A Developmental Lens for Designing Virtual Worlds for Children and Youth

I think the question to Barrie Thorne about parents to her keyword article on childhood is an interesting one. As to virtual worlds, I think also that there is much to be learned from the work of danah boyd on identity formation at social network sites, an early version of which was in the collection David Buckingham put together a year or so ago. Her article on MySpace is at http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1162/dmal.9780262524834.119. I'm wondering if the authors of this article see any difference between virtual worlds where kids profile themselves by buying outfits and decorating their igloos and sites that don't have avatars, or pets.  

Thank you for your comment on our article. Danah Boyd’s work most certainly adds to the “picture” of youth’s internet use, in particular as it relates to identity formation. She is doing a lot of great work to bring the issues surrounding social media and youth to the forefront of people’s minds.

However, I have a bit of a different perspective, as I am trained in child development theory first and technology second. Identity is one of the main developmental tasks of childhood and early adulthood, but really comes to the forefront during adolescence. This is a time in which teenagers are trying to figure out who they are. As such, there is much exploration in this quest—some activities towards this end are good—for example, participation in volunteer activities, academic achievement, or participation in athletic or arts-based clubs (see Lerner’s theory of Positive Youth Development)—and some not-so-good, with the latter often being the focus of the negative attention towards teenagers (e.g., smoking, drugs, sex, etc.). I see technology as another means for teenagers to try on a different “hat” and explore different aspects of themselves, in particular aspects of themselves that they are unable to test “in real-life,” either because of the fear of ostracism from peers or because of the lack of a local network of other youth “like them.” Technology is one means in which to try on a different hat; I was first introduced to this idea in Sherry Turkle’s book Life on the Screen in which the windows on the computer screen were reflections of different aspects of the self.

Different youth, though, are going to resonate with different means to explore their identity—some will choose to participate in clubs at school, some will choose their friends based on who they want to see, and others may use technology to aid in their journey (or, some may try several different avenues). And, in fact, some may find that some aspects of their identity are satisfied by different avenues.

For those who decide on an Internet-based technology, some are going to want to have an avatar that they can dress and manipulate its physical appearance. While this is only my opinion, I would venture to guess that those youth who look for this type of online interaction, meaning ones in which their physical appearance could be altered via avatar, have a desire, either implicitly or explicitly, to be able to explore their identity through physical changes.

For young children, however, fantasy and make-believe play are an integral part of their development and aids in identity development (just one reason that most classrooms for young children have a dress-up corner!). They love to pretend as it helps them figure out the world around them. Thus technology for young children, when designed with this in mind, can support their development by allowing for fantasy—this could be by allowing them to play a particular character or by immersing them in a new world of make-believe (a la Sesame Street).

Thank you again for your comment and questions.

Sincerely,

Laura Beals (please note that Dr. Marina Bers also contributed to this repsonse)

Las comunidades virtuales han sido examinadas ampliamente su historia, cómo definir, cómo diseñar herramientas de apoyo a ellos, y cómo analizarlos. Sin embargo, la mayor parte de esta investigación se ha centrado en los adultos en las comunidades virtuales, haciendo caso omiso de las consideraciones únicas de las comunidades virtuales para niños y jóvenes. Los jóvenes tienen diferencias personales, sociales y cognitivas de los adultos. Así, mientras algunas de las investigaciones existentes en las comunidades virtuales de adultos pueden ser aplicables, carece de un objetivo de desarrollo. icnd Basándonos en nuestro trabajo de diseño e investigación de los mundos virtuales para los jóvenes, se describen seis aspectos importantes de los mundos virtuales para niños, con cada aspecto que se manifiesta de manera diferente en cada etapa del desarrollo humano: (1) propósito, (2) comunicación, (3) la participación, (4) juegos, (5) artefactos, y (6) las reglas. Al entender cómo estas comunidades seis aspectos del impacto de los jóvenes virtual, los investigadores estarán mejor capacitados para evaluar y diseñar los