Prelims
The Future of the Self: Understanding Personalization in Childhood and Beyond
ISBN: 978-1-80043-945-0, eISBN: 978-1-80043-944-3
Publication date: 1 February 2021
Citation
Kucirkova, N. (2021), "Prelims", The Future of the Self: Understanding Personalization in Childhood and Beyond, Emerald Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. i-ix. https://doi.org/10.1108/978-1-80043-944-320211001
Publisher
:Emerald Publishing Limited
Copyright © 2021 Natalia Kucirkova
Half Title Page
The Future of the Self
Title Page
Praise for The Future of the Self
‘An astonishing amount of information for educators, other professionals and parents on almost every aspect of technology’s impact on children’s development of “self” and sense of agency. Dr Kucirkova has written a powerful book about the growing impact of technology induced personalization on children and our collective future. The book contains rich information to how children learn that is embedded in context including social science, child development, philosophy and literature. A must read!’
– Barry Zuckerman MD, Boston University School of Medicine, USA
‘Anyone concerned about the impact of technology on their life and the lives of children should rush to read The Future of the Self, by Natalia Kucirkova.
This book captures the multiple, interacting forces shaping the sense of self in the digital age and encourages readers to reflect on the implications.
The book explores how technologies personalize our experiences using data collected by search engines documenting our activities, educational software guiding our learning, and social media monitoring our interactions.
This book will motivate teachers, parents, designers, policy makers, and users of technology to re-examine the implications of personalization in their lives. Drawing on technological advances, research findings, and theoretical insights Kucirkova identifies trade-offs, dilemmas, and paradoxes that deserve our attention.
The book gives readers tools for thinking about the interacting factors determining how experiences are personalized. In one example, Kucirkova identifies the trade-offs that ensue when balancing personalization targeted to the individual and pluralization targeted to the overall audience. This distinction arises every time teachers make decisions about whether to assign the same book to their class or to let each student select their own book.’
– Marcia C. Linn, Evelyn Lois Corey Professor of Instructional Science, Graduate School of Education, University of California, Berkeley, USA
The Future of the Self
Understanding Personalization in Childhood and Beyond
By
Natalia Kucirkova
University of Stavanger, Norway and The Open University, UK
Copyright Page
Emerald Publishing Limited
Howard House, Wagon Lane, Bingley BD16 1WA, UK
First edition 2021
© 2021 Natalia Kucirkova. Published under exclusive licence by Emerald Publishing Limited.
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British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
ISBN: 978-1-80043-945-0 (Print)
ISBN: 978-1-80043-946-7 (Online)
ISBN: 978-1-80043-946-7 (Epub)
Contents
| List of Figures | vii |
| About the Authorix | |
| Introduction | 1 |
| 1. Personalization–Pluralization | 17 |
| 2. Quantity and Complexity | 39 |
| 3. Agency | 65 |
| 4. Acceleration | 89 |
| 5. Density | 123 |
| 6. Sequence | 157 |
| 7. Distance | 183 |
| Conclusion | 209 |
| Notes | 219 |
| References | 237 |
| Index | 277 |
List of Figures
| Fig. 1: Conceptual model of adjusting practices, processes and products at the macro-, meso- and micro-levels. | 4 |
| Fig. 2: Examples of categories and sub-categories of personal data. | 6 |
| Fig. 3: Explanatory diagram of differences between individualization, customization and personalization. | 33 |
| Fig. 4: A mnemonic for remembering a balance in P–P. | 35 |
| Fig. 5: Examples of how diversity and multiplicity make up data complexity. | 60 |
| Fig. 6: A schema of the bi-composition of agency. | 67 |
| Fig. 7: An illustration of how agency develops over time. | 80 |
| Fig. 8: The relationship between agency and optimal, minimal and extreme levels of P–P. | 82 |
| Fig. 9: A simplified account of the emphasis on personalized time and space in different eras. | 106 |
| Fig. 10: Distance combined with types of literature and examples. | 194 |
| Fig. 11: The four quadrants of social cognition. | 196 |
| Fig. 12: The four quadrants of immersion/identification options in stories. | 196 |
| Fig. 13: The four quadrants of empathy options in relation to stories. | 197 |
About the Author
Natalia Kucirkova is Professor of Early Childhood Education and Development at the University of Stavanger, Norway and Professor of Reading and Children’s Development at The Open University, UK. Her research concerns innovative ways of supporting children’s book reading, digital literacy and exploring the role of personalization in the early years. Her research takes place collaboratively across academia, commercial and third sectors. She is author of Digital Personalization in Early Childhood (Bloomsbury) and How and Why to Read and Create Children’s Digital Books (UCL Press) and currently blogs for Psychology Today.