lyrics save the day once again

So this week I’ve been reading about media literacy, which is problematic by itself. Media literacy as a concept assumes there is a skill set that can and needs to be developed (thereby privileging a certain way of being) about media. And, that this skill set will ultimately lead to an increase in civic participation, which is the end goal of most composition studies. So beyond privileging a certain way of being, media literacy as a concept also means there is one type of literacy, one way of reading information, one skill set, not multiple skill sets for different contexts. So, obviously problematic. Different students learn different things, different individuals will be drawn to different contexts. Finally, current media literacy studies are pushing for participatory media consumers, calling them various terms, but ultimately active media consumers.

Our class guest speaker is a journalism professor, who was using this definition to critique contemporary journalists who use an us against them model. So journalists frame issues as two sided, and lay out the two sides. They never leave room in the middle for the middle ground between issues. They never expect issues to be multidimensional.

So, as I was leaving class an Against Me song came on my iPod that was so fitting:
And we rock,
Because it’s us against them.
We found our own reasons to sing,
And it’s so much less confusing
When lines are drawn like that,
When people are either consumers or revolutionaries

So if we look at media literacy from an Against Me standpoint, the alternative to being a consumer is being revolutionary. They are clearly mocking the two sided set up of arguments, and their two groups are especially important for media literacy. With an increase in the number of blogs and web news sources many feel that news is becoming revolutionary, so we need media literacy, or a critical discourse about our news consumption. Other believe media literacy is a critical participation in the news discourse, and in seeking out information and its source for clarification. But, using the Against Me analogy, I feel this is just a way to make metadata less confusing, instead of truly talking about how to develop critical thinking skills about our consumption of information, especially when we actively participate in finding that information.

literacy is problematic

Literacy is a word drenched in political meanings. For most it is a gateway from non-educated social status to a more educated social status with the economic rewards. For others it is a highly contested space where hierarchies are reinforced and certain ways of thinking and being are privileged over other ways of thinking and being. Most notably, the question and response (Homeric) way of learning is privileged within the school system. This is not the same learning style taught to many non-white kids in their homes. That makes schooling difficult. But, when we add technology to the mix, this whole equation becomes even more problematic because we now have issues of access as well as know how.

Recently I read an article that called for increased digital literacy as a way to empower digital users in managing with the copious amounts of information now provided by various sources via the web, including news sources, blogs, and special interest group websites. Rheingold finds that literacies are ways that humans make sense of (transmit and receive) information that helps them understand power and knowledge, and can eventually lead the individual to understand and participate in community. For starters, redefining literacy for the millionth time is problematic to me. There has to be another way to think about these things. Most importantly he calls for increased awareness about the different technologies and the information afforded in different spaces, and the communities that evolve in those spaces. He finds that literacy is the link between technology and sociality. What I wonder is if we really need another call for increased literacy. If we as humans are being expressing sociality in these spaces, we will probably flock to spaces of groups with interests similar to ours so the time between finding the community and being able to participate in the Discourse is small. As we find that community we will probably be exposed to various media that are new to us, and we’ll learn how to use them to remain a current participant in that community, or we’ll find a new one to join. But, we’re not hyper-aware of the literacies we’re developing. In Gee’s terms we’re acquiring Discourses instead of learning Discourses. So, when we call for increased attention to, focus on, and specific teaching of digital literacies (which presumably are held by the teacher transmitting the knowledge) are we really helping more people participate, or are we simply drawing attention to what we as researchers are studying? Am i validating what i do by teaching it to my students, or am i actually helping them acquire the skills they need to participate in democracy in the new shape it has taken online?

fanfic

So I recently discovered fanfiction. I read a book, originally published in 1855. I didn’t think the ending was enough, I wanted more, we’d been talking about fanfiction in my class so I googled book title fanfic. Because of course, in the ‘scene’ its fanfic not fanfiction. Fanfiction.net is amazing. The amount of time spent reading and thinking about the characters to try to write an accurate depiction. Some of the brutal honesty when the depiction is not accurate in the comments, it’s all astounding. This is what some people do for fun, and they enjoy it. While I, lurk. So, the moral of my story is, if you ever thought a story didn’t go far enough, check out fanfiction.net. Make sure to check the rating, some stories are rather graphic. Some pair characters in unexpected ways, some just tell the story of barely seen characters. It’s a great way to continue a book, and think about what you would do next with the characters.

Critical pedagogy

So I’ve been reading about critical pedagogy for a class. For the most part critical pedagogy encourages students to challenge domination, and creates assignments that allow students to build critical consciousness. Of course some professors implementing this type of teaching pedagogy are not critically aware of their position, and what they’re pushing students to do by selecting the overarching theory they believe will create critical pedagogues. What is especially troubling is examples of use of critical pedagogy are most often from urban schools where teachers encourage and privilege the use of hip hop and poetry slams to expose students to the use of their own voice. Reaching out to a student through a communication method they’re familiar with is useful, but at what point is teaching teachers to reach out in this way just another way dominant culture is co-opting expression on the margins?

so i went to several panel presentations at a conference today that i thought would introduce me to the reading i need to do to be more media savvy. instead they focused on how to use interfaces, and how to be friends with students through myspace and facebook without having it impact your personal social use of the social network sites. there was a very interesting session on using wikipedia to teach research skills. i really liked it. also an interesting implementation of wiki spaces to teach students academic tone, which will teach them to comunicate better with us, the teachers. very interesting stuff. now i just need to figure out where to get my exposure to academic writing on new media . . . . .

harnassing skills or teaching skills?

I was recently reading the NCTE post on the importance of reading and writing in the 21st century, specifically related to digital reading and writing that have increased the amount of text the average person encounters and produces. Their statement focused on the critical skills necessary to write in a new media age. Obviously blogging would fall into that problem writing category. With bad punctuation, spelling and capitalization always already normal. But where does the situatedness of a particular type of writing for a particular type of audience take it outside the realm of the classroom and make it inaccessible to teachers? I certainly wouldn’t want to talk to students about how they tweet, or write comments to friends on MySpace. But I would want to talk about how they recognize the ‘right’ tweet to a particular audience, and how a particular public MySpace comment can be made recognizable only to a small group of people is phrased just right. So, am I teaching digital literacy, or am I simply accessing the digital skills kids are building anyway because their friends are all online, so they have to be? I had a teacher start her class this semester by saying we’d be talking about the theory behind socializing online, not learning how to use the internet, and there was a very key difference. Are we just researching the internet to push it into a ‘hip’ pedagogy?

not book related

A friend from school is giving away a free apron if you just reply to her blog. It's pretty cute, you should check it out. http://www.jasonandmarenbuchanan.blogspot.com/