Where’s the Library??
A Kid’s-eye View of Laptop Design
“A group of kids from one of our local elementary schools has formed a ‘mini-laptop club.’ They don’t use electronic machines. Instead, these first-, second– and third-graders draw their own laptops on construction paper and pretend to e-mail each other. They dedicate a surprising amount of time to this activity. I once had a chance to examine one of their ‘keyboards.’ I was fascinated to learn which Internet functions had sunk into the minds of these kids, who are just getting their first exposure to computers from watching their parents work, and from using kid-friendly sites.”
The title of this post is a rhetorical question, as they’ll just be using mind control for their information devices anyway. :-p
where’s the library… the kid checked out the laptop at the library!
Comment by david lee king — September 14, 2007 @ 7:55 am
How cool! I love this. There used to be a method of teaching piano to poor kids by painting the keys on the kitchen table! What I love about this is the design of the keys in the image above and also the concept of imaginary emails — I love this.
Comment by Kathryn — September 14, 2007 @ 9:38 am
this is the most beautiful thing i’ve read in ages. it reminds me of a time when i was a kid when a bunch of us were bored and had no sports equipment — i can’t remember why. but we started playing imaginary ‘catch’, and really got into a rhythm where it ended up feeling like *real* catch. we sometimes missed, and had to chase the imaginary ball. i wonder whether the imaginary laptop/e-mail activity will plant similar sense-memories for those kids to experience in the future.
Comment by thorn — September 14, 2007 @ 1:02 pm
[…] Apparently the pet keys are shortcuts for webkinz. Via Shifted Librarian […]
Pingback by TikiRobot!, Mai Tais and Blinky Lights, Ahoy! » Why doesn’t *my* laptop have a HAMSTER key? — September 14, 2007 @ 2:28 pm
[…] Kids and their laptops. Kinda cute. Hat tip to The Shifted Librarian. […]
Pingback by Trebonte » Blog Archive » kids and their laptops — September 14, 2007 @ 4:08 pm
“Real” laptops have a lot of catching up to do. All four of my kids have made their own laptops — capabilities included making coffee, and time travel through a tangible space-time unlimited version of hyper-internet.
Comment by Jeff Hoover — September 15, 2007 @ 11:53 am
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