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.

Available at: http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/abs/10.1162/dmal.9780262693646.089

Part of the Volume on the Ecology of Games: Connecting Youth, Games, and Learning
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.

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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

Comment & Review

Re:Cultural History of Children's Software
Posted by: adam33 on Fri, 29 Jan 10 20:38:51 +0000
First of all thanks a lot for the great and informative entry.Very original headline I think: education vs. entertainment: a cultural history of children's software. Personally I totally agree that it is needed  to mobilize games for learning. It would be more useful for all children. I always try to learn my own children how to use various software... I want that computer would be useful for their learning. So thanks a lot one more time for the ability to express the opinion and I will be waiting for other great and interesting posts from you in the nearest future. Regards, Adam Watson from software development services


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