Interview Responses

Shannon
19
Psychology / Theater
Suburbs of Denver
Parents, Grandma
Father only
business
8
12
social networking, research, chat, entertainment (video), news (secondary)
yes, used to be only research/education, more for entertainment and socializing now
they mostly misunderstand, they don't mind and aren't concerned, never have been
n/a
slightly less ignorant, still check movie times in the paper
haven't changed because they don't have the need. old habits die hard

Adam
20
EMAD / DMS
Scottsdale, AZ
Parents
both

Matt Matteson
20
Math / Comp Sci
Littleton, CO
Parents
both
Father - Business/Finace / Mother - Education
3 or 4
7 (internet at 10)
email chat games at first. no more work, less games, lots of reading
parents monitored use
yes, cost because of Dial up was hourly with AOL, also prevented phone use
no, views haven't changed much


Justin Stewart
23
Ethics
Nashville, TN
Parents
Father - Political Science
11
15 mostly for educational games
email, facebook,and limited research
more communication, including sharing media
they used computers for information processing and limited networking. saw it as a tool
only restricted by time when using the Net
parents use it for email and news (mother) and heavy research (father)
still see Internet as tool

Communication, Power and Counter-power in the Network Society

Here's a link to Manuel Castell's article incase you're having a hard time finding it.

Interview Responses

Dan Ritchie
26
Graduated in Business
1. Near Pittsburgh
2. Mother, father, brother
3. Yes
4. Mom—Music, Computers, IT, and Math. Dad—unknown
5. Early Elementary
6. 14—heavy graphics
7. He uses it for research at work, to make money at home->car communities, car parts, car sales; share knowledge; Craigslist; Professional profile
8. Definitely, when he started using it, it was a lot of aol chat and messenger. That was one of the only communities back in ’94. So back then he used it for socializing, now he uses it to his advantage—learning and business.
9. Both parents supported computers fully—his mom was great with them and his dad didn’t use them, but supported them.
10. His mom’s love for the computer probably influenced him to get a programming job, since he has never even done it. Her love for it probably rubs off on him a little.
11. No, their attitudes haven’t changed.

Stephanie Sadler
22
Graduated—International Studies
1. Hawaii, Santa Fe, England
2. Mother, Father, tons of siblings
3. Both Graduated
4. Mom—Animal Medicine and Accounting; Dad—Accounting
5. 8 years old—Minesweeper, games, paint, Word
6. 11—games, IM, chat, Word, Excel
7. Email, TextTwist (game), Online banking
8. Her use has always changed to her needs—if she traveled for a year, she used it for communication, now she uses it to bank, other times for school. She just doesn’t use it for much more than she needs.
9. Dad loves computers and tries to keep up; Mom thinks they’re only useful for banking. They thought computer use was good and didn’t restrict it.
10. The lack of restrictions allowed her to learn as much as she wanted.
11. Their attitudes as accountants have changed dramatically because 15 years ago, everything was paper and pencil and now it’s all computers, but they’ve always supported their children’s use of the internet, but have more of an indifferent attitude.

Mike Sasser
21
Digital Media Studies
1. Galveston, TX
2. Mother, father, brother, sister
3. Mom went
4. PHD in Biochemistry
5. 7 years old—Prince of Persia
6. 5^th or 6^th grade playing games like Carmen San Diego and MathBlaster
7. Facebook; social networks; email; YouTube—learning photography; research; shopping; music; instant messaging
8. A little bit, he switches through social networks, and at first he was only using it for games, now for more practical stuff.
9. Dad is a little scared of ID theft, but loves computers and is amazed at their capabilities and Mom hates talking online, but both support his computer use. When he was younger, he could do stuff on the computer 1 hour for every hour of reading or HW he did.
10. He was able to learn as much as possible with their support
11. Their attitudes are still the same.

Nick Hughes
21
Accounting
1. Colorado Springs
2. Mother, father, brother
3. Yes
4. Mom—Education, Dad—Unknown
5. Early Elementary School—playing games like pinball on his Dad’s computer.
6. Junior High—doing school work
7. Research, Facebook, email, instant messenger
8. Yes, before he tended to do a lot of chatting and playing games and now he uses it for work and networking.
9. He was allowed to use the computer as much as he needed for school, but wasn’t allowed to use it for other things, i.e. chat, games, etc.
10. He wasn’t able to do much online, but that doesn’t affect him now, and he was pretty impartial to it then.
11. Today, they think the same things and have the same rules for his little brother, but don’t care what he does.

Interview Responses

#1 - Carlie
Age: 24
Major: International Affairs

1. I grew up in Durango, CO
2. I grew up with both my parents, and a younger sister
3. Only my dad went to college
4. He studied sociology
5. My earliest memory of using a computer was in the 1st grade, but I may have been introduced to them earlier
6. I started using a computer regularly in 3rd grade
7. I do almost everything it is possible to do online. My main activities include shopping, staying connected with friends, finding roommates and apartments, doing research, downloading TV shows and movies, reading and keeping a blog.
8. My internet use has changed over time. In high school, I mostly chatted and played games. Now, I use the internet for many more practical things and spend less time just goofing around.
9. Both of my parents were involved in the computer industry, so they kept tabs on my use, but never restricted it except as punishment for bad grades or other times that I got in trouble.
10. Since they didn't restrict my use, I was always allowed to do what I wanted online, so their attitudes didn't influence my use at all.
11. Their attitudes haven't changed, they still don't restrict my access.
12. They no longer have any control over my internet usage because I am an adult.


#2 Elly
Age: 25
Major: Undergraduate - Italian/ Graduate - Architecture

1. I grew up in Durango, CO
2. I grew up with my parents, an older brother, and a younger brother
3. Yes, both my parents went to college
4. My mom studied liberal arts, and my dad studied economics
5. I was first introduced to a computer in 1st grade
6. I started using a computer regularly in 5th grade
7. I do almost everything it is possible to do online, but most of my time is spent shopping, doing research, reading webcomics, playing games, chatting, and running an online business
8. Yes, my internet use has changed. In high school, I spent most of my time chatting, emailing, and designing web pages. Now my interests have branched out and become more practical.
9. My parents thought I was a genius with computers, so they pretty much let me do whatever I liked, but they were very paranoid about releasing personal information online, so they always made sure I knew not to ever give out any personal information to anyone over the internet.
10. This attitude made me very paranoid about giving out any of my personal information, so it was many years before I even used my real name in any fashion online. I also never visited shopping websites or other sites that asked for any personal information.
11. As time has gone on, my parents became much less paranoid about the personal information angle.
12. They loosened up about it after seeing their children do many things online, go shopping, and meet people without ever having their information stolen or meeting anyone dangerous, which convinced them that it was not as big a deal as they had thought it was.


#3 Vinnie
Age: 23
Major: Clinical Psychology

1. I grew up in Ellsworth, Maine
2. I grew up with my mom, and a brother and sister
3. My dad went to college
4. He studied accounting and finance
5. I was first introduced to a computer at the age of 5 or 6
6. I started using a computer regularly when I was about 5 or 6
7. I do everything online, though my primary interests are email, RPGs, pictures, tv shows, and reading
8. I have always done as much as I possibly can online, but what I can do online has changed over time as the technology and the content of internet websites has changed. I have always tried to follow the advancing trends in internet usage
9. My whole family shared one computer, so our use was always visible to my mom, but we were only distantly monitored, with no hard and fast rules or restrictions.
10. The lack of restrictions gave us the freedom to explore, with no desire to do anything that would cause rules to be put in place. For example, one unspoken rule was no downloading porn, which we never did because it was something that we knew would be noticed and cause restrictions to be put in place.
11. My mom's attitude hasn't really changed because she was so open about it to begin with.
12. Her attitudes haven't changed because I never gave her any reason not to trust me, and I'm an adult now, so she doesn't control my access at all any more.


#4 Joe
Age: 25
Major: Computer Science

1. I grew up in Pueblo, CO
2. I grew up with my mom, dad, and younger brother
3. Yes, both my parents went to college
4. My mom studied nursing, and my dad studied English and automotive mechanics
5. I was first introduced to computers in elementary school, in 2nd or 3rd grade
6. I got my first home computer in 1992, when I was about 10
7. I use the internet for work, shopping, gaming, personal information management, reading, research, social bookmarking, banking, streaming music, downloading music and videos, among other things
8. Yes, what I do online has changed over time. I do more now because there is more to do - speeds are faster with broadband when I used to have dial-up. I started out on the original bulletin board system before the internet became what it is today, and I have changed my usage habits as it has changed
9. My parents pretty much let me have free reign over my computer use because they didn't know enough about the computer to make any specific rules regarding my use and habits
10. Since I had no restrictions, I always did pretty much what I wanted online
11. My parents know more about computers now, but their attitudes about use haven't changed
12. They haven't changed their attitudes because their computer knowledge grew as I matured and their trust of me grew as well, so they never saw any need to restrict me even as they learned more about what I did. Also, now that I am an adult, they have no say over my computer use.

Interview Responses

Alex Harkavy

Washington D.C.
Mother and Father
Yes both of them
Dad Political Science, Mom French
6
Facebook, sports sites.
Yes
Pretty Positive, mainly because both parents were not computer adept and wanted me to learn and teach them.
My dad being a lawyer, influenced me to still use a library for my research.
About the same, not sure why?

Marco Cummings

20
Journalism Studies
Denver
Mother and Father
Yes
Father plant biology, Mother Midwifery (Nursing)
5
14
E-mail, Facebook, News, Research, IM
Yes, play less games online on the computer, though still play games online on xbox
My parents always thought I use the internet too much
Their attitude didnt affect me, though mine affected them, now they use the internet all the time.
Their opinion changed because now everyone in my family has their own computer.

Matt Collin
20
Sports. Entertainment and Event Management

Cleveland, OH
Mommy and Daddy
Yes
Medicine
5-6 yrs old
13
Email, Facebook, Fantasy
facebook
Dont overdo it...schoolwork first
limited my use online
im in college...they dont control me anymore!

Rachel Monserrate
25
Mom and Dad
Yes, both
Dad animal science, Mom social studies
6
7th grade, age 13
email, facebook, read news, research
in the last year, I started using facebook. that's about it
My parents don't really understand it. They're computer illiterate, so they just ask me how to use their computer. They don't really address my usage.
They've not influenced my usage, and I haven't seen a change

Video: A Vision of Students Today

From Michael Wesch, a professor from Kansas State and the creator of The Web is Us/ing Us, this is a video about the modern student. There seems to be a large focus on social networks, in particular Facbook. Check it out:

collective intelligence survey on parent-kid tech relations

Please interview 4 people in the 18-26 age range and who used computers as a teens. Please post your interviews here on the blog by Sunday night. Before class next Tuesday read everyone elses interview notes.

Here are the questions we came up with in class. I added a few. Try to get the conversation flowing in your interviews and get all of the information and stories you can out of your interview subjects. (Sometimes the best insights come when interviews veer from the script.)



Name
Age
Major (if in college)

Where did you grow up?
Who did you grow up with (mother, father, grandparents...)?
Did your parents/guardians go to college?
If so what did they study?
How old were you when you were first introducted to a computer (including games).
When did you start using computers on a regular basis?
What do you do online?
Has what you do online changed over time?
What was your parents or guardians' attitude toward your computer use? Please explain.
How did their additude come into effect or influence your ability to do what you want online?
Have their attitudes changed today?
Why or why not?