+The young child as hacker: Exploring the foundations of DIY culture in the early years

By Yukari SekoNovember 14, 2010

DIY Citizenship Conference

+Young children in DIY culture

Growing up with user-generated media techs, “Digital Natives” constantly engage in participatory mode of production, interaction and community building

Transformation of learning environment requires new conceptual framework for understanding young children’s citizenship in DIY culture

From adult-centered to child-centered approach

+Children as Hackers

Young children are “hackers” who challenge against norms and orders imposed by adults

The spirit of the hack is deeply rooted in the life of young children

The foundations of “maker” identities in the DIY culture can be found in early years

+Changing definition of the “Hack”Originally emerged at MIT in the 1950s

Often coined “security cracker” who breaks into computer systems for invasion of privacy/property

From the regime of “hacker elites” to the era of “Mass Hacking”: Rebellious act against capitalist digital enclosure (Dyer-Witheford, 2002)

The hack as an act of “altering a pre-existing situation to produce something new” (Jordan, 2008)

+Hacker approach vs. Architect Approach

Bottom-up

Special-case

Practical

Nonstandard

Unschooled

Unexpected

Solve-the-problem

Build-on-what-exists

Top-down

General-case

Theoretical

Grand vision

Master plan

Unlimited resources

Question-the-problem

Start-from-scratch

Hacker Approach Architect Approach

Kulikauskas (2004)

+The “Hack” in early years

An act to produce unexpected outcomes out of what is already given

Children progress from heteronomous dependence upon adults to increasing independence and autonomy

“Misbehaviors” such as making a mess, playing with food are examples of hacking

+When do children hack?

When they’re exploring physical knowledge

Building theories about the world around them

Testing the theories they create

Reflecting on the results of their tests

Repeating the process with ever increasing levels of complexity

+Playing with food…

Flickr Photo credit: Andre Natta

+Making a mess…

Flickr Photo credit: Nicolas Carey

some one is probably grounded until their 35th birthday…

+Making a mess with food…

Flickr Photo credit: RI Pizzo

+Experimenting sounds

Flickr Photo credit: Ernst Vikne

+Remaking space

Flickr Photo credit: amygwen

+Hacking as informal learning

Through hacking children are engaging in the form of informal learning

Informal learning: "any activity involving the pursuit of understanding, knowledge or skill which occurs outside the curricula of educational institutions, or the courses or workshops offered by educational or social agencies” (Livingstone, 1999)

Informal learning occurs in various “liminal spaces”

+

All grown-ups were once Hackers – although few of them remember it…

+Potential Threats to the Hack

Parental heteronomyImposes norms of behaviour in safe and

surveilled spaces

Commodification of DIY childhood Displaces critical making with

consumption of ready-made commodities

Institutional mode of education Denies the importance of social learning

+References Dyer-Witheford, Nick. (2002). “E-Capital and the Many-

Headed Hydra.” In Greg Elmer (Ed.). Critical Perspectives on the Internet. Chapter 7, pp.129-163. Lanham Maryland: Rowman and Littlefield.

Jordan, Tim (2008). Hacking: Digital Media and Technological Determinism. Cambridge: Polity Press.

Kulikauskas, Andrius (2004). Social Hacking: The Need for an Ethics. Journal of Hyper(+)drome. Manifestation, Issue 1 – September, Accessed at http://journal.hyperdrome.net/issues/issue1/kulikauskas.html

Livingstone, David. (1999). Exploring the icebergs of adult learning: Findings of the first Canadian survey of informal learning practices. Canadian Journal for Studies of Adult Education. 13 (2), 49-72.

+Thank you!

Yukari Sekoyukaseko@yorku.caTwitter: doggyjelly