How Big of a Mess is the Internet?

Is the Internet a mess that needs government regulation to clean it up?

Or does it function just fine the way it is?

Read a commentary from the American Library Association TechSource blog that argues the first point: "Like the economic crisis, the Internet is... a giant mess that no one really understands... In the United States, can we point to any government or private agency that is truly in charge of regulating the Internet? Is anyone truly charged with the task of preventing online piracy, identity theft or child endangerment that can come from Internet use?"

What do you think? My thoughts can be found in the comments section of the ALA post.

Listen to an AudioBook During Teen Tech Week

The American Library Association has designated March 8-14 as Teen Tech Week. Checking out the many audiobooks available at the Troy Public Library would be a great way to celebrate it. Go to YALSA's 2009 Amazing Audiobooks for Young Adults for titles that might interest you.

To see how we are celebrating TTW at the Library, click here.

Celebrate Teen Tech Week at the Troy Library

In honor of this year's Teen Tech Week, March 8 - 14, the Troy Public Library will sponsor a teen scavenger hunt that will highlight the Library's databases, downloadable books, and other electronic resources.

All young people between the ages of 13 and 18 who have a Troy Library card are eligible to participate in the hunt. There will be a drawing of prizes of Visa gift cards, video game rentals, and flash drives, for those who successfully finish the hunt.

For more information, contact the Library's Teen Librarian Judy Frankin, at j.franklin@troymi.gov. The scavenger hunt ends on March 16.

Teen Tech Week is an annual event sponsored by the Young Adult Library Services Association to celebrate and showcase the technology and non-print resources that teens can use at the library.

Text Message Slang Might Not Be So Bad

While some parents, educators and language traditionalists argue that slang used in text messaging – either emoticons (such as :) ) or textisms (shortcuts like “b4” for before or “2nite” for tonight) –are eroding English skills among young people, a new report published in the British Journal of Developmental Psychology tells a different story.

The study, conducted on 88 grade-school students by researchers at Coventry University in England, found no evidence of a relationship between frequently typing in textisms and diminished spelling ability.

In fact, the more textisms students used, the higher they tended to score on measures of word-based learning and vocabulary. This suggests that when young people use text message lingo, they are actually being artful – not just lazy – and building a heightened awareness of letter patterns and sounds.

Ttyl.

[via Christian Science Monitor]

Use of Social Network Sites Increases Among Adults; Such Sites Prove Safe for Minors, Too

Two interesting studies on Internet use were released this past week.

In the first, the Pew Internet and American Life Project reports that the share of adult Internet users who have a profile on an online social network site has more than quadrupled in the past four years -- from 8% in 2005 to 35% in December 2008.

While the media and policy makers focus heavily on how children and young adults use social network sites, adults still make up the bulk of the users of these websites. Adults make up a larger portion of the US population than teens, which is why the 35% number represents a larger number of users than the 65% of online teens who also use online social networks.

Still, younger online adults are much more likely than their older counterparts to use social networks, with 75% of adults 18-24 using these networks, compared to just 7% of adults 65 and older. At its core, use of online social networks is still a phenomenon of the young.

View the entire report. [.pdf]

The second report, released by the Internet Safety Technical Task Force of the Berkman Center for Internet and Society at Harvard University, says that the Internet -- specifically, social network sites -- might not be such a dangerous place for children after all.

The Task Force, created by 49 state attorneys general, was charged with examining the extent of the threats children face on social networks like MySpace and Facebook, amid popular perception that adults were using these sites to solicit children for sexual activity.

The Task Force found that children and teenagers were unlikely to be propositioned by adults online. In the cases that do exist, the report said, teenagers are already at risk because of poor home environments, substance abuse or other problems.

According to Task Force member John Cardillo – chief executive of Sentinel Tech Holding – quoted in The New York Times: “Social networks are not these horribly bad neighborhoods on the Internet. They are very much like real-world communities that are comprised mostly of good people who are there for the right reasons.” Sites such as MySpace and Facebook “do not appear to have increased the overall risk of solicitation.”

The report concluded that online solicitation of minors by adults is not a significant problem. According to the report, bullying among children, both online and offline, poses a far more serious challenge than such solicitation.

Video Gaming Among Adults

The latest study from the Pew Internet and American Life Project reports on video gaming by adults:

More than half -- 53% -- of all American adults play video games of some kind, whether on a computer, on a gaming console, on a cell phone or other handheld device, on a portable gaming device, or online

Age is the biggest demographic factor in game play by adults. Younger adults are significantly more likely than any other game group to play games, and as age increases game play decreases. Independent of all other factors, younger adults are still more likely to play games.

Among older adults 65+ who play video games, nearly a third play games everyday, a significantly larger percentage than all younger players, of whom about 20% play everyday.

Age is also a factor in determining an individual's preferred game-playing device. Gaming consoles are the most popular for young adults: 75% of 18-29 year old gamers play on consoles, compared with 68% who use computers, the second most popular device for this age group.

Out of all the gaming devices, computers are the most popular among the total adult gaming population, with 73% of adult gamers using computers to play games, compared with 53% console users, 35% who using cell phones, and 25% using portable gaming devices.

Click here for the complete .pdf report, Adults and Video Games.

Nearly Half of Teen Activities Are Driven By Technology

Interesting recent study by the Consumer Electronics Association (CEA), about teens and consumer electronic products:

Today's teens were introduced to technology as toddlers and rely on consumer electronic products like computers, cell phones and MP3 players that make their lives easier, according to new research released today by the Consumer Electronics Association (CEA). Teens say technology helps them keep in touch with friends and family, although three-quarters of teens said they do not spend less time with people because of technology.

"Teens are comfortable with technology and value the improvements technology makes in their lives," said Steve Koenig, CEA's director of industry analysis. "As this generation looks for all-in-one features and bigger and better products, they will fuel the growth of the consumer electronics industry."

CEA research shows the average teen expects to spend around $312 on consumer electronic (CE) devices in the next six months. Teens are well versed in a number of CE products and spend approximately four hours per school day devoted to technology related activities. Personal ownership of CE devices among teens is, as expected, low because they live at home where many electronics belong to parents. Exceptions include lower cost products such as headphones/earbuds, cell phones and MP3 players, of which teens claim sole ownership.

When asked how they spend their day, nearly half of teen's activities were driven by technology. Four of their five top activities were technology driven, with listening to music as the most popular activity among teens. Purchasing (58 percent), borrowing (56 percent) or receiving a CD (52 percent) as a gift are still the primary sources teens get music, with online stores (51 percent) being a secondary source. Purchasing music through online stores has increase 10 percent since 2006 and teens are accessing music through online sources like YouTube (47 percent). As teens increase their online time, there is expected growth in online consumption of music.

A quarter of teens expect to purchase a new cell phone within the next six months, making it teens' most popular consumer electronic product. When asked to choose only one technology to use for an entire day, teens chose cell phones most often. Not just used for talking, seventy percent of teens use their cell phones for texting. Teens also use their phones to access mobile entertainment, shoot videos, listen to music and watch videos. Over one-third of a teens' cell phone activities are spent accessing and creating content. Based on teen's current cell phone usage and interest in more advanced features, growth can be expected in teen ownership of smartphones.

Looking specifically at what CE products teens want, an upgraded cell phone (a smartphone) and an MP3 player were at the top on their list. Additionally, higher ticket consumer electronic products like computers/laptops, video gaming systems and digital cameras would make popular gifts for the holiday season.

Gaming at the TPL

A couple of weeks ago, our Technology Librarian John Robertson reported that the Troy Library had launched our new video game collection.

We've now added a link on our web site, which takes you to a list of the games and platforms we have. Go to our web site at www.libcoop.net/troy, and click on Video Game Collection in the center of the page. Or click here.

Suggestions for games? Email our Teen Services Librarian Judy Franklin at j.franklin@troymi.gov.

Socializing on the Internet is Not So Bad

According to a new study by the MacArthur Foundation, reported in The New York Times by Tamar Lewin, all those hours teenagers spend socializing on the Internet are not a bad thing.

It may look as though kids are wasting a lot of time hanging out with new media, whether it’s on MySpace or sending instant messages,” said Mizuko Ito, lead researcher on the study, Living and Learning With New Media. “But their participation is giving them the technological skills and literacy they need to succeed in the contemporary world. They’re learning how to get along with others, how to manage a public identity, how to create a home page…”

“It certainly rings true that new media are inextricably woven into young people’s lives,” said Vicki Rideout, vice president of the Kaiser Family Foundation and director of its program for the study of media and health...

“The concerns about predators and stranger danger have been overblown,” Ms. Ito said. “There’s been some confusion about what kids are actually doing online. Mostly, they’re socializing with their friends, people they’ve met at school or camp or sports.”

Text Messaging Outpaces Cell Phone Calls

According to Alex Mindlin, in the September 28 New York Times:

In the fourth quarter of 2007, American cellphone subscribers for the first time sent text messages more than they phoned, according to Nielsen Mobile. Since then, the average subscriber’s volume of text messages has shot upward by 64 percent, while the average number of calls has dropped slightly.

Nicholas Covey, director of insights for Nielsen Mobile, attributed the spike in messaging to the spread of QWERTY-style keypads, whose users send 54 percent more text messages than those with ordinary keypads. He also said that phone companies had encouraged users to text by offering large or unlimited text-messaging bundles.

Teenagers ages 13 to 17 are by far the most prolific texters, sending or receiving 1,742 messages a month, according to Nielsen Mobile. By contrast, 18-to-24-year-olds average 790 messages. A separate study of teenagers with cellphones by Harris Interactive found that 42 percent of them claim that they can write text messages while blindfolded.

Not only has text messaging replaced email, apparently it is replacing cell phone use.

Teens, Video Games, Civics, and the Library

For many adults, video games conjure up images of blurry-eyed, caffeine-addicted, young people in dark, damp basements, squandering their precious youth.

However, a recent study by the Pew Internet and American Life Project – which surveyed 1,102 12- to 17-year-olds – suggests that teens who play video games may be more likely to be engaged in positive civic activities, such as following politics and current events, persuading others how to vote, contributing to charities, volunteering, or attending protests.

This is especially true of teens who play games with others in-person, and those who are actively engaged in the game, through such things as commenting on game websites or discussion boards.

Most interesting, teens in this sample were equally likely to report having civic experiences regardless of race, age, or income. This is in contrast to findings about teens’ civic experiences in high schools, which tend to be unequally distributed, with higher-income, higher-achieving, and white students experiencing more civic opportunities than their counterparts.

To view the entire Pew report, go to Teens, Video Games, and Civics.

Speaking of video games, the Troy Library will launch our own video game collection in October. Games across different platforms will be available for two weeks. For more information about this collection, contact Judy Franklin, the Library’s Teen Librarian, at j.franklin@troymi.gov.

The Library also sponsors free, monthly video game days for youth and teens. To register, go to our schedule of events.