Technology and Kids

I've done a lot of thinking about the use of technology when it comes to children and libraries. I've worked in several branches of one of the biggest library systems in the United States, and only a few kids and 'tweens I've come across are savvy enough to use the catalog on their own, let alone databases. I've made it my mission to provide information literacy instruction to elementary students when I go to schools, and it's wonderful to watch them begin to understand these necessary Internet and database navigation skills. I recently attended a seminar that discussed online tools to use in regard to children's literature, book talking and general book love, and learned about cool stuff like Animoto. However, because of the age restrictions on social and book networking websites, most kids can't use the Internet as I would in order to communicate my favorite reads to my peers. Of course, I could do a blog to keep my kids and parents updated, but if I wanted to use Facebook or Goodreads, in theory, I can only work with adults. Now, I know quite a few kids from my last branch whose parents created Facebook profiles for them and in doing so, lied about their ages. The kids shrugged this off, and it seems from how I hear kids talking, about Facebook especially, this is pretty normal behavior. This very topic was recently written about by danah boyd (she does not used capitals) on her blog, Apophenia. It's one of my favorite blogs to follow. Her post is called, "How COPPA Fails Parents, Educators and Youth" and, boy was I surprised about what I didn't know. For example, I, too, thought that COPPA was about protection, not about privacy. I can see clearly through danah's explanations and research how it is misinterpreted by the public and how the policy has been a failure at achieving its aim. The posting itself is quite long and a must-read to explain the issues clearly. In the meantime, I've resolved to become more active in creating channels of communication open to all levels of my patrons.