From: Eliza T. Dresang <edresang>
Date: Mon, 14 Apr 1997 18:08:29 -0500

I'll reply to the first question posed by William Teale (what holds these books together?) from Kate's and my point of view but would like to hear but would also hope others will comment on whether they see any threads that hold the "types" of "radically changing" books together. Our ideas are always growing and maturing on the topic as we interact with others.


I'm not going to reply to the second question because I'd rather hear what others think i.e., were there books like this throughout the history of literature for children so that these changes cannot really be considered changes at all? If books with these characteristics did exist, what are some of them? If yes, do the l990's books with similar characteristics differ in any way? I hope some of you will reply to this. These are really important and provocative questions.


Now to give our response to the first:


The book I'm writing and various speeches that Kate and I have given, including the one last week at the UW have the words "books for youth in the electronic world." These words relate to the "what holds the three types of radical change together" question. We believe that there are certain principles of the electronic environment in which today's youth live that influence all of their media--handheld books and electronic as well. The three words we drawn upon as characteristics of this electronic environment are


community

interactivity

access


BTW, by "radical" we mean "root" or "fundamental" not "abrupt" or
"abrasive" as may first come to mind.


We see these three principles (community, interactivity, access) at the root of the changes that are taking place, and we see the changes emerging and growing here and there, not taking off in a linear path. The connected world of the Internet (which influences everyone whether they themselves are connected), preceded by the less active connected world of the televised media, have created a global community. And the computer (and to some limited extent video games or even the remote control) has given children the personal ability to interact with information on their own, speak for themselves, get access to topics previously off limits, and form communities they never had before.


The surprising idea to most is that exactly these same types of things are happening in books for children. Or at least, so we observe.


In the introduction to a new book by Seymour Paper (MIT Media Lab, inventor of Logo programming language for children) that Kate and I learned about at the conference last week and have since purchased,
 The Connected Family: Bridging the Digital Generation Gap " (with accompanying CD ROM), Nicolas Negroponte states that
"Something very different is happening with computers and the Internet. Children are no longer just an adult's prosthetic tool to cope with electro-mechanical gadgetry. Instead, kids bring new culture to the family landscape, a culture which has at its core the extremes of being simultaneously personal and global. Children understand computers because they can control them. They love them because they can make their own windows of interest." Well books have always offered these opportunities, BUT the topics, forms, formats of the books were carefully controlled and limited by adults who had a very different view of children from the reality surrounding the late-nineties child.


Now, Kate and I maintain, the adults who write, edit, publish books for youth ( maybe I should say many more of them as some always have) are bringing the same characteristics that appeal to children in the electronic environment to the world of books. It is so important for adults to embrace, not to reject books with these characteristics
(nonlinearity, open endedness, multiple perspectives, new topics and types of communities). We are very careful to point out that (1) not all "radically changed" books are good, some are awful, silly -- just as Internet sites are and (2) not all books have to subscribe to these changes (3) and that a sense of story and narrative are learned and essential--but not limited to linear presentation.


Well, this is an attempt to explain in a few paragraphs what I've struggled to explain in 250 pages of a book -- and Kate and I have worked at for more than five years.


I hope others will discuss the books past or present, on the list or not.


Kate is off line and apologizes. Her library is being rebuilt and she can access the computer only briefly each day for a short time, if at all. She'll read all comments but won't be able to join the discussion. Eliza


At 01:53 PM 4/10/97 00, William Teale wrote:

puzzled.



of

Type

individual

the




published


ways




and

















*

Eliza T. Dresang Phone: 904 644 5877 (w)

Associate Professor Phone: 904 224 1637 (h)

School of Information Studies FAX: 904 644 9763 (w)

Florida State University E-mail edresang at mailer.fsu.edu

Tallahassee, Florida 32306 48
Received on Mon 14 Apr 1997 06:08:29 PM CDT