Assignment One: Children and Computers

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Assignment OneChildren and Computers

• Analyze the portrayal of computers and children
  in the following cartoons from The New Yorker. In
  each cartoon, a child (or children) either
  interacts with or refers to computer
  technologies.
• Your job is to think about the underlying
  assumptions that The New Yorker cartoonists are
  making in these cartoons, and by extension to
  think about what these assumptions tell us about
  the readers of the journal.

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Use the following questions to get started

• Technology
• What kind of computers or computer-based
  technologies do the children interact with?
• What kind of computers do the adults use?
• What can the computers do? How do they work? Who
  would typically own a similar computer?
• How do the things that the children do compare to
  the things that the adults do with computers?

3
Use the following questions to get started

• Cartoon Characters
• How would you describe the children and the
  adults in these cartoons? What can you tell
  about those who are included?
• What kind of characters have been excluded?
• How do the people in the cartoons use the
  computers?
• Are there common computer tasks that the
  characters are NOT doing?
• What conclusions can you draw about the cartoon
  characters?

4
Use the following questions to get started

• People
• What does the portrayal of computers and children
  tell you about the way that these cartoonists
  view children and computers?
• What conclusions can you make about the readers
  of the New Yorker? What attitudes do they have
  about children and computers?
• How do the attitudes of the cartoonists and the
  readers reflect (or not) the general attitudes of
  American society? (Dont forget to think about
  what those general attitudes are!)

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