creative youth and digital publishing - o'reilly mediaassets.en.oreilly.com/1/event/19/youth...

Creative youth and digital publishing

Introductions

Evangeline HaughneySenior User Researcher, Adobe Systems

Evangeline Haughney has a Master's of Human-Computer Interaction from Carnegie Mellon University. For the past 4 years at Adobe, she has worked on the experience design of various products and services including Acrobat and the Creative Suite. In her previous career as a technical writer, she was a Documentation Manager for Kaiser Permanente, where she led the development efforts for an online knowledge base to support the use of Kaiser's electronic medical record systems.

Bill WestermanPrincipal, Create with Context

Bill is co-founder of Create with Context, a strategic design and research firm focused on web, mobile, consumer electronics, and desktop applications. Create with Context combines primary research, idea generation, concept development, and user-centered design to link customer needs through to digital design. Bill’s recent clients include Accenture, Adobe, Panasonic, and Yahoo!, as well as a variety of early-stage startups.

Previously, Bill was Director of Development at Accenture Technology Labs’ Silicon Valley R&D think-tank, helping define and commercialize business applications for emerging technologies such as mobile and pen computing, RFID, and wireless sensor networks. Prior to that, Bill was a Director of Integrated Strategy for Sapient as well as an executive in enterprise technology at Accenture.

Why study youth?What we know about

today’s youth -3rd-party research

Meet the youth -vignettes from our

field research

Why study youth?

• Creative youth represent the next generation of publishersand users of creative tools

• Their unique “MySpace generation” perspective must beconsidered in publishing and in the tools that support it

• Youth bring a shifting perspective• Publishing is no longer a discrete activity

• Rather, it is part of an ongoing stream• A byproduct of social interaction and community

• A digital output from everyday activities• A means of self-expression through creativity

• Publishing software and creative tools are no longer seenas a monolithic ‘investment’ of time and money, but as asomewhat transient means to an end

• Learning these tools and the publishing process is notnecessarily seen as a large, daunting and discrete task,but rather as part of the process of creating a piece of media

field research

A baseline understanding

Pew Internet & American Life Project 12/2007

Half of online teens have created contenton the internet

Two-thirds have

Source: Pew Internet & American Life Project 12/2007

on the internet, not on their hard drive

A third of teens share their own artisticcreations online

Forty percent have

this is content they consider to be artistic, not just random posts

One out of five teens remix content theyfind online into their own creations

One out of four have

Most teens receive feedback on thecontent they post online

sometimes most of the time

feedback is a key component of online

community

field research

Note: names and other identifying information have been changed to

protect participant privacy

What we set out to learn

• Who are these teens?

• What types of media are they creating?

• What’s motivating them to create?

• What do they share (or not share) with others?

• What is their process?

• How are they used to learning?

• How do they find out about tools?

Methodology• Our initial phase of research focused on a

particular segment of creative youth

• Creative, but not necessarily planning to go into art or design after high school

• Hand-picked for interesting self-expression activities (more than just a MySpace page)

• High-school age

• Self-motivated and self-directed creativity• Creating digital media to share with others

outside of their immediate circle of friends

• In-home visits• California area

• At their home, at their computer• Home tour, including their room

• 120-minute sessions

• Captured pictures, video and artifacts• One researcher, 1-2 observers

ginafan sites

This is Gina

Age: 16Grade: 10thHometown: Central California, 15,000 peopleSiblings: 26 yr old brotherDog: Shadow

Listening to music on imeem, a community music site

Gina likes...

It’s not just listening, it’s creating and

publishing an online self

Gina has been making websites since she was 13 yrs old.

Her first was Dance-to-this-beat.com, a fan site dedicated to Panic at the Disco.

She decided to make it one summer because she was bored.

Gina uses pre-existing social media platforms

to build her sites

Originally, she used Neopets, which influenced her to learn some HTML.

But her friend, who had a fan site at the time, introduced her to other programs.

She did her first 10 layouts in Adobe Photoshop Elements

“I just thought it was the greatest thing ever!”

Soon after, she was introduced to Photoshop in her digital media class.

Creative softwareisn’t a skill, it’s ameans to an end

Global connectivityand collaboration

is “no big”

She finished the site, with help from her friend, in July 2006. Her “friend” is a girl in Spain who

helped via internet. Angel shared her FTP login with this girl so she could get feedback

on her code and other parts of the site.

Since then, she has created two more sites.

Soon after, she became bored with the site and the band.

Pre-made brushes and templates “show a lack

of individuality”

Gina makes Photoshop ʻbrushesʼ by spraypainting in the garage

Pre-made brushes and templates “show a lack

of individuality”

“Iʼve been doing this long enough that I know all the tools and I know

what I want to do with them.”

In her digital media class, where Photoshop is used, she often sees other students “doing it the

long and hard way.”

Seasoned PS pros typically feel that

there’s more to learn

PatriciaRole-playing characters

This is her

The teen transition:from toys to

Time Magazine

She is the creator of The Packlands.The Packlands is a role-playing site.

Building upon others, rather than creating it

all yourself

Building upon others, rather than creating it

all yourself

Late July 2007, she began learning Photoshopfrom a girl, Venomous Emma, whom she

had “met” online through role-playing.

She asked for advice and the girl gaveher tutorials with screen shots and text.

After role-playing online for a month, she became interested in creating “representations” of her characters.

A lot of learning takes place online, one-on-one

and asynchronously

Sometimes, she asks for peer critiques on her work.

Teens will reach out to their community for

artistic feedback

Sometimes, she asks for peer critiques on her work.

Teens will reach out to their community for

artistic feedback

Davidlongboarding, album covers, pranks, school projects

Age: 17Grade: 12thHometown: SF Peninsula, CASiblings: brother, brother, sisterPets: Dog

This is David

He likes

longboarding

Teens often define themselves through2-3 major interests

He reads forums on Silverfish, a longboarding site

Niche sites can be a major hub for social

and creative activity

He reads forums on Silverfish, a longboarding site

Currently, he is learning how to build a board.

He has also used the forum to find Bay Area

skateboarding friends.

Niche sites can be a major hub for social

and creative activity

He started using Photoshop in grade

school.

For many, the“learning curve”no longer exists

Recently he took a“boring picture”ofhis friend and made it more exciting.

He publishes his creations back to the

Silverfish forum

This is what he created, using motion and gaussian blurs “to make it look more fast.”

He publishes his creations back to the

Silverfish forum

CraigRenders & Fractals

This is CraigAge: 16Grade: 11thHometown: SF Bay AreaSiblings: 19 yr old sister; 8 yr old brother

He was first introduced to graphics by his brother, who frequented PlanetRenders.net.

Planet Renders offers free renders and an online community for

those who create them. The site

sponsors “battles” and hosts teams who

work together.

Communities provide a place to learn, publish,

and hang out

“They had all these cool effects and I wanted to see if I could do make

them...It was a challenge.”

Planet Renders offers free renders and an online community for

those who create them. The site

sponsors “battles” and hosts teams who

work together.

Communities provide a place to learn, publish,

and hang out

He now manages all the teams on PlanetRenders.

“It’s time consuming, but fun because I can see inside all the teams.”

His responsibilities include posting news, rules, applications, battles and private

forums. He also monitors the forums for any “bad” posts, for which he gives warnings.

Teen participation can be quite dedicated and

time-consuming

Emerging themes

ExpressionBelongingInspirationLearningHelpingCo-designingVelocity

: establishing who I am: micro-communities: emulating and following: watching, doing, and ‘on the fly’: the global apprentice: beyond the lone designer: transient, throw-away media

Changes in publishing for youth• Publishing has fundamentally changed for the MySpace Generation

• No longer a monolithic, discrete activity

• Part of an ongoing stream of activity, self-expression, and belonging• The tools landscape has changed

• Hundreds and hundreds of ways to self-publish• Anything from the mainstream (MySpace) to the niche (Wolf storytelling)

• Learning is changing

• Peer learning and peer sharing is on the rise• Teaching each other how to use tools, how to engage in deeper ways with the technologies

• Actively seeking out critiques and feedback

What next?• Working together, Adobe and Create with Context have begun to translate these learnings into

specific product and feature concepts

• Some are being explored through Adobe beta programs and Adobe Labs• Some are being developed for inclusion in future products

• Next, we want to drill further into various segments in the youth market

• Youth who plan to enter the design field upon graduation

• Youth who act as de-facto social and media hubs within their peer groups• Specific vertical segments: videography, interactive, ...

Evangeline HaughneySenior User Researcher at Adobe Systems

haughney@adobe.comadobe.com

Bill WestermanPrincipal, Create with Context

bill@createwithcontext.comcreatewithcontext.com +1 408 834-7601 x24

Thank you!

creative youth and digital publishing - o'reilly mediaassets.en.oreilly.com/1/event/19/youth...

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