As part of our Digital Lives unit, I tapped into a project by Kevin Kelly to have my sixth graders visualize and map out their relationship and understanding of the Internet and technology. Kelly’s Internet Mapping Project, started years ago, offers an interesting glimpse into how we see the wired world around us, and where we situate ourselves. Part of the visual prompt is find your home.
This also dovetails with the theme of mapping in the #CLMOOC Mapvember Pop-Up Make Cycle theme now underway. Come make maps with us!
My students were no different. What was just as interesting was getting them to write a reflection on their Map of the Internet, digging into the ways that technology both expands and contracts their experiences as adolescents.
Kelly still invites folks to make their Maps, although I am not sure if he is adding new ones to the collection. You don’t need Kelly to do this. Use that Internet you’ll be conceptualizing and mapping to share out with us. You can download the PDF and also view the gallery of Maps.
Peace (mapped and charted),
Kevin
Thanks Kevin. I think exercises like this are of great value. Kids begin to build a spatial understanding of the work around them (both physical and virtual). The can begin to see their place in that world. Some may even begin to see how they can influence and shape that world.