Interview Analysis

Hanging Out: 

The young man I interviewed didn't have a lot of actual friends who played the games he liked, but he did develop relationships with some people online, people who lived in other places and were different ages. He said he spent a lot of time talking to and chatting with others playing the games online, and even helped and was helped by some of them in figuring out different aspects of the games. There seemed to be a lot of collaboration and instruction going on, and occasionally there were conflicts that had to be worked out, and disagreements that had to be negotiated.

Messing Around: 

Tiny Tyman used the computer for a variety of different activities that seemed to be things that he either wasn't aloud to do at school, or had no reason to do at school, so he actually learned a lot of skills in the informal environment outside of school that may or may not have been utilized there.  One thing he, and probably most students who use technology regularly while not in school, developed was familiarity with online tools and functions and digital text that will carry over into technology use in school.  Many tools and functions are the same or similar across a wide range of applications, online programs, and websites.  There is a whole new language to it, and learning that language, whether in or out of the classroom, gives Tiny Tyman an advantage in any place he encounters technology.

Geeking Out: 

One thing Tiny Tyman likes to do is create drum loops and songs on his computer.  This isn't necessarily a common skill set among tech users, although there are a lot of young people who participate. He told me he doesn't know how to read music and doesn't play any instruments, and that he doesn't consider himself to be musical.  His interest in drum loops came from listening to the music running in the background when he played games. He started by downloading those songs and editing them, and went on from there to creating his own songs and share them on SoundCloud and YouTube.

He also said he is very interested in science and has watched science videos since he was very young. He has done a lot of experiments, and even made videos of his own experiments and ideas and posted them on his YouTube channel. Through this process he learned about video editing and developed some production skills, learned about different file extensions, and even figured out how to deal with negative or crude comments that have been posted on his videos, occasionally. 

Schooling: 

Tiny Tyman didn't talk about the difference between text talk and traditional writing, but he did comment about reading on the computer.  He said he prefers to read text from a real book and not online because he finds it easier to do.  He couldn't really explain why, but when asked about his textbooks and classes, it seemed as though most of his schoolwork was done using traditional texts, and that was what he was used to and comfortable with in school.  Maybe if his textbooks had been online throughout his years of school, he would prefer digital text.  There did seem to be a very distinct divide for him between the use of technology at school and the use of it outside of that environment. Anything related to technology that was done in school was very different from what he did on his computer at home.  The only exception was online research, which he said he did a lot of at home, and did on occasion at school.  It seems to be a skill he may have developed mostly at home and carried it over into school when he got older and was given the opportunity to do it on assignments.

Quotes from the text:

"...young people, inundated with undifferentiated information, are increasingly uncritical and undiscerning."

"The skills and attitudes that provide young people with opportunities to participate effectively in this world are often not the skills and attitudes rewarded in our school system."

"Virtual worlds can be unfamiliar and chaotic environments in which conventional routines and control strategies are of little use."

"...teachers do need to be prepared to learn from pupils and to value their experimentation."