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Children’s Civic Engagement in the Scratch Online Community

Author

Listed:
  • Ricarose Roque

    (Department of Information Science, University of Colorado Boulder, Boulder, CO 80309, USA)

  • Sayamindu Dasgupta

    (MIT Media Lab, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA)

  • Sasha Costanza-Chock

    (Department of Comparative Media Studies/Writing, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA)

Abstract

In public discourse, and in the governance of online communities, young people are often denied agency. Children are frequently considered objects to protect, safeguard, and manage. Yet as children go online from very early ages, they develop emergent forms of civic and political engagement. Children appropriate the affordances of digital platforms in order to discuss, connect, and act with their peers and in their communities. In this paper, we analyze civic engagement in Scratch Online, a creative community where children from around the world learn programming by designing and sharing interactive media projects. We explore the ways that young Scratch community members connect with issues of global importance, as well as with local topics and questions of community governance. We develop a typology of the strategies they use to express themselves, engage with their peers, and call for action. We then analyze the reaction of the community, including other Scratch members and adult moderators, and draw key lessons from these examples in order to describe guidelines for educators and designers who would like to support children’s rights to civic engagement in online learning environments.

Suggested Citation

  • Ricarose Roque & Sayamindu Dasgupta & Sasha Costanza-Chock, 2016. "Children’s Civic Engagement in the Scratch Online Community," Social Sciences, MDPI, vol. 5(4), pages 1-17, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jscscx:v:5:y:2016:i:4:p:55-:d:79480
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