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Far from being passive consumers (or, as some fear, victims) of new media, young people are
actively
contributing to and defining the new media landscape through sites such as Facebook,
Myspace, Flickr, YouTube, Second Life as well as blogs and multi-player games. While we believe
that young people are invoking and nurturing important skills through such creations, are they
also developing an ethical sense regarding their online activities?
With support from the MacArthur Foundation, the GoodPlay project explores the ethical character
of young people's activities in the new digital media. We seek to understand how young people
conceptualize their participation in virtual worlds and the ethical considerations that guide their
conduct. We are exploring five themes which we believe to be undergoing reformulation in the
digital age, with implications for ethics—identity, privacy, ownership and authorship, credibility,
and participation.
In the first phase of our project, we studied youth ages 15-25 who participate in online games,
social networking sites, and other online communities. Our methods included in-depth interviews
and the posing of ethical dilemmas. Based on this research, and in collaboration with Project New
Media Literacies, we developed a curriculum to encourage high school-aged youth to reflect on
the ethical implications of their online activities.
In the current phase, we are studying the ethical perspectives of youth ages 10-14 and of influential
adults in young people’s lives. We are also studying “good digital citizenship,” focusing on youth
who use digital media to facilitate the achievement of civic and political goals.
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- NEW! "Meeting of the Minds" report, by Global Kids,
CommonSense Media, and the GoodPlay Project, finds that young
people need guidance from adults in navigating ethical issues of
online behavior.
From the MacArthur Foundation site announcement (12.3.09):
"The report, “Meeting of the Minds,” (PDF) is the result of a series
of cross-generational online dialogues about digital ethics
involving more than 250 adults and teens around the world.
Participants discussed how to behave in a digital world, from
illegal downloading and the creativity associated with remixing,
to the factors that go into deciding whether to meet an online
connection face-to-face".
Download a PDF file of the report
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