Mercantile parenting: the circulation of information about children’s literacy

and development in commercial spaces

Sue Nichols, Helen Nixon & Sophia Rainbird

University of South Australia, Australia

Jennifer Rowsell, Graduate School of Education, Rutgers University, USA

Funded by ARC Discovery Grant 2007-2009

Rutgers University Development Grant

Our Questions• How are resources for early learning

produced for and circulated among parents?

• How are resources spatially located and networked in community, government and commercial spaces?

• What messages do these resources and practices send?

• The interactions between all these elements.

Project Elements

• Ethnographic approach (Bloome and Green, 1998)

• Geosemiotics (Scollon & Scollon, 2003)• Network theory (Law, 1999, 2003)• Three sites:

1) small rural community outside of Adelaide, SA2) larger outer suburb of Adelaide, SA3) suburban, university town in Princeton, NJ

Research Design

• Parent survey• Interviews with parents and service providers• Observation• Resource inventory & mapping (Neuman &

Celano, 2001)• Artefact collection• Web-site investigation• Observation• Opportunistic information gathering

Data analysis: geographic, social and Data analysis: geographic, social and virtual affordancesvirtual affordances

• Spatial contextSpatial context – where is this text/display/shop? What kind – where is this text/display/shop? What kind of space is this? How easy is it to find/reach/see?of space is this? How easy is it to find/reach/see?

• CostCost – how much time/money/effort does it take to: get to this – how much time/money/effort does it take to: get to this place/access this resource/take this thing home?place/access this resource/take this thing home?

• Social relationsSocial relations – which people are hailed to read this – which people are hailed to read this text/come to this place and which people do? text/come to this place and which people do?

• MobilityMobility – how do information resources move in and out of – how do information resources move in and out of this space?this space?

• NetworkingNetworking – what kinds of connections are made between – what kinds of connections are made between information resources in different spaces and across material information resources in different spaces and across material and virtual spaces?and virtual spaces?

Gumtree Plaza, a Westfield mall in NE Adelaide, viewed from library and local council offices- a late 1960s planned separation of civic and commercial suburban spaces.

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The WFamily

WestfieldNew Jersey USA

Mum’s TipsKids and Computers

I let my kids use the computer to access some very good web sites, such as 'ABC Kids', 'Happy meal', and some colouring website..., even 7,9,10 news. I create links that they can easily get on.

Shu-Fen (Mum of 2)

Inside the ABC shop Gumtree Plaza

Books, spin-off merchandise from ABC and BBC TV shows, and Reading Eggs literacy materials displayed

What is ABC Reading Eggs?

ABC Reading Eggs is a highly innovative program based on the latest research, designed to make learning to read easy and fun by combining books with online reading games and activities.

And it works!

We’ve had great feedback from thousands of satisfied parents whose children are learning to read. Children love the games, songs, golden eggs and other rewards which, along with reading success, really motivates children to keep learning.

Online ‘ABC branded stores’ for themed merchandise

‘Reggie’ animated welcome

Tally of Games Bought – formerly ‘Lessons Completed’

View of RE world with animated avatars

Kmart is located alongside an open-style café where parents can sit and observe their children playing in Playworld, a feature common to Westfield malls worldwide.

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ABC books, DVDs & themed clothes in Kmart

The Physical and Virtual Worlds of Babies R Us, Target, and Walmart

• Three commercial hubs in close proximity in US site in ‘strip malls’

• Used a Sarah Pink lens for observations to explore, “the production of both material and social realities” to derive a sense of place. (Pink, 2008: 179)

• Documented ‘entangled pathways’ or making of routes for sensory experiences.

• Such a perspective accounts for researcher reflexivity.

Using a Geosemiotic Framework

Babies R UsInteraction Order: Interact with BRU representativesVisual Semiotics: Texts are read at stations, large reception for

questions, answers, and requests.Semiotics of Space: Open, expansive, modern, focused on babies in

all domains of philosophy and practice

Target

Interaction Order: Little to no seeking out of help and most activity in children’s clothing

Visual Semiotics: Parenting has a variety of books - not separated by genre like B R U - privileging of children’s clothes instead of information

Semiotics of Space: Muted colours, darker lighting, vast, busy and hectic feel

WalmartInteraction Order: Focused shopping and interactions looking for

specific itemsVisual Semiotics: Generic design with sections in the same

place in each store. Informational texts at the front of store by the cash registers.

Semiotics of Space: Clothing in front of store and toys in back, darker lighting and more chaotic feel.

FieldnotesOn Walmart:

Moving into the store and walking east along the side you hit: food; drugstore/chemist at the front of the store and on the other side as you walk into the main part of the store you hit: stationary items; housewares; and gardening/landscaping. You walk through aisles and aisles of housewares; sporting goods; electronics; until you hit children’s toys in the back of the store. Most of the toys have to do with pure fun, but there is one row dedicated to educational toys. (12/09)

Comparing Online SpacesBabies R UsHomeCategoryBrandCollectionTop RatedWhat’s NewMultiple

Learning

Styles

TargetWomenMenBabyKidShoesBeautyHomeBed + Bath

Walmart (Baby Section)Bedding and DécorCar SeatsClothingCribsDiapers & PottyFeedingGearGifts for BabyMaternityNurseryStrollersToddler RoomToysTravel Solutions

Placement of semiotic artefacts like store signs and toy packaging work to position parents in particular ways vis a vis other people (e.g. parents, education experts, children), objects (e.g. books, websites, toys) and practices (e.g. giving children pleasure, singing to children) as they learn about how to care for young children as ‘proper’ adults from the perspective of organizations or corporations and their sponsors.