RESEARCH COLLOQUIUM

School of Library & Information Studies

College of Communication & Information

The Florida State University

“The Young and the Digital:

Race, Class, and the New Media Ecology”

Presented by

S. Craig Watkins

Associate Professor, The Department of Radio-Television-Film

The University of Texas at Austin

Friday, May 14, 2010

10:00–11:00 a.m.

Gregory Conference Room, Goldstein Library

Louis Shores Building, FSU Campus

Or view live on the web at http://webcast.cci.fsu.edu

Abstract:

From the moment computers and the Internet arrived in our homes, young people have been early adopters, cultural trend setters, and digital media enthusiasts.  In this talk, Dr. Watkins addresses what we are learning about young people's participation in the new media ecology.  The digital media world is constantly changing and young people's complex engagement is a major reason why.  Drawing from both original research (i.e., survey data, in-depth interviews) and secondary sources, this talk offers a sociological description and analysis of the ways race and class distinctions matter in the digital media landscape. 

Since 2007, the use of social and mobile media technologies by African American and Latino youth has reframed the debate about social media and social inequality.  Dr. Watkins maintains that questions seeking to understand the "participation gap" rather than the "access gap" should be the primary focus of research related to understanding the continuing significance of the digital divide.  He also contemplates the extent to which the use of social network sites like Facebook animate the rise of digital gates, that is, online communities that are shaped by offline racial, ethnic, and class distinctions. 

Bio:

S. 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.  He received his PhD in the sociology of communication from the University of Michigan. He is the author of three books including, The Young and the Digital: What the Migration to Social Network Sites, Games, and Anytime, Anywhere Media Means for Our Future (Beacon 2009).

Dr. Watkins is involved with the MacArthur Foundation Series on Youth, Digital Media and Learning.  His work on this groundbreaking initiative focuses on youth engagement with social and mobile media and also explores how diverse communities and innovative uses of digital media are remaking the new media landscape. 

He has been invited to be a Research Fellow at the Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences (Stanford). Currently, he is launching a new digital media research initiative that focuses on the use and evolution of social media platforms; the social media behaviors of black and Latino youth; and the evolving role of mobile technologies in everyday life.  For updates on these and other projects visit theyoungandthedigital.com.

Bob Branciforte, MLIS

Creative Director

College of Communication & Information

The Florida State University

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