young children's literacy practices in a virtual world- establishing an online interaction order

8/11/2019 Young Children's Literacy Practices in a Virtual World- Establishing an Online Interaction Order

1/19

Young Children's Literacy Practices in a Virtual World: Establishing an Online InteractionOrderAuthor(s): Jackie MarshSource: Reading Research Quarterly, Vol. 46, No. 2 (April/May/June 2011), pp. 101-118Published by: Wileyon behalf of the International Reading Association

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2/19

Young

Children's

Literacy

Practices

in

a Virtual

World:

Establishing

an Online InteractionOrder

Jackie

Marsh

University

f

Sheffield,

K

This

study

xamined

the

literacy ractices

of children

ges

5-11

as

theyengaged

in out-of-school se of virtual

worlds.

The

purpose

of the

study

was to

explore

the

nature,

urpose,

and role of

iteracy

n

children's se

of

a

virtualworld.

n

this

article,

reflect n

how children's se of

iteracy ractices

n

the virtual

world

constructed nd maintained

n online social

order.One

hundred

eventy-five

hildren

n

an

English

rimary

chool

completed

an online

survey

romwhich

their se

of virtualworlds was examined. Individual nd group interviewswere then conducted with26 children cross theyear.

The

interviews stablished hat hildrenused the virtualworlds to extend contact with

peers they

had

regular

nteraction

with

n

the

offlineworld.

Further,

hree

11

-year-old

hildrenwere filmed t home as

they

used the

virtualworld Club

Penguin.

Additional nterviewswere conducted with the three children nd their

parents.

Data

analysis

focused on the

ways

in

which childrendrew on

specific

iteracy ractices

to construct nd maintain n interaction rder.

A

keyfinding

is that

iteracy perates

as a means of

developing

online social

cohesion,

but the

literacy ractices

hat erve thisfunction

are located within he

social, material,

nd cultural tructures

n

which the children

perate

in

the offlineworld

and thus

cannot

be viewed in

isolationfrom hese wider discourses.

article ocuses n

young

hildren's

i.e.,

ges

5-11)

use of ne virtual orld nd

explores

he

waysnwhichiteracys embeddedwithin he

use of he ite. he article

eports

n an

n-depthtudy

aimed t

generatingrounded

heoreticalonstructse-

lating

o children'ssesof

iteracy

n

thevirtual orld.

Although

tudies f

iteracyractices

n virtual orlds

are imitedn

number,

mergent

orknthis reahas

indicatedhat

iteracy

s central o online nteractions

in

hese

paces

nd hat here renumerous

pportuni-

ties or

eading

nd

writing

ntheworlds

Gillen,

009;

Merchant,

009).

The aim of he rticle s to further

understanding

f he

ontribution

hat

ngagement

n

literacyractices

akes o he onstructionndmainte-

nance f n online ocial

rder

na

virtual orld

imed

atyounghildren.

The article

evelops

he

heoreticalonstruct

hat

literacyperates

s a

key

means f

developing

nline

social

ohesion,

nd he

iteracyractices

hat erve his

functionre ocated ithinhe

ocial,material,

nd ul-

tural tructuresnwhich he hildren

perate

nthe f-

fline orld

nd hus annot e viewed

n

solation

rom

thesewider iscourses. o do

this,

sing

hildren'sn-

gagement

n

one

popular

irtual

orld,

lub

Penguin,

as a

telling

ase

(Mitchell, 984),

draw

n

Goffman's

microsociological

ork ounderstandow nd

n what

ways hildrenonstructocialwebs fmeaningnthis

virtualnvironment.then onsiderhe

ower ynam-

ics that nflected he children's

iteracy ractices

n

virtual

orlds,

hus

xtending

offman'sotion f n

interactionrder o outline ow

parallel

rders

ere

t

work

n

uch ncounters

n

online

paces.

he

key

heo-

reticalhrustf he

rticle,herefore,

s to

uggest

hat

n

this

eemingly

haotic irtual

orld,

iteracyperates

o

index

ormality,

nd his

ndexicality

s framed

cologi-

cally

cross fflinendonline ocial

ystems.

The

conceptualization

f

iteracy

rawn

pon

n

this rticle s one embeddedwithin he

new

iteracy

studies,

hich

mphasizes

he

way

n which

iteracy

s

a socialpracticeGee,1996; treet,001). he work f

Lankshear nd Knobel

2006)

has extended he nitial

frameworkfthenew

iteracy

tudies

chool o em-

body

new

iteracy ractices,

hich ncludes

ractices

that re mediated

y

new

echnologies.

hese activi-

tiesand textshavebeen described

ariously

s new

literacies

r

digital

iteracy,

nd work

n

this rea

has

acknowledged

he

multimodal,

ultimedia ature f

communicative

ractices

n

contemporary

ocieties

Reading

Research

Quarterly

46(2)

pp.

101-118

dx.doi.org/10.1598/RRQ.46.2.1

2011 International

eading

Association 101

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3/19

(Carrington

Robinson,

009;Kress,

010).

Herein,

I

focus

rimarily

n children's

eading

nd

writing

f

words,etters,

nd

ymbols,

s well s their ommuni-

cative

ractices sing

ther

modes,

uch s visual

m-

ages,

o outline ow

young

hildren se

iteracy

n

the

development

f social rder

n

whatwould therwise

appear o be a chaotic nlineworld.nthenext ec-

tion,

outline he heoreticalrameworkor his

tudy,

which onsidershenature f

iteracy

n

the onstruc-

tion f social rder.

Literacy

nd the Social Order

The notion f socialorders onethat as

a

long

his-

tory

n

philosophical

nd

sociologicalhought,

nd al-

though

t s Hobbes's eflectionsn

a

social

ontractn

Leviathan,

ublished

n

1651,

hat redeemed o be a

precursor

o 19th- nd

20th-century

eflectionsn the

topic,

eliberations

egarding

henature f he ocial

order anbe foundntheworks fPlato ndAristotle.

It was

during

he

ate

19th nd

early

0th

enturies,

however,

hen

hilosophers

nd

sociologists

uch

s

Marx,Durkheim,

nd Weber

eveloped

he

oncepts

that

nderpin

uch

ontemporaryhinking

n the

na-

ture

f

he ocial rder.

urkheim

1893/1964)

as one

of he ounders

f tructural

unctionalism,

philoso-

phy

which

mphasized

hat ocieties

ere

ystems

ith

interrelated

lements.

Social

orders constructed

hrough

hebeliefs nd

value

ystems

fdifferent

roups

howork

ogether

o

achieve ocial ohesion.

he

key uestion

n

any

on-

siderationf

he ocial rder oncernshe

elationship

between tructurendagency,nd structuralunc-

tionalisms considered

ymany

o

propose

model

of

he

ndividual

ubject

hat s too

imiting

n

nature.

For

example,

Giddens

1976)

rgued

hat tructural

functionalism

oses

too

deep

a divide etween olun-

tarism

nd

determinism,

ohe

developed

notion f

double tructuration.ocial orders not

imply

on-

structed

hrough

collationf he

multiple

ctivitiesf

individuals,

or an he ctivitiesf ndividualse seen

as

merely

etermined

y

ocial

patterns,

ut t s the

dynamic

etween hem hat s at

take,

dynamic

e-

tween tructure

nd

agency

hat uchs

2001)

ermed

an unresolved

nigmata.

Literacyanbe fundamentalo he onstructionnd

maintenancef ocial

rder nd has beenfound o be

integral

o

the unctionsfnation-tates ver enturies

(Cressy,

980/2006;

raff,

987).

urkheim

mphasized

the

role

f

anguage

n

the onstructionnd mainte-

nance f social

rder,

ut t s also he ase hat

iteracy

permeates

ocial nd ulturalife.When

describing

he

findings

f heLocal Literacies

Barton

Hamilton,

1998)

tudy,

n

ethnographictudy

f

iteracy

n

the

lives f

community

n

northern

ngland,

arton

2001)

stated

hat

nearly

ll

everyday

ctivities

n

the ontem-

porary

orld remediated

y iteracy

ndthat

eople

act

within

textually

ediatedocialworld"

p.

100).

The

relationship

etween

iteracy

nd he ocial r-

derhas seen

radical ransformationsn the

digital ge.

Urry2000) emindeds that he onstructionf ocial

order as

always epended

n extrasomatic

lements,

and

in

contemporaryociety, echnologies

ntersect

with umans

n

complex

nd

dynamic ays.

he iter-

acypractices

hat

merge

n

these ntersections

re

key

to

the

onstruction

nd maintenance

f social rder.

This has not een

ubject

o extensive

mpirical

nter-

rogation

n relationo

young

hildrens

yet, lthough

thework f teinkuehler

2007, 008)

ndicates ow

it-

eracy

nderpins

ocial

xchanges

etween

oung eo-

ple

nd dults

n

he

massively ultiplayer

nline

ame

World fWarcraft.

The

study eported

n

n

this rticle ontributeso

this mergent

rea

y utlining

ow

hildren

sing

vir-

tualworld tilized

iteracy

n he

uilding

f nonline o-

cial

order hat onnectedochildren'sfflineifeworlds.

To undertakehis

work,

draw n Goffman's

oncep-

tual ools

n

the

development

f n

analytic

ramework

that nables consideration

f he

lace

f

iteracy

n

he

building

fonline

ocialworlds.

n

thenext

ection,

move ntoconsider is

oncept

f he nteraction

rder,

as t

rovideskey latform

or

nderstanding

he

ature

of

humannteraction

n

online

nvironments.

The Interaction

Order

Goffman's ork utlined owhumans eploy erbal

and nonverbalesourcesnd

strategies

o

convey pe-

cific

meanings.

n his

1982

residential

ddress o the

American

ociological

ssociation,

offman

1983)

o-

cused n

outliningspects

fwhat e ermedhe nterac-

tion

rder. is focuswason the

microanalysis

f ocial

interactions

n

everyday

ife. or

him,

ocial nteraction

was

primordially

boutface-to-facencounters

ith

known thersnd

trangers,

ndhe

explicitly

uggested

that on-face-to-face

ncounters,

lthough

till iable

units f

nalysis,

ere

aler

ersions

f he real

hing":

Socialnteractionan e dentified

arrowly

sthat hich

uniquelyranspires

n

social

ituations,

hat

s,

environ-

mentsnwhich wo rmore ndividualsre

physically

n

one nother's

esponse

resence.Presumably

he

elephone

and hemails

rovide

educed ersionsf he

rimordial

real

hing.)p.

2)

In

people's

ace-to-face

ncounters,

offman

1983)

traced

variety

f

practices

hat erve o

produce

rder

inwhat ould therwisee social haos.Human

eings

voluntarily

gree

o

participate

n

these

ractices

nd,

102

Reading

Research

Quarterly

46(2)



4/19

in

so

doing,

onfirm

ongstanding,

eciprocal

nterac-

tional

atterns.

e

suggested

hat here re wo

main

types

f nteraction:

ocused nd unfocused.

ocused

interaction

akes

lace

when wo rmore

eople

ntend

to

nteract ith ach

other,

nd unfocusednteraction

occurs

when wo or more

people

are

copresent

ut

haveno ntentiono nteractirectlyGoffman,963).

In

social

nteraction,

umans

dopt

ertain

atterns

f

speech, lothing,

odily osture,

nd

so forth

o

signal

particular

meanings

o others.

n

these

nteractions

with

thers,

e use

frames

Goffman,

974)

o

help

us

interpret

he

meanings

f

he vent.

rames

re

prin-

ciples

f tructure

hat an

be conceived s

underpin-

ning

pecific

ocial ituations.

hese

frames

uide

ur

expectations

s

tohow

particular

xchange

hould

e

structured.

offman

ndicatedhat

rames

re

ocially

structured

ut

cknowledged

hat ndividuals

ay

x-

perience

multiple

evels f

frames

n

any

ne

context,

whichmeans hat heir

xperience

f

social

ituation

s

different

rom

hat f

notherndividual

ho s

nvolved

in he ame ncounter.

Although

hese

microscoiological

heories

were

developed

n relationoface-to-face

ontact,

t s

pos-

sible o

apply

hemo situations

n which

eople

meet

only

irtually

cf.

Jenkins,

010).

Media scholars

ave

drawn

n Goffman's

heories

o

dentify

henature

f

human

nteraction

n

cyberspace.

mith

2008),

or x-

ample,

sed

Goffman's

nalysis

f

ies,

hemarkers

e

use

to

signal

ies

with ther

umans

e.g.,

hared

ress

and

mannerisms),

o

develop

he

oncept

f

hyperties,

which

ink

omputational

evices

o

he

hysical

orld.

Also,

Miller

1995)

nd Robinson

2007)

have een

n-

sistenthat offman's

ork

s relevant

o

a

study

f n-

linehumanngagement.

Goffman

utlined

ow

the ocial conventions

n

which

e

engage

roduce

itualized

ractices,

theme

taken

p by

Collins

2004),

ho

developed

he

oncept

of

nteraction

itualhains.

rawing

nboth

urkheim

(1915)

nd

Goffman,

ollins

uggested

hat

ritual

sa

mechanism

f

mutually

ocused

motion

nd

attention

producing

momentarily

hared

eality,

hich

hereby

generates

olidarity

nd

symbols

f

group

member-

ship"

p.

7).

Theseritualsre

xperienced

n recurrent

manner,

hus

orming

hains

f

nteractions

n which

emotions

nd actions

re

repeated

ver

ime.Collins

contended

hat

here

refour

ey

spects

f nterac-

tion ituals:1) wo rmore eople ave obephysically

copresent,

2)

boundaries

re et

o that

utsidersan-

not

e

involved,

3)

people

focus n

a common

bject

or

ctivity,

nd

4)

participants

hare

common

mood

or motional

xperience.

ollins

rgued

hat

ndividu-

als seek

emotional

nergy

hrough articipating

n

these ituals

n which

hey

ave

motional

nd social

investment.

he

concept

f nteractionitual

hains

s

a

useful

evelopment

fGoffman's

ork,

nd

draw n

Collins's

oncept

o

suggest

hat

iteracy

s one of

he

practices

mbedded

within

nteraction

itual

hains

n

children's

se of

virtual

orld nvironment.

Children's

Virtual

Worlds

Boellstorff

2008)

raced he

origins

fvirtualworlds

back

o Plato's

1991)

llegory

f

he ave

n Book

7 of

The

Republic,

hich

epicted

he ctual

world

s

a mere

shadowof a

nonphysical

orld f

deas.

Boellstorff

moved n

to outline

owvirtual

orlds

s

we

currently

know

hem,

n he orm

fwebsites

uch

s Second

ife,

began

o

emerge

n the1970s

with

he

development

f

thefirst

ideo

games

nd

multiplayer

ungeons.

he

burgeoning

f he

hildren's

irtual orld

market e-

gan

round

he

midpoint

f he irst ecade

f

he 1st

century,

ith ome

f he

urrent

ajor layers,

uch

s

Ganz's

Webkinz

nd Viacom's

Neopets, eginning

o

attract

arge

umbers

fusers

round

hat ime.

Since hen,hishas been nareaofrapid evelop-

ment,

ith ome

eports

hat

he astest

rowing

emo-

graphic

fvirtual

orld

sers

s children

etween

he

ages

of5

and

9,

group

hatwill

ee

27%

growth

n

the

use

of hese

ites

ver he

next

years

Gilbert,

009).

The

majority

f

hildren's

irtual

orldsnvolve

laying

games

s a

major

ctivity,

hich

s not o

suggest

hat

that he

websites

hould

be

categorized

rimarily

s

games.

As

Meyers

2009)

rgued,

he ctivities

nder-

taken

n

what

e termed hared

irtual nvironments

have

more n common

with

irtual

worlds

or

dults,

such

s Second

ife,

han

ther

nline

ame

ites.

Many

of he ites nable

sers

o

manage

n avatar

e.g.,

lothe

andmanipulaten online epresentationf hemselves),

create ome

nvironments,

hat

o others

hrough

he

use

of nstant

messaging,

nd

engage

n

shopping

or

virtual

rtifacts.

hese virtual

orlds

romote

range

of

ypes

f

play

from

he

more estricted

ule-bound

play

nvolved

n

games

onstructed

y

he ite

roduc-

ers

hrough

o

maginative

lay,

which an

nvolve

an-

tasy

nd ociodramatic

lay

Marsh,

010).

There

refew tudies

fchildren's

se of

virtual

worlds. he

most

omprehensive

o

far,

he

American

study

f weens'

i.e.,

ges

10-12)

se

of

Whyville,

o-

cused on

social

nteraction

nd

earning

n

the

ite,

whichwas

developed

to

promote

earning

Kafai,

2010).Whyvilleppears, rom afaisanalysis,o offer

a

productive

pace

for

earning,

omewhat

n

contrast

to

the

ommerciallyroduced

irtual

orld

Webkinz,

of

which

lack

2010)

eveloped

content

nalysis

nd

suggested

hat

t

provides

a constrained

etof itera-

cies"

p.

7).

There s

a

need,

however,

o

examine

he

literacy

ractices

f

young

hildren

n

these

kinds

ofvirtual

worlds o

determine

ow

far

hey

re con-

strained

y

the

producers

f

hese ites.

The

present

Young

Children's

iteracy

ractices

n

a

VirtualWorld:

Establishing

n Online

Interaction

rder

103



5/19

study

xamines neof he

ommercially

asedvirtual

worlds or

hildren,

lub

Penguin,

ndfocuses n the

literacyractices

f

group

f ts

11

year-

ldusers.

Club

Penguin

as

developed y

he

media

ompa-

ny

New

Horizon nteractive

n

Canada and

opened

o

public

se n

October

005

with

pproximately

5,000

users. n2007,hereweremore han12 million egis-

tered

ccounts,

nd the

worldwas

subsequently

c-

quired

y

heWalt

DisneyCompany

or

350

million.

Club

Penguin

s

currentlyeported

o have 7 million

registered

ccounts

KZero

Worldswide,

010).

The

virtual

orld onsistsf n

arctic nvironment

n

which

avatarsre

penguins.

ach

penguin

as an

gloo

ome.

There re

numerous

ames

n

Club

Penguin

n

which

users arn

oinsorthat an be

played

or

port

e.g.,

swimming,

ce

hockey).

sers an

buy

lothes

nd rti-

facts

or heirvatarsnd

gloos.

Text s

kept

o a

minimum

hroughout

hevirtual

environmentnd s

used

primarily

o

dentify

he se of

buildings.ymbols,

uch s

arrows,

reused

through-out o

guide

penguins,

nd

every

age

containscons

that ink o a

map

of

the

world,

he

newspaper

lub

Penguin

imes,

nd a

moderator,

ho an be

contacted

if

enguins

ish o

omplain

bout he ehaviorf

th-

ers

n

the

world. he

navigation

arat thebottom f

the creen

eaturescons hat nable

ach child o en-

gage

n

chatwith ther

enguins,

se

emoticons,

hrow

snowballs,

ontact ther

enguins

o

request

hat

hey

become

riends,

nd

navigate

ohis rher

vatar's

gloo.

Chat

ppears

n

peech

ubbles bove he

heads f va-

tars,

imilar

othe

lacement

f

peech

ncomics.

his

limited se of ext nd

extensivese of cons nd

sym-

bols

means hat

ery oung

hildren ind t

relatively

straightforwardonavigatenClubPenguin.omeof

the erversnable

afe hat

mode,

whichmeans hat

users

hoose rom setofwords

nd

phrases

o com-

municate ith ach

other,

gain nabling

hildren

ho

arenot

luent riterso

engage

n

communicationith

other vatars.

he site lso

containsexts hat remore

extensive

n

nature

or hosewhowish o

access

hem.

The

newspaper,

or

xample,

ncludes

uzzles,

okes,

and

stories,

ndtheres a

library

hat ontains

ooks,

including

nteractive

ooks,

or

onger

eads.

n

addi-

tion,

he

ditors fClub

Penguin

imes nvite

sers o

submit

ictures

nd rticles.

Club

Penguin,

herefore,

ontains

many

f he ea-

tures fother irtual orlds or hildren,uch s the

use of

market-based

ystem

nwhich

hopping

s a

key ctivity

nd the

ight

ontrol

fuser

ngagement

through

he

design

f he

ite,

ut t lso has

distinct

features,

uch s the ack

f n-world

arketing

nd he

provision

f

range

f

writtenexts

eyond ame

n-

structionsnd

shopping

esources. irtual

orlds or

children ave een

he ocus f

range

f

ritique,

ot

least

ecause he

roducers

ften

mbed

ophisticated

data

mining

oftware,

hich nables

urreptitious

ur-

veillance fusers' nline

racticesChung

Grimes,

2005),

nd

they

re ocatedwithin

complex,

multi-

mediaworld f ommercial

roducts

imed t hildren

and

parents.

urther,

lub

Penguin

s now

part

f he

Disney orporation,

longstanding

ocus or ritical

analysis ypoliticalconomistsnd culturalheorists

whohave

pointed

o ts

orporate

anufacture

f m-

perialistantasy

Wasko,

001).

Notwithstanding

hese

oncerns,

t

would eem

important

ounderstandhe

kinds f

iteracyractices

that reundertakenn these ites

nd he

urposes

or

these

ractices,

iven

he

xtentowhich irtual orlds

such s Club

Penguin

re

used

byyoung

hildren.n

particular,

he

ways

n

which hildren

tilize

iteracy

n

online

paces

o create ocial

groups

s of

nterest,

ar-

ticularly

s theres ittle esearch

n

his ield.We know

much

bout he

way

n

which

writtenexts re

entral

to

children'social

practices

e.g., yson,

003, 010;

Rowe, 003;Wohlwend,009),nd heres now need

to extend

his

nderstanding

o online

paces.

his ar-

ticle xamines he

ways

n

which

iteracy

nformshe

development

f

social rder

n

nonline

nvironment.

Methodology

The

research

esign

was hat f case

study,

hich n-

abled he

eneration

f

rounded

heoreticalonstructs.

I

used a

funnellingpproach

Spradley,

980),

nthat

broad verviewf175

hildren'sse of he

nternetas

undertaken

y

means

f

survey,

smaller

roup

f

26 children ere

nterviewedbout heir

se ofvirtual

worlds,nd3children ere ilmedsing virtual orld

over he

eriod

f

1

month. his

enabled n

ntensifica-

tion

nd a further

ocusing

t each

stage

f he ssues

under

tudy.

he

study

was

undertaken

n

a

primary

school

n

a

large ity

nnorthern

ngland,

hichwas

involved

n

ongoing rojects

ith local

niversity.

he

school erves

primarily

hite,

orking-class

ommu-

nity

ocated n a

housing

state

n

an area f

ignificant

economic

eprivation.

he

schoolhad

above-average

levels fchildren

ualifying

or

ree chool

meals,

commonmarker

n

the

English ystem

f ocial

depri-

vation.

Almost ll of he

hildren

n

the

choolwere

monolingual.

arental

onsent as

receivedor

artici-

pationn he tudy. ll hildren ave eengiven seud-

onyms

erein.

The

nformationnd

communication

echnologies

(ICT)

teachern

he

chool,

ho

aughtvery

CT

class

during

he ourse f

week,

was

nvolved

n

the

tudy,

as he

wished o nitiate ork

n

the CT

curriculum

n

virtualworlds nd so felt hat

he would

find t valu-

able o knowbout hildren's

ngagement

ith

irtual

worlds utside f

chool.

An

online

urvey

as set

up

104

Reading

Research

Quarterly

46(2)



6/19

using

he

Google

Docs

website. nline

urveys

re d-

vantageous

n

he

esearch

rocess

n

numberf

ways,

as

outlined

y

Andrews, onnecke,

ndPreece

2003),

in

hat

hey

ave numberf haracteristicshat annot

be

adopted

n

paper-based

urveys,

uch sthe

bility

to

automatically

ransfer

esponses

o a database. he

ICT teachernthe chool requentlysed online ur-

veys

ia

Google

Docs,

and

therefore

he

practice

as

not nfamiliar

o he hildren.

Children ere sked

range

f

questions elating

to their

nternet

se,

ncluding request

o

dentify

f

they

sed virtual

worlds utside f chool

nd,

f

o,

howoften.

uestions

lso focused n the nature f

children's

ctivities

hen

sing

irtualworlds

i.e.,

f

they

hopped,

layed

ames,

ead he n-world

exts,

andchatted ith

riends).

any

f he

uestions

ere

multiple

choice o enable ase of

ompletion.

hildren

werenvitedo

omplete

he

urvey

hen

hey

ttended

theirCT

lessons

n

the CT

suite,

which ach lass

n

the

chool id wice week.

Atotal f175 hildrencross ll

year roups ages

5-11)

ompleted

he

urvey.

omeof

he

younger

hil-

drenwere

upported

n

their

ompletion

f he nline

survey,

n

that

uestions

ere ead loud othem

when

necessary

nd heir

esponsesnputtedy

n

adult,

ut

the

majority

f hildren

ompleted

he

urveyndepen-

dently.

he

survey

ata

re

not he ocus

or

iscussion

in

his

rticle,

therhan oofferbroad utline f hil-

dren's se ofvirtual orlds. he

survey

ata nd

ques-

tions sked anbe seen

n

the

Appendix.

Following

he

ompletion

f he

urvey,

0 hildren

ages

and7 as well s5children

ges

0 nd11 ook

art

in

series f

roup

nd ndividualemistructurednter-

views. urthernterviewst his tagewere ot ossible

because f he

mpending

ummer reak.

ollowing

he

vacation

eriod,

second

roup

f hildren

ere nter-

viewed,

children

ges

and6 as well s 7 children

ges

9 and10. n

total,

6 children ere nterviewedbout

their se ofvirtual

orlds

see

Table

1).

Children

ere

nvitedotake

art

n

the nterviews

in

sessions

when

hey

ad classes

n

the CT suite. t

was

explained

o them hat wished o ask

questions

about heir se ofvirtualworlds nd volunteers ere

invitedo

participate.

ll volunteers ere nterviewed.

The interviewsook

lace

n

the chool afeteriand

were

igitally

ecorded,

hen ranscribed.ach

nter-

viewnormallyasted etween0and 30 minutes. he

in-depth

nterviews

xplored

hildren'sctivities hen

using

irtual orlds utside f

chool,

nd

questions

were

sked

egarding

ho hildren

layed

with

n

the

virtual

orlds,

hat

hey layed,

ndhow

eading

nd

writing

eaturednthis

lay.

Following

he

irstet f

nterviews,

hree hildren

were ilmed

n

their

omes

using

he virtualworld

Club

Penguin;

his

tage

ook

lace

during

he ummer

Table

1.

Children Who

Took Part

in

Interviews

Boys

Girls

Name

Age

Name

Age

Martin 5

Carly

5

Billy

7

Charlene

6

Bradley 7 Sarah-Louise 6

Brendan

7

Stacey

6

Ewan

7

Lisa

7

Kyle

7 Ruth

7

Leo

7

Deborah

9

Terence

7

Helen

9

Rob 9

Stacey

10

Adam 10 Eve

11

Chris 10

Jess

11

Mike 10

Travis 10

David

11

Owen 1

/Voie. All Heimes are

pseudonyms.

break.

hildren

n

he

inal

ear

f

rimary

chool,

ges

10

nd

11,

were nvitedo volunteer

or his

tage

f he

project

f

hey

were

egular

sers fClub

Penguin

ut-

side

f

chool. his

virtual orld aschosen s

a

focus

because t was themost

popular

ne dentifiedrom

theonline

urvey.

t was notfelt

o be

appropriate

o

require

hildren o

oin

Club

Penguin

o take

art,

s

thismay ave edtorequestsromhe hildrenotheir

parents

o

pay

or

membership

f he ite. our hildren

whowere

egular

sers

f

Club

Penguin

ntheir

omes

volunteeredotake

art.Only

hree

hildren,owever,

gained

he

onsent

f

heir

arents

o take

art

n

this

stage

f he

tudy,

wo

irls

ndone

boy.

All

were

ge

11

when

he

ilming

ook

lace.

The children's

rofiles

re

outlined

n

Table2.

In all

of

he

visits,

he

hildren ere

ositioned

s

the

xperts

n the

use of

heir wnmedia ulture. s

Bloome

ndKatz

2003)

roposed,

What anbe known

about hildren

epends

n how child' s

conceptual-

ized,

he

personhood ssigned

o the

ategory

child'"

(p. 382).As suggestedn thework f henew ociolo-

gists

f hildhood

n

he ast ecades

f

he

0th

entury

(e.g.,

ames,

enks,

Prout,

998),

which

mphasized

that hildhood s a social

construct,

t s

important

o

recognize

hat hildren ave

articularights

nrelation

to

ny

xaminationf heirulture.

thereforenformed

the

hildren

hat t

ny oint,

f

hey

ished

me oturn

thevideo amera ff rdelete certain

equence,

hen

I would o so.

n

addition,

also nformed

hem hat

f

Young

Children's

iteracy

ractices

n a

VirtualWorld:

Establishing

n

Online Interaction rder 105



7/19

Table 2.

Profiles

of

Children Who Were Filmed

Using

Club

Penguin

in

Their Homes

Paid Other

family

membership

f

memberswho used

Name

Age

Gender

Ethnicity Siblings

Parental

ccupation

the site the ite

Emma

11

Female WhiteBritish

1

sister,

ge

6

Father: ull-time

Yes Mother

electrician

Sister

Mother: art-timeinner

supervisort a local

primary

chool

John

11

Male WhiteBritish

1

sister,

ge

9

Father:Unknown

did

No

Sister sed

to

not have contactwith he

play,

utno

family)

longer

id so

at

Mother: ull-time

eaching

the ime f the

assistant t a local

primary study

school

Sally

11

Female WhiteBritish

1

brother,

ge

5

Father:

Unemployed,

No Sister

1

sister,

ge

7

having

een made

redundant

ome months

prior

Mother: art-timelerical

assistant

they

idnotwish o nswer

ny

f he

uestions

asked,

they

idnotneed o do so.

I

visited ach hild thome our imes ver he

e-

riod fone month nd filmed hem rom he ime t

which

hey

ogged

n to Club

Penguin

othe ime

hey

logged

ff,

nless

hey

ere

lreadyogged

n o he ir-

tualworld hen

arrived,

n

whichase filmed hem

fromhe

oint

f

my

rrival

o

the

ime

hey

ogged

ff.

Table3 indicateshe mount f

filmingompleted

n

each

visit.

lthough

t s unusual o have his xtent

f

videotaped

aterialf hildren'snline

ractices

n

he

home,bservationsf hildren'snlineiteracyractic-

es

n

his ontextave lsobeen ndertaken

y

eander

andFrank

2006)

ndCammack

2002).

I

placed

he amcordern a

tripod

o the ear nd

sideof ach

child,

o

I

could

view heir

creenmove-

ments.then at o he ide f he hild s heor heused

Club

Penguin,

o

I

could view heir

ye

movements

when

necessary.

asked he hildren

uestions

cca-

sionally

s

they

sed the itewhen

wished o

probe

their se of heworld

n

greaterepth.

alsoconducted

in-depth,

emistructurednterviews ith ach

child

andoneofhisorher

arents

fterhe inal

ilming

es-

sion.

n

these

nterviews,

probed

hildren's

esponses

tothevirtual orld nd

parents'

ttitudes

oward

heir

children'sse ofClub

Penguin.

n

completion

f he

study,

ach f hese amilies as

given

50

ift

ouch-

erfor local

department

tore.

The research ocus iscussed

n

this rticle rose

from

epeated eadings

f he

data,

nd this

nalytic

frame as

applied

t

a

later

tage

f he

data

analysis

process.nthe arliertages,hildren'slay nd iteracy

practices

n

virtual orlds ere

mapped

Marsh,

010,

in

press).

On

repeated eadings

f he

data,

patterns

relating

o the onstructionf socialorder

merged,

and decision asmade oundertaken

analysis

f he

data hat rew n Goffman's

oncepts,iven

he xtent

towhich iswork acilitatedn

understanding

f ocial

interaction.outlinehis

rocess

nthe

next ection.

Table

3.

Details of

Filming

Children While

Using

Club

Penguin

in

Their Homes

Name Visit Visit Visit Visit Total

Emily

37

min

39

min

38

min

43

min 2 hr

8

min

22

sec 39 sec 51 sec

52

sec

John

28

min

56

min

68

min

45 min 3 hr 9 min

10 sec 3 sec 33 sec 38

sec

Sally

49

min

48 min 43 min

28

min 2 hr

0

min

19 sec 49 sec 49

sec 28

sec

25 sec

Data

Analysis

Various

pproaches

ere aken o data

analysis.

he

questionnairesere sed oproduce escriptivetatis-

tics

egarding

hildren'sse ofvirtual orlds. he total

amount f

ilm

nalyzed

as8

hours

8

minutes

5

ec-

onds. undertookcontent

nalysis

f he

ideotapes.

classifiedach

ctivity

ndertaken

y

he

hildren

e.g.,

playing ames,writing,eading)

nd

counted

very

c-

currencef ach

ctivity

ndhow

ong

hildren

pent

n

each

ctivity.

hesedata nformed

quantitativenalysis

of hildren's

iteracyractices

hen

sing

lub

Penguin.

106

Reading

Research

Quarterly

46(2)



8/19

The

qualitative

ata

arising

rom he

open-ended

questions

n

the

uestionnaire,

he

ranscriptions

rom

the

ideo

ata,

nd he

ranscribednterviewsere na-

lyzed

sing

wo

different

pproaches.nitially,

con-

stant

omparison

method

Glaser, 965)

was used to

identifyatterns

nd

hemes. ibson ndBrown

2009)

emphasizedheway nwhich hemes an enablenar-

ratives

cross setof

nterviewso

cohere,

rawing

n

VanManen's

1998)

uggestion

hat hemesre knots

n

thewebs f ur

xperiences,

round hich ertainived

experiences

re

pun"

p.

90).

Themeswere

dentified

through

n terative

rocess

nwhich ommonalitiesnd

differences

n

the hildren's

esponses

ere dentified

and coded.

Codes were hen

rouped

o form hemes

that lluminated

hildren's

urposes

or

iteracy

ithin

the irtual orld nd

thenature f

heir

ifferent

rac-

tices.

his

pproach

ed o he

evelopment

f number

of heories

egarding

hildren's

iteracyractices,

hich

arenot he

ubject

f his

articular

rticleut

re

eport-

ed elsewhere

Marsh,

010,

n

press).

nstead,

his rticle

focuses n

discussing

hedata n relationo one of he

themeshat

mergeduring

he

nalyticalrocess.

During

he nductive

nalysis

f he

data,

one of

the hemes hat

merged

elated o the

onstruction,

maintenance,

nd

disruption

f a social order.

he

data hat adbeen oded

n

relationothis heme

ere

then

eanalyzed

n

the

ight

fGoffman's

ork,

iven

the

mportance

fhiswork or n

understanding

f he

social rder. t

his

tage,

our

ategories

hat elatedo

his

onceptualization

f he nteractionrder ere

p-

plied

o his ata.Goffman's

oncepts

ere ot

pplied

selectively

o this etof

data;

ll

of

he

data

n

relation

tothe heme f he onstructionnd maintenancef

social rder ere nalyzednrelationo the our asic

elementsf he nteraction

rder,

s

conceptualized

y

Goffmannd dentified

yManning

1992)

n

hisover-

view fGoffman'sork

n

this rea:

1.

Spatial

nits

nvolving

he

opresence

fhumans

2. Verbal ndnonverbalommunication

3.

Participation

nits

nvolving

he various

on-

texts n

which umans nteract

e.g.,

atherings,

parties)

4.

System

nd ritual

onstraints,

hich

perate

n

social ituationso

minimize

mbarrassment

It was not hecase that hedata relatednequal

measureoeach of hese our

reas,

s thefourthle-

ment f he nteraction

rder,

ystem

nd ritual on-

straints,

id not

ppear

s

frequently

n the data as

the ther hree lements. herewas

also

a

minority

f

dataunder his heme hat ouldnot e

applied

o

any

of he our lementsnd were onsidereds

examples

of he

disruption

f he ocial

order.

hese

examples

arediscussedwhere elevantater

n

this rticle. his

approach

o data

nalysis

lluminated

ow he hildren

were nvolvedn

making

enseof his nline nviron-

ment

nd enabled

heory-buildingelating

o

theuses

of

iteracy

n

environmentsuch

s Club

Penguin

n he

constructionf socialorder.

n

the

following

naly-

sis,

hediscussion ocuses n the

ollowing

lements

f

a socialorder hat mergeds significantlementsn

the

rocess

f

generating

odes:

pace,

ommunicative

practices,

ocial

ontexts,

nd ocial

onstraints.

The Social Order

in

a Virtual Environment

In

total,

2%

n

=

91)

of he175 hildren

ges

5-11 ur-

veyed

tated hat

hey

sed virtualworlds

n a

regu-

lar

basis,

53%

n

=

49)

ofwhom

were

irls.

he most

frequently

sed virtualworld

was Club

Penguin.

Obviously,

t

s not

possible

o

generalize

rom

hese

figures,artlyecause f he ample ize ndpartlye-

cause he se of nline ites

y

pecific

ommunities

f

childrens oftenocalized. nformation

bout

new ites

is

frequentlyassed

nbetween

eers.

Nonetheless,

he

data ndicatehatwithinhis

rimary

chool,

he se of

virtual orlds as

prevalent

cross ll

age

groups.

It s a central

rgument

f his rticle hat ne

of

the

key

unctionsf he

iteracyractices

ithin lub

Penguin

as o stablish

ndmaintainocial nteraction.

When irst

ogging

nto his irtual

orld,

ne s struck

by

he

pparent

haos hat

perates

n

t,

s ndicated

n

my

ield otes romhe irstbservationf

John:

John

moveshis

avatar

o thetown entre

sing

he

map.

cannot ee hisavatar,s ithas anded ntopof large um-

ber f vatars

n

the entre

f he own.He

presses

he rrow

key,

ndhis vatarmoves cross he own

quare

nto

space.

There

re ots f vatars

n this

mall

pace.

Movement

p-

pears

to be

spontaneous

nd

quite

chaotic- some avatars

are

moving

t

speed,

others re still none

space,

and oc-

casionally peech ppears

bove avatars' eads

n

a

bubble

as

they ppear

o be

addressing

he rowd.

or

xample,

ne

penguin

houts

pool

zoo dance

party

t coolies on

map."

John

eaveshis avatar ere or

minutes,

uring

which ime

I observe lot f

pparently

andom ehaviour,

field

otes,

August

,

2008)

As observedhis irtual orld ver

ime,

noticed

thathe sers f heworldngagedn series f epeating

actions,

hich ffered

recognizable

tructure

n

what

could therwise

e viewed s random

ctivity.

iteracy

was entralo

reating

hese ocial nd ultural

atterns.

In the

followingnalysis

f he

data,

explore

ow

it-

eracy nderpinned

he onstruction

ndmaintenance

f

a social

rder

n

one

virtual

orld,

ocusing

n the our

main lementsf he nteractionrder:

pace;

ommu-

nicative

ractices;

ocial

ontexts,

nd ocial onstraints.

Young

Children's

iteracy

ractices

n

a VirtualWorld:

Establishing

n

Online

Interaction rder 107



9/19

Space

and the Social

Order

A

social rders established hen wo rmore

eople

are

physically

resent

n

the ame nvironment.

n re-

lation o Club

Penguin,

sers

eveloped

social rder

when heirvatars ere

n

he

resence

f ther

vatars.

One

of he irst

remises

f social rdersthat umans

manageocial pace nways hat nable hem o man-

age

ocial elations.offman's

1971)

ork n he iffer-

ences

etween

mbodied

resences

n

physical

pace

s

of nterestere

n

relationo

the

lassificationf ndi-

viduals s a vehicularnit

within

pecificpatial

nits.

As a vehicular

nit,

ndividuals ove

hroughspatial

unit nd

ignal

heirntentionsootherso

navigate

he

space ffectively.

or

xample,

hen

pedestrian

eets

someone

walking

n the

opposite

irectionn a foot-

path,

e or he

may

move o one

ide

f

he

ootpath

o

ensure hat heres no

physical

ontact ithhe ther

person.

wo ndividualshus oordinate

heir ctions

to avoid ollision nd do

this

hrough

onfirmationf

social onventionsegardingpace nd trangers.

The conventions

n

Club

Penguin

ere

ecessarily

differentecause

f he

nability

o read he ntentions

of thers

ith

egard

o direction.observed ew ocial

conventionss to

navigation.

ndeed,

he

rogramming

enabled vatars o move cross

paces by effectively

walkinghrough

thervatars. hiswas

obviously

ec-

essary,

iven

henumber fusers

ogged

n simultane-

ously.

owever,

nce

way

romhese rowded

paces,

the hildren

avigated

heir vatarso that

hey

idnot

touch ther

enguins,

nd other serswere

oing

he

same.Avatarsended

o

keep

olite

istancesromach

other nless

serswanted o move

n

pairs,

n

which

cases

vatarsmoved

losely ogetherhrough

he

pac-

es. For xample,ally eported,

There's

iggangs

hat an walk ound

with

ach

other,

ike

what

you

do,

but

people

ike

walking

n

fours,

ike

hey're

probably eeing

achother rom chool rmade friends

. .

I've walked

n threes nd stuff ith

my

riendsnd then

we

go

and

play

ikeConnect or

hings.

Avatars

lso

grouped

losely

ogether

hen n-

volved

n

group

ctivities. he

ability

o

navigate

complex,

multimodalcreenwas therefore

primary

skill

equired

o

engage

n

Club

Penguin,

n

addition

tothe ocial

knowledge

eeded

n

terms fwhen twas

acceptable

o luster

ogether

n

groups

ndwhen twas

not ppropriateo do so.Further,iteracyas signifi-

cant lementfmovement

hrough

hebounded

pace

of hevirtual orld

nvironment,

nthat here as ex-

tensive se

by

hildren f nvironmental

rint

o find

their

ay

bout,

uch s

followingigns

r

using

maps.

In

he

mbodied

pace

f n nteraction

rder,

t s

pos-

sible o "read"

he

haracteristics

f

omeone,

offman

(2005)

uggested,hrough

n

analysis

f heir

resenta-

tion f

elf

e.g., lothing,ewelry).

irklandnd

Jackson

(2009),

or

xample,

ffered

n account

fhow

African

American

ouths

se uch

tylistic

onventions

s mark-

ers f

dentity.

mbodiment

f elf

n

virtual

paces

s as

significant

s t

s

n

ffline

paces

Boellstorff,

008).

he

place

f

iteracy

ithinhis

rocess

f he onstructionf

identity

nd

presentation

f virtual

elf,

nd

ecognition

of his y thers,s central.nClubPenguin,iteracynd

multimodal

ractices

ervedo onstructnd

roject

ar-

ticulardentities

mbodiedn

pace hrough

he

naming

and

pictorial

epresentation

f

penguin

vatar.

hecolor

of vatars

ould e

changed,

ndvariouslothes

nd rti-

facts ould e

placed

n

hem.

Emily,

ohn,

nd

Sally

ll

engaged

n

changing

he

appearance

f heir vatars

nd

examining

he

ways

n

which ther sers ad constructed

heirs.

mily,

ohn,

and

Sally

were nvolved

n

semiotic

nalysis

s

they

viewed he

profiles

fothers nd made

assumptions

about

hem.

n

an environment

n

whichmembers ho

paid

n

extra

ee ad ccess o wider

ardrobend d-

ditionalrtifacts,heperformancef dentityas also

bound

p

with

udgments

bout

thers,

s ndicated

n

this

xchange

ith

ally egarding

ow he dentified

potential

riends:

Interviewer:

hen

yousay you

ike the ook of

somebody,

hat

re

you ooking

or

exactly?

Sally:

Looking

for heir

lothes, air,

nd

their

osh

houses,

ut tdoesn't

eally

matter,

ecause 've

got

lotof

plain

friends.

o,

he's

ust

got

ittle ats nd

stuff

pointing

o

an

avatar f user

whodoesnot

have

aid

membership],

so mostpeopledon'tclickon him,

becausehe's

plain.

Just

ecausehe's

plain

nd

[has not]

ot

fancy

ack-

ground,

heyust

won't lick n

him,

because

hey

on't

eally...

hink,Oh,

he'snot ich...won't

o

and see

him,

so 'll

ust

eave

im

ut."

ust

lick n

anybody.

The

children

howere ilmed

ll

commented

n how

they

oulddiscern

tatus f

membership

rom

n ava-

tar's

ppearance

nd her

rhis

possessions,

uch s an

igloo

nd

pets,

which reknown s

puffles.

n

addition,

suchmarkers eremeans fconstructingriendship

groups

f

members

nd

nonmembers. ithin

he

pa-

tial nit f

Club

Penguin,

herefore,

he

resentation

f

one's

vatar elfwas a means f

performing

articular

identity

onstructions

hrough

he se of

dress,

rtifact

ownership,

nd ocial

networks.

The constructionnd

ongoing

management

f

avatarss

widely

nderstoods a form

f

dentitylay

(Bessire,

eay,

&

Kiesler, 007;

Nardi,

2010).

The

108

Reading

Research

Quarterly

46(2)



10/19

children

pent

ime

onstructing

heir vatars

nd

pre-

senting

hem

n

particular

ays

n

specific

ontexts.

Goffman

1959/1990)

uggested

hat

herewere oth

front

tage

nd

backstage

perations

nindividuals'

management

f hemselvesn he ocialworld. offman

drew nthese

ramaturgicaletaphors

o

explain

ow

individualsnteractedngroup ncounters.

e

argued

that ndividuals

erformed

or udiences

nd moved

between

ront

tage

nd

backstage

ettings.

he

front

stage

rovides

he

etting

or he

dentityerformance

infrontf n

audience,

hich

an be

an ndividual r

team

erformance,

nd the

backstage

s

located

way

fromhe

ublic ye,

wherehe

mpression

ostered

y

the

performance

s

knowingly

ontradicted

s a

mat-

ter fcourse"

p.

114).

These

concepts

ave

proved

useful

when

onsidering

nline

dentity

ractices

n

spaces

uch

s social

networking

ites

Marwick,

005)

and

massivelymultiplayer

nline

games

Williams,

Kennedy,

Moore,

010).

s Robinson

2007)

rgued,

Onlineexpressionsrestillgiven' nd given ffthrough

text;

front

tages'

nd

backstages'

re

riticalo

framingy-

berinteractions.

hus,

nteraction

n

cyberspace

erpetuates

the

ame

elf-ing

hat xists

n he ffline orld,

pp.

107-108)

It

s the

ase,however,

hat he ffordances

fdiffer-

ent ites

hape

he

ways

n whichdentities

an

be

rep-

resented

Marwick,

005).

n Club

Penguin,

hildren

could hoose

he

olor f heir

enguin

vatar

nd,

f

they

ere

aid

members,

ress

t n lotheshat

ignaled

a

particular

ender

f

hey

wished.

hey

ould

create

avatar

ames hat

ignaled

specificdentity,

uch

s

"fungirl."

eyond

hat,

pportunities

or

ole

doption

in

the

front

tage

f he

virtual

orldwere imited

o

what ouldbe

expressed

hrough

he hat

facility,

r

what dditional

pportunities

ere

fforded

y

he

ro-

ducers,

uch s

when

hey

eleased

pecial

lothes nd

artifacts

elated o

a

particular

antasy

dentity,

uch

as

pirate

rmermaid.

n the ront

tage,

hat

s,

n

the

virtual

orld,

he hildren

ould

present

hemselves

s

they

wished

within hese

pecific

onfines.

he chil-

dren

ended

o

pproach

his

onservatively,

n hat

hey

didnot

eport

dopting range

f

dentities

ront

tage;

this

was

certainly

hecase

also

in

the

data from

he

observations

f

John

nd

Sally.

nly

Emily

requently

changed

he

endered

ppearance

fher

vatar.

When

asked

why,

owever,

er

esponse

ppeared

o ndicate

more f desireobe able obuy wide ange fgoods

than

wish o

express

variety

f

dentity

ositions:

"Because

ou

an

buy

ll different

hings,

nd

you

an

enjoy

verything

nstead f

ust

one

half f he

hings."

This

ppears

obe

different

romhe

ront

tage

ehav-

ior f lder

hildrennd dults

n

tudies

f econd

ife

(Boellstorff,

008),

Whyville

Kafai,

010),

nd World

ofWarcraft

Nardi,

2010),

n

which

sers

playfully

adopt

nd

dapt range

f dentities

ver

ime.

As

can be seen n

Sally's

omments

egarding

ow

judgments

re

made

bout

users nthe

basis of

heir

avatars,

ife

n

the

backstage

nevitably

mpacts

he

front

tage.

arious

orms

f

apital

material,

ultural,

andsocial

operate

n virtual orlds

Malaby,

006).

Userswho

buy

paid membership,

ather

han

se the

freemembership,antransferfflinereditnto irtual

credit,

s t llows

hem o

buy

dditional

lothes

or

he

avatar

ndfurniture

nd rtifacts

or heir

gloos,

hich

then overts

nto ocial

apital,

s members

re

nvit-

ed to

members

nly

vents,

uch

s

parties

n

gloos.

Cultural

apital

s accrued

hrough

nowledge

f

he

game

tself,

nd

hewider

ne's

xperience

n

he

ame,

the

richer ne's ultural

apital,

hich

gain

ndicates

that hose

serswhohave

aid

membership

an

accrue

a

greater

mount

f ocial

apital.

n relation

o he

hil-

dren

n the ase

study,

ssues

of

apital

layed

ut

n

different

ays,

s

ndicated

n

Figure

.

John

was not

paid

member f

Club

Penguin

nd

hadfew riendsn he irtual orld. e tendedo pend

much fhis ime

n

he

world n

his wn

nd

visitedhe

igloos

f thers

argely

hen

hey

ere bsent.

e

could

therefore

e

positioned

s

acking

ll hree

inds

f

api-

tal

n

Club

Penguin.

his somewhat

eflected

is

ife

outside

f

Club

Penguin.

iving

n a

single-parent

am-

ily

n

a low ncome

meant hat

ohn

ad ess vailable

economic

apital

han

ither

ally's

r

Emily's

amilies,

andhe also

tended

o be much

ess

ociablehan

ither

Sally

r

Emily

n

school.

ally's

amily

as

not swell

off s

Emily's,rimarily

ecause

ally's

ather

adbeen

made

redundantnd

was

n

receipt

f

unemployment

benefits,

nd

therefore,

ally's

mother

asthe

rimary

wage arnern thefamily.allyhad numerouschool

friends ho

weremembers

fClub

Penguin,

nd

they

included

er

n

their

ventsnd

parties,

hus

roviding

herwith

oth ocial

nd cultural

apital

n

the

virtual

world.

mily

ad

been

paid

memberfClub

Penguin

Figure

1. Children's

Different

Forms

of

Capital

in

Club

Penguin

Young

Children's

iteracy

ractices

n

a Virtual

World:

Establishing

n Online

Interaction

rder

109



11/19

for ome time nd had accrued

large

mount fcredit

in

her ccount

hrough

er uccessful

ame playing.

he

enjoyed

pending

hisvirtual

money

nd wouldwait

n-

til a new

catalog

was launched

each month efore

uy-

ing

new

tems he did not

lready

wn.

Emily

had a wide network f n-world riends nd

had displayedher culturalcapital in numerousways

throughout

he

study,

uch as

informing

e aboutthe

practices

f

other

layers

nd

ways

n

which ne

might

shortcut ome

of he

regulations.

hus,

she accrued all

three orms f

apital

n

Club

Penguin,

nd therewas a

clear

dynamic

with er ffline

xperiences.

While there

appeared

to be a

relativelytraightforwardapping

f

offline

orms f

apital

with n-world

apital

n

these

n-

stances,

his s not o

suggest

hat hiswill

lways

e the

case.

Socioeconomic tatushas

an

impact

on access to

bothhardware nd

particular

indsof online

practices

(Livingstone

Bober,

005),

o it

hould

be

no

surprise

that his

pattern

merged

n

the

tudy.

t s

mportant

o

avoidessentialistositions nthis,however,ndrecog-

nize that ther

actors,

uch as

family igital apital,

an

impact

hildren's

nline

practices.

The context or he hildren's

lay

was

that

f mul-

tinational

orporate ntity, isney.

Both Wasko

(2001)

and

Giroux

2001)

haveoutlined ow

Disney

constructs

normativend restrictive

deological

worlds

cross heir

texts nd

have

at the heartoftheir

orporation

mer-

cantilemotivation.

lthough

here s no

n-world dver-

tising

n

Club

Penguin,

here s a relatedwebsite hat

offers

range

f

merchandise,

nd

Disney

s

gradually

expanding

ts

corporate

onnections nto other

media

platforms

opular

with

hildren,

uch as Nintendo nd

Wii. This has

implications

ot

onlyfor hildren's e-

ographies

f

play

Marsh,2010)

but also for heir n-

gagement

n a

commercialized

network. he children

in

this

tudy

were

positioned

s economic

subjectsby

Disney

nd acculturatednto

hopping

s a

key

ultural

practice

hrough

he

privileging

f

particular

inds of

in-world

ctivity.ooking

hrough atalogs

was a favor-

ite

reading ctivity,

ven f hildren

ould not

purchase

items

ecause

they

werenot

paid

members.

CommunicativePractices

and the Social Order

Both verbal nd nonverbal

ommunication re central

to socialexchanges npublic ife. n virtualworlds hat

are

notvoice

nabled,

writtenommunications used to

interact

ith

thers,

nd thewrittenext

ecomes close

to

speech,

s is the ase with ther orms

fonline om-

munication,

uch as

texting

n mobile

phones

Baron,

2008;

Crystal,

009).

Reading

nd

writing

ere

ntegral

to the

practice

f

stablishing

nd

fosteringelationships

in

Club

Penguin

nd

the

reation

nd maintenance f n

interaction

rder. observedhow children sed a

series

of

iteracy ractices

o communicate

withotherusers

and

begin

o move oward

more rdered

enseof ocial

interaction,

s indicated

n

thesefieldnotes:

Emily

licks nto n avatar nd ooks

t ts

profile.

he

then

chooses

postcard

o send. t states Be

my

riend " have

noticed hat

his s a

regular attern

n

the

hildren's se of

ClubPenguin. hey dentifyotential ew riendsnd then

send

them

postcards

norder o nvite

riendships,

ather

than

pproaching

hem

irectly.

erhaps

his ffershem

safety

et

f

heother serchooses not o

respond

o

their

request,

field

otes,

August

9,

008)

One ofthe

first ctivities hildren ndertookwhen

they

ncountered n avatar hat ither nterestedhem

or had

approached

them

with

request

for

riendship

was to click

n

their

vatar

rofile

o read t. fthis ead-

ing

of the data led them o feel omfortable

bout

the

avatar,

he next

tep

would be to send a

postcard

nvit-

ingfriendship.

s

Misztal

2001)

uggested, rawing

n

Goffman's

ork,

sense of

normality

nd

trust

n

social

interactionss built

through

outines nd rituals, nd

the

sending

nd

receiving

f

postcards,messages,

nd

emoticons

ppeared

o have

his ffect

n

Club

Penguin.

In

this

way, iteracy

as central o the construction

and maintenance f

friendships.

n

interviews,

hildren

reported

ending

others

ostcards

s an

expression

f

friendship,

nd

writing

nd

readingmessages

to and

from ther

enguins:

I like

eadingmessages

nd

falling

n

ovewith

irl en-

guins.

have

ot

bout ive

irlfriends.

ouhave owin

loveheartnd hen

ou

an end hemo hem.

Billy,ge

)

I

read hemettershatell

ou

f

hey

re

our

uddies

r

not

andwhenheyend ou ostcardsnd hings.Lisa,ge )

Communicationwas undertaken ith othknown nd

unknown

nterlocutors. or

example,

childrenwrote

messages

o unknown

vatars

resent

n

the ame

space

in

attempts

o communicate. hese

attempts

o nitiate

interaction

ere

not

lways

uccessful

see

Table

4).

In

Goffman's

erms,

his

xchange

would

be

viewed

as

problematic,

n

that t ounters ormal ocial conven-

tions.

n

Club

Penguin,

however,

his was a

common-

place

event.

Boellstorff

2008)

pointed

out that it has

long

been noted hat

ersons

nvolved

n

virtualworlds

(and

other orms f online

nteraction,

rom -mail to

blogs)

can

experience

orms f disinhibition'"

p.

187).

This disinhibition nabled users of Club Penguinto

floutoffline ocial rules and

ignore pproaches

from

other vatarswhen

hey

wereunwelcome.

Other

xam-

ples

ncluded

hrowing

nowballs tunknown vatars r

telling

ther vatars o

"go way."

herewas no

evidence

from he nterviewsr observationshat hildren

ound

this

upsetting,lthough

s thechildren

were

egular

s-

ersofvirtual

worlds,

t

may

havebeen thecase that

hey

had become used to such

practices.

110

Reading

Research

Quarterly

46(2)



12/19

Table

4. A Video Observation f

Emily

While

Using

Club

Penguin

n

Her

Home,

Visit

1

(August

,

2008)

Time

Duration Action

Dialogue

0:30:42

20

sec

Emily's

vatar

s

in

the cove

among

a number f

other

penguins.

he

randomly

hrows

nowballs.

0:31:02 12 sec

Emily

crolls

hrough

he set

phrases,

hoosing

one.

Emily's

vatar sks another

vatar,

How are

youtoday?" here s noresponse.

The

children

eveloped

heir wn riteriaor

ecid-

ing

who

hey

would

pproach

o be friends

ith r

n-

vite o

play.

or

xample,

ohn

iscussed

eing

nvited

tobecome

notherser's riend:

John:

I

look

t

name,

nd

f

t ound

weird

or not

right, always

press

no,

but

that's

only

occasionally,

ecause

I

have

nly

ot

ne friend.

f hename

is not normal ame r oundsweird

to

me,

don't

ormallyress

t.

Interviewer:nd whatdo

you

mean,

a normal

name?

John:

If

t's

ike

funny

ame r

ike,

don't

know,

heir eal

name r ike

coolgirl"

or

something

ike

hat,

wouldnor-

mally ress

yes,

ut

f

t s

something

weird.

John

was unable o articulate

hat

he identified

s

"weird,"

ut romhe

xample

e

gave,

t

wasclear

hat

oneof he riteria

e

developed

n

choosing

hethero

make riends aswhethere could ecognizehename

in

anyway

i.e.,

familiar

ame,

name

onstructed

using

erms amiliaro

him).

As

suggested

reviously,

Emily

nd

Sally

sed

visual ues

n

their

management

of

friendships,lthough

hey

werekeen o

point

ut

that his id

notmean

hey

xcluded

eople

rom

eing

friends

f

hey

ere ot

aid

members.

Through xperience

nthisvirtual nvironment

over

ime,

herefore,

sers

developed pecific

iteracy

practices

hat

were ontext-

pecific

ndwere

sedwith

an

understanding

f

he

revalent

ocial

ehaviors

n he

world. offman

oted hat uman nteraction

nvolv-

ing

verbal

nd nonverbalommunication

an become

ritualizedn nature. s intheoffline orld,iteracy

served o

establish ndmaintain ocial

networks

e-

tween

roups

f hildren

n

Club

Penguin

n

ritualistic

ways.

t

imes,

he hildren

ngaged

n

ritualistic

lay

(Marsh, 010).

hese

patterns

fbehavior

ometimes

involved

roups

fusers

yping

n

the ame

or imilar

phrases

s

theyoined

n the itualistic

lay.

or

xam-

ple, frequent

ctivity

n

Club

Penguin

s for

vatarso

gather

n n

ceberg

nd

ttempt

o

ip

t

by umping

p

anddown r

drilling.

ometimes

neavatar

ses

par-

ticular

hrase uring

his

ctivity

uch

s

"Tip

t "

nd

then ll avatars sethis

hrase.

hese

nteraction

itual

chains

erve o

develop

he

motional

nergy

Collins,

2004)

hat anbe

gained

rom

membership

f

group.

This

pattern

as beendocumented

n

older

hildren's

and

young

dults' seof ocial

etworking

ites

Davies,

2009;

owdall,

009)

nd dults' se

of

massively

ulti-

player

nline

ames Steinkuehler,008).Childrennthis

tudy eported sing

variety

f

literacyractices

hat acilitated

his

ind f ocial

net-

working

Marsh,

n

press).

n

addition

o ext

hat,

hey

also

used emoticons

o

relay pecific

messages

o oth-

ers.

or

xample, ally

tone

point

nimated

er

vatar

so that t

ppeared

obe

clapping

t

group

f

enguins

on

a

stage.

he

ommented,

I'm

ust pplausing eople

hat's n

stage,

ust

o be

friendly

with hem.You

can,

whatever

ou

feel

ike,

you

can click

theemotions.

o,

I

feel

ike

happy oday,

o

[she

clicks

n

the

miley

ace

moticon],

nd

then

verybody

nows

ou're

happy

nd want o

come

play

withme.

Literacy

ndmultimodal

ommunicative

ractices

ere

thus

centrallement

n

making

onnections

ith th-

ers

nthevirtual orld.

s outlined

arlier,

hese

rac-

ticesbecame

ritualized

n

many

nstances,

ith

he

children

eveloping

n

understanding

f he

lace

hese

rituals

layed

n online nteraction.

Social Contextsand the

Social

Order

The children

n

this

tudy

ouldbe seen

onstructing

and

maintaining

socialorder

hrough

heirn-world

friendship

ctivities.

hey

lso

successfullyavigated

the arious

paces

hat his

irtual orld ffered

nd n-

sured hat hey dopted hemost ppropriateractices

for

onstructing

young children's literacy practices in a virtual world- establishing an online interaction order

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