1. emergent mindsets in the digital age:
new media ecology / new genres of engagement
what support /settings (anchor, compas) for learners on the run?
edith k. ackermann
brussels, november 15, 2012
http://www.media.mit.edu/~edith
1
As a psychologist, I am interested in how today’s learners proceed to
find their ways—and voices—in an increasingly saturated and
interconnected digital landscape. Of particular relevance in this regard
are the questions:
- How do we—our children—reconcile our lives on- and offline? At home,
school, work, and in-between
- What do we expect from others, things, and from the tools at our avail?
What are we giving back?
- What self-orienting / grounding /mediating devices do we invent to keep
our bearings?
- HOW DO WE, AS A CULTURE, REDEFINE what it means to be
knowledgeable, literate, successful, experienced, a good person — and
what it takes to become so?
- How does shared access to—and everyday use of— mobile devices,
social networks, smart appliances, augmented realities, smart toys
slowly but surely impact how people THEMSELVES come to blend
virtual and physica, make-believe and reality, actualities and
possibilities, in new ways
1

2. new media ecology - new genres of engagement
fertile grounds for curious mind
people as place-makers and way-finders
moving between worlds (physical, virtual, physical)
high-low tech, on-and-off line, mortar and bits
2
Not being plugged in, interconnected is today’s equivalent of being illiterate. And
yet being connected alone won’t suffice to be an active and competent player in
today’s world -let alone a creative person. The term “new media ecology” refers
to environments in which traditional tools and mediations, intersect with —are
augmented by- and in some cases mimic or invert their digital counterpart. From
books to Facebook, smart boards to overhead projectors, educational software
to authoring tools, location-based technologies to mobile devices…Genres of
engagement speaks to they ways learners—and those in charge of their
upbringing— navigate, stake, inhabit and furbish such hybrid media
environments. My own stance as a researcher is that: (1) no one has ever lives
in one realm, mode, or channel, alone. Instead, we constantly move between
worlds, physical/virtual/digital. Hence (2) the irrelevance of asking the question:
what’s the effect”of tech X [ex.cellphones] on learners’ Y [smarts, skills,
emotions) without looking at ‘its’ place in a broader ecology (contexts of use,
and usages over time). I also learned that (3) digital media, or ITC, or even
computer, is too broad a category to be of any help. It’s the “microworlds” (aps,
mobile devices, or software) that matter. It’s the promises “they” held that we fall
for, or resist!
2

3. emergent mindsets: ME, US, THEY, WORLD
how do today’s kids—and those in charge of their upbringing
see themselves
relate to others
treat things, dwell in space
what do they expect from tools, media,
3
Today’s kids are growing up in a world increasingly shielded from nature; of ever
more busy work and entertainment schedules; longer commutes; ‘disappearing’
third places; reorganizing neighborhoods; communities in transition; and
recomposed families. At the same time, both kids and adults these days have a
host of new tools and toys at their avail that we couldn’t even dream of growing
up. I am interested in how the youngsters themselves make sense and use of
what’s around -- cultural mediations - artifacts, other people, peers as a means to
find their ways into the jungles in which they are born, and what challenges—and
opportunities— this raises for those in charge of their upbringing.
3

4. kids today / kids yesterday
living without knowing
kids are born with a knack to do the right things in order
to get to know more about what they do not know yet !
they are good learners by necessity, not by design
alan kay’s principle
4
Children may have little knowledge, or experience. Yet, they are born with a
“knack” to do the right things in order to get to know more about what they do not
know yet ! Kids are expert navigators / explorers. They compose with
uncertainties all the time…They do so by necessity - not by design. As the
saying goes: You give a child a hammer and they whole world looks like a nail.
Better yet: You put her in the middle of nails and she’ll invent the hammer. early
on, Much can be learned from their interests and genres of engagement.
Regarding technologies, Alan kay puts it well when he stats: we, adults, tend to
call technology any tool that was invented ‘after I am born’. Not so for kids! To
them, high or low-tech won’t make a difference, and the world in which they live
is, by definition, beyond mind’s grasp.
4

5. outline
1. digital natives (genres of engagement): what’s to be learned
2. 21st c. skills / media literacy: what’s being proposed, what could be
3.lessons for designers and educators: restoring a viable balance
4. new ways of getting things done: DIY, DIT, BIIT. D-craftsman
5
-1.[ Digital natives genres of engagement] how do they play and learn.
What’s to be learned? What’s their “strengths and weaknesses when it
comes to ITC fluency / new media literacy? and what to make of it all ?
-2. What’s being proposed (2ist century skills and new media literacy
initiatives)? How can we build on the kids strengths while, at the same time,
supporting / guiding them in what they ‘d be missing out, if left drifting.
-3. Lessons for designers and educators: Thoughts and guidelines on how to
restore a balance.
-4. New ways of getting things done: Do it yourself, do it together, be in it
together, digital craftsmanship.
5

6. Part 2:
While wary of claims that polarize the divide between so-called digital natives: born
after 1980, and what Marc Prensky coins digital immigrants: born and raised in the
post-Gutenberg / pre-digital era), it is fair to say : we are witnessing a significant
cultural shift - or epistemological mutation, the symptoms of which are only magnified
in today’s youth’s infatuations with all things digital. Looking into today’s youngsters
genres of engagement and expectations -- how they like to mediate their experience
through tool-use—help us see - and possibly rethink some of our own assumptions
about what it means to be literate, knowledgeable, a good learner,or team player
—and what it to become so…
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7. growing up digital - areas of change
shifting identities -new ways of being
sharism - new ways of relating
border-crossing - new ways of “transiting”
literacies beyond print - new ways of sp(w)riting
gaming, simul(at)ing - new ways to playing it safe
makers, hackers, hobbyists - new rapports to things
when generational gap and cultural mutation coincide
7
Based on research by ito, gee, salem,etc…, we have identified 6 areas of
change where there seems to be more going on than the usual generational
gap. Each constitutes a dimension that, together with others, informs how
today’s kids play & learn, and more generally: see themselves, relate to
others, treat things , dwell in space & what do they expect from tools, media at
their avail (what’s tech to them)
Dimensions are:
- Shifting identities - or fluid selves
- Sharism - new ways of being together
- Border-crossing - new ways of moving between worlds - settling
- Literacies beyond print - new ways of saying it
- Gaming and simuling - new ways to playing it safe
- Maker, hacker, hobbyist - new rapports to things, and making things do things
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8. sharism - new ways of relating - do it together be in it together
co-creation over individual
construction and personal
elaboration
mingle before make
share before think
go public before it is ripe
borrow / address / pass along
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Sharism - a growing precedence of CO-CREATION over INDIVIDUAL
CONSTRUCTION, and personal elaboration.
In a nutshell, and at the risk of caricature, today’s youngsters don’t first figure
out things for themselves & then share them with others (the Piagetian way).
Instead, they seem to give reason to Vygosky by acting (getting stuff out) and
sharing before they “think things through.” The natives love to disseminate
half-baked ideas and creations—found or self-made—which they then bounce
around, often at a fast pace, instead of keeping them to themselves. And
they often do so with kindred spirits, present or absent - before they seek help
from knowledgeable adults.
Needless to say, such open “sharism” calls for trustworthy allies: a reliable
group of acquaintances (folks who know that nascent ideas are by definition
fragile and incomplete, and who are open to listening to others—and helping
each other move on.
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9. plural identities, fluid selves
new ways of being / x-ple selves
shifting boundaries between ME
/NOT-ME - where I/mine ends
and you/yours begins. what gets
incorporated (taken in) / projected
out (objectified, other-ized)
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Plural identities
refers to the notion that today’s children seem to exist in multiple realms (physical,
virtual, digital). With a sense of self that is at once more fluid and distributed. Note.
By Identity we mean distinct personal traits that remain persistent - recognizable -
over time and across contexts. In their role play, the kids may take on different
personae, which is not new (carnaval, bal masque), but digital environments have
this particularity that they let you wear several hats at once! I.o.w, you can
simultaneously explore different aspects of self in varying contexts—often shielded
from one another—and in each you will be taken at face value.
The challenge for today’s children is to strike a balance between spreading
themselves thin(due to loosening boundaries between ME not ME, where me/mine
ends and you/your begins ends) and remaining in touch with who they are (find their
voice)
9

10. border-crossing /expanding territorial borders
take a walk on the wild side
see what’s on the other side
center / periphery
skins / envelopes are moving
expand circles of
acquaintance
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Border-crossing
The spatial equivalent of distributed and liquid selves, border-crossing refers
to new ways of moving between worlds (virtual, physical, digital) often without
moving their bodies— and of settling in places (characteristic of what Yasmin
Abbas calls neo-nomads). Some feel at home in more than one place/ or no
place in particular. Many seek grounds in virtual places / carry along stuff they
care about (ever heavier backpacks), and stay connected while on the go.
Kids who live in split or recomposed families, may ask each parent to buy a
preferred toy to await them when[re]ever they will stay over in their place.
Their ways of crossing borders —geographic and cultural puts an end to the
notions of home, territory, and “roots “ as we know them.
The neo-nomads’ biggest challenge, as a generation, is to find new ways of
feeling grounded, securely attached…anchored…
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11. literacies beyond print - new ways of sp[w]rinting!
notate to annotate
mix & match media
copy-and-paste literacy (perkel)
close gap between read & write
secondary orality, sp(w)riting
SMS, wiki, word-commands
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Literacies beyond print—deep shifts in what it means to be literate —and a
literate thinker. From write to Sp[w]rite /Notate to Annotate/ search to search.
With the proliferation of digital presentation and authoring tools, the gap is closing
between read and write, as well as between speech and writing (Ong, Olson,
Lankshear). WRITE becomes a quick assembly of cut-and-pasted fragments, a
blending of text, images, and sounds; and READ turns into a meticulous act of
highlighting, earmarking, and extracting bits for later use. Annotations instead of
notations / Editing as a way of creating. Texting, on the other hand, is about write to
speak, and since texting is slow, kids invent ways to speed it up. Today’s authors
rarely start from scratch: borrow from those who inspire, and address to those
whose opinions matter. And if time permits, they reconfigure, repurpose, and remix
incomes to leave their mark. In anticipation: what’s true of writing is also true of
programming……
A big challenge for educators today is to come to grips with what they view as
plagiarism: students’ tendencies to pick-up and pass-on ready-made imports that
have not been acknowledged, or mindfully engaged. It is our view that borrowing
and addressing are quite OK as long as incoming bits are being recognized and
‘massaged’ long enough to be owned (iteration iteration! ), which requires allowing
the time it takes for things well done. Remember: it takes a year to write a book
and a few days to read it….
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12. gaming and simuling - new ways of playing it out, safely
a growing expectation that the tools at
hand be responsive and forgiving, let
you experience things as-if for good
you can take risks because you are
given a second chance!
always
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Gaming and simuling
Unlike “simulating, which implies the faithful reproduction of an original in an
attempt to mimic an existing reality (e.g., a professional flight simulator),
‘simuling’ is meant as the creation of an alternative world, virtual or physical, that
is ‘true’ or believable in its own right (a microworld in papert’s sense) . More than
in previous generations, today’s kids expect the tools they use to provide
immediate feedback, And most important, the tools should let them undo
previous moves (recover), and keep track of what they are doing (revisit). This
“good-enough-mother” quality of digital tools (attentive, immediately responsive,
forgiving) breads a culture of iteration (try again, build on top) and playful
exploration (go for it, no move is fatal) in ways that pre-digital tools hardly could.
Note: Jean Baudrillard distinguishes 4 steps in the process of creating realities:
(1) reflection of reality, (2) perversion of reality; (3) pretence of reality, and (4)
simulacrum, which to him bears no relation to any reality whatsoever. Gilles
Deleuze sees simulacrum (4) as a royal venue by which established ideals or
‘privileged positions’ can be challenged, overturned: subverted…
A challenge for today’s gamers is to remind themselves what the game or
simulation is a play on or a simulation of, I.e., don’t take the fiction for the reality
it is meant to depict.
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13. bricoleurs and pro-ams- new rapports to things (DIY; DIT; BIIT)
makers, hackers, hobbyists- caring geeks
make things
make things do things
repurpose, mend, trade things
DIY culture, maker fairs, digital crafts
mindful engagement - design to fabrication
people tend to care about things they invest (spend time on/with)
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hands-on to “bricolage” - Maker, Hacker, Hobbyist: New rapports to
things. DIY-DIT- BIIT.
A bricoleur is a Jack of all trades who knows how to “make do” with what’s at
hand. Unlike the engineer, the bricoleur achieves many tasks putting putting
preexisting things together in new ways. The Engineer, in contrast, is more
of a planer - a “programmer”
More than in previous generation, today’s “bricoleurs” are eager to gather.
tweak, remix, and trade stuff, preferably tangible but not necessarily. They
like to give things a second life or extra ‘powers’. And as they grow older and
perfect their technical skills, our ”pro-ams invent many new and clever ways
of making things (crafting, fabricating); of making things ‘do things’
(controlling, programming); and of repurposing things. It is mostly their
confidence in —and knowledge about—how to fix and mend things (debug) ,
together with a belief in the benefits of iteration (layering, refining), that hold
the potential to bread a new culture of crafting.
Their challenge, as a generation will be to break loose from a consume and
dispose mindset, and to do things their ways without loosing the capacity of
being good listeners. If given a chance and provided appropriate support—
and technical knowledge— I actually think that today’s youngsters won’t
merely consume and dispose. Instead, they will create and recycle. Alias,
they will care!
13

14. new cultures of participation: hang out, mess around, geek out
maker cultures, pro-ams,
parallel economies
new media productions
gamers
craftsmanship/fabrication
kids develop their own ethos on things worth pursuing and how
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While not all youth —and not only youth—exhibit the millienial traits just
described, the trends are significant enough to be worth paying close
attention to In particular,
New cultures of participation ARE developing their own very pointed,
technical expertise in such diverse areas as digital video, fan fiction, anime,
fashion design. They entertain a different rapport to stuff, and to the making
and trading of things. From design to fabrication. consume and dispose to
make and mend. Most importantly. the natives are inventing new ways to go
about their business and develop their own ethos on things worth pursuing
and how.
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15. 2.
21st century skills / literacy: what’s being proposed?
what today’s youngsters ought to know
to become active and successful
players in tomorrow’s world
21st century skills /P21 requirements
21st century literacy (jenkins)
participatory cultures (jenkins, gee)
gaming, QUEST 2 LEARN (salem)
15
There is much talk about 21st century skills these days, and much research
being fueled into redefining what today’s youngsters ought to know in order
to become active and successful players in tomorrow’s world. In the US, the
so-called P21 framework offers an integrated framework for 21st century
requirements, a blending of content knowledge, specific skills, expertise and
literacies, and offers support systems to produce desired outcomes. Other
important contributions and initiatives include:
- Jenkin’s 21st century literacy guidelines is another,
- james gee’s notion of participatory cultures, proams, and his and katie
salem’s views and takes on gaming, simuling,
- The quest to learn program : an actual public school in NYCity based on
gamer’s ….
- The list is long…..
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16. 3.
lessons for educators, designers, architects
- new cultures of participation: lurkers to “pro-ams”
balance of production, consumption
balance of participator, spectator
groups form/dissolve/reform fats
what to make of it all?
16
Yes! today’s youngsters entertain a different rapport to one another and to the
world—man-made or natural, digital or physical, animate or inanimate. At the
same time, many of us (including some of the kids) are also slowly reclaiming our
bodies, finding new territories to go about our business and developing our own
ethos on what things are worth pursuing and why. One the “geeky” side of
things,there is no doubt that in today’s world (I am talking about places where
access is not a problem), :
1. Most anyone (not just experts) can produce some form or other of quasi-
professional looking creations (multi-media productions, programs, or artifacts)
2. They can initiate/participate in practices - and events - usually reserved to
professionals (flashmobs are a good example)
3. With the help of online tools, such as Facebook, and others, the nature of
groups, social formation, is easier to start and sustain. And groups also dissolve
fast .
New cultures of participation emerge, which hold the potential of developing
pointed, technical expertise in such diverse areas as digital video, fan fiction,
anime, fashion design. They do so in any field the human mind can think of, really
whatever . They also entertain a different rapport to the making and trading of
things. From design to fabrication….
16

17. dominant traits breed new tensions that call for re-adjustment
sharism - together / plugged in - on your own / detach / unplug
plural identities, fluid selves - split / spread - whole / centered
border-crossing - mobile / on the go - grounded / anchored
cut-paste - annotate / borrow - put it your way / from scratch
gaming/simuling - make it up / play it out - get real!
makers- digital craftman. do it fast / do it well / let it last!
17
As mentioned before, the generational traits just presented breeds new tension,
which call for re-adjustments . We increasingly see people, young and old,
reinventing their own clever ways to “push back” and restore inner balance. Good
examples of this nascent counter-trend include the recent talk about physical and
emotional well-being, caring for our environment, and a renewed interest in the
quality of food, air, and land (to name but a few). Going back to our 6 areas of
change, we observe the following counter-points, which should be taken seriously
by educators.
Starting with sharism, we know that conviviality comes with a price! boldly put,
being perpetually connected calls for moments to unplug, and being dependant
on others calls for moments of independence (the balance to achieve is between
autonomy and attachment).
Regarding 2. fluid selves: being open is great but feeling centred is equally
important: the balance to achieve here is between fragmented and rassembled
self (people start to focus on issues of privacy)
3. Etc etc…
[ walk through other points, as shown on the slide].
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18. 4.
new contexts, new materials, new ways of getting things done:
new look into programming, authoring, editing: DIY-Digi-Crafts
what’s with the programming these days?
paper computing
ambient computing
kits without parts
arduino and lilipads
mike eisenberg
leah buechley
singing fingers
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The changing faces of programming — make things / make things do things
The cultural and anthropological contexts in which today’s creatives’ use
computation are changing both the adult talk about – and kids uses of
programming –as a means to animate, control, and/or give behaviors to their
contraptions. In Eisenberg’s words: For digital crafts-people variety of
traditional materials–fabric, paper–can now be employed as the background
substrate for programmable artifacts and displays. In a similar vein, one can
devise means of placing small, informal chunks of programs within physical
environments, where they may be read or executed by mobile computational
devices–a notion that we refer to as ambient programming, Finally there are
novel types of display surfaces that may be used as the backdrop for relatively
unexplored styles of programming, taking advantage of unorthodox geometries
and public settings.
What’s true of programming is also true of editing and authoring.
18

19. ambient computing - mike eisenberg
spreading a program throughout a physical setting
.
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The changing faces of programming 2 : Programming “in situ”.
Kids drive along a small robotic toy car by creating a set of commands that it
can read and laying them out on the floor. The novelty? One can alter the
‘program’ by physically messing about with cards upon the floor, changing
positions and putting down new cards. One may also just draw the patterns
(using a felt-tip marker). No need to have a computer (or keyboard), just write
out a readable sequence of cards by hand. Ambient programming looks and
feels different from the traditional method of desktop composition. Programs
may (depending on the example) be placed around a room, drawn by hand,
scrawled onto a wall, changed by whistling particular tunes.
19

20. gimme the code, and I’ll do the craft- leah buechley
paper/textile computing / conductive paints/threads
.
microprocessor battery, motor, speakr, switch, LED
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The changing faces of programming (2):
The idea here is that we can construct small, flexible pieces of a ‘paper
computing kit’ that can be attached to paper treated with conductive paint to
create full-fledged working programs. Figures 1 and 2 show the individual
computational elements of a ‘paper computing’ kit. Figure 3 shows how these
can be used. By painting the paper with conductive paints, one can create a
decorated backdrop against which the kit pieces are placed, like easily
removable computational tickers. On right, user has created a working paper
program in which she controls light or sound by touching a skin conductance
sensor that has been painted onto the page.
The user, in this scenario, still writes a program using the Arduino system on a
desktop machine; downloads it to the microprocessor; paints the background
for the running program by hand, on paper; and then places the appropriate kit
pieces on the paper to create the running program.
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21. To conclude, it’s not just the natives who are slowly but surely reclaiming their bodies
and a sense of place. People in general seem to echo the call: (I put words in the
natives’ mouths:): Make me able to explore and show my creative skills locally,
globally, anytime, anywhere but please don’t forget: I do have a body, and I like to use
it! I’m exuberant! I’m physical: so, let me unleash my imagination (transport, teleport
me) but also make me touch, feel, and move (ground me)!
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