New Literacies Reading Response: Digital Remixing

Chapter 4: Lankshear and Knobel - Digital Remixing

Anime Music Videos?!! Who are you and where are you taking me???

I had no idea, prior to now, that AMV even existed. I suppose I shouldn’t be surprised at all of the new vantage points that the internet is opening up to me. I did do a search for Maguma’s most notable AMV video titled, The Konoha Memory Book, and thought I would post it for those that might want to view:

 

The authors used Maguma’s personal story and achievements as an example of digital remixing and how it shaped that particular. I respect the example and even admire the work that Maguma did even in the video above, despite the fact that Anime is not a genre that appeals to me.  I was also unaware that fanfiction existed or even some of the other examples provided such as modding, moshing, and machinima. However, what all of these have in common is the availability of technology that allows amateurs the ability to produce and share digital content or remixes. After reading the text, I realized that I’ve seen digital remixing manifested in other forms as well. Today, one can almost find an app or a website that allows them to do homemade audio and video recordings. I even have an app on my phone where my 3 year old can record his own voice and play it back in a number of different tones or sound effects. A year ago, my work had a sales conference and invited employees or departments to create a one minute video that somehow promotes one of our products. These videos were to be shown at the annual sales conference. Our team did a “remix” by recreating Jimmy Fallon’s Thank You Notes sketch but wrote the jokes to pertain to our own work environment. We were able to edit the video with a laugh track and audience sound effects to mimic the popular night host’s famous routine. We ended up winning first place!

One thing that has stood out to me from the text, however, is, as the authors state, “the general principle of remix as a necessary condition for a robust and democratic culture” (Lankshear and Knobel, p. 97). I find this principle fascinating and can now see evidences of this throughout daily life. It’s true the culture is full of remixing – from the jokes we tell, to music, to even the type of fashion we adhere to.  Today, the popular look for men is the slick hairdo with the lumberjack beard. It’s like the 1950s and 1960s decided reunite in the 2010s.

However, in pondering this principle two questions come to mind:

1)      If remix is a necessary condition for culture, would the lack of remix lead to a lack of culture?

2)      And somewhat related – to what extent can we use remix to shape or enhance culture?

I’m not really sure how to begin with my first question or if that question is even relevant. Therefore, I’m going to let it float out into the cyberverse.

I’m very intrigued by the second question though. I would like to provide some thought around it by addressing my focal theme and personal work situation. As a quick background, I work in a sales organization for a large network security company. I decided a few years ago that I wanted to pursue a different career path in instructional design / eLearning. I chose this path for a number of reasons  (all of which I won’t get into now) but mostly because I saw a need. In the fast paced technology industry, sales reps average less than 2 years at a company. Upon being hired, new reps are given a quota and a short timetable to hit that quota with product or policy training as an afterthought. The phrase “jumping in the deep end” is often used in this scenario.  As one can see, there is a major opportunity here for eLearning. Yet, there is another phrase that is also very common in my industry and that is “death by powerpoint.” The practices that we have today are ineffective or bland. I believe that remixing, in some form or another, when applied to training (with an eLearning component) can help change the culture that exists today. I’m not exactly sure how to do so but the hamster wheel in my mind is starting to turn. How can “death by powerpoint” be remixed into effective online learning?

This one has definitely got me thinking.

Happy 4th of July!

It's been fun teaching my 3 year old all about what the 4th of July Holiday is all about. So while explaining, I drew this picture on a napkin for him.

 

 



 

Of course, I also had to explain to him who Garfield is....

DS106 Assignment Bank: New Team Logo Design

This week's Assignment Bank called for a design focus and I was immediately drawn to the assignment of creating a sports team logo. As an avid sports fan, I've always relished the idea of creating a new sports team with colors, logo, mascot, etc. Plus, living in Utah where we only have a professional basketball team (Utah Jazz), I like to daydream of adding a pro football or pro baseball team and wonder what mascots we could incorporate that are a signature of Utah.

However, for this assignment, I decided to go a in a little different direction. In the town where I live, a new high school is currently under construction. It has already been decided that the school will be called Skyridge High School but the school colors and mascot have not yet been determined. I believe, the city will actually put those two things to a vote at some point. Therefore, as a local resident, I decided to create a design that could potentially be a candidate. Here is my design:

 

Logos often incorporate digital storytelling because they are designed to send a message to the viewer about the organization. It gives an impression in just few words or sometimes in just a visual. In thinking about a mascot for the new high school, I wanted to find something that represented Utah and more specifically the city I live in. At the same time, the mascot needs to be a symbol of strength and vigor and act as a rallying point for athletes, fans, and patrons. Combined with the those elements, I also wanted to incorporate a new idea and not turn back to common mascots like tigers, Spartans, or hawks. When it came to me, I knew it was the perfect fit: Wind.

 

The city I live in sits on hills leading up to the Wasatch Mountain Range. Here the wind blows strong, almost everyday. The city is a relatively young city without many mature trees to shelter from the wind. Basically, everyone here feels the wind and feels its strength. Because of the present wind, we also have new wind turbines to harness the power of the wind and turn it into energy. For this reason, I chose the turbine as the symbol that represents the strength of the wind. These turbines are also a new, forward thinking symbol of the future and represents an organization that is part of the future.

 

The text and colors are symbol and bold. The cool blue letters are laced with yellow almost as if emitting an energy. Wind is a natural phenomenon in nature and its strength is undeniable. I think any young athlete would like to be described in the same way. The wind is not just what we experience here in my city, it's who we are!

TDC DS106: What is Silence?

The Daily Create: DS106

Silence is...

Silence is not a stranger
Or an enemy to sound
But waits for our attention
Before letting thoughts abound
For there we see without our eyes
The constitution of our soul
For there we hear without our ears
The song of our heart's goal.

DS106 Assignment Bank: Moving Object with Vine

I admit, I completely overlooked the Assignment Bank for this week so I'm just now putting something together. I selected the assignment of creating a Video using Vine

I had heard of Vine before but didn't really know what it was. I thought I would give it a try and I'm hoping to gain experience with any web tool I can - especially something that I can utilize down the road in an eLearning setting. Vine is an online and mobile tool where users can capture video and create loops. These loops can be uploaded to Twitter, Facebook, or even just on Vine.co

My son has a toy Caterpillar Backhoe that he is always leaving around the house. I keep finding myself tripping over it or accidentally kicking it. When this happens I, first wait for the pain to go away or my anger to subside, then joke about kicking the cat or tripping over the cat. Get it? Trip over the CAT?! A lame joke, I know, but hey we're happy...

Here's my first Vine loop called: Runaway CAT

Reading Response: Post-Modernity and a New Ethos

For this week’s response to Lankshear and Knoebel I would like to first contribute to the discussion on the transition from modern to post-modernity in regards to new literacies. Then I will comment on “new ethos”.

A Transition, Not A Break

Lankshear and Knoebel help set the stage for defining ‘new’ in terms of literacies by helping us understand that the transition from modernity to post-modernity is exactly that – a transition (Lankshear & Knoebel, p. 52).  They define postmodernity as “a transcendence, in which elements of an earlier state of affairs are carried over and reshaped to become parts of new configurations.” I wanted to share an experience that highlights this concept in a different way.

A couple years ago I decided to put together a family tree, realizing I couldn’t keep straight who my great-great grandparents were. So I registered with an online genealogy website and got to work. I was able to quickly find who my grandfather’s grandparents were including their birthdates, deathdates, and other relevant information. What I did not expect to find were some links to other “social” information about my ancestors. It turns out that the local newspaper for my great-great grandfather, The Mahoning Dispatch, used to print the social happenings of the residents of the various towns in the county. Luckily for me, the Library of Congress has a program for archiving local newspapers and the Mahoning Dispatch was one of them. Here is an example of one of the pages: http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn84028473/1921-09-09/ed-1/seq-1/#date1=1900&index=5&rows=20&words=Burgoyne&searchType=basic&sequence=0&state=Ohio&date2=1922&proxtext=burgoyne&y=11&x=8&dateFilterType=yearRange&page=1

As you can see, the paper includes updates family ice cream socials, out-of-town guest visits, and even newborn announcements. This was like the Facebook of the 1920s - People reading about the trivial events of everyday citizens. To get that kind of information, people needed to volunteer it to the newspaper editor and then subscribe to the paper to read the results.  That newspaper clipping is almost 100 years old yet a century ago people still had interest in that kind of social information. What is different between then and now is the technology! According to Lankshear and Knoeble, “ideas and practices evolve rather than become displaced.” I think the emphasis is placed on the evolution of practice and the introduction of technology fuels that evolution.

A New Ethos

I enjoyed the reading of the text pertaining to new ethos with examples of Web 2.0. The internet has evolved from being just an information source to being a collaborative tool – a forum if you will. Today, users are a primary source of data. The example of Wikipedia is illustrates that notion completely. I remember college professors during my undergraduate degree cringing at the mere mention of Wikipedia in a classroom setting.

I believe there is an inherent danger that comes with such a high level of collaboration and that is the danger of the truth getting lost. I recall the last presidential election and the amount of rhetoric that was passed over social media. Facts, quotes, everything you can think of was thrown out into the cloud often without a tie to primary sources. When people mold their opinions based on knowledge that is unfounded the truth becomes subject to the majority or the sways of society. I think it’s important to recognize all of the factors that come with new and emerging technologies and how they contribute both positively and negatively to new literacies.

Digital Critique: How To Develop The Best Employee Training Through E-Learning

Digital Critique:
European Commission: How to develop the best employee training through E-Learning

 

 

My focal theme for this course is corporate eLearning, a theme I've maintained throughout the various courses my Master's program. In my search of digital stories I've noticed a deluge of videos promoting eLearning companies and their solutions. I find this an interesting observation and a sign of the importance of eLearning within enterprise business. Afterall, in a capitalistic economy, a presence of supply is an indication of demand.

 

Amidst the many promotional ad I found this short video produced by the European Commission specifically for the Tourism industry. In fact, the YouTube channel where this is found is the Tourism Business Portal with the video originating in the United Kingdom. The description of the video is as follows:

 

Discover the main characteristics of e-learning as well as the advantages that this training provides to workers in the sector. You will also learn how to identify a quality e-learning course.

I chose to share and evaluate this video for a few reasons. First, the European Commission, an intergovernmental organization, is telling the story to a vast audience and I wanted to examine the effectiveness of the message. And second, I want to highlight which content is present and which what is potentially missing. To do this evaluation, I draw upon Jason Ohler's "Assessment Traits" with specific attention to story, content understanding, and presentation and performance:

Story

The title of the video is How to develop the best employee training through E-Learning but the story is not much of a how-to. Instead, the story promotes tells of the advantages for implementing eLearning curriculum and lays out some of the different pedagogical formats of eLearning. The story is told in a visual display, almost like an animated powerpoint presentation, and contains text and illustrations with music in the background.

The story being told is logical and informative but ultimately lacks an ethos that would make the story more meaningful to those watching. Because it looks like an animated powerpoint type of presentation without any narration or live images, its hard to make a personal connection to the message. Instead, it feels more like a video brochure/pamphlet of sorts.

Content Understanding

As for the content, the information presented is laid out very clearly and concisely. The graphics with text take the viewer on a logical course to understanding the importance of implementing eLearning within the company. There is also an outline of different eLearning formats that could be explored in more detail. The text was simple and did not bog down the viewer with too much reading. And the moving graphics guided the viewer to each point with good pacing so that the information came not too slowly and not too quickly.

The content was altogether easy to understand as there did not appear to be any outside distractions to take away from the message.

Presentation and Performance

Again, the video had the feel of an animated powerpoint. There's nothing wrong with that necessarily. The presentation was clean and organized with varying movements so that it wasn't always left to right. The background music added an interesting component but did not distract from the reading or graphics. The presentation was colorful and the text was large enough to read on the displace. For a short video, the message was laid out effectively and although it addressed the Tourism industry, the video could apply to any type of company contemplating an eLearning implementation. Certainly, the presentation had a professional look and feel which gave the content validity to the viewer.

What would I change?

Really, the only things I can find wrong with this digital story is the lack of potential. I pointed out earlier that it wasn't really a How-To. It was made for the Tourism industry but didn't feel like it was really tailored that area. I think a lot could have been done to make the story more compelling. It needed a human component, perhaps with video examples or testimonial. Not a lot research was done with an overall lack of statistics or empirical data. If I was a tourism executive, I would think that eLearning is a good idea from watching this video but I don't know if it would call me to action.