1. Phillip Allen
COM 410- Children and Media
Professor Hobbs
09/26/12
Comparison of Old and New Media
During this generation, technology has been found to be the biggest ruler of society.
Where ever you turn there is a child watching high definition television, playing games on their
IPad, or even being interactive with their video games by moving around. The days of Atari and
Pac-Man are long gone and the new revolution of media has arrived. Children are now growing
up in the new age of interactive and rapid media.
One children’s television that comes to mind when thinking of interactive media is
Nickelodeon’s Dora the Explorer. This show has moved leaps and bounds through the children
media sector being one of the first and most productive interactive educational television show.
This show is about an animated Latin girl named Dora who finds herself travelling from place to
place, exploring new lands and making new friends. In these different places, she meets
characters that speak Spanish and others that do math problems. She has many different
important materials that go with her to aid in her journeys like her backpack and the map. This
show has been proven to help children learn Spanish, become faster mathematicians, and teach
values like not to steal and not to lie. Certain characters that help in teaching these values is a
fox named Swiper who loves to steal, and Tico the squirrel who helps teach different languages.
This television show since its release in 2000, has been recognized by all ages as a form
of educational television for younger children. This show become so well known for allowing
children the opportunity during the show to answer questions and help Dora reach her

2. destination. What the producers do is after every question Dora asks the audience, they allow
ample amount of time before the characters start to speak again. This allows the audience,
children, to become more likely to pay attention and learn for the simple fact of having to use
brain function to answer a question. While other television shows like Bob the Builder just try to
teach the children values by properly portraying them during the show but the child just has to
observe, they are not allowed any time to interact. Many networks have tried to make as many
interactive shows as possible to match the successful response of Dora the Explorer.
Interactive media is what is allowing children to learn different subjects so quickly.
Other forms of media such as application on the IPad can seem fun to the child, but as he or she
plays, they are learning different math or English skills.
One show that also had a great impact on children but was around about 20 years ago was
Barney and Friends. This show was not animated but portrayed young children, like the
audience, interacting with a large purple and green dinosaur named Barney. Barney had many
other friends were Baby Bop, B.J., and Riff. All of these characters were different types of
dinosaurs. Children were able to have the imagination of there being colorful talking dinosaurs
while still having the reality of the values taught in the show. This show was not interactive
media due to not allowing the audience to actively participate in the show, but it was successful
due to one fact of Liking. Liking is a communication term used to describe how an audience
reacts to different people. For example, young views liked to watch Barney because they saw
children just like themselves hanging out with Barney and playing games. This show taught
many of the same values and lessons as Dora but did not receive the same amount of success.
Some children would be dazed by focusing on the television so long and wouldn’t learn one

3. thing because they were day dreaming. But while watching Dora, the audience stays attentive to
the subject because many children already know there will be a question on it.
These two very different television shows both had the same goal in mind; they wanted to
successful grab the audiences’ attention and properly communicate the different lessons and
values of everyday life. The largest difference between the two is the growing popularity of
interactive media. Dora the Explorer offers interaction and communication in the show while
Barney and Friends just showed the children the values and lessons. During the time
researching the two different shows and comparing them, I think that if Dora was available to my
generation, would have my academic path turned out and differently?

4. Works Cited
1) (n.d.). Dora the explorer. [Print Photo]. Retrieved from
https://www.google.com/search?num=10&hl=en&safe=off&site=imghp&tbm=isch&source=hp
&biw=1366&bih=563&q=dora the explorer&oq=dora the
explorer&gs_l=img.3.0l10.911.4057.0.4346.17.8.0.9.9.0.206.841.3j3j1.7.0..0.0..1ac.1._dZYlyD
wvxs
2) (n.d.). Barney and friends. [Print Photo]. Retrieved from
http://www.google.com/imgres?hl=en&safe=off&biw=1366&bih=563&tbm=isch&tbnid=NkgH
8xcoPu8ZfM:&imgrefurl=http://blogs.babble.com/strollerderby/2011/05/30/teacher-sings-
barney-and-friends-after-violence-erupts-outside-classroom-
video/&docid=7vLuarwxEBetvM&imgurl