Talking About Teens INFO 200: Blog Post #2

When considering the information community of teens, Agosto, et al (2016) asserts that utilizing technology and information seeking go hand-in-hand.  Indeed, teens do turn to technology often when seeking information.  I found it useful to analyze this group through the definition as outlined by Christen and Levinson (Fisher and Bishop, 2015) through four angles: 

• Affinity – Teens have common interests that they share.
• Instrumental – Teens share common, specific goals that they want to achieve.
• Primordial – Teens sometimes group themselves based on common beliefs, ethnicity, or race.
• Proximate – Teens share common spaces (including virtual space).

Teens, as an information community,  also share the five characteristics as outlined by Fisher and Bishop (2015). 

1. Teens collaborate on various platforms (of social media).
2. Teens as a group, form around various common needs (interests, concerns, etc.) that  cause them to seek out new information.                                      
3. Teens use social media platforms to share information, as well as text messages, etc.
4. Teens are creative when it comes to sharing information (overcoming barriers).
5. Teens use social media to build social connections.

Teens actively use social media to answer and ask questions regarding their peers, turning to various online communities in order to distribute or seek information. (Agosto, et al, 2016).  In fact, “in the last decade, research on informal learning has expanded to also include digital collaborative environments and analyze how teens are using social networking sites for learning” (Sefton-Green, 2003; 2006; 2013 as cited in Scolari, et al, 2018, p.804). 

In addition, when teens seek out this information, they most likely will turn to some type of digital device.  A study was conducted in a high school library and found that when doing schoolwork or performing other tasks that involved information seeking, teens preferred using a personal digital device to computers in the school library.  (Franklin, 2012, as cited in Agosto, et al, 2015).   With the ever-increasing prevalence of smart phones among U.S. teens, and nearly 93% having access to a computer at home, it seems like this may continue to be the trend. (Agosto, et al, 2016).

Continuing my research on this information community, I want to investigate how social media shapes the information seeking behaviors of teens, how libraries are impacted by this practice, as well as the services that libraries provide to teens to keep themselves relevant to this ever-evolving, digitally dependent group.  I also hope to examine what information services look like for teens who are on the other side of the digital divide, with less access to digital devices and digital literacy instruction.  

 

References

 

Agosto, D., Magee, R., Dickard, M., & Forte, A. (2016). Teens, Technology, and Libraries: An Uncertain Relationship. The Library Quarterly, 86(3), 248-269. 

 

Agosto, D. E., Purcell, M., Magee, R. M., & Forte, A. (2015). Teens, Libraries, and Social Media: Myths and Reality. Public Library Quarterly, 34(4), 318–327. https://doi-org.libaccess.sjlibrary.org/10.1080/01616846.2015.1106892

 

Digital Media for CEO’s. (2015, January 15). Retrieved from https://www.atticusmanagement.com/node/37

 

Fisher, K. E., & Bishop, A. P. (2015). Information communities: Defining the focus of information service. In S. Hirsh (Ed.), Information services today: An introduction (pp. 20-26). Retrieved from Information_Services_Today_An_Introduction_—-_(3_Information_Communities)

 

 Scolari, C. A., Masanet, M.-J., Guerrero-Pico, M., & Establés, M.-J. (2018). Transmedia Literacy in the New Media Ecology: Teens’ Transmedia Skills and Informal Learning Strategies. El Profesional de La Información, 27(4), 801–812. https://doi-org.libaccess.sjlibrary.org/10.3145/epi.2018.jul.09