Hanging Out With Computers: The Role of IM in Teenage Communication

Rebecca E. Grinter, PARC
   grinter@parc.xerox.com

Seminar on People, Computers, and Design
Stanford University March 8, 2002

This talk reports findings about teenagers' uses of IM. In addition to describing what worked and what didn't this study offers insights into: adoption challenges for technologies at home, what IM tells us about pervasive communications, and how individuals manage the balance of presence and privacy.Work in collaboration with Leysia Palen University of Colorado, Boulder

Rebecca E. Grinter is a Member of the Research Staff in the Computer Science Laboratory of the Palo Alto Research Center. She holds a PhD in Information and Computer Science from the University of California, Irvine. Her research interests focus on the design and evaluation of technologies to support collaboration in social and work settings

Leysia Palen is an Assistant Research Professor of Computer Science at the University of Colorado, Boulder (CU). She is also affiliated with the Institute of Cognitive Science and the Center for Lifelong Learning and Design. Dr. Palen conducts enthographic investigations of the adoption and use of technologies that support collaboration, with an emphasis on "everyday" technologies such as enterprise calendars and mobile communications. Dr. Palen completed her graduate work in 1998 with advisor Jonathan Grudin at the University of California, Irvine in Information and Computer Science.

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