Identity construction environments : the design of computational tools for exploring a sense of self and moral values

We live in a society where concepts of self, community and what is right and wrong are constantly changing. This makes it particularly challenging for young people to construct a sense of self and to identify and develop their most cherished personal and moral values. It also puts pressure on schools and society to help them do so. This thesis explores how new technologies can be used to create environments explicitly designed to help young people explore their inner worlds. I coined the term identity construction environments (ICE) to refer to computational tools purposefully designed with the goal of helping young people explore different aspects of the self, in particular personal and moral values. My contribution in this thesis involves three dimensions: theory, design and empirical research. At the theoretical level, I propose a framework through which people can think and learn about identity as a complex entity embracing multiple and contradictory values. At the design level, I describe an evolutionary process of building and investigating the use of three identity construction environments which are precursors to the one that is at the center of the empirical investigation described in this thesis.

Department dc:contributor.department

Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Dept. of Architecture. Program in Media Arts and Sciences.

Grantor dc:publisher

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Year dc:date.issued

2001

Author dc:creator

• Umaschi Bers, Marina

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• Seymour Papert.

• Architecture. Program in Media Arts and Sciences.

Statement dc:rights

• M.I.T. theses are protected by copyright. They may be viewed from this source for any purpose, but reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without written permission. See provided URL for inquiries about permission.

Licence dc:rights.uri

• http://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/7582

Language dc:language.iso

eng

Handle dc:identifier.uri

http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/8708

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:dspace.mit.edu:1721.1/8708