When: Monday, Oct 11, 2010. 3:30pm - 5:00pm; refreshments 3:30 - 4:00; talk 4:00 - 5:00.

Where: IBM Research, 1 Rogers St, Cambridge MA 02142

Free and open to the public with RSVP at http://ibmsocialcraigwatkins.eventbrite.com

Discounted parking at Galleria Mall, next to IBM. Bring parking ticket for validation.

Craig Watkins on The Young and the Digital

The Social Impacts of Young People’s New Media Ecology

http://www.theyoungandthedigital.com/

Nine out of ten American teenagers are online, more than 70% use social network sites as a daily routine, and 75% own a mobile phone.  From social gaming to social networking, young people are leading the transition to the social and mobile media world.  In this talk, I identify and discuss some of the social media behaviors we have captured in our surveys and interviews with young technology users. I will also highlight some of the new initiatives that are underway at the MacArthur Foundation to understand recent shifts regarding the digital divide, the mobile impact, and the risks and opportunities that shape young people’s lives in the age of networked media.

About S. Craig Watkins

Craig Watkins has been researching young people’s media behaviors for more than ten years. He teaches in the departments of Radio-Television-Film and Sociology and the Center for African and African American Studies at the University of Texas at Austin.

His book, The Young and the Digital: What the Migration to Social Network Sites, Games, and Anytime, Anywhere Media Means for Our Future (Beacon 2009), is based on survey research, in-depth interviews, and fieldwork with teens, young twenty-somethings, teachers, parents, and technology advocates. The Young and the Digital explores young people’s dynamic engagement with social media, online games, mobile phones, and communities like Facebook and MySpace.

Craig was selected to join the MacArthur Foundation Series on Youth, Digital Media and Learning a collection of scholars, visionaries, thought leaders, and practitioners from across the world to explore the intersection of digital media, everyday life, and learning. His work on this groundbreaking project focuses on race, learning, and the growing culture of gaming.

He has been invited to be a Research Fellow at the Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences (Stanford). Currently, Craig is launching a new digital media research initiative that focuses on the use and evolution of social media platforms.