This chapter draws on ethnographic material to consider the cultural politics and recent history of children's software and reflects on how this past can inform our current efforts to mobilize games for learning. The analysis uses a concept of genre as a way of making linkages across the distributed but interconnected circuit of everyday play, software content, and industry context. Organized through three genres in children's software -- academic, entertainment, and construction -- the body of the chapter describes how these genres play out within a production and advertising context, in the design of particular software titles, and at sites of play in after-school computer centers where the fieldwork was conducted.
Education vs. Entertainment: A Cultural History of Children's Software
Contributing Organization(s): MacArthur Foundation Digital Media and Learning Initiative, The
Author(s)/Creator(s): Mizuko Ito
Publishing Date: 2008-01-01
Issue Areas: Children and Youth; Media; Education and Literacy
Ownership/Rights Info: Copyright 2008 Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Published under Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works Unported 3.0 license.
Part of the Volume on the Ecology of Games: Connecting Youth, Games, and Learning
Access this research:
Available at: http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/abs/10.1162/dmal.9780262693646.089
Intended Audience: Advocates; College/University Professors; General Public; Policy Professionals; Researchers; Teachers-high school
Type/Format: Whitepaper
Language code: English
Type/Format: Whitepaper
Language code: English
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