Given the choice, would activists of the 1960's choose social media as a means of distributing alternative political view? Why do some of us still prefer printing zines over creating blogs for particular issues? In Jenkin's video he argues that we as humans have always looked for ways to be a part participatory culture, whether through reading the news, watching advertisements, participating on blogs, or other social media. We desire ways to communicate with text and to communicate with others communicating with that text. With the development of multimodes of representation we begin to have choices of how we present our ideas, views, etc, and gain more control of how we want others to interact with it as well. Kress and van Leuwen (2007) explain that depending on purpose, "modality of choices [can] go together with certain representational choices," (pg 91), we now have the option to pick the best representation for what we desire to put out into the world. For example, the visual choices we make for advertisements, instructional manuals, abstract art, etc., are all different and dependent on purpose; we would not use a picture of an unfinished garment, with no representation of the possessive attributes, to entice a reader to buy the clothing (pg 93). We want the viewer's gaze focused on the most persuasive part if our intent is to sell the product for wearing.
Thus, understanding how we interact with different types of texts helps us choose the most successful and accessible representation for our idea. This connects to Jenkin's discussion on participatory culture. If the end goal is to have a representation that allows for multiple entry points for participants with a collection of ideas, representations of ideas (video, sound, text), and modes of communication (pg. 85), it makes sense that many social activists are choosing it as a tool of trade. Participation on the internet utilizes Green's The Three Dimensions of Literacies, because participants must easily move from the operational, to the cultural, to the critical in order to become a valued part of participatory culture on the web. They must begin first by decoding the information found on the web by comprehending it, then use strategies to make meaning to what they are reading, seeing, viewing, or listening to (this is attributed to their cultural understandings of the world) then finally critically examine it and construct alternative perspectives. For Jenkin's the network model is the representation that allows for participatory culture to thrive the most.
As a Teacher I have been trying to include more new medias into my classroom. I've decided to implement blogs in my 9th grade English class. Their assignments require them now to upload responses and respond to their peers (yes exactly like this class). Students are responding positively to it. They find it easier to interact with one another through a process they are already accustomed to. I have also began incorporating more visual representations to help students use critical lens when they read and view text. We examined advertisements from the 50's on family values and they examined it through a "gendered" lens. The choices we make for how we will represent an idea has direct impact on how participants will interact with that idea.
Works Cited
Kress and van Leeuwen, “Reading Images, The Grammar of Visual Design”, Routledge, New York, NY, 2007
Maria...did you intentionally create lines of textlessness? I will have to give some thought as to the meaning of this act. I don't know you, and the surrounding text makes me think that perhaps you were traveling to someplace warm (its been pretty cold) and you entered the Bermuda Triangle, the last latter of your title seems to be missing. OR...perhaps you have no response to the weeks questions. I found them a bit confusing myself. Or...You've deleted all the inappropriate things you said as a response...perhaps they were highly political or classified. Oh...classified...classification...is this a new taxonomy .No, seriously...is this art? JoAnna
ReplyDeleteIf the technology existed, I think the activists of the 1960’s would have used blogs and social media. Certainly, the news outlets would have and that would certainly force the activist hand. One can only stay silent or underground for so long.
ReplyDeleteZines over blogs. You can’t find what wasn’t shared directly with you. Zines keep it off the internet and, by extension, the NSA. Not that I needed to go to national security, but that is where my mind went. I was thinking about the garment alluding to wearing clothing and I began to wonder about spin how we have a need to remove the focus from a certain area in order to place it firmly elsewhere as a form of distraction. To confuse, complicate and muddy what is happening.
Like in recent news how we can take a situation like the Ukraine and attempt to make the masses forget all about it by talking about the debt ceiling or some other clearly stupid, but overly hyped situation. Weapons of mass distraction.
Pick the best representation to put out into the world! That is exactly what Jenkins did in his TED talk. He admitted how he found someone else’s representation of his views and adopted their slide for his talk. I agree with him that this was a great example of participatory culture.
Thanks for the post!
Hi Maria-
ReplyDeleteGreat post. I think you question in regards to whether or not activist of the 60's would choose social media. I actually think they would in order to get their point across in a timely manner. As much as some may not want to "participate" I think there is probably something in all of us that draws to those means of communication which joins many together. As a teacher, I too have been trying to add more new media to my classroom. The interesting part is while the students seem to be very engaged, the college itself isn't always up to speed with the latest version of these new media platforms.