S. Craig Watkins

S. Craig Watkins has been researching young people's media behaviors for more than ten years. He teaches in the departments of Radio-Television-Film and Sociology and the Center for African and African American Studies at the University of Texas at Austin.

His new book, The Young and the Digital: What the Migration to Social Network Sites, Games, and Anytime, Anywhere Media Means for Our Future (Beacon 2009), is based on survey research, in-depth interviews, and fieldwork with teens, young twenty-somethings, teachers, parents, and technology advocates. While writing this book Craig fully immersed himself in what he calls the "digital trenches," to see up close how young people learn, play, bond, communicate, and engage in civic life in the digital age.

Craig has also explored the intersections between race, youth, hip hop, and digital media. This work, for example, considers the politics of music production and remix tapes, the rise of hip hop communities on line, and the influence of the hip hop lifestyle in black youth's use of social and mobile media.

Craig participated in the MacArthur Foundation Series on Youth, Digital Media and Learning. His work on this groundbreaking project focused on race, learning, and the growing culture of gaming. He has been invited to be a Research Fellow at the Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences (Stanford).

Currently, Craig is launching a new digital media research initiative that focuses on the use and evolution of social media platforms. For updates on these and other projects visit theyoungandthedigital.com.

Digital Media and Learning Conference 2010 Introduction and Opening Keynote from Shane Depner on Vimeo.