The Positive Side of Participatory Culture and New Media

As I went through this week’s readings, I could not help but think about how easy it is to become published these days.  Most web users are published authors, having posted on forums, social media sites, blogs and elsewhere.  In the past, being published was a difficult process involving a great deal of luck, some capital, and the talent to be among the selected few that would become memorialized onto the pages of a book.  In my early thirties, I went on a book writing craze, but I was never lucky enough to get out of the slush pile.  I lacked a network of people to help facilitate in having my work seen by someone in a position to make a decision.  Today, I write freely on blogs and social media sites, discussion posts and forums.  I am well-published on the web.  More importantly, the ability to have my voice heard is even more important that the audience who reads what I have to say

Without the Internet, or Internet access, I would not be able to voice my opinions and have my say about local and national events on the web.  With the web, I can advocate for animal rights, gay rights, national health care, all from the comfort of my favorite chair and desk at home.  In addition, I am able to post pictures of my children, the places I visit, and I can share media that I feel strongly about.  As a full participant in the hype of new media on the web, and part of the “networked public,” I believe that these changes are positive and will continue to provide new methods of communication between people across the globe.

Author Varnelis cites Geert Lovink who “suggests that these networked publics follow a nihilist impulse against moral absolutes and objective truths, which in media terms translates into a growing distrust for commercial news organizations and their product” (2008 pg. 5).  This is extremely important to note as it represents the end of news monopolies and the beginning of common individuals as newsmakers.  Recently, there was a story where 50,000 people protested against austerity in Great Britain, and BBC News refused to publish the story (ellenrr, 2014).  If it were not for social media, the voices of the 50,000 individuals speaking out would have gone unheard.  This did not happen, however, and the lack of coverage by BBC became extremely suspect as they made an overt attempt to suppress big news in Great Britain.  This is just one recent example of how social media has brought to light news from around the world that has brought us closer as a global population, and more aware of the plights of others in our day to day lives.

As I’ve mentioned, one of my favorite ways to communicate online is to blog.  I don’t have much of a following, but enough to keep me writing.  “Blogs are another kind of collective intelligence in which individuals pool their fact finding capabilities to gather knowledge that can challenge the authority of the professional press (Varnelis, 2008 pg. 6).  One of my blogs is about how I quit smoking.  I am not a doctor or a known authority on the subject, but I was able to offer my readers an alternative to other methods in an intelligent yet caring way (How I Quit Smoking, 2012).

According to the Varnelis text, “The result is that a good deal more that human beings value can now be done by individuals, who interact with each other socially, as human beings and as social beings, rather than as market actors through the price system” (Russell, Ito, Richmond & Tuters, 2008 pg.46).  This is truly momentous in the history of our world.  The authors continue, “by reshaping long-established standards of production and consumption, amateurs, file sharers, and bloggers challenge existing institutional and professional authority. Today we see the first glimmerings of what a fully networked public culture might look like (Russell, et al, 2008 pg 49). There are vast educational implications in the changes that are occurring as new media and new literacies impact the way that people learn and how they are exposed to knowledge, and become creators of knowledge.

According to authors Durant & Green, (2000):

In an age of burgeoning new media of communication, information and representation, there are more and different technologies available. These are increasingly deployed in working and playing with texts, in the practice of new and different literacies. Indeed, we are now able to recognise and acknowledge that, for schooling and education, print is simply one of a range of available technocultural resources. Accordingly, account needs to be taken of a profound media shift in literacy, schooling and society--a broad-based shift from print to digital electronics as the organising context for literate-textual practice and for learning and teaching.

Following is Green’s chart (2000):

Green & Durant explain the ‘3D’ view of literacy-technology learning:  “it brings together three dimensions or aspects of learning and practice: the operational, the cultural and the critical. Rather than simply focusing on `how-to' knowledge, as it usually is understood--that is, technical competence and so-called`functional literacy'--it complements and supplements this by contextualizing it, with due regard for matters of culture, history and power. All dimensions need to be addressed simultaneously, in an integrated view of literate practice and literacy pedagogy.

In response to Durant & Green, I do understand the new role of the user as a code breaker in a socially conscious and culturally competent model.  In addition critical analysis gains in importance as we are exposed to new avenues of knowledge making and knowledge consumption.

When I think about the readings for this module, I become excited about the possibilities that are presented to web users today, and the technologies that will allow for even more freedom to become creators of knowledge and information in the future.  I am happy to see the downfall of the few corporations who control all of the information.  Their day is over, and the day of the people, the individual voice, has just begun.

Reference

Durrant, C., & Green, B. (2000). Literacy and the new technologies in school education: meeting

the l (IT) eracy challenge?.

Elenrr. (2014, June 22). Thread Information - Democratic Underground. Retrieved from

http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=thread&info=1&address=12529693

How I Quit Smoking | Yadablahblog by Molly [Web log post]. (n.d.). Retrieved from

http://yadablahblog.wordpress.com/2012/08/02/how-i-quit-smoking/

Russell, A., Ito, M., Richmond, T., & Tuters, M. (2008). Culture: Media Convergence and

Networked Participation. In Networked Publics (pp. 43-76). Boston, MA: The MIT Press.

Varnelis, K.(Ed.).(2008). Networked Publics. Cambridge, Massachusetts: The MIT Press.

http://networkedpublics.org/

New Media and New Literacies Module 2: Literacy

What counts as literacy?  Any endeavor that requires remembering, understanding, applying, analysing, evaluating and creating counts as a type of literacy (Overbaugh, n.d.).   Early in the article, Literacy Debate: Online, R U Really Reading?, author Rich discusses the tasks performed by a fifteen year old girl each day after school (2008).  Nadia, a high school student, typically spend at least six hours a day in front of the computer, checking e-mail, visiting social networking sites, downloading videos and creating virtual characters for role playing games (Rich, 2008).  In addition, Nadia likes to spend time on “quizilla.com or fanfiction.net, reading and commenting on stories written by other users and based on books, television shows or movies” (Rich, 2008).

In order to navigate the Internet, and perform her tasks, Nadia needs to have a solid set of technology skills.  She needs to understand what she is doing, and why, and find ways to do that which she does not already know, and to disregard what she does not need to know.  Nadia applies what she learns to help her navigate through sites of interest, choosing the sites that appeal to her the most.  On a role-playing site, Nadia has created a character to represent herself in a virtual world.  Nadia is clearly meeting the scaffolding of Bloom’s Taxonomy.  She is engaged in remembering, understanding, applying, analyzing, evaluation and creating for the entire six hours that she spends online.  Nadia is a computer literate teen who is engaging in the types of activities that will help her to become a better independent learner.

How does literacy change in response to the new media landscape? For one thing, teens have proven that learning is more fun online, and this is a large motivator for them to spend so much time on the Internet.  Learning is more collaborative on the Internet, through posts, forums, the voice provided to each of us through social networking and gaming.

What value we should ascribe to the new forms of communication that continue to emerge and evolve online?  The value of online communication and emerging technologies cannot be underestimated from the standpoint of learning practitioners.  Online methods of teaching and learning are improving all the time, and they are not going to disappear.  Since online methods of teaching and learning are here to stay, it is of great benefit for educators to fully grasp the intricacies of online learning through study of best practices.

Reference

Overbaugh, R. (n.d.). Bloom's Taxonomy. Retrieved from

http://ww2.odu.edu/educ/roverbau/Bloom/blooms_taxonomy.htm

Rich, M. (2008, July 27). Literacy Debate: Online, R U Really Reading? The New York Times.

New Media and New Literacies: Understanding The New Literacies

"The distinctive contribution of the approach to literacy as social practice lies in the ways in which it involves careful and sensitive attention to what people do with texts, how they make sense of them and use them to further their own purposes in their own learning lives" (Gillen and Barton, 2010, p. 9).

We all learned in school that the purpose of reading and writing is to inform, persuade or entertain. This is one thing that hasn't changed, although we are more likely to be informed, persuaded or entertained through the medium of a screen and internet access via computer.

According to Gillen & Barton, (2010), writing is currently being affected by four factors:

1. Texts are becoming intensely multimodal, that is, image is ever-increasingly appearing with writing, and, in many domains of communication, displacing writing where it had previously been dominant.

In other words, graphic images are either replacing text and create meaning and learning experience on their own, or work within a combination of text to do the same.

2. Screens (of the digital media) are replacing the page and the book as the dominant media.

Just yesterday, I realized how much space I could save in my house by getting rid of books and keeping an electronic library instead.  Books seem suddenly unnecessary, except for a treasured few.

3. Social structures and social relations are undergoing fundamental changes, as far as writing 

is concerned, predominantly in changes of structures of authority, and in the effects of changing 

gender formations. 

Woo-hoo!  It's about time that individuals have a voice in their communities, the government and the world.  We are all authorities about the subjects we write about; we don't need to consult the "few" who are considered experts.  Gender roles are changing, diversity is becoming more embraced, and attention to equalizing the system of education and closing the educational divide are hot topics in the field of Education.

4) Constellations of mode and medium are being transformed. The medium of the book and the 

mode of writing had formed a centuries-long symbiotic constellation; this is being displaced by a 

new constellation of medium of the screen and mode of image. The consequences of this shift are 

profound. 

The authors also state that , "those who have grown up in a world where the screen and its potentials have already become naturalized, are taking as natural all the potentials of the screen, including its social potentials and consequences – in terms of action, agency, modes to be used, modes which are focal, forms of production and reading" (Gillon & Barton, 2010).

The English language, and other languages, are all changing and evolving into a world of shorthand acronyms that must be learned in order to participate in much of the existing and emerging technologies.  The authors caution that traditional schools must become familiar with "the potentials of the screen in order to begin to take advantage of the potential of the screen in education." (Gillon & Barton, 2010).  Schools are behind in this area, and are still operating under old beliefs and assumptions about best practices in education.

Wilbur (2010), offers several Key concepts in literacy studies:

• There can be different literacies in different domains of life.

This reminds me of the old, but true adage, "when in Rome . . ..  Just as speech differs between an employee and a boss, a mother and child, a teacher and student, and among peers, there will always be a dominant literacy in effect depending on need and location.  An individual would most likely use a completely different language when updated their linked in profile in contrast to chatting with friends on Facebook.

• A focus on people’s everyday activities includes their vernacular ways of learning.

How are people using language differently between tasks?

• Institutions are important in shaping, sponsoring and supporting people’s practices.

How can we assure that education is equitable, and high quality?  Who is paying for online learning experiences?  Who are the stakeholders and whom do they serve the most?

• Other people, in the form of brokers, mediators and scribes, can provide networks of support.

Mentors can be found on forums, posts and other social media.  Once online learning skills are developed, the student often become self-directed and self-motivated in their learning.

• Any literacy practice involves issues of access and power. 

There continues to be an issue of inequality in education, where those with access to the Internet and the knowledge to use it are at a great advantage compared to those who lack hardware and skills.

As "more and more technologies become available, they are increasingly deployed in working and playing with texts, in the practice of new and different literacies" (Literacy and the new technologies in school education, 2014).  The authors continue, "Meeting the challenge of new forms of textual practice and media culture and new relations between literacy and IT is likely to play an ever-increasingly significant role in teachers' professional lives, as indeed in society more generally" (Literacy, 2014).   The authors explain that teachers and educational institutions need to find ways of reframing existing ideas about text, language and literacies in order to keep up with the new ways that young people are learning today.

Reference

Gillen, J., & Barton, D. (2010). Digital Literacies. Technology Enhanced 

Learning. Retrieved from http://www.tlrp.org/docs/DigitalLiteracies.pdf

Literacy and the new technologies in school education: Meeting the l(IT)eracy challenge?. 

(n.d.) >The Free Library. (2014). Retrieved Sep 21 2014 from 

 http://www.thefreelibrary.com/Literacy+and+the+new+technologies+in+school+education%3a+Meeting+the...-a063132991

Wilbur, D. (2010, May 31). Special themed issue: Beyond ‘new’ literacies - Digital Culture & Education. Retrieved from http://www.digitalcultureandeducation.com/uncategorized/dce_editorial_vol2_iss1_2010/

New Media & New Literacies J.E. Week 3: Reflections on Change and New Technologies

Coming from a world that is largely "hands on," I often find the technologies in use today to be somewhat confusing.  When I was young, we held our toys in our hands, in a distinct physical location.  We could feel them and see them; turn them around and view them from all sides. In some ways, which I mean to correct, I feel left out of the experience of using the latest technologies and need to gain the skills required to join in with the rest of the world.

The Smart Phone is something that I have yet to conquer, and I do not currently have any kind of cell phone, mostly due to living simply and keeping financial burdens to an absolute minimum.  It's not that I'm cheap, but I am thrifty, and I have yet to find a Smart Phone that is affordable and still comes with all the latest and greatest technologies.  When is comes to Smart Phones, I remain in the dark ages.  This is my secret shame.

According to Green's common literacy practices, I struggle with decoding much of the language of a Smart Phone, or any texting mechanism in use (Facebook, etc.) (Durant & Green, 2000). I have not mastered texting language but for the basics, such as lol, for laugh out loud.  As a former English teacher, I balk at the idea that our language is changing and evolving into something very casual and informal, and I worry that the English I came to love will become extinct, or perhaps already has . . .. My love of the English language seems lost on the youth of today, and my struggle to keep up with the technology in use today leaves me somewhat conflicted because of the vast changes in our language, how we communicate, and the lack of the physical, tangible world that I know so well.  

Author Varnelis states, "digital networks enable us to be present in physical and networked places simultaneously (on the phone while on the road; on the Web while at a café)—often at the expense of non-digital commitments (2012). Humans have found a way to be in two places at the same time. The fact that much of what we know and believe exists in the cloud, for instance, requires not only a firm belief in the intangible, but a working knowledge of the intangible.

Through this blog, I represent the "growth of amateur-produced and-remixed content online" (Varnelis, 2012). I am a reporter, a consumer, an advocate and politician, and I have the power to have my voice be heard in an entirely new way.  The key to change, I believe, is being more excited about gaining new knowledge than upset about losing the old.  This is how I know that I will succeed in conquering new technologies; sheer excitement of the discovery.

Thanks for reading.

Durrant, C., & Green, B. (2000). Literacy and the new technologies in school education: meeting the l (IT) eracy challenge?.

Varnelis, K. (2012). Networked Publics. Retrieved from http://networkedpublics.org/