First "Teenage Stereotypes" podcast design

1. Has to be published
2. At least one picture for the final podcast slideshow
3. Has to be about being a teenager

My first idea for a podcast is first of all entirely audio - no video, maybe a simple slideshow of pictures for this one. I would also like to make it into a multi-episode series, with very short 2-3mn features on each "teenage stereotype". Here are the stereotypes I would be featuring in each podcast episode:

1. The Jocks
2. The Nerds
3. The Geeks
4. The Queen Bees
5. The Tomboys
6. The Emos and Goths
7. The Outcasts and the Wannabes
   

To come up with this list, I asked people what were the first stereotypes that came to their mind when I asked them about teenage stereotypes. In this design, I would like to focus on what teenagers think of stereotypes and how they fit/don't fit, as well as which effects this might have on them. I would also like to compare the effect stereotypes might have in Mongolia compared to other countries. I think the number of different people from different nationalities we have in our international school makes stereotypes less important here, and I would like to learn about how experiences of stereotypes abroad differ from when you live in a "mainland" country.

All of the episodes would be 3-4 minutes long, with more of the "news brief" format than the sitcom one. To keep some linearity, they would all be following this outline:

• Music, quick introduction along the lines of "teenage stereotype of the day"
• A short interview of a teenager explaining what the stereotype is in their opinion
• 1 example of the stereotype being relayed in movies
  
• A somewhat longer interview of a teenager who believes him/herself to be that stereotype, and the reactions s/he has experienced because of this, how true s/he believes that stereotype is
  
• Explanation of the consequences putting people under that group might have
• Conclusion, thanks for listening and credits for people interviewed
  

I will be interviewing my classmates as well as other people in ISU, without mentioning teenagers I have met abroad and who I can record over Skype or some other product. The explanations and introductions will be done by myself.

Possible topics for my podcast

After investigating and talking to other teenagers, I'm still not sure about which aspect of adolescence I want to deal with in my podcast. I would like something that is both personal, interesting and somewhat important in my opinion. Here are the ideas I have so far:

• Being a teenager abroad vs. living in your home country
  
• Peer pressure and "fitting in"
  
• Pressure of academic achievement
• Self-esteem during adolescence
  
• Hobbies and activities of teenagers
  
• Relationships between siblings
  
• What is and what isn't "socially acceptable"
  
• Dealing with violence as a teenager
  
• Teenage stereotypes
  
• Authority issues with parents

Not only does my topic need to be interesting, it also needs to be broad and precise enough that I can talk about it for a little while. After coming up with a few ideas, I asked some of my friends which topics they thought were the best ones. The answers were quite varied, and everyone seemed to have different interests. Sonya and Suugii both thought peer pressure was interesting, while Elise and Sonya both agree the hobbies and activities of teenagers was another topic they would like to hear a podcast about. Elise and Suugii also liked self esteem during adolescence. The other answers were very varied.

One topic that everyone I asked (Suugii, Ha Young, Sonya and Elise) seemed to find interesting was teenage stereotypes. I thought about this topic and looked it up a little more on the internet, to see what others thought. What I found was that many websites categorized teenagers into the jocks, nerds, goths, emos or preppy categories on a joking tone. The truth is, though, that stereotypes in school are not so much of a joking matter and can have a rather important impact on teenagers' lives. If you have good grades at school, you're automatically considered a "nerd" with all the attributed characteristics that come with this: know-it-all, uncool, no fun, smart...Likewise, if you're good at sports, you become a "jock": you must definitely be good looking, not very bright, a little superficial and pretty popular.

These stereotypes are used by both teenagers and parents in their everyday life. The categories can be even wider: based on the fact you are in your teen years, adults and other adolescents assume you are interested in dating, pressured by your peers and prone to talk back to your parents. I think stereotypes in teenagers is a podcast topic that could be explored in many different ways and would interest many teenagers and adults alike.

Poole, Steve. "Stereotyping Teenagers." Search Warp. 22 Mar 2006. 01 Dec 2009 <"http://searchwarp.com/swa50570.htm">

"Teenage stereotypes." Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. 15 Nov 2009, 04:20 UTC. 1 Dec 2009 <http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Teenage_stereotypes&oldid=325920057>.

Listening to podcasts --- Start Cooking

Since I've only watched one video podcast so far, I decided to have a look at another one to get a better idea of how video can be used, and whether or not I want it in my own podcast. There was an interesting section in the iTunes podcast zone about cooking. I like cooking every once in a while, but I mostly stick to baking mixes, so I decided to have a look at how podcasts could help me out with this sort of thing.

Start Cooking is a twice a month video podcast, that lasts about 3-7 minutes depending on the dish being prepared. The recipes are intended to be both tasty and easy to follow for anyone beginning cooking, and I think they did this really well. Technically, there was no video in these episodes but instead a series of very quick pictures accompanied by music and a voice-over. That was both really easy to follow and eye-catching, so that I did not lose my attention at all. Sometimes, the woman spoke a little fast, but this wasn't too much of an issue as all the ingredients and ustentils were repeated at the end of the episode.

Not many comments I can make about this podcast, which was really excellent. All of the recipes were easy to understand and looked rather tasty (I hope I can try out one or two this week-end), and the music was really a great add to this video. The only thing was that sometimes ingredients such as bean paste or condensed milk were used that can be hard to obtain in Mongolia, but I guess that was just my own problem. This podcast really showed me a great way of presenting information in a fun, interesting way, and I am once again thinking about using video...

Maister, Kathy. "Rudolf's Christmas Cookies." Start Cooking. 10 December 2007: 17. 30 Nov 2009 <"http://feeds.feedburner.com/KathyMaistersStartCookingVideoCast">

Maister, Kathy. "Apple Crisp" Start Cooking. 21 September 2009: 55. 30 Nov 2009 <"http://feeds.feedburner.com/KathyMaistersStartCookingVideoCast">

Test of my final podcast

One of the most basic tests I could use for a podcast would be to simply ask various people to review my product, but one problem you often encounter with this is the reviewers simply saying "It's good" or "I like it, great job!" without always giving appropriate feedback.

For my own test, I want to evaluate how many different teenagers and other age groups think my podcast reflects their own lifestyle. I will ask a number of people to make a list of what they would expect to see in a podcast about adolescence. I will then make them listen to my podcast and check off the number of things they expected to see that they actually found in the program. This should hopefully give me a good idea of how accurately my podcast reflects teenager life in general, not simply mine.

I will then ask 3 more people to rate my podcast from 1 to 5 (1 being lowest) on a number of criteria: interest of the general themes talked about in my podcast, quality of the script (is it interesting? does it keep your interest), intonation, sound quality, and an overall mark. This will give me more ideas on how specifically I could've improved my podcast.

I also plan to put my podcast on the internet. Though I will not use that as a formal indicator, I believe one aspect of this test would be to see if anyone commented on the podcast or had anything to say. This would mean my topic is interesting to at least one person, so the presence of comments will also be something I will be looking for.

Recording and publishing podcasts

It's all good to look at all the podcasts that exist out there, but one large question still remains: how do you actually get them out here? We can divide making a podcast into steps:

1. Investigate the content for the podcast
2. Write the script (if the podcast is scripted)
3. Record (audio or video) the script
4. Assemble and edit all the recordings in a sound editing software
5. Publish the podcast on the internet
6. Create a new episode...

Though I have been looking into 1 and 2 for quite a while now, how do you actually record a podcast? You need three separate tools - a mike, headphones, and a recording software. The mike takes in your voice and translates it into digital data, making it a must if you're going to be recording sound. The websites I looked at all suggested that the mike was the most important piece of hardware when recording sound, and it had the biggest impact on the sound quality.

Most computers come with an integrated microphone, but it is often of poor quality. If you want to record podcasts professionally, you need to invest into some rather expensive equipment. The microphones which were considered beginner-level were already around $100, and some of the higher end ones came all the way to $2000! Of course, we won't be needing professional quality for our own podcasts, but that is what serious podcasters use. Another recommended piece of equipment is a "pop filter", a small piece of plastic with some holes that is put between the mike and the mouth to eliminate any extra noise.

Going to back to our own context, I asked some of my classmates who had a good sound quality in their fictional podcast how they had achieved it. Some recorded the sound using phones, which seemed to yield surprisingly good results. Others used an external microphone connected to the computer, which is what I think I will be doing. I can either use one of those available at school or purchase one from a computer place such as Computer Land, here in Mongolia.

Headphones are needed in order to hear your own voice while you're recording. Everyone hates their voice when they hear them, and there's a good reason for that - your voice sounds different in your head than it does to other people. Headphones are needed to monitor your own voice levels while recording, so that you don't get closer to the microphone and increase the sound suddenly (this is called clipping). As far as these are concerned, good quality is always interesting but they are not as important as the mike. iPod earphones will do the job.

Finally, the other important part of recording podcasts is the sound recording software used on the computer. You could always use Windows Sound Recorder, which comes with all Windows computer, but not only is it impossible to see the levels of your voice as you are recording, it does not guarantee the best sound quality. One of the most widespread free programs for recording is Audacity. I've used it myself in the past and besides making it very simple to record, it also gives you many editing options such as noise removal or volume increasing. The only problem is that Audacity will only be helpful as far as the sound recording goes; it won't actually upload the podcast on Internet.

Another way to go about podcast creation is to use all-in-one editors. Two of them were listed for us by Mrs. Wilson: My Podcast and Podomatic. I first tried out My Podcast, which lets you register and create a podcast feed for free. The interface was very simple, guiding you through creating an account, giving your first podcast a name and an internet adress. The website then provides you with a simple recording software, My Podcast Recorder. The program was easy to use, but did not really give much flexibility. You could see your sound as it was recorded as well as a simple timeline. The uploading to the internet, on the other side, is done with a simple click of the button.

Podomatic, the other "all-in-one" option, was slightly harder to use but also more flexible. No downloadable recording software for this one, but a very basic online editor. The content of the website was also less audio-podcast based, with the website encouraging you to work on the layout, the information, etc. Overall, though, both experiences were very similar and had the same pros and cons.

On one side, they allow you to get started and manage your podcast very easily; all the tools come as a bundle, and the editing/uploading process is made very simple. It's also easy to get published and have a few people listen to your podcast very quickly, instead of having to find a host for your episodes. This can also be a problem, though; the websites become known as more "amateur" platforms and it's easy for your podcast to get lost in the masses that get produced everyday. The other issue is that you don't have as much flexibility concerning the layout of your podcast, where to download it from, etc. This makes Podomatic and My Podcast excellent tools for people who just want to get started with podcasting, which is exactly what I am.

The other solution is to upload your podcast on the web yourself. Most people who want to listen to new podcasts will go to directories such as Podcast Alley and Podcast.com; one of the first steps with your podcast would therefore be to get yourself listed on these websites. However, the selection process is long and your podcast might never get listed. Another large directory that is used by even more users is iTunes. The selection for this directory is even longer, though. A number of people working on the iTunes team will review your podcast, ensuring it has a large number of episodes, does not infringe copyright laws, does not contain explicit language in the title, and other similar criteria. This can take weeks and as mentioned you cannot submit only one episode - it is not really a directory to put your podcast at the very beginning, more of a widespread method once you have a number of listeners.

For my own podcast, I am not too sure how I intend to distribute it at this point in time. I think all-in-one solutions will work very well for myself, though; I might also try uploading my podcast on Podcast Alley or another directory.



"Making A Podcast." Apple. 19 Oct 2009 (last updated). <"http://www.apple.com/itunes/podcasts/specs.html">

Falconer, Joel. "10 Best Affordable Microphones for the Home Studio." Audiotuts. 22 July 2009. 30 Nov 2009 <"http://audio.tutsplus.com/tutorials/recording/10-best-affordable-microphones-for-the-home-studio/">

Ludington, Jake. "Recording A Podcast." Jake Ludington's Digital Lifestyle. 12 Apr 2006. 30 Nov 2009 <"http://www.jakeludington.com/podcasting/20050222_recording_a_podcast.html">

Broida, Rick. "Create Your Own Podcast." CNET Reviews. 22 June 2005. 30 Nov 2009 <"http://reviews.cnet.com/4520-11293_7-6246557-1.html?tag=rb_mtx;wp_body">

Listening to podcasts --- Podictionary

I've always been interested by where words come from, so this podcast immediately caught my interest. Every day, the etymology of a word is discussed in 2-3 minutes, as well as its uses nowadays and the connotations that go with it.

The explanations were interesting and tried to look at all possible origins of the word, as it is often unclear where a particular expression originated from. There were a few sound effects, but most of the interest came from the script itself. The origin of the word was explained as a story, not a mere collection of facts. There were a few jokes as well, though they weren't really the greatest. The words chosen were also the type that you see everyday, not completely obscure ones such as acephalous or pacable.

One thing that bothered me, though, was the constant publicity. About half of the podcast was spent on advertisement, which I suppose was necessary to keep the podcast running. This shouldn't be too much of an issue with my own podcast, though. What I did find from listening to this one is that it's less confusing for the listener if the podcast has a clear chronology, some things to tie it all together.

Hogdson, Charles. "Talent." Podictionary. 20 Nov 2009: 1064. 29 Nov 2009 <"http://podictionary.com/?feed=rss2">

Listening to podcasts --- Brain Stuff

"BrainStuff" is a short, 1 to 5 minute long podcast that is released every two days. The title of each episode is a question, such as "Why Can't We Breathe Underwater?" or "Is chocolate poisonous to dogs?". This question is answered in the podcast by the presentator, who also gives links to more information on the topic.

What I liked about BrainStuff is that it got straight to the point. No inside jokes, no long comments and discussions, simply facts. This might be due to the fact I'm a visual learner, not an auditory one, but I have a hard time concentrating on audio podcasts after a while. Because of this, I like short, concise ones rather than long sitcoms. The content of the show was quite interesting, but some of the questions felt a little simple to me, such as the afore mentioned "Why Can't We Breathe Underwater." Most of them were interesting, though.

One thing that marred the quality of the show was the presentator's tone, though. He was probably going for the best possible sound quality as he articulated very slowly and in a monotonous voice. As a result, I did clearly understand everything he said, but this could tend to get a little uninteresting.

What I liked best about BrainStuff is that it gave links to other websites (most particularly How Stuff Works) where you could find out more information concerning the question of the day. I felt that was a neat concept, that I might be able to include in my podcast.


Brain, Marshall. "What's the birthday paradox?." BrainStuff. 08 May 2009: 88. How Stuff Works. 28 Nov 2009 <"http://www.howstuffworks.com/podcasts/brainstuff.rss">

Listening to podcasts --- Digital Photography Tips from the Top Floor

Digital Photography Tips from the Top Floor was the first video podcast I watched for this investigation. For some reason, I'd pretty much ignored video when researching podcasts so far. I guess the reason is that I've started taking podcasts for modern, individual radio shows, but they can also be quick TV shows. Digital Photography Tips from the Top Floor is a 20mn, somewhat weekly podcast. Not all episodes are video, and the podcast itself is divided into special "programs" such as tips and round the table discussions.

The episode I watched was part of the Focus Ring series, where a few photographers come together to discuss some tips and photography issues in a casual, sitcom way. It's a monthly issue that comes out every last Sunday of the month , but as the photographers said, it's pretty irregular. I thought the tips that were discussed were pretty interesting, such as how to photograph little children. The vocabulary was accessible to everyone and the show looked very professional with the sound effects and credits.

However, there were long moments where once again the presentators seemed to lose the viewers with all their inside jokes. I think this was supposed to add to the unscripted, casual aspect of the podcast but I thought it got a little long at times. The video was also a little superflous. Most of the footage consisted of the two participants talking - and some of them didn't even have the video, so it was half audio/half video. I think this podcast made me realize that video footage is only positive if it actually serves a purpose. Since I'm not sure whether or not it would be useful in my show, I'll have to think before I decide to go audio or video; Digital Photography Tips also made me want to have video credits. These just add a professional, interesting note to any podcast.

Arnold, John. "Focus Ring: Part 1 of 5." Photography Tips From The Top Floor. 14 Oct 2009: 1. 26 Nov 2009 <"http://www.tipsfromthetopfloor.com/2009/10/14/tfttf391-video-focus-ring-part-1-of-5/">

Listening to podcasts --- Muggle Cast

I think this was the podcast analyzing Harry Potter that Mrs. Wilson mentioned once. I was looking around the book podcasts on iTunes and I saw this one, which sounded very interesting. I was pleasantly surprised. Though this was a long podcast and I didn't have time to listen to the whole episode, what I listened to was surprisingly attention grabbing and I will try to finish listening to this podcast tomorrow as we have the day off.

Muggle Cast is a little over an hour long and it is published a little irregularly, but about every ten days. It is an unscripted podcast. The show consists of a conversation, slightly sitcom like style, between three teenagers/young adults who talk about pretty much anything that has something to do with Harry Potter - meanings in the book, anecdotes about the movies, stories about the actors...they also receive e-mails with questions and thanks that they discuss in the podcast.

Sometimes, I thought they just spent a really, really long time discussing small little things such as one statement Harry made in the book for 15mn, but I guess this was really a podcast for the absolute fans. What I liked about this podcast is the variety that it included - e-mails, music, interviews...I think I should try to think up of more "genres" to use in my own podcast, and perhaps have other people talk with me on the show.

"The Muggle Casters" (pseudonym). "Lady Dumbledore." Muggle Cast. 23 Nov 2009: 185. 25 Nov 2009 <"file:///C:/DOCUME~1/SEAFB~3.FEL/LOCALS~1/Temp/MuggleCast_%20The%20%231%20Most-Listened%20to%20Harry%20Potter%20Podcast.url">

Listening to podcasts --- One Minute How To

Since I liked the quick, one-minute podcast concept, I looked up other similar podcasts on iTunes. While this one was called "One Minute How To", the podcast was actually about 3-4mn long. It's published a bit irregularly, but on average every two days. Sometimes two are published two days in a row while there are times when two weeks go by without a podcast. The show's presentator is a part time journalist who has guests explain something they know how to do, such as lucid dreaming, in less than 60 seconds. The rest of the time is spent interviewing the participant and asking for more detail about what was taught.

Similarly to the 60 Seconds Science podcast, the presentator also sounded like he was talking fast with a professional, flatless voice. The sound quality was good, though there was a little bit of background noise coming from the person being interviewed - but that actually added authenticity to the show, more than anything. The noise made it seem as though the presentator and the person were having a phone call which was an interesting way of presenting the information.

The content was interesting, although some of the other podcasts being presented seemed a little too personal or too broad to be explained in 60 seconds -- for example "How to make anyplace feel like home" or "How to lose weight." Overall, though, I enjoyed listening to this and it gave me a few ideas as far as sound goes, by trying to record my teenagers in context. Although it would create a little bit of noise, having some disco or school sounds might make my recording more interesting.


Smyth, George. "How To Lucid Dream." One Minute How-To. 29 Sep 2009: 404. 25 Nov 2009 <"file:///C:/DOCUME~1/SEAFB~3.FEL/LOCALS~1/Temp/One%20Minute%20How-To.url"> (via iTunes

Listening to podcasts --- TWiT (This Week in Tech)

TWiT was one of the top rated podcasts on Podcast Alley, and I had also heard about it before so I decided to listen to one episode. The podcast is a long 2h show released every week. It is a professional business - the show and the participants are sponsored by publicities.

TWiT starts with a long, radio sounding introduction with sound effects and catch phrases such as "This week in Tech, the most reliable source of technology news." The conversation itself sounds a little like a sitcom, with a few technology experts interviewing other techies and talking about the news themselves, as well as some other recent events such as Black Friday or wars.

The topics that are adressed are the type that most consumers, and people who buy online would be interested in: online scams, the concept of recurring donations some websites apply, people you can follow on Twitter to get free coupons, new technologies such as Google Wave, Facebook hijacks...I thought these issues were interesting and adressed in depth, but I also thought the interruptions by the hosts of the show were a little long. There were many "inside jokes" going on between the presentators, and these took up a lot of the staggering 120mn the show lasts. The sound was incredibly clear and easy to follow; I really wonder how they recorded it, but this showed me how important the sound quality is in a podcast. Your content might be amazing, but if what you are saying is hard to follow, the public will quickly stop listening.

This showed me a completely different type of podcast, though. If the first one I heard (Science in 60 seconds) sounded like a news brief, this one really resembled a sitcom. I might not be really used to the radio, or maybe I would get more of the jokes if I had been following that podcast for a long time, but I personally preferred the news brief type.


Laporte, Leo. "3 Dollah Coffee Pot". This Week in Tech (TWiT). 12 Nov 2009. 222. The Twit Network. 24 Nov 2009 <"http://twit.tv/twit">

Listening to podcasts --- 60 seconds science

One of the first podcasts I listened to was called "60 Second Science", and it had been in existence for a number of year. It's sponsored by Scientific American, who releases a new episode daily. The concept is very simple: every day, a quick, interesting scientific find is talked about for just one minute (that explains the name 60 seconds science).

The topics chosen were of interest to most people, not just those hard versed in sciences. They also all had a link to the real world, for example -- "Why Bangladesh water contains arsenic." I've never been good at keeping things short, and to be honest I don't always see the point. This podcast proved me how sometimes concise is better, though. These pieces of information would've gotten boring if the podcaster had tried to tell us everything they knew about the topic of the day. Keeping each emission under 60 seconds was just long enough to grab my interest and make me want to know more at the same time.

The woman talked very quickly, not trying to particularly add any emotions to her podcast. While this might sound strange, it also made it sound more professional and took less time than taking numerous pauses in her speech. The language was kept scientific but not impossible to understand. There were also some jokes included, not the kind that make you burst out laughing, but nice enough to make it sound interesting.

Overall, this podcast made me think about not making my own final podcast too long, and of keeping the level of professionalism/casual conversation balanced by adding some jokes and explaining the more formal language if I have any.


Graber, Cynthia. "Plants Share Light if Neighbour is Related." 60 Seconds Science. 20 Nov 2009. 145. Scientific American. 24 Nov 2009 <"http://www.scientificamerican.com/podcast/episode.cfm?id=plants-share-light-if-neighbor-is-r-09-11-20">

Recording podcasts

Our latest assignment was to record our own podcast, which I described in an earlier post. Unfortunately, the sound quality in my practice wasn't exactly up to the task, but I guess that's why we were doing practice podcasts before the real thing. I listened to what the other people in my class had done, though, and I thought it was really interesting. Everyone had chosen different topics, that from what I know of my classmates seemed to relate to their real life a little bit. Here is what I thought while I was listening to the others' works:

1. Binderya and Enkhi (rich girl living in Mongolia)

• I thought the general idea of the podcast was very interesting. Not only this Mongolian girl but also most of the children in our school seem to live in a somewhat different world than other teenagers, and they were really good at describing that. At the same time, the girl sounds preppy but quite sad.
• Concerning the comments, the only improvement I could suggest would be to try to tie the script into the context more. While listening sometimes I wondered who this girl was telling all of her secrets to, which was not really clear - was this an interview? That didn't matter all that much, though, as this "lack of context" allowed them to tell the listener more about who the person talking was.
• The sound quality was really good. I could hear very clearly everything the two said, and there was no background noise. The two alternating speaking was a little unsettling, as this was supposed to be the same character who suddenly changed voices. I think, though, this was just because this was a practice podcast.

2. Enkhi -- interviews with people

• The questions were interesting and I liked how the two boys had different opinions on the same subject. They answered some of the questions with monosyllabic words every once in a while, though, and I think it might've been more interesting if she had pushed them to develop their answers.
• The sound quality was good - some words seemed to be lost, and sometimes she started talking loudly and then quietly, but it was understandable as a whole. I thought the whole interview side added something casual, and the occasional mistakes made it sound more real, and they were funny sometimes. There was some background noise that could've been edited out.

3. Jiri (moving to Mongolia)

• The introduction was a little long, but the whole speech sounded authentic and set the situation. When talking about the alcohol, sometimes he sounded too formal, but he brought up many interesting points and it was a nice take on the whole being a teenager thirty years ago/being a teenager now issue.
• The sound quality was good enough to understand most of what he said, but there was a lot of noise that made it a little hard to understand at times.

4. Urangoo (alcoholism)

• I thought the tone and the content were both very touching. You can really imagine the context and the character, and the story made sense in many ways. As with Enkhi and Binderya's podcast, you sometimes wonder who the character was talking to, but I don't think this should be changed as it makes the podcast that much more special.
• The sound quality was really good, you could hear clearly what was happening. Only towards the end was there a little problem, I think Urangoo brought the microphone closer to her mouth and as a result it suddenly got very loud.

5. Kyu (using the internet)

• That was an interesting topic that went again the traditional idea that spending time on the computer is bad, and there's no discussion on that. It sounded like a real teenager talking, and there were some good arguments that were talked about.
• The sound quality was good. Sometimes the tone of the narrator seemed to suddenly change, which I found strange. You can understand everything that is said, outside that, so I wonder how he recorded this.

1994-5: Profile of a modern teenager

Most of the teenagers I interviewed were born in 1994, with some of them from 1995. Since adolescence is supposed to last from 13 to 18, most of my teenagers are "young teenagers" so maybe they're quite different from those born just two years before them. From the stories of teenagers I interviewed, those I read on my classmates' websites and from what I know of teenagers I see everyday, here is a basic "Teenager Profile" of teens nowadays.

• Friends are a very important part of adolescent life. Teenagers go to their friends for advice, and sometimes ask for their opinion before doing anything. Being accepted into a social group is very important; everyone wants a social life, even if what exactly teenagers do when they meet remains quite unclear. They "hang out."
• Most adolescents have a rather good idea of what they want to do in the future. Nearly all of them have already decided what they want to be, some for years, and some have already chosen an university as well. The future is an interesting thought and although it's a bit stressful, no one is really scared.
• Technology's an important part of life - lots of teens spend over two hours on the computer everyday, if not the whole day when they have nothing to do. Most people are still in contact with one or two friends from childhood, even though they moved thanks to technology. Everyone has a Facebook and either a Yahoo or an MSN account.
• Most people are well aware of peer pressure, and although they have been influenced by it, they've resisted. No one is spreading around hate messages, and most teens would describe themselves as rather happy, if sometimes confused.
• As far as hobbies go, there really aren't many similarities except that every teen seems to have at least one area of interest, be it computers, pets or drama. Often, these hobbies are related to what the teen wants to do later in life.
• Everyone agrees that they think about dating, boyfriends/girlfriends every once in a while, but it's not the most important part of life. Friends and your future are more important.

I think our generation is hard to create a profile of because we have so many different interests. Not two teenagers I interviewed had the same viewpoint concerning peer pressure, family, school...the only constant might be that friendship is very important. At this point in time, I think one simple word describes our birth year: diversity!


Picture of a woman. 2009. Clicker.com. 18 Nov 2009 <"http://www.clker.com/cliparts/0/4/3/4/12198090302006169125female%20silhouette.svg.med.png">

Adnanes, Elise. "Interviewing peers". My World. 10 Nov 2009. 18 Nov 2009 <"http://elises-world.blogspot.com/">

How have adolescents changed over the last thirty years?

Based on stories you have heard about your interviewee's childhood or teen years, how was parenting different when they were young?
I think that from what my dad and my mother said, parents were a lot less present in their children's lives. They wanted to give them the freedom to do whatever they wanted, and they relied on schools or organizations like scouts, for example, to teach them principles. At the same time, parents were stricter with things like money. My parents buy most of the things I want, and I don't have pocket money. Lots of teens in these days actually had to get a job if they wanted to buy things, but maybe this is also different for me because I live abroad.

Why do you think adolescence has changed so much in the last thirty years?
Well, I think an obvious change is technology. My mom also lived abroad when she was my age, and when her friends moved the only way she had to keep in touch with them was through letters. These days, we have Facebook, MSN, Skype...distance isn't so much of a problem. People also have more money, at least most of the people I know - the parents often say that when they were our age, they didn't have all of these things. I think that things like videogames or movies kind of ended up bringing people apart, though. When I have sleepovers, we talk but we also spend less time interacting by watching a movie, playing a computer game or surfing on the internet...I guess technology just brings about new relationships. I think another thing that has made things change are our parents. Since some of them felt like their own parents weren't present enough in their lives, they're doing the opposite.

Are you happy to be a teenager today, or do you wish you had been born in a different era? Why?
Well, I think being a teenager in the 2000s is pretty good. Lots of things are changing around us, perhaps even more than during our parents' generation as far as technology is concerned; there's more money, less poverty, less wars...but then, it's hard to tell what our lives would be like without computers for example, so I have trouble imagining myself living in the 90s or the 80s. I think teenagers today have a lot of freedom to be whoever they want to be, and the monetary means to do so. Being a teenager abroad is definitely nicer nowadays, when you can keep in touch with all your friends.

What do you think defines your generation?
Probably technology, and how meaningless distances have become. The internet, computers, videogames, movies...a lot of improvements and changes in our lifestyle, less time outdoors but more diverse hobbies. I think diversity is definitely one of the things that define us. People don't have to fit into any sort of society "mold" anymore, you are free to be pretty much anything you want - especially while you're a teenager.

Fictional podcast

Our next assignment in IT was to create a podcast interviewing a fictional teenager, living in Mongolia. This is practice for our final product, which is a full length podcast on adolescence. We had to choose one area that has changed between teenagers nowadays and their parents, and my choice was reading.
With all of the other things that have changed, the differences in the way we see books nowadays and the way we did 30 years ago go unnoticed. Even though books have remained somewhat the same, there have been lots of subtle variations that I thought were interesting to discuss. Reading is something I'm interested in, so I had a fun time writing this script. It was also interesting to make up a character (felt like a character from a book, from that matter).
I edited my recording in Audacity, using various tools such as Noise Removal, Sound Amplify and Pitch Change (I didn't want it to sound like my voice). When I converted it to an MP3, though, the sound quality became flawed and since I can't upload it to Blogger anyway, here is the script:

Changes in reading

Name: Lily

Age: 16

Gender: Girl

Cultural background: Lily lived in England from the time she was born to her twelfth birthday, after which she moved abroad to Mongolia. Culturally, she considers herself British, but she has travelled a lot and would like to believe she has an “international culture.” She is the second eldest in a family of three. Her little sister is turning nine and her older brother is in his sophomore year of university.

Education: Lily goes to ISU, but she has also been in a boarding school and a typical school back in England. She isn’t sure about her career path yet, but is considering teaching. She is somewhat of a good student, but has other interests.

Hobbies, interests: Lily loves reading and writing stories, as well as “hands and crafts” activities.

If you ask people what has changed over the last thirty years, most teenagers probably wouldn’t answer “reading.” I mean, books are still books, right? They’re just one of these things that shouldn’t ever change all that much, but even though the books didn’t change that much, people think about them a little differently now.

I think that as far as the books themselves go, teenagers have a lot more of them these days. It doesn’t mean they read more, but they definitely own more books. Some of my friends like libraries, but most of them would rather go to a bookstore and get to keep the book, even if that means they have less to read in the end. But that’s less of a problem as well, because usually it’s our parents that buy our books. My mom always sighs a little when she sees the price after shopping in a bookstore, but she still pays. When she was a teenager, she had to save up her pocket money if she wanted to buy something new to read – I guess that’s why she used the library more. It’s also a lot harder when you live abroad. There aren’t that many books available in your language, so your book shopping is mostly done on Amazon, which just isn’t the same.

The stuff that teenagers read is also pretty different. Before, you had children’s books when you were a kid and then you jumped into the classics. These days, we have young adult novels in the middle. These are books that were actually written for teenagers, and you can feel the difference. The plots try to appeal to us, the storyline is more complicated than in the children’s books but the language is easier to follow than in literature. I don’t know how great that is. Before, people jumped straight from kids books to classics, and they seemed to do fine, right? But then, lots of adults I know stopped reading when they grew up. So even though it’s a little hard to tell for now, I think that maybe the young adult novels will keep kids reading for longer.

And then, obviously technology has changed the way we see books. There’s new devices like a Kindle that pretty much replace books altogether, but I think most of the teens I know prefer paperbacks. There’s just something about holding a book that e-books have a hard time replacing, so that’s not been too much of a change yet. But I think the way you see a book is more…interactive nowadays. When you’re done with a book, you don’t just put it down and maybe talk about it with your friends, like you did 30 years ago. You go on the internet and discuss the book on web boards; you join groups on Facebook; you can even go write another version of the story or read what other fans wrote on websites like Fanfiction.net. And for books that you read at school and have to analyze, you can look up the entire plot, the meanings, the symbols used in the book on other websites like Sparknotes.

The internet, though, is making us pay less and less attention to what we read. Now you just browse a website and go from link to link; you don’t read the text that much, you quickly look at it to get an essential idea of what it’s saying. I think this new way of reading also transferred to paperbacks – lots of people would rather read a magazine than a story. It’s just simpler, it takes less time, and I guess you can’t really deny that teenagers these days want to do many more things at once. Are all of these changes good for reading? It’s hard to tell yet, but it’s impossible to stop change once it has started…

"Open books." 2009. MPL. 19 Nov 2009 <"http://blog.mpl.org/nowatmpl/books1.jpg">

How do pre-teens view adolescence?

People often say teenagers are blind, and think themselves smarter than everyone else. Though I don't agree (but maybe that's just because I'm one of the silly teenagers), I decided to interview a pre-teen to get some idea of how everyone else views those experiencing adolescence.

Design specifications and importance

As I haven't really explained it earlier, our new unit is concerned with creating podcasts to define adolescence. In Grade 10, we're all well into teenagehood, which many will describe as one of the most confusing time of their lives. This unit is therefore really about understanding ourselves and the other teenagers we interact with.
Sometimes, it's easy to enclose yourself in your little bubble and think your problems truly are the end of the world; it's just as easy to forget other people's feelings when you interact with them. By creating podcasts to better understand ourselves and others, we can gain a lot of personal insight and ameliorate our relationships with people our age, far beyond just the IT classroom.
Just like it is important to know yourself, understanding the people around you helps move everyone forward. Most people will agree that you are not the same at the beginning of adolescence and at the end. I like the way this person put it:

You may think of adolescence as a molten metal. It can be shaped in any shape, it can be easily manipulated and controlled. It is free to flow anywhere. This is why teenagers seem to change their personalities so quickly. However, at the end of adolescence and the beginning of adult life, the molten metal becomes solid and its shape cannot be changed as easily as it could have been before.

As one person I interviewed said, the teenagers of today are the future, just like the teenagers after them will be in their time. It's not only in our own personal interest that we get along well, but by ensuring we understand what we are going through by looking at how other people cope with teenagehood, we can all become more confident and make the future world an even better place to be.

Our task is to create our own podcasts about adolescence, particularly adolescence in Mongolia. Podcasts are regularly posted episodes, either audio or video, concerning a specific topic. They are a bit like modern, Web 2.0 versions of radio emissions; anyone can create them, from professionals to regular internet users. Likewise, anyone who wants to can have a look on the number of online websites that list podcasts and download as many episodes as they want (most podcasts tend to be free). The audio ones are simply voice recordings, sometimes edited with sound software such as Audacity; the video ones are basically short TV programmes, recorded with a camera or any other device. Podcasts exist on a variety of subjects, ranging from cooking shows to calligraphy and tech news. They are used to relay free, periodical information to as many people as possible.

We have a choice whether or not to make videocasts or audiocasts. I think video is more interesting, but also quite a lot harder to manage. Depending on the time we will be allocated for the project, I will choose one or the other. As far as my other specifications go, I want my podcast to:

• Be over 10mn long, not including credits or titles
• Sound (and possibly video) must be clear and downloadable in Mongolia
  
• Contain interviews with at least 5 people between the ages of 13-18
• Show different sides of adolescence by presenting teens with various interests and lifestyles
• Briefly examine what pre-teens and adults think of teenage years
• Give a good idea of the differences between being a teenager abroad and in your own country, focusing on Mongolia
• The podcast must be interesting and entertaining to listen to, using non-formal language
• My podcast must be available to many people
  

The reason I have decided to focus on teenagers living abroad is that I have always been travelling and although this seems natural to me, I am beginning to see more and more how widely different my life is compared to teenagers who live back in Europe, for example. I would like to interview people who have lived in both environments and people who have only known one. This design specification is my own, because I want to answer questions I have been asking myself. To verify I did follow my own guidelines, I will be conducting these tests at the end of this project:

• Show my podcast to at least one teenager, one pre-teen and one adult and see how the different age groups react
• Ask 3-4 of my classmates if they think my podcast accurately depicts adolescence and if not, what aspects I forgot to mention
• Put my podcast on Facebook and invite teenagers (particularly those living abroad) to watch it and comment on their own experiences.
  

Arshal, Abdul. "Significance of Teenagehood". Islamic Web Community. 14 Nov 2000. 10 Nov 2009 <"http://www.myiwc.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1855">

Teenager in the 1980s

Teenager in the 1980s

How was parenting different when you were young?
Our parents had a very, very strict education. Our generation was left...alone, to do what we liked to do. They tried to give us the things they didn't have, like freedom. Parents also thought very differently. For them, the school was in charge. Now, the parents are also updated with the technology. There are less children, so more money for the children. It's a lot easier for the parents now than it was before.

Were you happy to be a teenager in your years or would you rather have been a teenager now?
I'm very happy, because now it's so easy! You have so many toys, so many gadgets, like your internet and that funny camera looking at me [webcam]. But both times had its good and bad, both were easy sometimes.

What do you think defines your generation?
Hum...self confidence, the ability to do many different things, and the ability to remain focused on just one thing at a time rather than be all over the place.

Why do you think adolescence has changed so much in the last thirty years?
Electronics, mobility...the cost of items! Before you couldn't buy all that much, now everything is at least 4 or 5 times cheaper than it was before. Imagine, my first computer, more than 30 years ago, I paid it more than 3000 dollars. With a hard disk of 14 Mb. Teenagers can have everything they want now, that changes everything.

Finally, what do you think are the similarities between teenagers in your day and teenagers now?
The differences? Oh, the similarities! Oh my gosh...hum, there are not a lot. No no, there are a few similarities of course, but children now have a completely different life.


Here is a current day picture of my dad and I. Unfortunately, he did not have any pictures of himself when he was my age, but he found one when he was approximately 25. At the age of 14, he describes himself as having had blonder hair, being a little taller than myself and more tan from being out in the sun a lot.




Fellay, Stan. Personal interview. 07 November 2009.

Take 180. "My Alibi Theme Song". My Alibi Season 1.

What's it like to be a teenager? Interviews -- Elise Adnanes

Elise Adnanes - 16, Mongolia

Elise recently turned 16, after living in Mongolia for a little over two years. She likes fashion, friends and shopping - and tells us all about what it is like to be a teenager in Mongolia, today.

As a teenager, what are your interests? What stresses you out?
Homework, appearances, sports…these stress me out. I find clothes, fashion, reading, hanging out with friends interesting. When I’m stressed, I watch a movie or read, sometimes I play sports. I do sewing for a hobby. I like reading as well.

Since you became a teenager, how has your relationship with your family changed?
I might have become a little more distant from them, there are more things that I don't always tell them.

How have your friendships changed? Are you still in contact with any of your friends from childhood?
Well, I guess they've become more complicated, but we're still really good friends. We do different things. We have more to talk about. Everyone has changed, some for the better, some for the worse…Boys are more important as well. I guess it's always been important to me, but lately (in the last years) it's become a daily thought!

What do you think about peer pressure? Has it influenced you?
Not really, I think it's mostly stupid and that every person should be able to be who they are and not try to be something that they are not. Some people are very different from me, some are similar. I wouldn’t place myself as influenced. I’m a free spirit most of the time!

Have you started thinking about your future? Is it scary or exciting?
I plan to become wealthy! It's both…I haven’t really thought about an university, I don’t know what I want to be for sure. I have dreams, but they might not always be realistic.

How do you think it’s different being a teenager in Mongolia and in Norway?
I think it's better to be a teenager here, because of the school that I go to. However, it really depends on the school you go to in Norway, some schools are better than others…The good thing about Mongolia is the school, the bad is the cold. The good thing about Norway is that you can do a lot more shopping than here!

Adnanes, Elise. Personal Interview. 10 November 2009.

Elise in Mongolia. 2009. Facebook. 10 November 2009 <"http://www.facebook.com/home.php#/photo.php?pid=9740051&id=694080327">

What's it like to be a teenager? Interviews -- Ben Jones

Ben Jones - 14, Australia

Ben lives in Australia but has travelled to Mongolia and other foreign places. He considers himself a "nerd" and talks about fitting in, school pressure and other daily concerns of teenagers.

As a teen, what’s important to you? What stresses you out?
As a teen, the things that stress me the most are…succeeding, being me, making friends, girls, and work.

What kind of things do you like doing in your free time? What do you consider interesting?
I do lots of stuff in my free time. I walk, cycle, paint, listen to music, chat with mates. I do a lot of stuff... things that I think are important are succeeding, engineering, science, and of course, friends and girls.

How have your relationships with other people your age changed as you became a teenager?
I have a lot more friends, but I have fewer good friends. Relationships don’t really become more superficial, things start to blur between the greys. Peer pressure has not affected me at all, I am a nerd – we don’t give in to peer pressure.
I haven’t been in contact with anyone I knew as a kid, but the one person with who I have has become mean and dumb…I see teenagers as the new generation and we are the one who will make the future. So to tell you the truth, I am rather disappointed. There are a few people who will make the world a better place, but most are just not quite mature enough.

Do you think more about your future? Does it scare you?
I am really thinking about my future and I enjoy it.. it is a daunting task, but with the right preparation and organisation, I think I will succeed. I want to get into uni.

What’s different about being a teenager in Mongolia compared to a teenager in Australia? Which one do you like best?
There are more teens here that I can interact with. But the people I knew in Mongolia were some of the nicest I have ever met. Both countries had their bad sides, but it’s best to view the good ones. And I prefer Australia. Just cause I like pie.

Any last thoughts on adolescence?
I hate hormones... those stupid things that buzz around in my head.

Jones, Ben. Personal interview. 09 November 2009.

Snowy day out in Mongolia. 2009. Facebook. 10 Nov 2009 <"http://www.facebook.com/home.php#/photo.php?pid=30803518&id=1198786319">

What's it like to be a teenager? Interviews -- Christina Reknes

Christina Reknes

Christina lives in Mongolia, where she is internet schooled. She talks about what it's like to experience so many different cultures all the time.

Since you’ve become a teenager, what are the most important things in your life? What are the things that stress you?
What's important to me? My dad, cause he's really the only family I got, then friends, and animals…Things that stress me are my academic progress, the future…I don’t know how to word the people part. Social pressure?

How do you envision your future?
I have lots of dreams for the future, that’s what keeps me going. One of my dreams is to become a vet, I guess that's my long term goal. I think about my future fairly often, about just as much as the present. I'm nearly an adult so I guess thinking ahead is a part of the growing process.

How do you think living abroad is different from living in Europe or America, for example?
I would say the positive part of it is that you get to learn different ways of life and experience cultures that differ from your own. In a way it makes you more open minded because of the unique experiences you get from living abroad.

Reknes, Christina. Personal Interview. 09 November 2009.

Mongolian temple. 2009. Facebook. 10 November 2009 <"http://www.facebook.com/twilight.enigma?ref=ts#/photo.php?pid=927608&id=565597750">

What's it like to be a teenager? Interviews -- Meaghan Jones

Meaghan Jones

Meaghan is from Australia and currently resides there, after spending nearly a year in Mongolia. She has travelled all over her home country and reflects on what it's like to always be "on the move."

As a teenager, what puts pressure on you? What’s important to you?
Well, as a teenager I think that the things that stress me out the most are most likely school and assessments. Also, I should think fitting in at school. I think my friends opinion is very important – I don’t do anything without getting their approval.

What kind of activities do you do to relax? What matters in your life?
Things that matter to me…my friends, I guess. I enjoy hanging out with my friends and experiencing new ways of life. To relax, I draw some times or go on long walks.

How does being a teenager change from being a child?
Well, your friendships change – friends become way more important and family a lot less. Boys also become a very important part in life…and lots of teenagers feel compelled to fall into the pattern that you must date to be cool. I think that because of peer pressure, many teenagers are “forced” to do things they will regret later on.

How is adolescence in Mongolia different from adolescence in Australia?
Well, in Mongolia no one was expected to be…experienced with certain things. Where as in Australia we have a lot of experience with stuff. I would say there’s also less peer pressure in Mongolia. When you live abroad, many of the people are in the same situation as you so you don’t feel out of place. Most of the people have moved before and know what it’s like.

Which one do you prefer? Living abroad or in Australia?
In Mongolia, people didn’t have the inside humour as Australians do…I prefer living in Australia, because I feel more at home and everyone speaks English.

How do you see yourself compared to other teenagers?
I think that many other teenagers feel like they have to fill the boots the media has given them. And I think I’m a pretty wild person!

What's it like to be a teenager? Interviews -- Cori Anderson

As part of my investigation, I asked a few teens what were their main worries being teenagers, what was important to them, how they envisioned their future...Since I am considering specializing my podcast on how being a teenager abroad changes from being a teenager in "mainland" countries such as Europe, the USA or Australia, I also asked people who know both situations what they think of that.
Note: All of the interviews were realized over MSN/Facebook chat, so some abbreviations and other little details have been changed to make them easier to understand.

Cori Anderson - 14, Mongolia

Cori is American and she has lived in Mongolia for the last 3 years. She attends an internet school, but meets other teenagers in a co-op school every day. Her dream is to become an actress, either in plays or in movies.

As a teenager, what’s important to you?

Um…I guess the colleges I want to go into. And relationships with other people. Friendships, etc…Boys aren’t that important. Just a means for excitement. Nothing serious, just drama.

What stresses you out?

I don’t really care about peer pressure, but I’m trying hard to get into Juilliard [fine arts school in New York]. I’m really worried about my future, college is important to me.

How has your relationship with your family changed?

They like me less…and I get in trouble more.

How do you think being a teenager abroad changes from being a teenager in the USA, for example? Which one do you prefer?

I’ve never really been a teenager in America, but I guess that in Mongolia you have more freedom. You can go around more. I don’t want to live in either, I want to live somewhere else. Anywhere else. But I guess I would prefer the USA…

Anderson, Cori. Personal interview. 08 November 2009.

Picture of Cori. 2009. Facebook. 09 November 2009 < v="feed&id="1569865993&story_fbid="1224314099214#/photo.php?pid="2752250&id="830178376">

"Wild at Heart, and Seventeen"

When I started reading this entire article, I was surprised by how different teenagers' lives were in New York than from those I know. I've always lived abroad, so I guess I've never really seen how that might differ from a "normal teenager." Because of that, I had quite a hard time relating to most of these teens, but after a while I realized there were a few things I had in common with all of them.

I can’t even express how many of my weekends are filled just with me in front of
the computer typing away on English and history essays. Last year I got really
freaked out because junior year apparently is really important for college. So I
told myself if I just work really hard and don’t go out as much, then I won’t
regret it later when I get into a good college. So that’s basically what my
policy has been this past year.

Sometimes it really feels to me like college is getting closer and closer. I realized a few days ago that the current seniors were the 10th graders when I first came to Mongolia - just like I am now. That really made the end of year seem sooner, and every once in a while I decide that I should entirely focus on my education. This girl really reminded me of that.

I think we all know the sort of sheltered environment we live in. We know that
we’re in this wealthy little bubble, but that there’s so much poverty. Last
month, I went to India with nine other people from Brearley for three weeks, and
that really drove the point home.

I think she really said this well. It's always strange going to this expensive, privileged international school and then walking home and seeing the rest of the country is so different. It was interesting to see that she felt this way too, even though she actually lives in America.

After that, I read another story and once again the girl lived in a completely different context. She was super busy, all the time, which she both liked and disliked. I guess I can identify to her pretty well too.

I take on so much and I have no time for myself. I do it on purpose. I love it and I hate it. If I’m not busy, I complain that I’m bored, but when I am busy, it’s like, oh, my God. And honestly, even though I do really well in school — I like getting good grades, I love it — but it’s more of a competitive thing for me. It’s nice to get good grades and stuff, but I have so much I want to do.

If there's one thing that is evenly shared, it's definitely time. Try as you may, everyone on this planet only has 24 hours a day and so many things to do! I change interests all the time, always find myself not being able to do all of the things I want to do, so I can really relate to this girl.



Pak, Catherine. "We're always talking about how we have so much love to give, but no one to give it to." New York Times. 16 Sep 07. 03 Nov 09 < _r="1">.

Thomas, Adenike. "If I'm Not Busy, I'll Complain That I'm Bored, But If I'm Busy, It's Like, Oh My God." New York Times. 16 Sep 07. 03 Nov 09 <>