Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'Digital children’s literature'

Adopting a mixed methods approach consisting of interviews, focus group discussions and surveys, this thesis investigates the state of digital publishing in Ghana within the context of Rogers’ diffusion of innovation theory. With a focus on children’s ebooks, it examines publishers’, authors’ and readers’ levels of adoption of ebooks, and their motivations for, perceptions of, and challenges or barriers to, going digital or otherwise. It also assesses the state of digital infrastructure and human resource capacity in Ghana to support the growing ebook sector, and identifies the knowledge and skills deficit in the industry in order to inform the development of courses that will be incorporated into the BA Publishing Studies programme at Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST). This thesis reveals that the level of adoption of ebook publishing among publishers and authors was relatively low given the interest demonstrated by young readers. The latter were very interested in ebooks and read mainly foreign content because it was freely available and accessible online. Publishers’ and authors’ motivations for publishing ebooks include visibility, the opportunity to reach a much wider audience, and the novelty of publishing digitally to keep abreast of current trends so as to transform the local industry. Some barriers to adoption identified were the cost associated with acquiring infrastructure, the security of online content, inadequate information about ebooks, non-use of ebooks, and infrastructural challenges such as inconsistent electricity supply and poor Internet penetration. The thesis also identified an awareness disconnect between publishers and their local readers: publishers perceive ebooks to be for the international market and, as such, do not focus on promoting them in the local market; thus, local readers are not aware of the existence of ebooks. Expanding on Rogers’ adoption categories, two new categories were created, incidental adopters and perceptual late adopters, to accommodate individuals who do not fall within Rogers’ established adopter categories. To increase the spread of digital publishing and the uptake of ebooks in the Ghanaian book market, the thesis recommends the elimination of the barriers to adoption and, most importantly, advocates training and skills development to reduce the knowledge and skills deficit gap among publishers and authors.

A orfandade é um tema bastante recorrente na literatura infantil e juvenil. Desde as antigas narrativas orais, como os contos de fadas, por exemplo, o arquétipo do órfão é revisitado regularmente na construção de diferentes personagens, sendo mantida, porém, uma estrutura básica predominante, principalmente no que concerne à sua trajetória. Investigar a recorrência dessa temática, partindo da análise de alguns contos populares até alcançar as mais recentes obras voltadas para o público jovem, foi um dos objetivos desta pesquisa. Uma outra meta foi estabelecer paralelos e divergências entre as figuras secundárias que compõem essas narrativas, como as madrinhas, as madrastas, os irmãos, os amigos, os seres mágicos, entre outros, e focalizar o papel que elas desempenham na trajetória do órfão, agindo ora como \"desvios\", ora como \"atalhos\" em seu caminho. Um terceiro propósito da dissertação foi estudar a circulação da personagem órfã contemporânea entre a literatura e outras mídias, como as histórias em quadrinhos (HQ) e o cinema. Para isso, tomamos três personagens da ficção criadas originalmente para três diferentes suportes - Harry Potter (literatura), Peter Parker (HQ) e Luke Skywalker (cinema) - e procuramos estabelecer similaridades e divergências em três momentos de seus percursos: partida, iniciação e retorno. Ao compararmos as trajetórias desses três heróis órfãos, podemos perceber as visíveis intersecções entre elas e somos levados a crer que, mesmo modificadas pelos estilos literários e pelas mídias que lhes servem de suporte, essas personagens solitárias conservam, contudo, a essência das características de seu remoto substrato popular, proveniente da oralidade.<br>Orphanhood is quite a common theme in Children\'s Literature. From the old oral stories, as the fairy tales, for instance, the orphan archetype is regularly used in order to build different characters, keeping, however, a predominant basic structure, chiefly with regard to his path. Investigating the frequency of such a theme starting from the analysis of some popular tales and finally reaching the most recent works, offered to young people, was one of the purposes of this research. Another aim was to establish parallels and divergences ocurring to secondary characters that take part in those narratives, as the godmothers, stepmothers, brothers and sisters, magic creatures, among others, and focusing the role they play in the development of the orphan course, acting sometimes as \"sidetracks\", sometimes as \"shortcuts\" in his way. A third goal of this work was to study the circulation of the contemporary orphan character both in literature and other mass media, as comics and movies. For this purpose we chose three fiction characters, created originally for three different supports - Harry Potter (literature), Peter Parker (comics) and Luke Skywlaker (movies) - and tried to show similarities and differences in three moments of their route: start, initiation and return. Comparing the footsteps of those three orphan heroes, we may note the visible intersections among them and take into account that, even changed by literary style and mass media which support them, those solitary characters keep, nevertheless, the essence of the characteristics of their ancient popular substractum, coming from orality.

Este trabajo trata de responder a la pregunta general de “¿Qué ofrecen las nuevas narraciones digitales recientemente aparecidas al lector literario en formación?”. Para ello, la investigación se configura en tres líneas de avance, que se reflejan en los tres objetivos y que se estructuran como tres bloques diferenciados: (1) la elaboración de una visión panorámica y de una caracterización general de las nuevas formas narrativas digitales con el fin de facilitar la comprensión de la producción de este sector; (2) la elaboración de un modelo de análisis que permita el estudio pormenorizado de los aspectos más relevantes de las producciones de narrativa digital para niños y jóvenes; y (3) la caracterización de las producciones de narrativa electrónica para niños y jóvenes pioneras en idioma castellano, y de su lector modelo, a partir del análisis de una muestra representativa de obras. Se parte de la caracterización del marco sociocultural que enmarca las producciones de narrativa digital para niños y jóvenes, “la cibercultura”, y se discuten los aspectos contextuales que se consideran más relevantes para la investigación. Posteriormente se describen las dinámicas de la narrativa en el marco de la cibercultura en relación con los diferentes medios. Más adelante se aborda el desarrollo de la narrativa para niños y jóvenes en este mismo contexto, desde los años setenta y ochenta hasta la actualidad, tras lo cual se enfoca la atención sobre la narrativa electrónica: después de una breve introducción sobre los aspectos técnicos, se revisan las principales teorías que han reflexionado sobre la narrativa electrónica, con especial énfasis en el aspecto de la interactividad. Después se extiende este estudio al terreno de la narrativa electrónica para niños y jóvenes, un área específica de narrativa digital que está actualmente en el comienzo de su desarrollo teórico. Para terminar se presentan las principales teorías sobre el lector modelo infantil y juvenil, y las competencias de este en el marco actual, principalmente la competencia literaria que este trabajo quiere destacar. Tras la presentación de una serie de conclusiones y de una tipología surgidas de la observación panorámica, se presentan las pautas de análisis que desembocan en la elaboración del modelo. Este instrumento se aplica sobre diez aplicaciones-libro que conforman la muestra representativa de la investigación y, a partir de esta operación, se procede a la caracterización del conjunto de producciones y del lector modelo de la narrativa infantil y juvenil digital. Finalmente se plantean unas sugerencias de vías de avance en el campo de la narrativa infantil y juvenil digital.<br>This thesis tries to answer the following question: What do new digital narrative forms offer to the literary reader? In order to do this, the research follows three lines of development, which reflect three objectives and which are structured in three different parts: (1) the elaboration of a panoramic view and a general characterization of new literary forms, so as to facilitate understanding of the production; (2) the development of a model for analysis in order to study the most relevant aspects of digital narrative works for children and adolescents; and (3) the characterization of the works published in the Spanish market and their ideal reader through the analysis of a representative sample of ten works. The research starts by defining the sociocultural background that frames these products, the “cyberculture”, and explaining the most relevant contextual features for this study. Then, the thesis describes the dynamic of narrative in the cyberculture setting and in relation to different media. It follows the development of children’s narratives from the 1970s up to now. The work focuses next on electronic narratives: the technical aspects and the main theories of the field, with special emphasis on the interactive dimension. This study is afterwards extended to electronic narratives for children and adolescents, a particular area of digital narrative, which is now at the beginning of its theoretical growth. The principal theories about the ideal child and adolescent reader and literary competence close this part of the thesis. After the explanation of some conclusions and a typology that have arisen from the panoramic view, the guidelines for the analysis are presented, resulting in the creation of a model of analysis. This instrument is then applied to ten selected book apps, which results in the characterization of the Spanish production and its ideal reader. Finally, a set of suggestions for development of the field of digital narratives for children and adolescents is introduced.

Este trabalho propõe-se a estudar de que modo o projeto de e-books voltados a crianças em fase de alfabetização pode ser aprimorado, de modo a tirar melhor proveito dos recursos tecnológicos e, assim, melhorar a experiência de leitura infantil nesse contexto de ensino-aprendizagem. Para isso, expõe-se, inicialmente, um panorama geral sobre a popularização dos e-books e sobre a leitura em suporte digital. Realiza-se, então, uma pesquisa bibliográfica dividida em três partes principais: a primeira busca identificar características do público-alvo, suas capacidades e limitações no que diz respeito à leitura; a segunda trata do objeto e-book de maneira geral, envolvendo aspectos técnicos e de uso desse objeto digital; a terceira aborda o livro digital infantil, sob o enfoque do projeto gráfico-visual. Posteriormente, é realizada uma análise de similares, em que dez publicações digitais voltadas ao público infantil são observadas e analisadas. A partir dos dados obtidos até então, propõem-se algumas diretrizes preliminares de projeto, que são avaliadas por especialistas. A pesquisa define, por fim, diretrizes de projeto de e-books infantis, que permitam ao designer explorar de forma adequada os recursos tecnológicos, aprimorando a qualidade técnica dos livros digitais em contexto de alfabetização infantil.<br>This work studies how the project of ebooks aimed at children learning to read can be improved in order to take better advantage of technological resources and thus improve children's reading experience in this educational context. In order to do that, it begins with an overview of the ebook revolution. Afterward, a literature research, divided in three areas, is presented: the first aims to understand the target audience, their abilities and limitations with regard to reading; the second approaches the ebook, involving technical aspects and regarding the use of this digital object; the third addresses children’s ebooks under the focus of graphic design. Subsequently, an analysis on children’s books available in the market is performed on ten digital publications focused at children, which are observed and analyzed. From the data obtained so far, this work proposes some preliminary guidelines, which are evaluated by experts. The research proposes, finally, design guidelines for children's ebooks, enabling the designer to explore adequately the technological resources, and improving the technical quality of digital books in an educational context.

Although COVID-19 has undoubtedly altered the lives of most human beings, one could argue that the education of children with special needs has been drastically affected. Measures taken by governments and consequences of the pandemic per se have changed the notion of traditional education shifting it to a virtual plane. A total of 6 articles extracted from different databases were included in this systematic review. The aim was to explore the literature on special education and the development of children with special educational needs in relation to the barriers and facilitators they have encountered in coping with the pandemic. Findings show a significant difference between the number of facilitators and barriers found. The high number of barriers in the environment, activities and participation and mental functions, gives an overview of the obstacles that children with special educational needs have faced during the pandemic. Most of the barriers encountered appeared to be interrelated and have reshaped the way education is understood. To address this problem and try to overcome the challenges they pose, efforts must be made at higher levels of society, such as policies, laws, or government support, to ensure the proper development of children.

Prominent within various scientific journals, news media outlets, and online publications are conversations surrounding what is dubbed “climate anxiety.” This wide-stemmed social unrest is caused, in large part, by the unrelenting, consistent data from the scientific community reporting rising sea levels, species extinction, and “record-breaking” heatwaves as well as an increasing average of global temperatures, that seem to top the next every year for the past decade. However, an underlying thread to these reports remains largely consistent. Unless serious regard is given to our natural surroundings and how we have come to interact within it, regions of the Earth considered desirable for human life will likely become uninhabitable, and other parts horrifically inhospitable to humans and other species. When addressed so simply and plainly, it seems that the response to such life-altering implications ought to be simple: do whatever it takes to ensure that a diversity of life, including that of humankind, can continue on the planet Earth. Voices of the scientific community have decreed that a driving force behind the lackadaisical approach to deterring such dire climatological circumstances, is the inability to grasp the immense scope of climate change issues. This thesis, then, aims at proposing a directive to correct this problematic mentality, and a specific generation to combat this nature. Using the lens of ecocriticism, the study of literature and the environment, combined with cutting-edge theoretical findings in the field, I will focus on the literary portrayal of climate change within young-adult dystopian fiction. While regarding the scholarship on the recent increase of YA fiction that takes a critical approach to human ethics and the portrayal of the demise of the natural environment in those texts, I will examine how this trend responds to my ideas of young-adult fiction functioning within Ecocriticism. Moreover, you will see a pattern charting how literature can revolutionize and evolve the mind frame of human ethics on a planetary scale, starting with the young adult readers. Further, I will highlight how these ideologies could and ought to be incorporated into a composition classroom. Composition already has a strong history of grounding itself in the notion of identity, and how contingent factors (social, political, economic, ecological, etc.) are integrated into the construction of that identity. This thesis poses that if we can introduce a sense of how those factors affect our ability to act in the natural world and potential consequences of these actions by way of pop culture outlets like YA Climate Fiction, readers can begin to re-shape our identities and actions, individually and collectively, towards Ecocritical ethics and awareness.

Os livros digitais interativos sao presencas cada vez mais constantes no cotidiano das criancas. Diante desta tendencia, esta dissertacao tem como objetivo analisar a nova forma de apresentacao das historias infantis nos tablets, um suporte midiatico que completa em 2014 quatro anos de existencia. A pesquisa compreende o contexto historico das plataformas de leitura, as origens dos recursos interativos ainda em papel, as funcionalidades presentes nos livros digitais ampliados, tambem conhecidos como enhanced e-books, suas caracteristicas, seu processo de producao, as mudancas provocadas na narrativa e uma analise de tres casos para compreensao mais aprofundada do funcionamento do livro no tablet \"A Menina do Narizinho Arrebitado\", \"Quem Soltou o Pum?\" e \"Dans Mon Reve\". Esta dissertacao oferece um breve panorama dos livros digitais interativos para as criancas, que nao elimina o livro impresso, como se chegou a cogitar no inicio, mas oferece uma nova experiencia de leitura multimidia, sem deixar sua essencia de lado: a de continuar sendo um livro.<br>The interactive digital books are constantly increasing presence in childrens quotidian. In the face of this trend, this thesis aims to analyze the new way of presenting childrens stories in tablets, a media support that completes in 2014 four years old. The research comprises the historical context of reading platforms; the origins of the interactive features still on paper; the features present in extended digital books, also known as enhanced e-books; its characteristics; production process; the changes induced in the narrative; and an analysis of three cases for further understanding of the functioning of the book in the tablet \"A Menina do Narizinho Arrebitado\", \"Quem Soltou o Pum?\" e \"Dans Mon Reve\". This dissertation provides a brief overview of interactive digital books for children, which does not eliminate the printed book, as it was considered at first, but offers a new multimedia reading experience, without leaving aside their essence: to remain a book.

Combinant une perspective théorique e-littéraire et une dimension éducative, cette étude s’attache à décrire un objet très récent et encore peu connu, malgré l’intérêt vif de la communauté académique et du monde éditorial : l’application littéraire pour la jeunesse. Afin de contribuer à sa caractérisation et à la connaissance de ses enjeux pour la formation multilittéracique des jeunes contemporain·e·s, deux objectifs sont poursuivis : décrire et analyser les œuvres actuellement à disposition, en les interrogeant en tant que « techno-textes » [Hayles, 2002] littéraires à destination d’un public bien précis, constitué d’enfants en formation ; analyser des aspects de la réception, en se focalisant sur les processus de compréhension et d’interprétation, tels qu’ils se manifestent dans l’actualisation d’un parcours de navigation sur écran et dans la restitution a posteriori du parcours effectué. Le premier volet de la thèse se propose ainsi, d’une part, de cerner l’objet en dressant un portrait de l’offre éditoriale contemporaine, d’autre part, de décrire plus finement les caractéristiques des œuvres et les différentes manières par lesquelles elles construisent leur message. Le deuxième volet est dédié à l’observation de divers échantillons de lecteur·rice·s empiriques et se propose de vérifier comment il·elle·s abordent l’œuvre littéraire numérique, se l’approprient et répondent à ses requêtes d’interaction par des « interprétations actualisées » [Jeanneret, 2000], qui découlent d’une réception subjective du texte<br>This dissertation focuses on a very recent and still unestablished digital artifact: children’s literary applications. From a perspective that combines literary education and digital literary theory, we develop two research lines, aimed at defining both the structures of the apps and their potential role in promoting young readers’ multiliteracy competencies. Two main objectives are thus pursued: describing and analyzing the apps, by questioning them as literary “technotexts” [Hayles, 2002] intended for a specific audience; analyzing their actual reception and, more particularly, their comprehension and interpretation among children, observing both their actuals manipulations on the screen and their retrospective recalls of the stories. Therefore, the first part of this study offers, on the one hand, a broad view on the editorial offer and, on the other hand, a close reading of its main features and literary “figures”. The second part is dedicated to the observation of five groups of empirical readers and is aimed at verifying how they approach and understand digital literary works, thereby responding to their interaction requests with an “actualized interpretation” [Jeanneret, 2000] that results from a subjective reception of the text

Dissertação de Mestrado em Comunicação Educacional Multimédia apresentada à Universidade Aberta<br>Contar histórias é uma arte muito antiga, que envolve um conjunto de símbolos e códigos usados de forma semelhante com os mesmos significados, mas adequados a cada período ao longo da nossa história. As histórias são, assim, contadas de geração em geração e vão adquirindo várias fórmulas ao longo dos tempos. Atualmente, vivemos na era dos ecrãs e estamos rodeados de vários tipos, desde o ecrã da televisão ao computador, passando para o ecrã dos tablets, telemóveis, smartphones ou leitores de mp3/mp4. Torna-se cada vez mais pertinente a utilização destes equipamentos no processo de ensino e aprendizagem, uma vez que promovem novas formas de comunicar, de aprender, de pensar e de ensinar oferendo às crianças e aos alunos um papel mais ativo. A emergência da utilização destes equipamentos, juntamente com a importância de contar histórias, levou-nos a realizar este estudo para tentar compreender quais as potencialidades da sua integração no processo de ensino e aprendizagem. O propósito do estudo tem como principal objetivo contribuir para uma perceção mais profunda das potencialidades da criação de histórias digitais, utilizando a tecnologia podcast, no desenvolvimento de aprendizagens, nomeadamente ao nível das competências de leitura e escrita, dos alunos do 1.o Ciclo do Ensino Básico (CEB). O estudo desenvolvido teve por base uma estratégia de investigação assente em duas componentes principais: revisão da literatura e utilização de um estudo de caso “Conta-nos uma história! - Podcast na Educação”. Com o objetivo de compreender, o melhor possível, as potencialidades da criação de histórias digitais, utilizando a tecnologia podcast, adotou-se para o desenho do estudo o método misto, uma vez que utiliza métodos de recolha de dados de natureza qualitativo e quantitativo. Como técnicas de recolha de dados foram usadas, na primeira fase do estudo, entrevistas e na segunda foram aplicados questionários. Os resultados obtidos com este estudo foram analisados tendo em conta as questões de investigação e o modelo de análise.<br>Storytelling is an ancient art, which involves a set of symbols and codes used in a similar way and with the same meaning, but adapted to each period throughout our history. Stories are, thus, told from generation to generation, acquiring different formulas as time goes by. Nowadays, we live in a world of screens and are surrounded by several types, starting with the screens of televisions and computers, and moving on to the screens of tablets, mobile phones, smartphones and mp3/mp4 players. It’s becoming increasingly relevant to integrate these devices in the process of teaching and learning, as they promote new ways of communication, learning, thinking and teaching, motivating children and students to play a more active role. The pressing need in using these devices, along with the importance of storytelling, lead us to conduct this study in an attempt to understand the potential of it’s integration in the teaching and learning process. The prime objective of this study is to contribute to a deeper perception of the potential of digital storytelling, using podcast technology in the development of learning, namely at the level of reading and writing competencies, for basic school students. The study was performed based on a research strategy supported by two major components: a review of literature and the usage of the case study “Tell us a story! Podcast in education”. With the goal of understanding, as best as possible, the potential of digital storytelling using podcast technology, a mixed approach was adopted in the drafting of the study, as it uses both quantitative and qualitative data collection methods. In the first phase of the study interviews were used for data collection and in the second phase questionnaires were applied. The results achieved by this study were evaluated taking into account the investigation issues and the analysis model.

Atualmente, os ambientes tradicionais onde se desenvolvem as estratégias de promoção da leitura estão a ressentir-se devido ao impacto das tecnologias digitais, especialmente dos dispositivos móveis touch, e da forma diferenciada como nos é apresentada a informação, causando alguma apreensão junto dos envolvidos nos processos de promoção e mediação da leitura. Foi dentro desta problemática que esta investigação explorou novas formas de otimizar o processo de mediação e de animação da/para a leitura no contexto do digital. Teve como ponto de partida preferencial o livro de literatura infantil, impresso, preservando-o como objeto cultural de alto valor, continuando nós a acreditar no seu importante papel para a promoção da leitura na idade de ser criança. Focou a ação na modulação dos ambientes de leitura, procurou caminhos para fazer chegar o livro às mãos da criança, de tornar o ato de ler numa experiência imersiva, que fosse significativa e prazerosa, que marcasse o seu percurso como leitora. Todo o processo de investigação teve uma vertente predominantemente prática, materializada na conceção de artefactos e instalações de média-arte digital inovadoras. Pretendeu-se que o percurso relacionado com a visão, produção, desenvolvimento e experimentação nos cenários reais fosse suportado pela construção de um conhecimento e fundamentação teórica nascidos da pesquisa sobre os processos que envolveram a mediação e a animação da leitura; de conceitos ligados à arte digital, Narrativa Transmédia e às áreas tecnológicas que envolveram a produção dos artefactos média-arte digital e o desenvolvimento das suas interfaces, como a Realidade Aumentada, eletrónica, mecânica e computação. Por último, na apresentação das performances, nos momentos expositivos, entre outras atividades em que nos envolvemos na partilha do nosso trabalho, criámos oportunidades para difundir, avaliar e desenvolver os produtos desta investigação que, na generalidade, foram bem aceites pelo seu público-alvo, as crianças, e pelos mediadores da leitura, que somos todos nós.<br>Nowadays the traditional environments where the reading promotion strategies are developed are struggling due to the impact of digital technologies, particularly mobile touch devices and the differentiated way in which information is presented to us, causing some apprehension among the parties involved on the mediation and promotion of the reading process. It was within this problematic that this investigation explored new ways to optimize the mediation process of animation of (and for the) reading on the digital context. The preferred starting point was the printed children’s book, keeping it as a highly valuable cultural object, as we still believe on its important role in the promotion of reading during childhood. This research focused its action on the modulation of reading environments, searched for ways to get the book to the children’s hands, to make reading an immersive experience, that was meaningful and pleasurable, that would be a milestone on its journey as a reader. The entire research process had a predominantly practical side, materialized on the conception of artifacts and innovative digital media art installations. It was intended that the journey related with the vision, production, development and experimentation on the real scenarios was supported by the construction of a theoretical foundation and knowledge. Thus, the processes involved in the reading mediation and animation were first researched, followed by the concepts connected to the digital art, transmedia narrative and technological fields necessary to the production of digital media art artifacts and the development of its interfaces, like augmented reality, electronics, mechanics, and computing. Finally, we created opportunities to disseminate, evaluate and develop the products of this research, while presenting performances, during exhibition, and other activities in which we were involved as we shared our work where, generally, it was well accepted by its target audience, the children, and by the reading mediators, that are all of us.