New Media Skills and Literacy: 2015

Monday, 7 December 2015

New Media Skills: Visualization?

I came across a website during my research that I have been using as a touchstone throughout this entire blogging process. The website, newmedialiteracies.org, is based entirely around Jenkins’ 2009 article on Participatory Culture. I have really only been using for clarification on certain aspects of the new media skills that Jenkins presents. But I noticed that on the list of media skills that they present, they added one that was not on the list given by Jenkins.

This additional skill was labeled as “visualization” and it was defined as the ability to convert information into visual representations, or vice versa. This is a constant within our society nowadays. It is no longer enough to just present information in a written form, one must always accompany it with at least one photo, or diagram, or graph. The latter is the most common visualization, I think. It is exactly what the website defines as visualization. It takes the information that you gain from research and puts it into a visual representation that allows the reader to glean all of the information in one look.

Being able to convert information into visual representations is not as easy as it sounds, this is clear in advertisements. An example of this is an AIDS public service announcement presented by the French company, Aides (French for help) (Macleod, 2008). WARNING: the advertisements are very much not safe for work so I will post a link to them in my works cited, rather than post them in this blog post.

In this series of advertisements, the company attempts to portray the dangers of experimentation without protection. They choose to do this by depicting naked women exploring strange penis-filled landscapes while wrapped in a condom bubble (Macleod, 2008). While this can be construed as a visual representation of sexual experimentation, it distracts the reader because of its absurdity.

This is why it is important to strive to create accurate and clear visual representations of concepts, because otherwise one may simply create something that will be mocked on the internet (the only reason I know about this advertisement is from an article on Cracked.com). Therefore, I believe that the skill of visualization, while not proposed by Jenkins, is integral within today’s society.

Works Cited

Macleod, D. (2008, November 30). AIDES – Explore But Protect Yourself. Retrieved December 7, 2015, from http://advertisingforadults.com/2008/11/aides-explore-but-protect-yourself/

New Media Literacies. (n.d.). Retrieved December 7, 2015, from http://www.newmedialiteracies.org/

Networking in Theatre Criticism

Networking is defined by Jenkins (2009) as the ability to find, combine and disperse information. It is not dependent on the content or what is being used to network, but rather how effectively one is able to network within a community and whether they manage to engage everyone and get them to join in the acquisition of information.

In an article written by Brock university professor, Karen Fricker, she discusses the future of theatrical criticism and outlines several different ways the critical world is changing. She describes the criticism world in the United Kingdom and mentions the rise of the blog as a medium through which to publicize one’s work (Fricker, 2015). Within this blogging world, she depicts how the London bloggers provide links to other blog posts that are in a similar vein, or that the cited in their post. Several bloggers choose to link to their friends and colleagues because this generates more buzz and publicity surrounding the entire theatre criticism community (Fricker, 2015). Fricker argues that this is where the future of criticism is headed and I believe that Jenkins would agree.

Networking within a community is essential for maintaining communication and developing publicity. Bloggers are useful and seen as the future of theatre criticism because they provide an open line of communication between artist and critic, as well as critic and audience, not to mention the extra publicity that they provide for the artist and show they are reviewing. The fact that they network amongst themselves only increases this publicity, providing more attention to various shows.

There are no longer people controlling the information that is provided to students and therefore, once they find a network of information, they are likely to explore that area for as many facts as they can extrapolate. Students are expected to conduct their own research therefore, networking, even if it is only finding the information rather than combining and dispersing it, is an important component in today’s research methods. The trick is really finding the network, and once you have found the first blog post, or article that can link you to the next one, networking becomes a breeze and it becomes easier to participate and disperse information.

Works Cited

Fricker, K. (2015). The Futures of Theatre Criticism. Canadian Theatre Review, 163, 49-53. doi:10.3138

Transmedia Navigation through Transmedia Stroytelling

Transmedia navigation is best described as being able to follow the thread of one story through several different media platforms (Jenkins, 2009). In an article by Gianluca Fiorelli, he discusses the concept if transmedia storytelling, which is, in many aspects very similar to transmedia navigation, but it possesses six important characteristics. These consist of: spreadability/drillability, immersion/exractability, world building, seriality, subjectivity, and performance (Fiorelli, 2015).

Spreadability refers to the importance of digital platforms and websites. Immersion is pretty straightforward because with all storytelling, one strives to immerse the audience, but this also strives to extract certain aspects from the audience’s everyday life. World building refers to the construction of the fictional world surrounding the story, though it does not always have to be fictional. Seriality means the consecutive release of components, it is not merely one thing, but rather multiple episodes spread across media platforms. Subjectivity is important as in modern society; we require multiple viewpoints of a story. The last characteristic is performance which refers to the fact that those participating in the storytelling become a part of the performance Fiorelli, 2015).

A good example of transmedia storytelling is the web series The Lizzie Bennet Diaries. This is a YouTube based show that is a modernization of Jane Austen’s novel, Pride and Prejudice. It spans for 100 episodes of varying lengths and garnered a lot of critical attention as it was one of the first big, and successful, examples of transmedia storytelling.

The producers of the web series chose to not only post videos on YouTube from the perspective of the protagonist, Lizzie Bennet, but also added other characters’ points of view by creating YouTube channels for the likes of Lizzie’s younger sister Lydia. They created Twitter pages for each character and made websites that were referred to in the show that you could actually visit.

The show gained a lot of success, even winning an Emmy award, demonstrating the power and entertainment value of transmedia storytelling. However, without the ability to navigate through the different media platforms, one would be unable to glean the whole story. Though it is possible to simply watch the original videos, without the additional sources, it falls flat and lacks background information. Therefore, Jenkins’ concept of transmedia navigation is crucial to keeping up with where the entertainment industry seems to be going.

Works Cited

Fiorelli, G. (2015, January 8). The Complete Guide To Transmedia Storytelling. Retrieved December 7, 2015. from http://www.stateofdigital.com/complete-guide-transmedia-storytelling/.

The Lizzie Bennet Diaries. (2013). Retrieved December 7, 2015, from http://www.pemberleydigital.com/the-lizzie-bennet-diaries/.

Judgment and Clickbaiting

Judgment is exactly what it sounds like, being able to use one’s judgment to discern whether or not a source is credible. An example presented by Jenkins (2009) is that of Wikipedia. The main issue that people have always had with Wikipedia is the fact that articles can be edited by anyone with an account.

I was unsure as to whether it was actually the case so I chose to experiment with editing a page myself. I went to the page dedicated to my former high school and began editing anything that I saw that was incorrect or out of date. I discovered that, yes; you can, in fact, edit any page, unless you are using a proxy server. This led to me believing that judgment is key in an educational context. Without researching appropriately and looking at resources with a critical eye, it is easy to be convinced by false information.

In an article written for nativeadvertising.com, Aaron Taube discusses the cost of “clickbait”. Clickbaiting is the idea of sensationalizing an article or news story in order to gain popularity. Anyone who uses social media is constantly subjected to a barrage of clickbaiting articles. Jenkins’ definition of judgment would ask that when choosing to explore these articles, you must use a critical eye when examining these sensationalized news reports.

Taube discusses the concept of clickbait and the websites that choose to use it in order to garner attention on social media. While it has been implicitly stated by Daniel McMahon that clickbait is anything that disappoints the reader, Taube suggests that clickbait is in the eye of the beholder. Therefore, it is up to the individual to use their judgment when determining whether an article is merely clickbait, or actually worth engaging. With this idea in mind, social media and clickbaiting would be something that demands proper judgment and a critical eye.

Supported by Taube and his analysis of clickbaiting, I believe that judgment is important in today’s digital age, thanks to all of the false news reports and unbelievable stories. Therefore, Jenkins is correct in believing that judgment is a crucial skill for people within the digital age to possess.

Works Cited

Taube, A. (2015, August 12). The True Cost Of Clickbait. Retrieved December 6, 2015.

Collective Intelligence and Fandom

Collective intelligence, according to Jenkins (2009), is the capacity to combine knowledge and notes in an attempt to reach a common goal. The goal is not necessarily always an academic one, as Jenkins uses the example of Pokémon fans and fans of The Matrix. They choose to pool their information about their topic in order to further understand the work of the artist. It makes sense why Jenkins would use the examples of fans, because collective intelligence seems to be directly connected to fandom.

The concept of fandom literally means the state of being a fan of someone or something. Nowhere does fandom manifest more than on the popular blogging website, Tumblr. This website has over 200 million blogs (Smith, 2014), and a good portion of that is dedicated to people dissecting their favourite television shows, movies, video games, etc. and sharing their theories with their fellow fans. This is where many people choose to develop fan fiction and post their fan art.

One example of collective intelligence that I have come across on Tumblr is actually a creative writing exercise wherein two authors come together to do something they call, “fic tennis”. Tumblr users allrightfine (Jamie) and gallifreyburning (Allison) have been playing this game for a few years now. How it works is that one of the users – let’s say Jamie were to start – will start a fan fiction story, usually based around popular science fiction show Doctor Who, after writing an introduction and initial set-up of the story, Jamie will post the writing and tag Allison. At this point Allison will continue the story from where Jamie left off.

This combined effort is a creative representation of collective intelligence. It may not be terribly academic, but the two women are working together and combining their mutual knowledge of Doctor Who to create this piece of fan work.

With applications such as this, how can collective intelligence be seen as anything but useful? It is a skill that can be difficult for people to attain due to people not necessarily working well together. But, as they say, two heads are better than one.

Works Cited

Smith, C. (2014, January 26). 70 Amazing Tumblr Facts and Statistics (April 2015). Retrieved December 6, 2015.

Allrightfine. (n.d.) well, if you insist. Tumblr.com. Retrieved December 6, 2015.

Gallifreyburning. (n.d.) shining world of the seven systems. Tumblr.com. Retrieved December 6, 2015.

Sunday, 6 December 2015

Multitasking and Attention Spans

The common perception within the minds of digital immigrants - namely people who have had to adapt to the rise of technology, rather than grow up with it (Prensky, 2001) – is that the attention span of digital natives – those who have grown up with technology- have lost much of their attention span. While attention is extremely important within the mind, it has not disappeared from the younger generation, it merely manifests itself differently.

Multitasking has become the norm for the vast majority of younger students. We are no longer able to sit still and focus on one thing for hours on end, but rather we are able to scan our surroundings and determine the important information quickly and while usually being stimulated in other ways.

A good example of this is actually myself in many ways. When I do homework, I struggle to concentrate in total silence, it is the main reason that I choose not to go to the library. When I do homework, I need to at least have music playing in the background, or better yet, have a podcast of some sort playing. The stimulation helps to keep me focused and ignoring the world around me. Many of my friends do this as well, and this is probably how many people went about doing this assignment. Some people refer to this level of attention as “continuous partial attention” (Jenkins, 2009). It would seem that this skill is one of the more useful media skills presented to us, possibly because it is the most relevant to my own life.

This multitasking power of the digital native may be just what the world needs to continue its progress. With a generation of students who are able to study for exams and entertain themselves at the same time, they are learning skills that will be useful in the working world.

A person is very rarely asked to focus on one thing for an extended period of time, a person may have to be at work for 8 hours, but there is still diversity in their activities, and I believe that we are moving into a more efficient age, and multitasking will lead the charge into this new era of attention.

Works Cited

Jenkins, H (et al). (2009) "Confronting the Challenges of Participatory Culture: Media Education for the 21^st Century". The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation Reports on Digital Media and Learning. The MIT Press. Cambridge, Massachusetts.

Prensky, M. (2001). Digital Natives, Digital Immigrants. On the Horizon, MCB University Press, Vol. 9 No. 5.

The Simulation of Video Games

Simulation refers to an ability to understand and build models of real-world activities. (Jenkins, 2009) This is quite prevalent within education, much like the use of play. Simulation can be used to explore new concepts in ways that were previously a mystery, however it does involve a thorough understanding of what it is you are simulating.

While this is a useful skill when used within an education context, it loses a lot of its potency when you acknowledge the most straightforward example of simulation, which are video games. As a whole, I am not opposed to video games, they can be entertaining and complex and even educational. I am, however, opposed to people spending hours and even days sitting in front of a screen playing a simulation of war. Society today has absolutely taken video games too far and they have lost the power that they once possessed.

Simulation in video games could be used for very useful things within new media. For example, if the world were to use video games as a way in which to learn new concepts that were previously too difficult for someone to understand, that would be a good use of this technology. I can remember being in elementary school and loving to play the video game Math Circus, because it was not only fun, but it also helped me figure out my worst subject in school, math. Simulation is a skill that not everyone possesses and that a person has to actually work to get better at, as opposed to play where it comes naturally to almost everyone. The struggles when it comes to simulation are that the world apparently struggles to use it to advance society as opposed to get them glued to their screens for the rest of eternity.

If it were instead used exclusively for educational purposes, I believe that simulation would be one of the most important new media skills to have been presented by Jenkins. However, due to the overwhelming use of simulation as entertainment and a way to melt one’s brain, it would appear to be one of the less useful skills to possess. Though, it can be seen as one of the more useful ones when used in an educational context. Simulation really seems to cover both areas, educational and entertaining, though not necessarily in a good way.

Works Cited

The Importance of Play in Education

The new media skill Jenkins (2009) presented of “play” just may be my favourite. Play refers to experimenting with one’s surroundings in order to effectively problem solve. This is extraordinarily helpful within an educational context.

Play has always been important in shaping children’s minds and developing their relationship with the world around them. When a person, regardless of their age, is genuinely interested in something, they are much more likely to learn than they are when presented with topics that are uninteresting. While this may seem obvious, it begs the question as to why teachers do not utilize playing more when teaching the curriculum.

I can recall an instance when I was in fifth grade and we were learning about Ancient Egypt and mummification. I have always had rather morbid interests, so this fascinated me. It caught my attention even more when my teacher gave us a “creative assignment” which essentially meant that we were asked to convey information in an interesting and engaging way. There was a strict rubric to follow, but as long as we adhered to that, we could do pretty much anything we wanted.

This gave so much room to play and experiment with different ways to present information. In the end, I chose to make my own mummy. This was over 10 years ago and I am still able to recall exactly how, when and where I made this project simply because my teacher chose to allow the students to play and discover different ways to present information.

Within the world of dramatic arts, playing is incredibly important because otherwise, nothing would ever be accomplished, which may be why it is often disregarded as an easy subject, because through playing students learn the drama curriculum faster and easier than most other subjects. Playing is one of, if not the most important new media skill because it allows for creative freedom and expression.

The mental attitude that surrounds play is stimulating in ways that traditional learning is not. Though it is important to note, that play does not focus solely upon having fun, but rather upon the engagement of the learner (Jenkins, 2009).

The struggle is to maintain that balance of fun, engagement and learning within play. Once that balance can be achieved, the students will learn without even realizing it.

Works Cited

Appropriation in New Media Observed through DJ Earworm

The term “appropriation” immediately brings to mind the concept of cultural appropriation, in which one demographic adopts aspects of another culture, usually in negative ways, such as Native American headdresses being worn at music concerts to look “cool”. However, in the context of the Jenkins (2009) article, it refers to using bits and pieces from an already existing work and developing something new and meaningful. The first thing that springs to mind for me when reading Jenkins’ description is DJ Earworm (real name Jordan Roseman).

DJ Earworm first demonstrated the skill of appropriation in 2007 when he released “United State of Pop” which was a mash-up of the top 25 songs of the year, according to the Billboard’s Year-End Top 100. He uses samples from each of the song, whether it’s the overarching beat or the hook or the chorus. He layers the songs over each other in such a way that they blend and create a new song (Lipschutz, 2011).

In 2009, he blew up with that year’s United States of Pop, with everyone around the world enjoying his music (Lipschutz, 2011). As a DJ, his job is appropriation, if he did not possess that skill, then he would be unable to do his job to the best of his abilities.

Although a big aspect of appropriation is knowing when it is appropriate to take samples, and when it is not. With DJ Earworm, he does samples in a respectful way that honours the original artists, and, in a way, provides new insight into the music itself. It is also important to be aware of copyright laws and trying not to infringe upon them. Earworm explains how he avoids this because there is an amendment to copyright laws in that original works can be used under the “fair use” policy (Hein, 2014). This essentially states that a person can use copyrighted work if they have a good enough reason, which helps mash-up artists avoid anything more than a cease and desist letter.

I believe that appropriation is an important new media skill because it creates a new creative outlet for many people and produces original work that feels familiar to the audience.

Below is this year's installment in the United State of Pop series produced by DJ Earworm, in case anyone wants to give it a listen. Though this year he did the top 50 songs, rather than the top 25.

Work Cited

Hein, E. (2014, December 26). DJ Earworm on the art of the mashup. Retrieved 6 December 2015

Lipschutz, J. (2011, January 3). DJ Earworm: Pop Music Had ‘More Energy’ in 2010. Retrieved 6 December 2015.

Roseman, J. (2015, December 2). DJ Earworm Mashup - United State of Pop 2015 (50 Shades of Pop) [Viedo file]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rfFEhd7mk7c.

Performance in New Media Observed through Stephen Colbert

Jenkins (2009) describes the new media skill of performance as being able to shift between different identities with the intention of using this tactic to lead to new discoveries. Essentially what he seems to be saying with this is that you are more likely to glean information if you tailor your personality to the information you are attempting to acquire.

An example of this that I have observed is within Stephen Colbert’s interviews on The Late Show. Specifically, he appears to tailor his personality to each guest that he has on the show. It is usually a subtle change, but it is most notable when comparing an interview he conducts with a comedian against an interview with a politician.

In the first clip, he is interviewing Bernie Sanders and jokingly asks him about being called a liberal and a socialist and why he will not accept those as an insult, to which Sanders clarifies that he prefers being called a “progressive” (The Late Show, 2015). It is evident within this interview that Colbert is striving to be his usual funny self, while maintaining an air of professionalism. He allows Sanders to speak his piece before making a joke pertaining to the political rhetoric Sanders just spouted. The audience is completely silent as Sanders speaks.

In the second clip, he is discussing the lack of diversity in television with comedian Aziz Ansari (The Late Show, 2015). The audience is in a constant state of laughter throughout the entire interview, even though the two men are actually discussing something very serious. Colbert chose to be a bigger personality with Ansari because that’s what the audience wanted and he is, in the end, striving to get reactions from his guests that please the audience.

While the changes are subtle, it is easy to see how Colbert shifts his performance based on his subject. This allows him to conduct dynamic interviews that glean information that might not have otherwise been brought to light. Though neither of these interviews reveal any shocking information, it is clear from the audience’s response that it is important for Colbert to conduct these interviews differently.

This shift in performance is an extraordinarily effective tactic, especially when done as subtly as with Colbert, and definitely a useful skill to possess within today’s society.

Works Cited

The Late Show with Stephen Colbert. (2015, September 19). Why Won’t Bernie Sanders Take “Socialist” as an Insult? [Video file]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AuN6I30NNa4.

The Late Show with Stephen Colbert. (2015, November 11). Aziz Ansari Diversifies “The Late Show” [Video file]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ao3_3yBv13M.