2. Focus: The focus of this article is basically on young people and their knowledge and use of the internet. In the article Livingstone talks about kids having the upper-hand in this situation because most of their parents are clueless on how to use the internet. She profiles three different children as a part of her research. She also talks about computer use a literacy and how there is a certain learning form to using the computer and internet.

Supporting Points: The biggest supporting points are when she gives examples on the the young people. Megan is a young girl monitored and watched by her parents when she’s on the internet. She uses the internet for educational purposes, Nickelodeon games and sites pertaining to pets. But when she gets older she uses it for playing The Sums and Neopets. Anisah is also a young girl and uses the internet for educational purposes as hell due to the fact that her parents are highly educated. She uses it for school projects and research as well. She knows a lot about what to use the internet for and what not to use it for. She says that she’s never seen pornography and she doesn’t use chat rooms. Ted is a 14 year old dyslexic. He’s over protected, privately educated and watches a lot of TV. Education is not really enforced in his home as it is with the two young girls.

Essay Organization: For each main point that Livingstone makes she goes into great detail when describing that point and using facts to prove it. For example in the beginning under the point Introducing Three Children she introduces who they are, their living situations, the way internet effects their life and the different ways they use it.

Methodology: I think that as far as methodologies go Livingstone went into this with the preconceived notion that the younger generation is more educated when it comes to the internet and computer literacy. Also she goes into it knowing what computer literacy is but goes into detail to further inform the reader.

Methods: For methods Livingstone seemed to have deeply evaluated the lives of these three young people and the internet generation in itself. She had a lot of information on the main points that she wanted to talk about. She more than likely did extensive research on everything pertaining to young people and the internet. The prime example being the chart she used explaining the risks amongst teenagers.

Blog #10 .

In the Chat transripct the emotions shift from in Excerpt 1 to Excerpt 2. In the beginning of Excerpt 1 she explains how she loved the interenet when she first discovered for herself. She was able to basically do whatever because her parents knew nothing of the internet or WebTV. She knew that she was doing was dangerous. She ran into an encounter like that when a pedophile called her, after she gave him her number after talking to her online in a Chat Room. After that she was definitely more cautious with what she did and with her younger siblings as well. She didn't want them to experience the same as she did.

A question I would want to have answered is even though her parents weren't familiar with the internet, Why did they give her free reign to do whatever? Because they didn't know much of it they still should have monitored her.

Then again in Excerpt 2 she seems to be more in a playful/funny mood. She sort of down plays the situation that happened earlier. She and her friend go right back into the Chat Rooms talking to strangers. They experienced another situation when someone they were talking to turned out to be the Pastor's son.

Question: Why didn't she learn from her mistakes from before? The same thing could have happened again contrary to whether or not she thought it could.

Blog #9 Part 1 & 2.

Smith = social linguistic (interactional) approach




message units = an utterance - something said
interactional units = sets of messages that are connected - such as questions and answers
sets of interactional units = larger clusters of interactions focused on a common purpose, line of exploration etc.

Ch        I wanted to talk a little, you  talk about your self as a hardware expert, you said software novice, although I bullied you into being competent, what software do you know how to use?

B          you know, what everyone else knows how to use, word, frontpage, powerpoint, excell, spreadsheet things

Ch        so it's interesting, games aren't really considered software are they?
B          they are -
Ch        so you know lots of software
B          yeah, but it's just games (laughing)
Ch        so what kind of crossover did you find between learning the games and learning the software everyone needs to know?  Obviously it wasn't real hard for you to learn, frontpage
B          I think it's because I had ah, background exposure
Ch        what background?
B          Well, just in learning how to learn a program, I just see buttons, tool tips and ah I make a go at it, the scissors mean I can cut in here, and I can just cut and drag and drop - these a simple things everyone knows, I guess the only reason I can pick up learning a program is that I just have that knack, no other way to explain it.
Ch        that's literacy - you have the basic tools, the right basic set of assumptions for how to read, understand, interpret a program.  And so what I'm looking for is the connection between all the gaming experience you have and your ability to do that with the applications - the academic applications
B          well like a lot of games, in the beginning, there's menus.  You don't just start playing.  There's menus, you get to customize your decal your spray, clothes, laughing. It's not all playing the game it's a lot of process to prepare for it, there's like box, scripts, you practice it, and you're not playing with other people, you're just like fooling around.
Ch        OK so all those things - same kinds of processes, same kinds of moves - so navigating menus is something you learned from games that can carry over - anything else?
B          I think that is the main thing, I can't connect a First person shooter with Microsoft word, that would be a real stretch
Ch        how about file systems and gaming spaces?
B          you know, you're right, because the game, the games are still software, and they're still files, so there are certain organization of a game that is different from regular files
Ch  - so what's another thing - so playing those games when you were a little kid set you up to be able to disentangle that DOS system more easily than your stepfather, so what were you doing?
B          like I was navigating through menus
Ch        you got used to trial and error
B          I wasn't being graded - there's no - all right man, let's pass this class you've got to
Ch        so you're completely comfortable with messing it up and starting over.
B          Oh yeah
Ch        I think the print generation has a lot of hangups with that - what's something else
B          there's a song by Natasha Ben ? I hear it on the radio - it goes like, she says in her song, that we're taught not to make mistakes, we really can't live that way

For the most part in this article Chandler is in "charge" of the interview. She is asking the questions and pulling information from him. He seems to hold back a pit because she is a high ranking educator and his teacher and also from a different (print) generation. After the interview really gets flowing he seems to be more comfortable with answering the questions being thrown his way.


Carter - Black feminist, micro-ethnographic

Ch I wanted to talk a little, you talk about your self as a hardware expert, you said software novice, although I bullied you into being competent, what software do you know how to use?

B you know, what everyone else knows how to use, word, frontpage, powerpoint, excell, spreadsheet things

Ch so it's interesting, games aren't really considered software are they?
B they are -
Ch so you know lots of software
B yeah, but it's just games (laughing)
Ch so what kind of crossover did you find between learning the games and learning the software everyone needs to know? Obviously it wasn't real hard for you to learn, frontpage
B I think it's because I had ah, background exposure
Ch what background?
B Well, just in learning how to learn a program, I just see buttons, tool tips and ah I make a go at it, the scissors mean I can cut in here, and I can just cut and drag and drop - these a simple things everyone knows, I guess the only reason I can pick up learning a program is that I just have that knack, no other way to explain it.
Ch that's literacy - you have the basic tools, the right basic set of assumptions for how to read, understand, interpret a program. And so what I'm looking for is the connection between all the gaming experience you have and your ability to do that with the applications - the academic applications
B well like a lot of games, in the beginning, there's menus. You don't just start playing. There's menus, you get to customize your decal your spray, clothes, laughing. It's not all playing the game it's a lot of process to prepare for it, there's like box, scripts, you practice it, and you're not playing with other people, you're just like fooling around.
Ch OK so all those things - same kinds of processes, same kinds of moves - so navigating menus is something you learned from games that can carry over - anything else?
B I think that is the main thing, I can't connect a First person shooter with Microsoft word, that would be a real stretch
Ch how about file systems and gaming spaces?
B you know, you're right, because the game, the games are still software, and they're still files, so there are certain organization of a game that is different from regular files
Ch - so what's another thing - so playing those games when you were a little kid set you up to be able to disentangle that DOS system more easily than your stepfather, so what were you doing?
B like I was navigating through menus
Ch you got used to trial and error
B I wasn't being graded - there's no - all right man, let's pass this class you've got to
Ch so you're completely comfortable with messing it up and starting over.
B Oh yeah
Ch I think the print generation has a lot of hangups with that - what's something else
B there's a song by Natasha Ben ? I hear it on the radio - it goes like, she says in her song, that we're taught not to make mistakes, we really can't live that way


By using this method you're able to tell that the interviewer and the person being interviewed come from two different generations. Not just by age but by things that they say and the different ways they react to the gaming/computer systems.

Blog #8 .

I feel that in this interview she was holding back a little bit and wasn't being completely honest because she was being interviewed by a professor. I think she was holding back because she didn't want to offened anyone. But I feel that as it progressed she opened up and answered the questions as she should have initially. In this interview I noticed that she talks about the test taking in three different ways. At first she explains how she was totally scared and didn't think she would pass. Then the second time she was scared because she had no friends but the third time she passed and actually had a close friend in Paula. I also noticed that she talks about friends a lot. Just like every young child around that age she focuses a lot on whether or not she has any friends.

Blog #7.

In class I’ve learned that with discourse analysis it’s really just breaking down the language in a specific writing and analyzing to where you can understand it. Discourse is all based on a number of things. What a person says, how they say it, their body language etc. We used discourse in class when Dr. Chandler gave us the short scene that included Michelle, David, Katie and Oscar. We were able to figure out who stayed in control during the conversations, who “bow downed” to someone, who looked for validation and who didn’t say much all from that small scene. We were able to realize a few things but the writer of that piece went into great detail about it all. They supplied us with character backgrounds and insight on who they wanted these characters to be.

With discourse analysis I am still confused a little bit on exactly how to conduct it. But I feel that with Monday's lesson and the in class assignment we had, I have a better understanding of it. There is still a lot I want and need to know about discourse analysis. I also believe that with more assignments like that given on Monday which are interesting to read and think about would help me learn more on this topic.

Blog #6 .

There are three different definitions for the word discourse. These three include 1. communication of thought by words; talk; conversation, 2. a formal discussion of a subject in speech or writing, as a dissertation, treatise, sermon, etc., 3. Linguistics . any unit of connected speech or writing longer than a sentence. Discourse Analysis is a general term for a number of approaches to analyzing written, spoken, signed language use or any significant semiotic event.

Discourse would be helpful to me as a method because being an author you have to have formal way of writing and everything has to connect and make sense. An author has to make sure the language of the characters is genuine and everything that pertains to the novel written clearly.