In order to further my research for my thesis, "The learning styles and language of digital natives is making traditional classroom lectures ineffective", I am adding two additional resources to my literature review. The articles "Millennials Go To College" by Neil Howe and William Strauss and "The Unintended Consequences of the Application of Technology in Teaching and Learning Environments" by John Nworie and Noela Haughton will both add depth to the focus of the concept of digital natives and the challenges faced in educating them.
"Millennials Go To College" gives a great foundational look at the personality of the Millennials who are also known as Generation Y. The article emphasizes their experiences and preferences that make them a unique generation and how they will change the face of learning in the college classroom.
"The Unintended Consequences..." addresses the impending distractions of new technologies in the classroom. Although the innovations are improving certain aspects of education, the accessibility to these technologies poses new problems with new ways of student cheating, constant distractions of readily accessible communication applications like instant messaging, computer games, and emails. This article does a thorough job of addressing the possibility of distractions, but more importantly it addresses the changing face of classroom teaching through a concept called the law of unintended consequences. The causes of this concept are identified as ignorance, error, immediacy (an interest or willingness to obtain immediate results which may overshadow long-term interests or cause adverse effects to be ignored), basic values (which may require or rule out some actions), and self-defeating prophecy (seeking solutions before problems are identified). Nworie and Haughton state that "the use of certain instructional technologies introduces the unintended result of redefining the role of instructors...from teaching and lecturing to that of a facilitator."
Sunday, April 26, 2009
Sunday, April 19, 2009
Ghost Whisperers
I have to admit this week's assignment is quite a stretch to tie into media convergence, but surprisingly enough there was relevant connections. Our readings, "Loving the Ghost in the Machine" by Janne Vanhanen, and "The Aesthetics of Failure: Post Digital Tendencies in Contemporary Computer Music" by Kim Cascone both steer us toward the idea of digital convergence in the music world.
"Loving the Ghost in the Machine" gives a thoughtful look into the world of contemporary electronic music while detailing its history roots from several genres of music. The article highlights a few of the various machines used in the past to make music and how unconventional uses of these machines contributed to today's electronic music including the phonograph and its contribution to the birth of hip hop's scratching techniques.
"The Aesthetics of Failure" also highlights the emergence of electronic music but also incorporates the Internet's role to its recent popularity and availability to the everyday consumer to be composers.
Most importantly, both articles detail the history, definition and contributions of glitch, unpredictable sounds that sometimes create a ghostly unpresence of sounds outside hearing range or gaps in recorded time.
Key Points
1. Convergence - Vanhanen paraphrases Deleuze and Guattari and states "all creativity, whether it's art, philosophy or science, has to approach the outside of thought. To be able to create new ways to feel the world, new percepts and affects, one has to court the chaos and worship the glitch." To me this phrase summarizes media convergence in a nutshell especially the phrase "to create new ways to feel the world". Whatever form of media it may be, music, film, television, or radio, consumers now demand these tools come together to help them feel the world.
2. Convergence - Vanhanen again references Deleuze and Guattari and shares the concept of a "...continuous development of form..." to bring out the "life proper to matter". As we've discussed throughout this semester, convergence is a process, not an end point.
3. Academic Demand - In her conclusin Cascone eloquently calls on the academic world to embrace electronic music and begin to incorporate this genre into its research. Although many academics are unfamiliar with this music, the author implores them to engage their students to get more knowledge and be more relevant.
Discussion Questions
1. How can students encourage their professors to embrace electronic music and incorporate it into current research?
2. Is the concept of no silence similar to the concept of the impossibility of not communicating?
Relationship to present research:
This topic is very closely related because both articles, but especially Cascone's discusses the possible generational gap in the area of electronic music. There is a demand for cutting edge professors to begin to bridge the generational gap and engage their students to continue to be relevant in the modern-day classroom.
"Loving the Ghost in the Machine" gives a thoughtful look into the world of contemporary electronic music while detailing its history roots from several genres of music. The article highlights a few of the various machines used in the past to make music and how unconventional uses of these machines contributed to today's electronic music including the phonograph and its contribution to the birth of hip hop's scratching techniques.
"The Aesthetics of Failure" also highlights the emergence of electronic music but also incorporates the Internet's role to its recent popularity and availability to the everyday consumer to be composers.
Most importantly, both articles detail the history, definition and contributions of glitch, unpredictable sounds that sometimes create a ghostly unpresence of sounds outside hearing range or gaps in recorded time.
Key Points
1. Convergence - Vanhanen paraphrases Deleuze and Guattari and states "all creativity, whether it's art, philosophy or science, has to approach the outside of thought. To be able to create new ways to feel the world, new percepts and affects, one has to court the chaos and worship the glitch." To me this phrase summarizes media convergence in a nutshell especially the phrase "to create new ways to feel the world". Whatever form of media it may be, music, film, television, or radio, consumers now demand these tools come together to help them feel the world.
2. Convergence - Vanhanen again references Deleuze and Guattari and shares the concept of a "...continuous development of form..." to bring out the "life proper to matter". As we've discussed throughout this semester, convergence is a process, not an end point.
3. Academic Demand - In her conclusin Cascone eloquently calls on the academic world to embrace electronic music and begin to incorporate this genre into its research. Although many academics are unfamiliar with this music, the author implores them to engage their students to get more knowledge and be more relevant.
Discussion Questions
1. How can students encourage their professors to embrace electronic music and incorporate it into current research?
2. Is the concept of no silence similar to the concept of the impossibility of not communicating?
Relationship to present research:
This topic is very closely related because both articles, but especially Cascone's discusses the possible generational gap in the area of electronic music. There is a demand for cutting edge professors to begin to bridge the generational gap and engage their students to continue to be relevant in the modern-day classroom.
Monday, April 13, 2009
May the Fan Force be With You
Much to my delight, this week's reading helped to tie in our last unit to media convergence. “Quentin Taratino’s Star Wars? Grassroots Creativity Meets the Media Industry,” pp. 131-168 (ch. 4) in Convergence Culture: Where Old and New Media Collide was a great expansive example of convergence at its best. The chapter highlights convergence of the motion picture industry, the web and the grassroots community and the struggles between film companies and the emerging fan-based movie makers. The chapter also addresses the notion that it's in the best interest for film companies to embrace the fan cluture rather than attempt to shut it down.
Three key ideas from our reading:
- Participative Culture: The emergence of modernized mass media was once thought to be the end of traditional folk culture, but the popularity of the web and the user friendly movie making software readily accessible to fans has breathed new life into fan culture. Fan culture and home movies were not traditionally a threat or an issue to the industry, but the web has changed that because fan-inspired spoofs of their favorite movies are now globally available to all who have internet access. This movement has bred a new level of participative culture, a main indicator or media convergence.
- Collective Intelligence: Evan Mather, a fan filmmaker, provides documentation of how he made Les Pantless Menace for other amateur filmmakers to copy or adopt for their own use. Fan filmmakers know the importance of sharing creative intellect and believe it helps to improve the quality of work in their community. Many fan websites allow for commentary with their films to share technical insight into their productions.
- Consumer-Driven Convergence: The very nature of the fan filmmaking platform and the film company's response to them adds credence to the importance of consumer-driven convergence. Our text addresses how Lucas Films originally embraced some fan films that spoofed Star Wars. George Lucas was so inspired by the fan community he opened up space on his website for fans to create and share what they create with others.
The most difficult concept for me to digest this week is the prediction McCracken makes that companies that embrace the fan filmmaking community and loosen their copyright control will attract more active and committed customers as opposed to the companies that continue to set strict limits on their products' use. I feel fans have and always will support the movies that intrigue them despite exclusion of fan filmmaking communities.
Discussion Questions
1. Does the average consumer that supports major motion pictures really care if the fan filmmaking community is subject to copyright limitations?
2. What can film companies do to encourage the fan community's participation while protecting their revenue base?
Presentation Connection
Can teachers use a similar platform of the fan community to expand students' participation in the classroom and foster collective intelligence?
Three key ideas from our reading:
- Participative Culture: The emergence of modernized mass media was once thought to be the end of traditional folk culture, but the popularity of the web and the user friendly movie making software readily accessible to fans has breathed new life into fan culture. Fan culture and home movies were not traditionally a threat or an issue to the industry, but the web has changed that because fan-inspired spoofs of their favorite movies are now globally available to all who have internet access. This movement has bred a new level of participative culture, a main indicator or media convergence.
- Collective Intelligence: Evan Mather, a fan filmmaker, provides documentation of how he made Les Pantless Menace for other amateur filmmakers to copy or adopt for their own use. Fan filmmakers know the importance of sharing creative intellect and believe it helps to improve the quality of work in their community. Many fan websites allow for commentary with their films to share technical insight into their productions.
- Consumer-Driven Convergence: The very nature of the fan filmmaking platform and the film company's response to them adds credence to the importance of consumer-driven convergence. Our text addresses how Lucas Films originally embraced some fan films that spoofed Star Wars. George Lucas was so inspired by the fan community he opened up space on his website for fans to create and share what they create with others.
The most difficult concept for me to digest this week is the prediction McCracken makes that companies that embrace the fan filmmaking community and loosen their copyright control will attract more active and committed customers as opposed to the companies that continue to set strict limits on their products' use. I feel fans have and always will support the movies that intrigue them despite exclusion of fan filmmaking communities.
Discussion Questions
1. Does the average consumer that supports major motion pictures really care if the fan filmmaking community is subject to copyright limitations?
2. What can film companies do to encourage the fan community's participation while protecting their revenue base?
Presentation Connection
Can teachers use a similar platform of the fan community to expand students' participation in the classroom and foster collective intelligence?
Sunday, April 5, 2009
The power to call things up
Just when I thought I got the hang of this blog thing, and media convergence was a phrase I could use in my everyday life, I began to read this week's readings. I really hope I wasn't the only one slipping off into side thoughts of utter confusion while reading the articles. If I was I hope at least get a few points for honesty. I can't say I get anything significant out of either article because I would be lying, but I can however, conjure up three key points and some questions to discuss.
Why the Digital Computer is Dead by Chris Chesher argues that the term "digital computer" is in appropriate for modern times and is somewhat misleading. Chesher gives a good argument by breaking down the meaning of the phrase by word. Digital refers to discrete values and computer was a term originally used to define workers whose job it was to focus on tedious menial tasks like manual calculations.
The work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction written by Walter Benjamin in 1936 discusses the pitfalls of mass reproduction, its influence on society and its participation in war.
Why the Digital Computer is Dead - Key Ideas
- Invocation media can be viewed as the historical term for media convergence. Chesher states "Invocational media, by contrast with reductive rationalist digital computers, have pragmatic and material histories drawing together technology, language and magic." This statement highlights the concept of convergence by implicating history's involvement as well as addressing the convergent aspect of drawing together technology and language.
- Invocational media also speaks to the current idea of convergence as it can "translate all events into a constant cycle of reading, interpreting and acting upon instructions". When we consider the mapping models our groups created in class, all three groups had a cyclical scenario that defined convergence. Chesher further explains that invocational devices are the main platforms reading, writing, conversing, playing, etc. This points to media platforms such as the internet used for gaming, chatting, desktop publishing, etc.
- Software features give users greater power, while simultaneously distracting them from their original path. This cultural process is refered to as avocation, a minor form of vocation. Invocation, or the power to call things up, is comprised of smaller, multi-layered pre-formed, programmed avocations.
By far the most challenging concept of the readings was the article by Benjamin. I could not for the life of me detract something significant to say as a result of reading it. I understood the overall concept of mechanical reproduction diminishing the quality of work produced or received by the consumer, but I don't feel like I could apply the information readily in everyday life.
Discussion questions:
1. How do we apply the concepts in The work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction to media convergence?
2. How do we relate the same article to principles of leadership?
Since my paper focuses on the digital generational divide I may be able to apply some of the principles of Chesher's paper to mine.
Why the Digital Computer is Dead by Chris Chesher argues that the term "digital computer" is in appropriate for modern times and is somewhat misleading. Chesher gives a good argument by breaking down the meaning of the phrase by word. Digital refers to discrete values and computer was a term originally used to define workers whose job it was to focus on tedious menial tasks like manual calculations.
The work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction written by Walter Benjamin in 1936 discusses the pitfalls of mass reproduction, its influence on society and its participation in war.
Why the Digital Computer is Dead - Key Ideas
- Invocation media can be viewed as the historical term for media convergence. Chesher states "Invocational media, by contrast with reductive rationalist digital computers, have pragmatic and material histories drawing together technology, language and magic." This statement highlights the concept of convergence by implicating history's involvement as well as addressing the convergent aspect of drawing together technology and language.
- Invocational media also speaks to the current idea of convergence as it can "translate all events into a constant cycle of reading, interpreting and acting upon instructions". When we consider the mapping models our groups created in class, all three groups had a cyclical scenario that defined convergence. Chesher further explains that invocational devices are the main platforms reading, writing, conversing, playing, etc. This points to media platforms such as the internet used for gaming, chatting, desktop publishing, etc.
- Software features give users greater power, while simultaneously distracting them from their original path. This cultural process is refered to as avocation, a minor form of vocation. Invocation, or the power to call things up, is comprised of smaller, multi-layered pre-formed, programmed avocations.
By far the most challenging concept of the readings was the article by Benjamin. I could not for the life of me detract something significant to say as a result of reading it. I understood the overall concept of mechanical reproduction diminishing the quality of work produced or received by the consumer, but I don't feel like I could apply the information readily in everyday life.
Discussion questions:
1. How do we apply the concepts in The work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction to media convergence?
2. How do we relate the same article to principles of leadership?
Since my paper focuses on the digital generational divide I may be able to apply some of the principles of Chesher's paper to mine.
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