A seminar on "Children, Computers, and Popular Culture" sponsored by the Family Resource Center will be presented by Professor Henry Jenkins on Friday, Feb. 27 from noon-1:30pm in Rm E19-758.
Professor Jenkins will discuss the ways in which children are influenced by -- and are influencing -- the "digital revolution." He will also address common concerns about the negative effects of computer games and the Internet, as well as about the relationship between video games and gender.
Dr. Jenkins, a professor of literature and director of the Media Studies Program, is editor or co-editor of three forthcoming books on electronic media and popular culture: Hop on Pop: The Politics and Pleasures of Popular Culture (Duke University Press), The Children's Culture Reader (New York University Press), and Gender and Games (MIT Press).
The seminar is one of more than 20 noontime workshops and briefings offered this semester by the Family Resource Center. Topics scheduled for March include "Listening to Children" (March 9), "Making Couple Relationships Work" (March 12), "Emergency/Back-Up Child Care" (March 17), "When Parents Break Up" (March 19), and "Balancing Work and Family" (March 26).
Planned for April and May are programs on adult thinking styles, depression in the family, outdoor recreation, job flexibility, and other topics. Child care briefings are also offered biweekly throughout the year.
Family Resource Center seminars are free of charge and open to the public. For a schedule of events, as well as information about individual consultations and other services available to the MIT community, contact the Center in Rm 4-144, x3-1592, frc@mit.edu, or visit the Center's web site.
A version of this article appeared in MIT Tech Talk on February 25, 1998.
