Don't miss this beautiful 8.5-min. video, "Skateistan: To Live and Skate Kabul," depicting youth advocacy in its purist form. "Skateboarding's a fantastic way to get kids to communicate with each other and build relationships with each other," says founder Shana Nolan, and the main focus of Skateistan is to build kids' confidence and give them a voice." In this video, you can see how that happens. … [Read more...] about Kids skating ahead in Kabul – literally
Youth
New media monsters II: From digital people to ‘digital wisdom’
I'm using "digital people" as shorthand for "digital natives" and "digital immigrants," which together have become one of the "new media monsters" I wrote about, gosh, last April. This long overdue post is Part 2, because I want to be sure you know that even the person who coined "digital natives," Marc Prensky, himself has moved on from this term that suggests children are alien life forms that … [Read more...] about New media monsters II: From digital people to ‘digital wisdom’
Watching students relate to a president
In its coverage of President Obama's back-to-school speech this week, Youth Radio led with his point toward the end that gets to the core of defeating bullying and cyberbullying (among other social ills!): "If you take away one thing from my speech," the President told students at Masterman Lab School in Philadelphia, "I want you to take away the notion that life is precious, and part of what … [Read more...] about Watching students relate to a president
The Net to youth: No big deal
It's symptomatic to me that the headline – "Logging Off: The Internet Generation Prefers the Real World" – contradicts the story. Symptomatic of the conclusions or pronouncements to which many of us adults, including editors (who write the headlines), so quickly jump, where young tech users are concerned. The Der Spiegel story, by Manfred Dworschak, tells of 17-year-old Jetlir in Cologne, one … [Read more...] about The Net to youth: No big deal
2 new kids’ social spaces: ToonsTunes, Scuttlepad
One is both feature- and media-rich, the other plain & simple. Both aimed at under-13s, they're social in different ways (one a virtual world, the other a social network site). Toonstunes.com Surfing through ToonsTunes's information pages, demo videos, and kid-created music videos indicates to me that this is a great addition to the kid virtual world lineup – especially for young music … [Read more...] about 2 new kids’ social spaces: ToonsTunes, Scuttlepad