK on May 17 2006 | READ IT »
Parents Guide About New Media
[SUMMARY—An Irish info booklet for parents about new media.]
(IRE) The Internet Advisroy Board for Ireland commissioned Athena Media to develop a funky little parents guide to new media.
The booklet is free to download and covers all aspects of new and emerging technologies:
This booklet gives you an overview of what new technologies can do. They are not something to fear but, rather, embrace. They are no more difficult than when you first got a microwave oven or a video recorder. You did not need to know what every button did—just which buttons you needed to make things happen. It is the same with the personal computer and the Internet or the advanced new mobile phones. They can help you do things and they are playing a significant role in shaping your children’s lives—just like the television did in our childhoods.
Filed by DK on May 16 2006 | READ IT »
Print Works
[SUMMARY—There's a lot of talk about print is dead but what if you're a youth magazine in prison?]
(MOL) I used to project manage a youth magazine. This local initiative had a circulation of 10,000 and over 300 young people were involved in writing, desigining and editing the mag during the three years I was involved.
With a lot of discussion about print as a medium not being used by young people then check out this quote from an 18 year old editor of a prison magazine:
People constantly make mistakes, but if you do not give them a second chance, they will make mistakes again. The three years I have spent here made me understand that you have to live and not merely exist. There is not much time left before my release, but I am not afraid of freedom anymore. I already know what to do with my hands. I’ve learnt to write, use the computer; I know the basics of layout. It is something, isn’t it?
Wow!
Filed by DK on May 15 2006 | READ IT »
MySpace.com Junkie
[SUMMARY—Just click and watch. ]
(WORLD)
Via Quiver and Quill
Filed by DK on May 14 2006 | READ IT »
Plugged In
[SUMMARY—A new report on how 'plugged in' kids really are. ]
(US) We all know that young people are spending more and more time 'plugged in' to virtual worlds, relationships and other online activities—it’s a dramatic generational change to how their parents used to live and is obviously going to have a profound effect on societal trends in the coming years.
Filed by DK on May 13 2006 | READ IT »
Competitive Teen Consumers/Creators
[SUMMARY—Young people competing for peer audiences as they create digital content.]
(US/WORLD) You sometimes come across an article that has you nodding your head in agreeance and shaking your head wishing you had written it.
In one article, Jon Fine sums up MediaSnackers and gives a celebrated vision of how young people operate in this hyper-media world.
Today's teens are the first for whom self-created content competes with teen-aimed media like videogames. There are now widespread means with which they can create and share their stuff, be they blogs, or the music recording software and design tools found on many computers, or sites like myspace.com. Established media has to grapple with the novel fact that its next generation of consumers is also competition.
Oooohh--stuff like that gives us goose-bumps!
Filed by DK on May 12 2006 | READ IT »
Big Bad Media
[SUMMARY—How can you make the media responsible?]
(UK) Steve Barretts editorial in this weeks YPN magazine calls for the media to accept more responsibility in terms of its duty to protect young people. He highlights a new trend in reporting and naming young people involved in ‘anti-social’ activities.
…most worrying is the admission by media professionals that naming and shaming is designed to sell more papers, rather than to improve young people’s behaviour.
It is high time the media rediscovered its sense of responsibility when it comes to vulnerable young people.
Nice piece but would have liked it to explore 'how' the media can become responsible through examples of good practises. Also, as the media as a whole becomes fractured and young people themselves access it varying ways, the impact of such 'if it bleeds it leads' reporting will be confined to dying mediums such as newspapers (he says, hopefully!).
Filed by DK on May 11 2006 | READ IT »
A 31 Hour Day
[SUMMARY—Added hours through mulitasking, but how do you measure it?]
(WORLD) You know what it's like—trying to cram into one day all them little jobs you have to do. Time is fast becoming a precious commodity.
Acoording to them clever people at MTV, people are managing to cram in 31 hours of activity into the usual 24 (I haven’t a clue how they worked this out but I’m sure it involved lots of clipboards, ticking boxes and old school calculators).
Filed by DK on May 11 2006 | READ IT »
Youth Media Survey
[SUMMARY—Downloadable youth media survey for youth professionals.]
(US) The Center for Parent/Youth Understanding have a FREE online media survey for youth professionals to explore with the kids their working with, their media habits.
Although flavoured with a religious undertones the list of questions are useful nonetheless for professionals engaging kids on this issue.
Filed by DK on May 10 2006 | READ IT »
Broadband Poll
[SUMMARY—A quick look at which countries lead the way on broadband users.]
(WORLD) If I asked you, which country has the highest concentration of broadband users, what would you say?
I went for someone like China or the US for sheer geographical and population size… I was wrong.
Filed by DK on May 10 2006 | READ IT »
Music, Media and Today's Youth Culture
[SUMMARY—One youth's take on it all…]
(WORLD)
Filed by DK on May 9 2006 | READ IT »
Internet And Politics
[SUMMARY—A study which looks at utilising the Internet to engage young people in politics.]
(UK/WORLD) The Carnegie Young People Initiative takes a great look at the concept of citizenship in relation to young people use of the Internet. It explores this obvious relationship and then highlights how very rarely does Politics (not capitol ‘P’) overlap.
What a great opening line.
Remixing Citizenship starts from the position that it is not young people that are disconnected from formal politics, but political institutions that are disconnected from young people.
Filed by DK on May 9 2006 | READ IT »
Old School Trying To Understand New School
[SUMMARY—Rupert Murdoch quote]
(WORLD) Just a great quote from an old school media baron which gives a little insight into the challenges he faces.
What I worry about much more is our ability to make the necessary cultural changes to meet the new demands of the digital native.
Rupert Murdoch, 13 April 2006
Filed by DK on May 8 2006 | READ IT »
Throwing Digital Kids Under the Fear Bus
[SUMMARY—Review of Time Magazines Special Report on being 13.]
(US/WORLD) Want a quick review of Time Magazines, 'Special Report: Being 13'? Then click on through to Christian Longs think:lab blog post link below (sometimes it's much better just to signpost brilliant stuff).
:-)
Think:Lab blog post and title steal
Filed by DK on May 8 2006 | READ IT »
Newspapers 0 Internet 1
[SUMMARY—More figures which demonstrate the fall in print.]
(US) At the end of March, sales of newspapers in the States over a 6month period fell by another 2.5%. However, hits on newspapers websites have seen an increase:
The NAA also reported that newspaper-run sites had an overall 8 percent increase in viewers in the first quarter. The data from Nielsen/NetRatings found that newspaper Web sites averaged 56 million users, or 37 percent of all online users in the period.
This means that traditional advertising routes are also transferring online. As more and more young people use the web as the sole avenue for the news then see this trend continue.
Filed by DK on May 7 2006 | READ IT »
Movie Promotions Become Focussed
[SUMMARY—Ads for the big-screen become smaller]
(US) As more and more young people visit the movies the marketing campaigns are understanding that traditional promtional campaigns need to get smaller to fit the digital screens. Their use of YouTube, iTunes and podcasting is a new approach to raising awareness of their movies.
Here's a taster of some recent campaigns:
Filed by DK on May 7 2006 | READ IT »
30 Secs Is All It Takes
[SUMMARY—Apparently kids remember ads more than programmes.]
(US) A little study by Pediatrics Online has shown that kids remember the ads more than the public service programmes shown on Channel One in more than 350,000 schools.
Maybe the shows are boring? Maybe the ads are more relevant and communicate more effectively? Either make better programmes or change the structure so that they are only 30secs long…
Filed by DK on May 6 2006 | READ IT »
Teen Takes On Myspace.com
[SUMMARY—Is quitting school and launching a social networking site a good option?]
(US) The sheer dominance of myspace.com in the realm of social networking sites for young people is evident its 78 million users.
However, illustrating the positive audacity of young people, 15 year old Stephanie Meagher, quit school last year and aims to create a community site that will outperfom Myspace.
Blahblahbox has a built in profile generator, so members don't have to go elsewhere to design their profiles and a flirt function which is great fun. I'm one person with no money to invest competing against sites that have millions invested in them [however], my site will sell itself once the word begins to spread. It's got great looks and cool functions and my determination behind it.
The point is not about if she will succeed but that she is attempting too.
Filed by DK on May 6 2006 | READ IT »
Mainstream Gets Sidelined
[SUMMARY—An insight into the changing attitudes of old media.]
(WORLD) A comprehensive study of 10,000 people in ten countries illsutrates how young people are naming the internet as the main suorce of their news. This will have a hug impact on current and traditional media.
The challenge for big media players like the BBC is to stay relevant to young men and women reared on a diet of MP3s and iPods.
As more and more young people are becoming immersed in technology, their media practises will change with the mediums they utilise. TV will not die but it will have to morph and become fluid in its operations and production.
Filed by DK on May 5 2006 | READ IT »
Embracing Media Participation In Turkey
[SUMMARY—Educating journalists on effective youth participation.]
(TUR) This is bold—bringing together 29 local reporters from nine different provinces with the aim of creating a child-friendly media and enabling children’s participation in the media. In March the BIA project did just that.
Adem Durmaz from the Antalya Gundem newspaper, at the end of the seminar said:
I realized that locally, we were not writing any news about children. And the ones we wrote for the national media were completely in violation of the principles of reporting on children. I will reflect what I have learned here in my newspaper and convey her or him to those who were not here. I am sure my new life will be much better.
Filed by DK on May 4 2006 | READ IT »
YFly.com
[SUMMARY—Social networking site with a twist]
(US) YFly.com offers social networking for teens but with a focus on safety. Figure-head and co-founder, Nich Lacey got involved after he became aware his identity was one of the most frequently being used by internet predators.
Filed by DK on May 3 2006 | READ IT »
Tech-savvy Students Inspire Change
[SUMMARY—The student becomes the teacher]
(US) Education is a slow ship to turn but change is being driven by a body of young people who are dubbed the "power users". They are influencing the teaching styles and focus of their tutors due to their knowledge and understanding of information and communications technology.
Filed by DK on May 3 2006 | READ IT »
Smash Hits Closes
[SUMMARY— Iconic youth music mag ends]
(UK) One of the biggest British teen mags has folded after it lost its audience’s “bedroom time” to the internet and mobile phones.
Mark Frith, former editor of Smash Hits was reported in the Guardian as saying that the bi-weekly had been caught out by the rise of digital media:
Today's teens want faster, deeper information about music and can now satisfy their hunger by accessing information on a whole range of new platforms including TV, the internet, mobile and so on.
Reproduced with kind permission from PSFK
Filed by DK on May 2 2006 | READ IT »
TV's In Kids Bedrooms…
[SUMMARY—… but are they watching programmes?]
(UK) A survey by Lloyds TSB reveals that 7 out of 10 kids have TV's in their room. However, 6 out of 10 of them also have a digital games console and/or a dvd player.
So are they watching TV or defining their own use by playing video games or even watching movies?
Filed by DK on May 1 2006 | READ IT »
The New WWW: Whatever, Whenever, Wherever
[SUMMARY—Mediasnackers: they’re here!]
(WORLD) The world has changed and it’s not looking back.
Album sales are dropping, cinema attendances are down, young people are not watching TV, they are more interested in playing video games, turning to the web for their news, reading comics on their mobiles, and are a market worth $159 billion in the US alone.
Filed by DK on May 1 2006 | READ IT »
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