ABSTRACT

In this article, we examine how a Latinx eight-year-old child’s participation in an online gaming community supported his involvement in a way of learning termed Learning by Observing and Pitching In (LOPI). Specifically, we focus on how the way that the online gaming community was organized allowed the child to be incorporated to contribute to a range of the online gaming community’s activities. In the two examples, we reveal how the child leveraged digital tools to coordinate fluidly and complete shared endeavours with others in his gaming environments. Moreover, through in-depth analyses of the child’s video gaming activity, we argue that children learn by observing gamer-produced media and pitch in to online gaming communities through their gameplay. As such, the article has implications for how children participate through LOPI in virtual communities through their everyday media practices. We end with a discussion on how contexts organized around play, such as online gaming communities, can be fruitful sites of learning in which children develop digital literacies by observing and pitching in.

摘要

在本文中，我们研究了一个 8 岁拉丁裔儿童参与在线游戏社区如何支持他参与一种称为通过观察和投入学习 (LOPI) 的学习方式。具体来说，我们关注网络游戏社区的组织方式如何让孩子融入网络游戏社区的一系列活动中。在这两个例子中，我们揭示了孩子如何利用数字工具在他的游戏环境中流畅地协调和完成与他人的共同努力。此外，通过对儿童视频游戏活动的深入分析，我们认为儿童通过观察玩家制作的媒体来学习，并通过他们的游戏玩法参与在线游戏社区。像这样，这篇文章对儿童如何通过日常媒体实践通过 LOPI 参与虚拟社区产生了影响。最后，我们讨论了围绕游戏组织的环境（例如在线游戏社区）如何成为富有成效的学习场所，让孩子们通过观察和参与来培养数字素养。