Susannah Stern’s article Producing Sites, Exploring Identities: Youth Online Authorship takes a unique approach when examining the ‘what’s and why’s’ that motivate teens to write blogs or design web pages—she actually talks to teens. Most research related to this topic has been conducted by asking adults their thoughts and opinions about what motivates teens and the reason they write online versus asking the youth authors themselves.
It is clear that youth use their online writing to share their thoughts and ideas and possibly receive comments back. Some teens use this as a way of exploring new identities, others want to learn about web publishing and have friends who have a blog or website, and yet others are using their writing as a means of self-expression. To better explain the idea of self-expression, youth are using their blog as if it were a journal or diary…only public for everyone who has access to the Internet to read and comment on.
One point I found extremely interesting in Stern’s article relates to the varying perspectives of social scientists who think at times teens are trying present themselves as someone they are not, as if they are trying to create another persona through online writing. However, when teens are asked about this, many state they are trying to find their true authentic self through their online exploration. While it is acknowledged that they sometimes present themselves ‘shined-up,’ they honestly believe they are presenting their ‘real’ self, the self that some are afraid to show face-to-face. Since it is teens who are writing this, shouldn’t we listen and give more credit to their viewpoints rather than what researchers think is the reasoning behind their online authorship?
One question I had after reading Stern’s article concerns the lack of information about the demographics of the teen authors she spoke with in gathering her information. I was left wondering if these teens were mostly male or female, were racially or culturally diverse, from low, middle or high socio-economic households, from urban, rural, or suburban areas or from second language learners. I can guess what the demographics might be, but that would be making huge assumptions on my part. I think this information would be interesting to examine and see if ALL youth are using blogs and web pages or only certain groups of youth are engaging in this type of exploratory writing.
Additional research on this topic resulted in finding many interesting articles including this one. Not only does it address similar issues discussed by Stern, the authors analyze weblogs associated with the developmental process of teens.
Stern, S. (2008). Producing sites, exploring identities: Youth online authorship. Youth, identity, and digital media. Ed. D. Buckingham. Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press. doi:10.1162/dmal.9780262524834.095
Subrahmanyam, K., Garcia, C. M., Harsono, L. S., Li, J., Lipana, L. (2009). In their words: Connecting on-line weblogs to developmental processes. British Journal of Developmental Psychology (27), 1, (p. 219-245). dio: 10.1348/026151008X345979
