Andrés Monroy-Hernández MIT Media Lab | andresmh@media.mit.edu
MIT Media Lab | mres@media.mit.edu
[ 1] Resnick, M., “Sowing the Seeds for a More Creative Society.” Learning & Leading with Technology, International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE), December 2007.
[ 2] Resnick, M., Y. Kafai, J. Maeda, J. Maloney, and N. Rusk, “A Networked, Media-Rich Programming Environment to Enhance Technological Fluency at After-School Centers in Economically Disadvantaged Communities.” Proposal [funded] to the National Science Foundation, Washington, DC: 2003.
[ 3] Monroy-Hernández, A., “ScratchR: Sharing user-generated programmable media.” Proceedings of the 6th International Conference on Interaction Design and Children, Aalborg, Denmark, 2007.
March + April 2008
[ 4] Jenkins, Henry, Convergence Culture. New York: N YU Press, 2006.
[ 5] Lave, J. and Wenger, E., Situated Learning: Legitimate Peripheral Participation, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1991.
There are now many websites, such as Flickr and You Tube and blogs, which support user-generated content, enabling people to create and share text, graphics, photos, and videos. But for the most part, Web 2.0 does not include interactive content. People interact with Web-based animations and games all the time, but few people can create and share their own interactive content.
The Scratch project [ 1] from MIT Media Lab aims to change that, making it easy for everyone, especially children and teens, to create and share interactive stories, games, and animations on the Web, in the participatory spirit of Web 2.0. With the Scratch programming environment [ 2], users snap together graphical programming blocks to control the actions and interactions of rich media content, including photos, graphics, music, and sound. Then they upload their interactive creations to the shared Scratch website, where other members of the Scratch community can interact with the projects on the site and download the original source code to examine or modify the project [ 3].
The Scratch website offers an alternate model for how children
might use the Web as a platform for learning, enabling them to create and share personally meaningful projects, not simply access information. Children create and share Scratch projects as a way to express themselves creatively, much as they would paint a picture or build a castle with LEGO bricks. In the process they not only learn important math and computer science concepts, but they also develop important learning skills: creative thinking, effective communication, critical analysis, systematic experimentation, iterative design, and continual learning. We believe that the ability to produce (not simply interact with) interactive content is a key ingredient to achieving digital literacy and becoming a full participant in the interactive online world.
Learning Through Online Community The Scratch Online Community makes programming more engaging by turning it into a social activity. Hobbit, a 14-year- old member of the community explains: “When I think about it, recognition for my work is what really drew me into Scratch. Other things played a part, but the feeling that my work would
be seen is what really motivated me.” The website provides a wide range of entry points for community interactions. Children comment on projects, upload their own projects, and can become involved in existing projects. The site is also a repository of user-generated content that serves as a source of inspiration and appropriable objects for new ideas. Users can connect with each other, forming a social network of creators and collaborators through the use of “friendships,” galleries (groups of projects based on a topic), and forums where users can post their questions or interests to be discussed with others.
Inspired by Jenkins’s description of the states of participation in fan-fiction communities [ 4], we put forward the idea that members of user-generated-content communities tend to move in four different roles or states of participation: passive consumption, active consumption, passive production, and active production. In order to build a successful community, it is essential for the sites in question to support and welcome users regardless of which state of participation they fall into. For example, Lave and Wenger argue that “peripheral participation” is a legitimate
References:
Archives