This web service, flattenme, allows you to upload your child's photo and first name. Send them a little more than $30, and you have a very nicely produced hardback book featuring your child as a pictured character in the story. The graphics work seems to be beautiful.
But part of me hates this as more of the "it's all about me" mentality that has sucked the social conscience out of our nation. Part of me thinks it's adorable. Part of me thinks it blurs the lines between reality and fantasy. Part of me thinks it would be a wonderful keepsake. Part of me thinks it is yet another example of the monetization of childhood. Part of me thinks it's creative and clever.
Tim: This reminds me of a typewritten book my parents bought for me sometime in the late 1970s that included my NAME in the text of the book. The story was about a boy who had a giraffe visit him in his neighborhood, and had some adventures. My parents gave the company making the book my address, the name of my dog, the name of my best friend, and a few other things which were included in different parts of the story in mad-lib style-- in blanks of text that were filled in with the info they provided.
I agree with your concern for our "me" society, but I think in this case it is probably a good thing for kids to find more incentive to read based on their personal involvement in a story. It would be cool to see a website devised by someone which would let kids enter some personal information into a story, like the one I had early in life, and then get a customized story about themselves. Taking it to the next level, people could upload an actual picture of their child, their dog, their house, and other things and not only have customized text but also customized images, like the example of "flattenme" that you cite here but with more custom images.
I'm reminded of Dr. Mitchel Resnick’s comments about our relationships with media in this discussion, probably because I just heard that session from BLC07 as a podcast yesterday. He observes we (and our students) can consume, interact with, or create media. There is value in both consuming and interacting, but as I know you're aware there can be much more cognitive value when students actively CREATE.
So I wouldn't fret too much over the cultural narcissism possibly being communicated through this customized book service. I think the potential it suggests for customized storytelling is an exciting one, and hopefully what we're seeing now is just version 1.0 of a digital storytelling capacity that will go further in years to come... allowing students to really get in the driver's seat as CREATORS rather than just consumers or interactors.
This is likely the best attitude we can take with almost all new technology. There is good and bad and these discussions need to be explored with teachers, parents and kids.
Rediscovering your work and am excited about the perspectives you bring to teaching and learning. And I promise to be nice ;)