Category: Week 4

Week 4 Response (late!)

With the excitement of the review and redesign project, I forgot to post about my impressions of the readings. One thing that really stuck out to me about the Rebecca Black research was her use of data to support her thesis. While I commend her for the thorough analysis on Mattel’s Barbie Girls and Xtractaurs online sites, I was… Read more Week 4 Response (late!)

Stardoll Technology Review and Redesign

Stardoll.com (http://www.stardoll.com/en/) is a platform for children and teens to build fashion dolls and play games within an online community. Colgan_Assignment 1 I explored Stardoll in our first day of class, but I was left with so many questions that I just had to go a bit deeper into this fascinating product. I’m not alone.… Read more Stardoll Technology Review and Redesign

Assignment 1: Polly Pocket Review/Redesign

Name:Polly Pocket Wall Party Treehouse Intended audience: ages 4-10 Primary purpose: Play! Adventure with Polly and friends (no educational agenda) Link: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Polly-Pocket-Wall-Party-Treehouse/dp/B0094FZO4E/ref=sr_1_1?s=kids&ie=UTF8&qid=1453977146&sr=1-1&keywords=polly+pocket When I was six year old, one of my most cherished possessions was my Polly Pocket doll. A small, petite, blond plastic toy, Polly evoked my creativity as I conjured up imaginary worlds and adventures.… Read more Assignment 1: Polly Pocket Review/Redesign

Week 4: Black et al 2014 Response

“The differences between these two text samples are striking, particularly in the indicators of lexical density, 5.7 words per sentence for Barbie Girls versus 14.61 for Xtractaurs, and grade level, 1.67 and 9.63, respectively.”     After reading this quote, I could feel frustration bubbling through my body. Why is it that today, in a world through which women should be perceived… Read more Week 4: Black et al 2014 Response

Week 4 Response

I was uncomfortable with Pellegrini and Jones’ conclusion that “Children play longer and in more complex ways when they interact in same-gender groups and with gender-preferred toys,” because when I think of gender-preferred toys I think of games like Barbie Girls. This causes me to wonder – what is the deciding factor for a toy’s… Read more Week 4 Response

Week 4 Discussion - Juan G

Is there any research on the language development of an only child vs a child with multiple siblings? As I am reading about how children demonstrate cooperation, not aggression, with children with whom they meet repeatedly, I wonder if it is the same case for siblings. I remember fighting with my siblings all the time… Read more Week 4 Discussion - Juan G

Week 4 Response—Shelley

I was drawn to the article by Kafai et al. because I remember, quite clearly, my love of Barbie Fashion Designer when it came out in 1996. I was struck by the line, “Seemingly against conventional wisdom, it demonstrated that girls could be interested in using computers.” (2) This observation speaks to the depth to the stereotype… Read more Week 4 Response—Shelley

Critical Media Literacy

The Black et al reading is the second reading in this class (after Alper, week 2) to emphasize the need for children to develop “critical media literacy.” Both papers recommend that children gain some critical faculties for analyzing the cultural messages and assumptions that they receive from media. I think this is desirable, but I… Read more Critical Media Literacy

Goochee Week 4 Discussion Post

Wowzers, week four’s readings have been the creepiest so far, by far. I am responding to the child near-future-robot scenario article. I found the postulation that children will form moral and social relationships with their toys to be completely ridiculous, until they invoked the first example of the Tamagotchi, which I did love and interact with in… Read more Goochee Week 4 Discussion Post

DQC Week 4 - Robots in our future?

Kahn et al.’s argument that robots will be the future of our society and be detrimental to childhood development was not very compelling to me. Though I agree that technological advancement has accelerated in recent years and we have become increasingly urban towards a “technological nature”, I do not agree that robots will have the… Read more DQC Week 4 - Robots in our future?