Pew’s excellent researchers are keeping me very busy these days. Following on the release of the Digital Footprints report, Pew yesterday released a new report on Teens and Social Media. Certainly of interest to the future-watchers in the crowd. Nicole Ellison and I share our thoughts about the report with Ellen Lee of the SF Chronicle.
What struck me about the social media report is the evident trending towards increased production of online content by young people. That is, more and more young people are creating content online, to the point where production in one form or another is expected. Among the technical elite, this might not seem interesting or surprising. Of course, Pew’s strong suit is the development of ecologically valid surveys that get at the heart of the everyday experience – and the fact that 1 our of every 3 teens out there blogs or journals is very much noteworthy in my opinion. You can download the report here. (PDF)
Also to note is the opening of the application process for the 2008 Oxford Internet Institute Summer Doctoral Program. This year, the program will be at Oxford (last year it was at the Berkman Center), running from July 13-25. If you’re a doctoral student interested in the areas the SDP covers (and particularly Web Science, as Sir Timbl will be a tutor), I heartily recommend applying. The SDP is a great experience, a chance to better your research, and a chance to build a lifelong cohort of some seriously brilliant awesome people.
