multimodal education for inequality 2016

Multimodal education for inequality: exploring privilege in visual arts students’ e-portfolio personas

by Noakes and Walton, 2016

“George”

“Kyle”“Masibulele” “Melissa”

“Nathan”

23-05-02 Presentation by @travisnoakes 1

Prepared for ICOM8 http://8icom.co.za

Inequality in digital personas: how access to material and technological resources are mirrored in visual arts students’ e-portfoliosby Noakes, Walton, and Cronje, 2009-16

Research Contributions


1 Action research intervention <appropriation of visual arts e-portfolios, digital curation>

2 Longitudinal research fieldwork <2 -3 years>

3 VERY different levels of resourcing <covers media ecologies in school, at home>

Default software values= disidentifiers

Absence of social information = misidentifiers

A digital hexis fordeveloping a templated self

Limitations young people face in expressing interests in e-portfolio styles

Differing opportunities for identities negotiating disciplinedpersonas Legitimated practicesDifferentiated practicesAffinity spaces

- Class- Race- Gender

REMEDIATION LIFESTYLES

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Illustration by Anja Venter

See Phone to Photoshop: Mobile workarounds in young people’s visual self-presentation strategies (Noakes, Walton, Venter & Cronje, 2014)

Participation in art, design or ICT as “formal privilege”Figure 1. ‘Inequalities in access to formal participation in ICT, visual arts or visual design education’. Illustration by Anja

Venter, 2014.

https://scholar.google.co.za/citations?view_op=view_citation&hl=en&user=-beyzEoAAAAJ&sortby=pubdate&citation_for_view=-beyzEoAAAAJ:qjMakFHDy7sC

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Presentation by @travisnoakesIllustration by Anja Venter

Figure 2. ‘Inequalities in access to formal participation in ICT, visual arts or visual design education’. Illustration by Anja Venter, 2014.

School computer centres and art/design subjects as Capetonian “luxuries”

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Presentation by @travisnoakesIllustration by Anja Venter

Figure 3. ‘Silos in school subjects’. Illustration by Anja Venter, 2014.

Online content creation in syllabi bridging art, design and ICT is a “rare privilege”

There are many online portfolio services to choose from (i.e. see Diigo social bookmarks ‘eportfolio’ tag)


Behance (an Adobe service)https://www.behance.net/about

DeviantArthttp://deviantartads.com/

Online portfolio genre affords an opportunity for visual creative producers to experiment with digital curation

https://www.diigo.com/user/travisnoakes/eportfolio

https://www.behance.net/about

http://deviantartads.com/


Digital portfolios serve as cultural and symbolic capitals that may help justifyTertiary academic opportunitiesFull-time jobsPart-time, freelance gigsVolunteer projects

Online portfolios can support growth in social capital via Understanding the breadth of visual creativity and who is involved in whatPlatform to first ‘seem’ and then ‘be’ an expert in your area(s) of specialityDevelop one’s persona as an expert by sharing ‘know-how’ in affinity groups and showcase examples of one’s work

Online portfolios may generate ongoing economic capitalLink to online shops and auctions selling one’s visual (re-)productionsEnter select works into online competitions

Digital portfolios =cultural, symbolic, social and economic capital$

‘visual arts showcase e-portfolios’ meta-genre

• New syllabi primarily supported matric-exhibition preparation.

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Figure 4. E-portfolio curriculum on travisnoakes.co.za, 2015.Figure 5. Screenshot of “Hui”’s Carbonmade ‘homepage’, November, 2010.Figure 6. Screenshot of Hui’s Carbonmade ‘homepage’, May, 2012


Fields in the articulation of digital personas via showcase e-portfolios

Figure 7. Four key fields linked in visual arts education. Graphic by Travis Noakes, 2014.

Profiledescription

Profile image

Portfolio title

Contact details

Areas of expertise

SkillsFooterArtist. Date.

FolderName,Description

Artwork

Title withdescriptionTagsi.e. Client

1 ‘Home’ page template

3 ‘Artwork project folder’ page template

2 ‘About’ page template (artist’s profile)

Availabilityfor freelance graphic

Creative’s name

Portfolio title

Presentation by @travisnoakes23-05-02 10

4 ‘Search page results’ template

Folders of digitised artworks

Self-presentation and portfolio organization using Carbonmade


Whereas in earlier times, apposite words to describe activities around publication may have been ‘written’, ‘edited’ and ‘produced’, it is quite clear that they are inadequate to capture all the self-representational activities or practices in networked, digital, culture. The word ‘curated’ does so by subsuming all of those practices and adding others that are possible in social media…

Curating is about knowing how the different forms you are working with work together to make meaning intertextually and for which purposes and audiences they are successful.’(Potter, 2015)

Support students with digital curation, a new media literacy

A. Collating artworks and inspirationsB. Production-Remediating-Editing-AssemblingC. Sharing-Moving media artefacts across different stages-Interacting with online audiences

Visual creatives’ online portfolio curation process

Action research fieldwork 2010 - 2013

Fieldwork (e-portfolio production) took place at an elite independent secondary school and at a less well-resourced ‘Arts and Culture focus’ government one.


12 government school volunteers

17 independent school students

Figure 8. ‘View of independent school from pool ’. Illustration by Travis Noakes, 2015.

Figure 9. ‘View of government school from parking lot’. Illustration by Travis Noakes, 2015.


Source: Digital Sociology. ‘Inequalities in the Network Society’ by Jan van Dijk, page X, 2013.

Focus on material and technological inequalitiesTable 1. Types of (in)equality and (un)equally divided properties

Arts and Culture government focus school

•Incompatible ecologies with ten year old PCs.

•Few extra-mural and co-curricular activities offered at school (pupils’ safety on public travel )


Independent school

•“One laptop per learner” policy and conspicuous consumption of digital and consumer electronics (i.e. iPads, professional- and Go Pro cameras)

•Many co-curricular fine arts and other leisure activities supported by their school

Key technological and material inequalities that government and independent school students

experience

Volunteer students who are well-disposedto careers creating visual culture

Mandatory for all students, but few keen on ‘low-prestige’ careers involving visual culture

Differences in vocational interests and motivations

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Lots of data from four years of fieldwork…

1. E-portfolio lessons (30 independent school- and 12 government school lessons);

2. Screenshots of e-portfolios at the independent school (in 2010, 2011, 2012);

3. Screenshots of e-portfolios at the government school (in 2013);4. Screenshots of Carbonmade’s graphic user interface;5. E-portfolio and out-of-class questionnaire feedback (from all 29

learners);6. Individual interviews with 16 students and both educators;7. Research journal notes.

Research questions and theoretical lensesto research choices and contexts


A COMBINATION

OFTHEORETICAL

LENSES

RQ1. What digital self-presentation and organisation choices do visual arts students make in their e-portfolios?

RQ2. How do visual arts e-portfolios and visual culture repertoires relate to individual habitus and spaces of production?

Inequality approach

Infrastructure studies

Analysis1.Innovative multimodal content analysis of screenshots.2.Case studies referencing sources 1 to 7.

SOCIALINTERACTIONISM

SOCIAL SEMIOTICS

DIGITAL MATERIALISM

CULTURAL THEORY


Content AnalysisRepresentational patterns in

government school students’ self-presentation

Representation of disciplinary personas1)Foregrounded observational drawer, painter and sculptor roles.2)Short self-descriptions, most add a few images.3)Averaged less than 14 images, few pushed the storage limit.4)Seldom thoroughly organised.5)No appropriation of inspiration.6)Private email addresses.7)Few added copyright statements.

Representation of extra mural visual creative personas1)Most added extra curricular visual creative productions.2)The surfaces and medias used were mostly similar to those used in class.

Representation of other personas1)A few feature personas as music fans and a tourist at the Waterfront.2)Two added being football players.

Government school students’informal self-representations


Mobile phone

Camera photographs

Figure 10. Self imagery uploaded by government school students, 2013.


Content AnalysisRepresentational patterns in

Independent school’s self-presentation

Representation of disciplinary personas:1)Formal genres were used for self imagery. These were also common in lengthy self-descriptions.2)Classroom roles were foregrounded, which included graphic design.3)Artworks were well-organized, often-labelled.4)Most pupils attributed appropriations.5)Expensive surfaces and medias used (oil painting, charcoal drawing). 6)A few school email addresses.7)Most used incorrect copyright statements, but some used more thorough copyright statements than those prescribed.Representation of extra mural visual creative personas:8)Some add extra curricular visual creative productions involving more costly medias than those in class.9)A few added links to other digital portfolios.10)Some pushed imagery storage to the limit.

Other personas:10)Most featured other leisure personas. 11)Most foreground exclusive sporting personas (rugby, golf, watersports, shooting).12)Some also added distinctive leisure profiles as musicians or tourists.

Independent school students’self-representations

Presentation by @travisnoakes 2023-05-02

Drawn or painted

Mobile phone

Camera photographs

Video screengrab

Figure 11. Self imagery uploaded by independent school students, 2013.


Checklist for the evidence of privilege in visual arts e-portfolio personas

Legitimated personas of a ’disciplined identity’ (visual art student)Detailed self-presentation as a visual arts studentWell-organised, curricular showcaseAppropriation and attribution of legitimated academic cultural capitalExtra-mural, co-curricular (“official”) productionsExclusive medias (oil versus standard acrylic) and surfaces

“Unofficial” personas’ differentiated practices (lifestyles)High production values (use of photographic editing software)“Unofficial” visual creative productions in exclusive mediasMaximum storageLinks to other portfoliosFeature other valued personas (academic, sport, music and tourism as cultural capital) Desire to connect for work; ‘Available for freelance’ and contact details providedDesire for a vocational trajectory in cultural industry

Importance of online access in curating digital personas


Is there infrastructure for me to curate my work?-In class-On my phone-At home

Will I use this infrastructure to develop a disciplinary showcase?-In class-On my phone-At home

Can I curate extra-muralvisual productions?-Only at school-On my phone-At home

What other personas andcultural capital can I publish?-In class-On my phone-At home

Visual creative personas Other leisure personas

Can I view online portfoliosas an educational resource?-In class-On my phone-At home

Can I use allied services, like social bookmarking?-In class-On my phone-At home

Do I link to other portfolios from my e-portfolio?-In class-On my phone-At home

Where can I participate in other online affinity spaces?-In class-On my phone-At home

Which should I hide or publish elsewhere?-In class-On my phone-At home

Which should I hide or publish elsewhere?-In class-On my phone-At home

At either site, well-connected students with “free” internet access did not face the constraints that their under-and non-connected peers did in developing a digital hexis (and habitus) for e-portfolio production.

The young person’s digital hexis for e-portfolio curation


The process of digital self-presentation through preparing a user-identity is different from one’s embodied self-presentation. In the real world one’s body is an absolute clue of existence. However, in the ‘digital’ one, it is not because you are consulting a website that you do exist (Hogan, 2010). Here each user must first take existence to communicate or is hidden without a representation (web profile).

Such profiles require the use of a digital hexis (Georges, 2008) in which each user designates his or her scheme of self representation. These significations are transformed like a body, which is shaped by habit or by repetitive practice. Thus the notion of hexis bears analogy with the shaping of meaning and body. Students developed this digital hexis while producing e-portfolio self-presentations and curating their digital portfolios. Both were necessary for establish an e-portfolio presence that is traceable, but also required ongoing online activities to make it seem ‘alive’.


Relationship of an individual’s habituses to affinity spaces in articulating e-portfolio personas

Figure 12. Habitus and affinity spaces. Graphic by Travis Noakes, 2016.

The habitus is, ‘a system of durable, transposable dispositions which functions as the generative basis of structured, objectively unified practices’ (Bourdieu, 1977). Habitus is socialised subjectivity; the way society becomes deposited in persons in the form of lasting dispositions, or trained capacities and structured propensities to think, feel and act in determinant ways, which then guide them (Wacquant 2005).

Affinity spaces are common for customers in high-technology, capitalist environments (Gee, 2000, 2001, Riffkind, 2000). Typically, the customers of businesses in these spaces share a common endeavor and support each other in developing and dispersing knowledge about their shared passion.

George’s disciplinary touchstone e-portfolio- Five thumbnail page examples


Figure 13. Anonymised table of thumbnail webpages images from “George’s” 2012 e-portfolio, edited by Travis Noakes, 2016.


Reproducing of a disciplined identity case #1 George (independent school student)

Secondary habitus Related roles

- Well connectedto the internet

- Owned a laptop,smartphone,entry-level camera

• Minimal description of other leisurepersonas

• Hid links to “unofficial” deviantArt,Flickr and Instagram portfolios

• Did not link from Carbonmade to his Twitter and Facebook accounts,but did share his imagery to these

• Local and international tourist • Gallery visitor• Music fan• Sports participant• Socializing

• An exemplary academic achiever

• Fine Arts fan of abstract, modern and conceptual art

• Observational drawer in charcoal,pencil, oil pastels, oil painter, printmaker, designer, photographer (nature), photo editor

• Extensive fine arts, design and photographic research online, i.e. FB fan pages, Twitter and artists’ blogs

E-portfolio curation

• Full showcase of syllabus-related images

• Organized according to gallery metaphor

• William Kentridge and van Gogh as inspiration in his e-portfolio

• Used other online portfolio services• Entered online arts competitions

White male with middle-class parentswho work in advertising

Digital information habitusVisual creative personas Other leisure personas

Primary habitus Vocational habitus

• Architect• Medicine

Exemplary academic cultural capital.


Nathan’s e-portfolioFour thumbnail page examples

Figure 14. Anonymised table of thumbnail webpages images from “Nathan’s” 2013 e-portfolio, edited by Travis Noakes, 2016.


- No connectionto the internet- No ownership of ICT

• Brief mentions of other leisurepersonas

• Music fan• Football player• Socializing

• Fan of visual art• Observational drawer in pencil• Painting in plakka paints• Sculptor in mixed media• Researched other Carbonmade

portfolios during lessons

• Four syllabus-related images

• Privacy concerns contributed to a brief self-description and no self image being added

Black male with working class parents•At home, he had no equipment to produceart, not enough space and seldom the time.

Secondary habitus Related rolesPrimary habitus Vocational habitusRemediation of academic cultural capital via heavily constrained habituses

• Graphic or interior design • Seeking internships

Digital information habitus Visual creative personas Other leisure personasE-portfolio curation

Reproducing a disciplined identity case #4 Nathan (government school student)


Masibulele’s e-portfolioFour thumbnail page examples

Figure 14. Anonymised table of thumbnail webpages images from “Nathan’s” 2013 e-portfolio, edited by Travis Noakes, 2016.


Under-connected:-Mobile internet-Computer use in computer lab and on home PC.

• Disciplinary: Traditional mixed-media• Fan of the ‘art industry’• Sought publicity: contact details• Facebook and Black Berry Messenger (BBM)

groups for his fashion label

Black Male with working-classparents

• Observational drawing in pencil, Illustrator, portrait drawer, oil and normal pastel work, painter, mixed-media sculptor, relief tiler and collages.

• Initially only disciplinary, but did add fashion label

• Did not share traditional mixed-media

Background

• Fashion entrepreneur• Music and movies fan• Socialiser• ‘Explorer’

• Fashion entrepreneur• Socialiser• Music fan• Explorer

Foregrounding other personas case #8 Masibulele (government school student)

Digital information habitus Other leisure personas

E-portfolio curation

Secondary habitus Related rolesPrimary habitus Vocational habitus

A fashion entrepreneur, who used a mobile digital information habitus in presenting his classroom and aspirant designer personas.

Visual creative personas

• Fashion entrepreneur• Surface designer• Architect


Figure 15. Anonymised table of thumbnail webpages images from “Melissa’s” 2013 e-portfolio, edited by Travis Noakes, 2016.

Melissa’s e-portfolioFour thumbnail page examples and linked portfolio


- Well connectedto the internet- Own PC, professional photo-, animation- and3D software

• Disciplinary: sketcher (pencil, ink, pen), observational drawer, pointillism

• Mixed-media (different mediums)

• Japanese calligraphy, typography art

• Animator’s workshop

Black female with middle-classparents

• Pseudonymous identity connected to her ‘Japanese freak’ interests

• Linked e-portfolio to her deviantArt profile • Created two other portfolios (MyFolio.com,

Behance.net)

• Japanese; Anime and Manga fan• Sci-Fi/Fantasy fan• Goth fan• Emo music fan

• Animation• Sci-Fi/Fantasy• Emo music fan• (Goth)

Background Secondary habitus Related rolesPrimary habitus Vocational habitusA fan of Japanese Animé and Manga visual culture and an aspirant animator.

Foregrounding other personas case #10 Melissa (government school student)

• Animator• Fine Art


E-portfolio curationVisual creative personas

33

Figure 16. Anonymised table of thumbnail webpages images from “Kyle’s” 2012 e-portfolio, edited by Travis Noakes, 2016.

Kyle’s e-portfolioFour thumbnail page examplesand linked portfolios


- Well connectedto the internet- Own laptop,smartphone,professional camera equipment, Go Pro, professional photo- and video editing software

• Foregrounded watersports and included tourist personas

• Added links to Flickr and Vimeoportfolios, but not YouTube

• Watersports fan• Fan of technicity• Local and international tourist • Fan of several music genres• Socialiser• Computer gamer

• An fan of photography and “filmography”• Observational drawer in charcoal and

graphite, oil painter, designer,photographer (watersports, local and international travel), photo editor,videographer and video-editor

• Foregrounded photographic images• Well-designed using colour principles• Changes from Banksy to film inspiration*• Extensive extra-mural research online,

i.e. YouTube ‘giant wave break’ help• Entered online video competitions• Used other online portfolio services

White male from aprivileged home

* Similar to ”Dylan” in Online content creation: looking at students’ social media practices through a Connected Learning lens (Brown, Czerniewicz and Noakes, 2015)

Post-school•Google Plus, Tumblr and Instagram accounts•Linked to society6.com for online sales


E-portfolio curationVisual creative personas

Foregrounding other personas case #11 Kyle (government school student)

Background Secondary habitus Related rolesPrimary habitus Vocational habitusA watersports man, videographer and photographer.

• Finance

http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/17439884.2015.1107097

http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/17439884.2015.1107097

Evidence of inequality and the symbolic reproduction of privilege


1. Prosumer personas of well-resourced students seemed to be amplified during my intervention.

2. Independent school students benefitted from leisure practices whose capitals correspond to their institutional schooling. By contrast, working class students perceived there to be obstacles to sharing repertoires from home.

3. Creation of easily searchable, nonymous identities a male student’s privilege?

4. E-portfolio production is now mandatory at the independent school for grade 10 and up students, but is not offered at the government school.

Reproduction of a Capetonian “creative class” mostly from middle- and upper class origins


Figure 17. Social reproduction in trajectories linked to the visual arts or visual design. Graphic by Travis Noakes, 2016.


In highly-constrained material and technological contexts, the concept of a signmaker expressing his or her interest is worthy of critique:1.Non-internet connected students described being unable to publish the social information or artwork showcases they wanted to.2.In the absence of information on digital infrastructure, it can be difficult for viewers to appreciate how differing contexts shaped the quantum and styles of visual and social information that users provided. For example, it is hard to spot that an under-resourced student has put a lot of effort in making workarounds to overcome slow and unreliable ICT infrastructures versus an affluent student achieving more with much less effort!3.Students may not deliberately choose multimodal ensembles: Default software values can create mis-identifiers that inexpert teenagers missed editing or forget to change. Their display may result in ongoing misrepresentation on webpages.

Major multimodal contributionfrom my visual arts e-portfolio research?


Some recommendations for research related to visual arts e-portfolios

1. How can e-portfolio pedagogy better accommodate diverse material and

technological resourcing?

2. What do young visual creatives do with online portfolios after matric?

3. What visual arts e-portfolio styles might emerge in an isiXhosa-speaking government

school?

4. How are digital portfolios being assessed, particularly in justifying access to tertiary

education)?

5. Is a new form of distinction (“Distinction 2.0”?) emerging whereby the digital

sharing of differentiated practices and personas marks a distinctive social status?

THANKS to supporters of e-portfolio research

National Research Foundation.

University of Cape Town,Department of Film and Media Studies.SAME research group.

Cape Peninsula University of Technology,Department of Informatics and Design.Technology in Education and Research, MA & PhD students.


Illustration | Design | New Media Researchw: www.nannaventer.co.za c: [email protected]

IllustratIONS by

http://www.nannaventer.co.za/