Marshall McLuhan, a media guru far before his time, talks
about The Global Village, long before the days of social media platforms. The global village took the literary
man as an individual and brought us into a tribal group. He talks about this, and at the time,
the electronic devices he was referring to were stationary telephones, radio
and televisions. As a society, we moved from interacting as individuals, obtaining our knowledge through books, to being members of a tribe - a global village of interaction. From the 1960's when he shared his view until now, we have seen many changes in the way individuals interact. We now have
mobile devices that can alert us the minute triumph or tragedy happens, no
matter where we are. Even when the
electronic age he referred to started growing, there was no way to prepare for
the all out openness we are experiencing now. Through new technologies, we can connect two classrooms from half way around the world with each other to share a common lesson through the use of smart boards and the internet. But attention needs to be paid to the use of the technologies and media.
Jenkins discusses the need to teach media literacy, and
the challenges that are faced in order to do so. The first is the Participation Gap. Access to internet is one thing, access
to internet with the capability of being able to do the work that is necessary
for schooling is another. I
conducted an interview at the beginning of the year for another course to find
out about the development of courses and instructional design. One of the many things that needs to be
taken into consideration is the technology which may be affected by the
participation gap. (p. 13)
The second challenge, Transparency Problem is one that I
should not be surprised with, yet do find surprising. In Shier’s study (2005) a game was developed based on
historic interpretation of the first shot of the American Revolution. Students took the representation of
historical evidence in the game as being authentic. (p. 16) The
concern lies in the ability of young people to be able to assess the quality of
information received. I had an
exchange with a friend today on Facebook on this story:
http://nationalreport.net/obama-declares-november-national-muslim-appreciation-month/
When I initially commented of the fakeness of the story,
responses came back with stories less and less believable than this initial
posting. But because it was on the
internet, and shared by several people, then it must be truth.
The third concern, Ethics Challenge, is an issue where young
people creating new modes of expression that are poorly understood by
adults. He also points out the
implications of their media and communications practices. Most notably that the information that
is shared maybe initially just for friends and followers can bring unwelcome
attention. (p. 17) A recent example that comes to mind
with me is happening right now in the Capital District. Over Labor Day weekend, a party was
held at a vacated house that is up for sale by a former NFL football
player. Somewhere between 200 –
300 kids illegally entered the home and held a party. Through a series of Tweets, the teens implicated themselves
not only with the text but with visual proof of who was at the party and what
was going on. The ethical norm was
non-existent as they not only were breaking and entering, they stole items and
did thousands and thousands of dollars worth of damage.
We have come a long way from the new media that McLuhan
referred to, yet we need to be more diligent in not only teaching and
understanding the media and the use of them. Not only do we need to make sure users can understand the
operation of the media, but be able to develop critical thinking in regards to determining
the validity of what they are reading/viewing.
References:
Jenkins, H.
Confronting the Challenges of Participatory Culture: Media Education for the 21st
Century
Marshall
McLuhan - The World is a Global Village (CBC TV)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HeDnPP6ntic
Very good comments regarding the issue of critical thinking as applied to media and all forms of literacy and the ability to help student discern the value of the media they are consuming!
ReplyDeleteHi Anita,
ReplyDeleteI especially enjoyed the video you posted about the global village. It is fascinating to see how back then they were asking the same questions. How the absorbed content of a book differs from that of the TV and telephone. Also how people who grow up with a certain format can get stuck in it. This causes new formats to seem overwhelming and in some cases such as the music vulgar. New medias seem to be following the same formula creating less individualism and more of a tribal mentality. One can only imagine what the next step in evolving literacies will be. I'm sure one day even the computer will become obsolete.
Sean,
DeleteAre you familiar with McLuhan? I did a research paper on him for my undergrad and found him completely fascinating. He's also known for the Medium is the Message. In one of his interviews discussing this, he used the television as the new medium - and the 1960 presidential debate. It was the first televised debates, and he felt strongly that because it was televised, that gave Kennedy the edge over Nixon. Nixon had had surgery on his knee and became very sick over the summer with an infection and lost weight. He was still in pain during the debates, and sweating (due to the sickness). Kennedy on on the other hand, had been campaigning in California before the debates - was in appearance, more appealing to the masses because he was movie star like.
McLuhan said if you listened to the debate on the radio - and listened to the questions and the responses, Nixon clearly won the debate. If you watched it on TV, people were more swayed by appearance than by what they said. To test it, I took to YouTube and first listened without watching the debate - then watched the debate. I agree with McLuhan.
As far as the platforms, I think we are now at a point that there are SO many available. If you think about what else could be developed, I keep thinking not so sure there is much left (in terms of connectivity), but I am sure that I will see how wrong I am in the next couple years.