digital literacies apr2010

Digital Literacies &DIY Moviemaking

Literacy Volunteers of NJ “Literacy for Life” PD conference

Michele Knobelknobelm@mail.montclair.edu

Literacies ….

are not just about “reading” and “writing”

are always about reading or writing (or viewing etc.) something for some purpose

Now read this:

Behaviors allow the user’s interactions with the page to change the page, or to cause certain tasks to be performed.

Literacies are…

“socially recognized ways of generating, communicating and negotiating meaningful content mediated by encoded texts within contexts of participating in Discourses.”

(Lankshear & Knobel, 2006: 32)

An example of meaning beyond the level of the text: Oolong the Pancake Bunny

LOLcats

LOLcats

LOLcats

Lolcats: icanhazcheezburger.com

Collaborative pooling of ideas/humor

Deeply intertextual

“lolspeak” Insider

knowledge

Digital Literacies

When we talk about “digital” literacies it’s helpful to distinguish between “new technical stuff” and “new ethos stuff”

New Technical Stuff

“You click for A and you click for red”

Digitally-mediated networks DIY (do-it-yourself), tinkering,

mucking around, etc. High touch, low cost tools Democratized access to quality

finish and distribution

New Ethos Stuff

Reflects the expansion of an emerging mindset

Evident in the logic of Web 2.0

• Value is a function of dispersion

• A “post-industrial” view of production

• Products as enabling services

• A focus on leverage and non finite participation

• Tools are increasingly tools of mediation and relationship technologies

• The focus is increasingly on “collectives” as the unit of production, competence, intelligence

• Expertise and authority are distributed and collective; hybrid experts

• Space is open, continuous and fluid

• Social relations of emerging “digital media space” are increasingly visible; texts in change

• Value is a function of scarcity

• Production is based on an “industrial” model

• Products are material artifacts and commodities

• Production is based on infrastructure and production units and centers (e.g., a firm or company)

• Tools are mainly production tools

• The individual person is the unit of production, competence, intelligence

• Expertise and authority are “located” in individuals and institutions

• Space is enclosed and purpose specific

• Social relations of “bookspace” prevail; a stable “textual order”

The world increasingly operates on non-material (e.g., cyberspatial) and post-industrial principles and logics. The world is “decentered” and “flat.”

The world basically operates on physical/material and industrial principles and logics. The world is “centered” and hierarchical.

Mindset 2Mindset 1

Web 1.0 Web 2.0

GoogleNetscape

Tagging (“folksonomy”)Directories (taxonomy)

WikisContent management systems

ParticipationPublishing

WeblogsPersonal websites

WikipediaBritannica Online

FlickrOfoto

Clarifying Web 1.0 / Web 2.0

Participating fully in digital literacies

Aesthetics, appreciation, form and composition are all key dimensions of many digital literacy practices

Includes willingness to share, work collaboratively, support others’ contributions

Includes conceptualization of the production, the design, “insider” norms and criteria for judging quality

Being an AMV remixer

Before you get started on your own video, you must first figure out what is a good anime music video and what makes it good. Figuring this out isn’t some 10 minute revelation. You have to watch many videos over and over again that are considered good. Watch them closely. Watch them several times in a row. Why is the video good? Be sure to view a minimum of Phade’s Required Viewing [hyperlink]. Figure it out and then try to do what they did.

(AMV.org/guides)

For example….

Fan Fiction

DIY Manga comics

Wikipedia

Podcasting

E.g., podcourse.blogspot.com

Machinima

Affinity space: http://www.machinima.com

So what?

The deep importance of recognizing adult learners’ existing literacy proficiencies and practices

“Participation” is deeply meaningfulThe importance of understanding the

“new ethos” of current timesWe each need to find ways to

leverage digital literacies in formal learning contexts

http://NewLits.org

Examine a range of digital literacies resources

Free music to download under “Anime music videos”. A how-to chapter on digital movie making is here, too

Feel free to explore and contribute your own materials

Workshop: Movie making

Look for these icons :

Moviemaking: Windows Movie Maker

Moviemaking

Moviemaking (iMovie ‘08)

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Make Love, Not Warcraft -- Artard

http://www.machinima.com/films.php?id=10820