The use of Colour in an Affective Installation for Teenagers

This PhD is in the intersect between teenagers (as users of IT), social interaction (as an activity), and mood (as a driver for concern). It considers teenagers’ moods through an interactive colour sharing social product. It builds on studies of colour and colour preference with adults and on the effect of colour on mood and behaviour from interior design and architecture. The aim is to investigate the extent to which, and the context in which, certain colours reflect teenagers’ mood and feelings whilst also studying the behaviours of teenagers in communicating their moods with their friends

Gamers in Ganglands : the ecology of gaming and participation amongst a select group of children in Ocean View, Cape Town

Includes abstract.Includes bibliographical references.This dissertation explores the contextual meanings of digital gaming for a group of children from the resource-constrained township of Ocean View, situated 45km outside of Cape Town. I document the domestication (Silverstone & Haddon, 1996) of mobile phones and PlayStations as technologies for gaming in this context, showing how the children appropriated the games technologies much as other household media are domesticated, in a process of double articulation

Researching Everyday Childhoods

This book is open access and available on www.bloomsburycollections.com. It is funded by the University of Sussex, UK. How can we know about children’s everyday lives in a digitally saturated world? What is it like to grow up in and through new media? What happens between the ages of 7 and 15 and does it make sense to think of maturation as mediated? These questions are explored in this innovative book, which synthesizes empirical documentation of children’s everyday lives with discussions of key theoretical and methodological concepts to provide a unique guide to researching childhood and youth. Researching Everyday Childhoods begins by asking what recent ‘post-empirical’ and ‘post-digital’ frameworks can offer researchers of children and young people’s lives, particularly in researching and theorising how the digital remakes childhood and youth. The key ideas of time, technology and documentation are then introduced and are woven throughout the book’s chapters. Research-led, the book is informed by two state of the art empirical studies – ‘Face 2 Face’ and ‘Curating Childhoods’ – and links to a dynamic multimedia archive generated by the studies

Home and identity for young men of mixed descent

PhDMixed descent identities span ethnic, religious, and cultural identities as well as race. This thesis addresses the multi-layered identities embodied by young men of mixed descent in relation to their ideas and lived experiences of home. I have adopted a feminist methodological approach to my research and have used three different types of methods to conduct this research: one to one interviewing (with repeat interviews), written electronic diaries and photo-voice. Previous research on mixed descent and the home has located people of mixed descent as 'homeless' (see Ifekwuingwe, 1999, Garimara, 2002 and Carton, 2004). I place young men of mixed descent aged between 16-19 in homes, both in terms of dwelling spaces and wider ideas about belonging. The space of the home becomes a cultural site of their own identities and their family identities. Religious and cultural identities both via material possessions and emotional signifiers affect the identity of these young men and their definitions and experiences of home. These multiple identities are seen within the space of the home, particularly for those inhabiting the parental home. I address the multiple web of identity which these young embody via their religion, culture, ethnicity, and in some cases language. I move beyond the location of mixed race households and place this research inside the home space for young men of mixed descent. Alongside which I explore the idea of home as 'stretching' (Gorman-Murray, 2006) beyond the scale of the private domestic into the public realm

Teens’ screens: the places, values, and roles of film consumption and cinema-going for young audiences

This thesis is an investigation into the practices, values, and roles of cinemagoing and film-watching for contemporary British teenagers using qualitative research methods. My key concern is with how 13-18 year olds from different backgrounds define and discuss their film consumption, and visits to different cinemas, in the wider contexts of their leisure, cultural, and media practices. This focus stems from the scholarly appeal for a social contextualization of audiences and the structures that inform peoples’ consumption practice. Many groups experience barriers to participation with particular cinemas that are not simply a consequence of economic deprivation or a lack of media literacy. These are barriers that are felt at the level of what Bourdieu calls the habitus, the system of cultural tastes and dispositions that are lived at the physical or bodily level. To this end, I conducted focus groups, interviews, and participant observation encounters with 42 teenagers in different settings within Norwich and Norfolk. Data analysis is undertaken via the application of a coding system, formulated through a Bourdieusian conceptual lens. I consider participants’ film and media consumption practices in relation to area of residence, sociocultural preferences and friendship formations, whilst also considering issues of identity, education, and parental practices. As part of the process I present the case of specialised film and cinema-going as a case-study in order to address a concern about the dearth of young audiences engaging with specialised cinema. The rich, deep qualitative data collected has enabled me to argue that generally young people’s socio-economic, geographic, familial, peer-grouping, and educational contexts remained a significant influence on film viewing practices, tastes, and gratifications, although some anomalies were present. My research therefore presents new findings on how different groups of young people attach diverse meanings and roles to film viewing practices, texts and locations in cinemas and beyond

Enhancing second language learning : exploring a visual approach to working with the bedroom culture of pre-adolescent girls.

Thesis (M.Ed.)-University of Kwazulu-Natal, Durban, 2007.This research project explored how modern media and the theme of Bedroom Culture could be used to enhance second language learning of preadolescent girls. Most of the girls who participated in this project are first language English speakers. Therefore it is a challenge for them to learn isiZulu. Thus, to kindle an interest an obvious entry point to working with these pre-adolescent girls in a participatory way in terms of language learning, was to capitalize on their interest and expertise. The theme ‘My Bedroom’ was used because girls spend much of their out-of-school time in their bedroom and this is considered a critical interest space for them. This approach focused on using photographs taken by the girls themselves, on digital cameras, of various aspects and spaces in their bedroom. Thereafter a Power Point presentation was created by each girl, using these photographs. The presentations were then carried out by the girls in front of the class and the teacher. Making use of modern technologies and media, and what is familiar to them allowed the girls to work with different modes from the purely written/verbal linguistic mode which has dominated language learning and teaching for some time. These modes of meaning included the visual, audio and gestural. Incorporated into the research were the Multimodal approach together with the idea of Multiliteracies. These Multiliteracies include the understanding and control of meaning-making forms, which are becoming increasingly important in the communications environment, and which lead to a new direction in language learning during the second language lessons. The approach of this work builds on the popular Communicative/Task-Based Approach in language learning. This research showed that allowing the girls to use photographs of their bedrooms, empowered them to take ownership of their project, enabling them to confidently carry out the presentation using modern technology with which they are familiar as well as, using a subject with which they are familiar. At the same time they were able to extend their own knowledge to learn isiZulu. It also revealed much about their Bedroom Culture, Girlhood Studies, Children as Cultural Producers and Children and Visual Studies

'Sand in the hand': young people's relationships with commercial media in the digital age

This thesis explores young people's experiences of contemporary, commercial media. It aims to provide a holistic understanding of new and more traditional media use.The study draws its theoretical framework from the fields of communication studies, consumer behaviour, cultural studies, marketing, sociology and social psychology. Despite several studies investigating young people and new media, a richer understanding of media consumption is needed, located within an ever more commercialised landscape. Assumptions of new media participation are frequently taken for granted, with limited critical analysis of the consumer experience. Studies from a marketing perspective have focused exclusively on managerial effectiveness to the detriment of consumer realities. Moving beyond media effects, it takes an active consumer-centered approach, contextualising new media consumption within the everyday lives of young people. It compares and contrasts practitioner tactics with young people's lived experiences of new and traditional media.Multiple methods of enquiry were used, informed by an interpretive approach. The initial fieldwork consisted of 15 interviews with 'expert' agency practitioners, investigating perceptions of youth marketing and the tactics deployed. Following a pilot study, the main consumer phase explored the mediated experiences of adolescents aged 13-17. A total of 175 secondary school pupils from three diverse school settings participated. Each completed a self-completion questionnaire, a smaller sample also contributing a time-based diary. 45 pupils participated in the qualitative phase, guided by the principles of phenomenology. Photo-elicitation and psycho-drawing techniques were utilised to enrichen discussions.The new media experiences of young people in this study were indeed bound up in their everyday lives. Young people were found to have a complex range of 'newmedia' experiences, embedded in their 'in home' and 'out of home' lifestyles. Their active use of the internet, for mood enhancement, experiential learning, escapism and communication, rarely encompassed commercial motivations. Of several barriers to new media use, online practitioner tactics caused the greatest concern. For many young people, such actions were deeply de-motivating, constituting an unwanted intrusion, in contrast to the symbiotic relationship synonymous with traditional advertising. Their consequent elusiveness is epitomised through the metaphor "sand in the hand"

Researching Everyday Childhoods

This book is open access and available on www.bloomsburycollections.com. It is funded by the University of Sussex, UK. How can we know about children’s everyday lives in a digitally saturated world? What is it like to grow up in and through new media? What happens between the ages of 7 and 15 and does it make sense to think of maturation as mediated? These questions are explored in this innovative book, which synthesizes empirical documentation of children’s everyday lives with discussions of key theoretical and methodological concepts to provide a unique guide to researching childhood and youth. Researching Everyday Childhoods begins by asking what recent ‘post-empirical’ and ‘post-digital’ frameworks can offer researchers of children and young people’s lives, particularly in researching and theorising how the digital remakes childhood and youth. The key ideas of time, technology and documentation are then introduced and are woven throughout the book’s chapters. Research-led, the book is informed by two state of the art empirical studies – ‘Face 2 Face’ and ‘Curating Childhoods’ – and links to a dynamic multimedia archive generated by the studies