Shut Your Facebook

Shut Your Facebook is a New Channel 4 program that explores the online world of Facebook and questions the ideals of 20 somethings. Posing questions about whether your Facebook, Does affect your ability to get employed? and Do we shared too much online about our private lives?

Watch the first episode HERE.

Caution is advised as nudity and strong language are present in the episode.

Social Media is a Game?

Watch the last 5 Minutes of Charlie Brooker's How Videogames Changed the World and you will find that the argument arises that social media such as Twitter and Facebook are now considered as games.

The idea that is presented mirrors that of Danah Boyd:

“As we Twitter our way to friendship, scoring ourselves based on the numbers of 'friends' we can convince to subscribe to our existence, perhaps we lose track of what friendship and connection mean.” 

What do you think? Are we "playing" a game online? Are you yourself online or offline or both? In fact who are you really?

Catherine Cronin - 'Creating spaces for student voices'

Having connected my students with Catherine Cronin to discuss ideas around digital identity, she asked my students to return the favour and share their ideas about learning in my classroom. They commented on the way they have a voice in the Media Studies classroom. They also discussed the openness of our learning environment and their relationship with me as their 'co-learner', rather than 'teacher'. 

Their comments were included in a presentation that Catherine was giving at #ICTEdu. She wrote up a reflection on the event here, including slides and some feedback on the comments made by my students. 

It was a pleasure to be part of this; I know that my students enjoyed reflecting and sharing their thoughts about the way they learn. Student voice is massively important and I hope that my next group of A2 students will walk away feeling that they had a similar experience. 

Learning in Media @ CCC

After skyping into our classroom, Catherine Cronin asked us to create some artefacts to document how and why learning in Media @ CCC is different to other subjects. What follows are videos and images created and edited by A2 Media Students reflecting on the '3 tenets' that I have tried to foster in their learning:

"Openness ~ Social Media ~ Student Voice/Choice" - Catherine Cronin

This is very much a reflection of the value I place on Independent Learning. The 'leashes' have to come off!

Introduction to Learning in Media @ CCC

Josh on being able to make mistakes:

Alice on equality between learner and teacher:

Alice on using 'social media' to learn and progress:

Danielle on 'openness' and 'student voice':

Lucy on death by PowerPoint:

Hannah on being an independent learner and 'choice':

Who is Rufi Franzen?

Some links to follow on from today's talk... and thanks again to Helen Keegan for joining us.

Helen's Twitter: @heloukee

Rufi Franzen's Twitter: @RufiFranzen

Rufi Franzen's Tumblr: http://thefranze.tumblr.com/

Chales Leadbeater animated video about his book 'We Think'

Charles Leadbeater on 'The Power of Mass Creativity'

Sean Stewart on storytelling and transmedia

And the quotes / key terms:

Sean Stewart: "The makers and the consumers are in tango"


Transmedia

Hyperreality


Charles Leadbeater: "...pebbles and boulders" <-- describing difference/relationship between user generated media and traditional media.

Also look up 'Reply Girls' on YT.

See you tomorrow...

Impromptu Lesson/Discussion About 'Kony 2012' (Friday, March 8, 13:10 - 14:00, Media 1)

In the lesson we will be discussing

• the postmodern dimensions of the video.
• the way it has become an 'Internet Meme'
• the backlash against the campaign, considering what this tells us about the way media is constructed and shared in the 21st Century.

Resources for the lesson:

Kony 2012 - Video

 

Kony 2012: what's the real story? - Guardian live updated blog about the Kony 2012 Video / Campaign.

Visible Children: Kony 2012 Viewed Critically - Very well written piece summing up some of the main concerns about the Kony 2012 campaign.

Unpacking Kony 2012 - More detailed piece about the pros and cons of the campaign.

Critiques - Invisible Children's response to the criticism they have received.

Slaxktivism - Further insight.

KONY 2012 May Be Flawed, But Slacktivism Isn’t the Enemy - Short piece focussing more on the impact of online activism. 

#kony2012 Tweets - See what others are saying.

Reflections - My students' response to the lesson, answering the following two questions:

1. What does KONY 2012 offer us, as students learning about Media in the 21st century?

2. Having now considered the campaign more critically, how do you feel about it?

Wikpedia: Joseph Kony

Wikipedia: Kony 2012

Wikipedia: Invisible Children

Wikipedia: Viral Video

Wikipedia: Internet Meme

Postmodern Media: Digital Identity vs Digital Self

Two useful videos as we come towards the end of the unit:

Network from Michael Rigley on Vimeo.

"Information technology has become a ubiquitous presence. By visualizing the processes that underlie our interactions with this technology we can trace what happens to the information we feed into the network."

WoW from aram bartholl on Vimeo.

"The WoW project takes this mode of publicizing players’ names that’s typical of online 3D worlds and transfers it into the physical domain of everyday life. Participants of the WoW-workshop will be able to construct their own name out of cardboard and then parade around in public with it hovering above their head. What happens when a person’s customary anonymity in the public sphere is obliterated by the principles operative in virtual worlds online?"

I came across the two videos via Dean Groom. He makes some thoughtful comments in his original post as well.

Making is Connecting: The 4-minute presentation (2012)

David Gautlett kindly replied to an earlier post via Twitter and has pointed you towards the following (more recent) video. It develops the ideas discussed here in more detail focussing more intrinsically on the way modern media audiences are engaging with and interacting with Media.