Week 6: Changing Citizenship

Please respond to the following in a Journal Post on your personal Blog. Pick a topic or issue from the readings that struck you as interesting, important, confusing, etc. and reflect on it in by responding to the following prompts:

• What is / are the tools and techniques being put into practice?
• What is / are the key issue(s) outlined in or underlying the text (think in terms of Green’s model: operational, cultural and critical)?
• What are your feelings and opinions on the reading?
• Be sure to reference the reading(s) including author and page number.

     I found the article, Changing Citizenship in the Digital Age by W. Lance Benett to be most interesting. This article deals with the fact that our society as a whole has changed due to the digital age. The younger a person is, the less involved in politics they have become. There is an over all disengagement in politics from young people and the author blames it on two overall reasons, "The majority of those communicating with young people about conventional politics continue to do so in a tired top-down, highly managed ways that most young people find inauthentic and largely irrelevant" and, "what young people do online tends to be largely social and entertainment oriented, with only tangential pathways leading to the conventional civic and political worlds" (Bennett, p. 10). The tools that need to be used (but aren't being used correctly) are the Internet and social media. So many young people are constantly on their phones and social media and this is where politicians need to genuinely connect to the young audience. Bennet says, "they (young people) need to feel invited to participate on their own terms, and to learn how to use their digital tools to better express their public voices" (Bennett, 10). 

     I feel as though the underlying issues (feeling) of this article are; young people are not involved in politics as much any longer, they don't feel the need to be. There is a feeling of distrust on both ends; young people towards politics and politicians towards young people. There needs to be a coming together; an understanding that things are just done differently now than twenty years ago. To recreate our democracies there needs to be a conjoined understanding from both ends. I believe this issue would fit into GREEN's definition of Cultural, "specific literary practice which relies on using strategies to receive and transmit meaning. Developing an understanding of content and context" (GREEN, pg. 1). I believe politicians need to develop an understanding of the younger generation, the way they communicate through literacy (social media/ blogging) and attempt to create a new way of approaching this generation. This dimension of literacy seems to grasp all that is needed to find the change that is needed; this young generation has grown up in a technological culture where everything revolves around the Internet, social media, and is face paced and constantly evolving. Politicians need to keep up and do it in a way that doesn't degrade young people for being so tech savvy. 

     I completely agree with our reading; I am 33 and I have never been interested in politics or what politicians have to say. This could be because my parents didn't push the issue with me growing up but it could also be that, I never felt a "pull" from a politician to be involved. I have always felt distrust for them and usually this gut feeling proves to be true down the road (always a scandal...). I can only imagine how disengaged an even younger generation must view our world and politics. Our article touches on how distant young people feel from politics, government and power; I completely understand this and agree with the thought. The politicians, "must learn more about their citizenship and communication preferences and how to engage with them (young people)" (Bennett, p. 12). I believe that the need to be involved with politics and building a better democracy has to come from within but it also has to be sparked at a young age; teachers, parents and politicians all need to encourage young children to be involved in the creation of their futures. Once a child forms opinions and is able to determine if they'd like to stay involved, that's when it's so important for the politicians to gain their interest and keep them hooked. I feel like politicians need to meet kids where they are at; use the technology they use and find common ground to build a sustainable relationship with them. 

                                                               References

Bennett, W. (2008, January 1). Changing Citizenship in the Digital Age. Retrieved February 23, 2015, from http://mitpress.mit.edu/sites/default/files/titles/content/9780262524827_sch_0001.pdf

Green. (n.d.). Graphical representation of GREEN's approach to literacy. Retrieved February 21, 2015, from https://moodle.esc.edu/mod/page/view.php? id=821667

Week 3 Assignment

Learning Activities:

Enter a reflective journal entry post on your blog. Pick a topic or issue from the readings that struck you as interesting, important, confusing, etc. and reflect on it in by responding to the following prompts:

1. What is / are the tools and techniques (or new skills) being put into practice?
2. What is / are the key issue(s) outlined in or underlying the text (think in terms of Green’s model: operational, cultural and critical)?
3. Why do you think Green used the visual model to represent his ideas of the 3 dimensions of Literacy.  How does the relational visual "hierarchical structure" serve the taxonomy of levels?  How might you use visually structure Jenkins "New Digital Literacies" ?  How many times have you laid out information in a relational conceptual representation to clarify meaning? Share some examples.
4. Be sure to reference the reading including author and page number.

     To be honest, I am a bit confused. I do find the reading to be a bit overwhelming and difficult to follow, at times. I find that I learn much quicker by listening and by doing rather than reading. So naturally, I enjoyed listening to Mr. Jenkins speak; his video was easy to follow and understand. I like how he walked us through many years of change and how participatory culture has needed to grow and develop with all of the new media and literacy change. Some of the new tools and techniques he spoke of included; social networking (facebook, myspace etc, etc), learning through popular culture and groups that are created based on a unique interest (Harry Potter / bowling) that develop into something greater. The Harry Potter lovers developed into a large community that supported a huge donation mission to Haiti. 

     Kress and van Leeuwen talk about the many different charts, graphs, images and diagrams that are used throughout our world. Things started to click for me when they said, "In other words, the identity of an individual (or a species) is represented as being "subordinate"to its "origins" or "ancestors" in the same way as specific concepts are subordinated to more general and abstract concepts, and lower employees or local bodies to managers or central organs" (pg. 82). When they broke their explanation down like this is started to make sense to me. Many images are broken down so that when you look at them the "powerful" or most important thing is on top and then the less important images are on the bottom. I beleive this is why many flow charts and organizational charts were used to resemble this thought. They start at the top with the most important thought or image and trickle down with the less imoportant images or ideas. I believe this way of outlining and breaking down images is important and easy to follow. I am a bit touched with OCD and like when things are "just so" and have an easy to follow structure. 

     When you look at Green's diagram; "approach to literacy" you don't see a "top to bottom" or "trickle" down flow. This leads me to believe that each component (Operational, Cultural, and Critical) of the diagram should be considered equal. The three circles are overlapping and that, to me, shows that they are all linked to one another, somehow. Green states that, "the interface of those three overlapping concepts creates a meaning of Learning" (pg.1). Green uses this diagram to show equal parts that combine to create learning, using and analyzing but Jenkins could definitly use a hierachical structure when it comes to outlining the New Digital Literacies. He used a chart showing how little we had in he 1850's (toy printing press) all the way to current times (web and radio). He could organize his ideas about participatory culture and how it has grown over the years due to change in technology by using a hierachial structure; he could have the internet at the top and then trickle down the structure with technologies that have been used in the past (the bottom would have the printing press). 

     Over the years, as a teacher, I've used many structures such as the ones Kress and van Leeuwen talk about. Breaking things down into a visual is very helpful to my students (and me) especially, my special education students. Many of my children have been visual learners and need the graphs, diagrams, venn diagrams and charts to learn. Seeing the information rather than just hearing it is very helpful. In my current classroom (Universal PreK) I've used several as well; bar graphs, venn diagrams and charts. We just recently created a mitten vs. glove chart to see who wears what in our classroom and then from this we were able to determine whether more children have gloves or mittens in our classroom. Just goes to show that you can use these visual literacies in many areas; as sophisticated as with Jenkins or as simple as with my prek classroom.

References:

Green. (n.d.). Graphical representation of GREEN's approach to literacy. Retrieved January 21, 2015, from https://moodle.esc.edu/mod/page/view.php?id=821667

Jenkins, Henry. "TEDxNYED - Henry Jenkins - 03/06/10." Online video clip. Youtube. Uploaded on April 13th, 2010. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AFCLKa0XRlw. January 30th, 2015.

Kress, G., & Van leeuwen, T. (2006). Reading Images: The Grammer Of Visual Design (2nd ed., p. 312). Routledge.

Week 2 Journal Blog: interactive participant and represented participant in semiotic theory

    Blog Topic: In your journal post, consider the concept of interactive participant and represented participant as identified in the semiotic theory in Kress and van Leeuwin and its link to the social context of literacy.

      In our reading Kress and van Leeuwin believe that, "there are two types of participant involved in every semiotic act, interactive participants and represented participants. The former are the participants in the act of communication – the participants who speak and listen or write and read, make images or view them, whereas the latter are the participants who constitute the subject matter of the communication; that is the people, places and things (including abstract things) represented in and by the speech or writing or image, the participants about whom or which we are speaking or writing or producing images” (p. 48). They believe that every visual image has a represented participant or the participants that compose the subject of expression. They are the ones that are responsible for creating the visual image. As an interactive participant you use your own understanding of the world; how you interpret things and what your background understanding is of things to interpret a visual piece.
     It's overwhelming to think that one piece of art (or a sign) can be interpreted so many different ways. Everyone is raised differently, influenced differently, and brings a different twist on things to the table. One persons view of a sign or artwork could be completely and totally different from another's view. I like how our video, "Semiotics: the Study of Signs" gives us a visual explanation of this. They show two people at the end of the video having a conversation. One person says one word and the other has an "idea bubble" pop up with how they visually interpret a word. For example, the one person says the word, "vacation" and the other persons idea bubble is of "ZZZZZ". The person associates a vacation with sleeping. If someone said the word vacation to me, I'd envision a lake and a campfire. This example just goes to show that one represented participant can interpret something so differently from another.
    I believe this to be the reason why we need such distinct cultural signs; signs that everyone knows the meaning behind. These signs involve no guessing to the person trying to interpret them. Such signs include; stop signs, red lights, yield, bathroom (male/female) signs etc, etc. You know without a doubt what these signs mean and what to do when you see them. There is no guessing involved with these cultural landmarks but when looking at a piece of art or in our own conversations we are left to determine the meaning behind them. Whatever experiences you bring to the table directly effect how you interpret things.




Kress, G., & Van leeuwen, T. (2006). Reading Images: The Grammer Of Visual Design (2nd ed., p. 312). Routledge.