Technology available online: Web 2.0 applications & tools (open source).

I wanted to share with you some really great resources on Web 2.0 technology that I've found useful.

WEb 2.0 tools:

This is a wiki created by Frances Jacobson Harris (UHigh school librarian at UIUC) for a workshop on Web 2.0. It provides a great introduction to Web 2.0 and Web 2.0 resources.

http://gslisharris.wikispaces.com/

Different ways that teachers can use all the Google applications in the classroom.

http://www.freetech4teachers.com/2010/03/free-33-page-guide-google-for-teachers.html

Open Source software:

Comprehensive searchable database to open source software.

http://www.allthingsweb2.com/mtree/

http://www.go2web20.net/

Comprehensive searchable database to web applications. Search results include the brand name logo and if you roll over the logo, it will tell you the function of the app. Click on the app to learn more infroamtion.

Screen capture - video: Jing (like Camtasia but open source)

I just started using Jing (for Mac) this semester and love it! It allows you do a screen capture and then edit it (add arrows, text, circle things, etc) and it also lets you create videos (including audio) so that you can easily do things like tutorials or modeling a search for students. FREE!

http://www.jingproject.com/

Videos on the web

Want to have your students create videos, but not sure how? This free, downloadable guide shows you how to do this using free, open source software. Excellent!

http://www.docstoc.com/docs/37091932/Making-Videos-on-the-Web---A-Guide-for-Teachers <-- very cool resource for creating videos with free, open source software

Getting around filters

Great resource that gives tips on getting around filters blocking youtube in the classroom. It also mentions ways that you can upload your own videos to the internet.

http://www.schoollibraryjournal.com/blog/1340000334/post/1410038141.html

Streaming music online:

This article from school library journal reviews a lot of different music sites, some of which I had never heard of. She also suggests ideas for using these sites for lesson plans or library activities.

http://www.schoollibraryjournal.com/article/ca6720445.html

Wikis:

General wikis...

Librarian's guide to wikis: http://www.sociallibraries.com/course/week3

Wikis explained in Plain English (video): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-dnL00TdmLY

Using Wikispaces...

Introduction to wikis and Wikispaces software: http://help.wikispaces.com/

Video tutorial for starting an account with Wikispaces: http://www.wikispaces.com/site/tour

Detailed help using Wikispaces, FAQ by teachers: http://www.wikispaces.com/help+index

Examples of wikis...

Libraries using wikis: http://gslisharris.wikispaces.com/Collaborating

Wikis in education: http://educationalwikis.wikispaces.com/Examples+of+educational+wikis

More library wikis: http://sliss554sp08.wikispaces.com/Library+Wiki+Examples

Technology taking over our lives?

Here's a thought, with all the technology that we have at our fingertips--where many devices serve multiple functions--we are multi-tasking more than ever. While working on their homework on their computer, teens could be listening to music, checking their email, chatting via aim and facebook, texting their friends on their phone, eating and watching the TV in the background. This obviously leads to less productivity, more distractors, and possibly too much of a blending of work and play. For students that don't already have ADD, we are creating a world where students have such a stimulus overload that they are likely to struggle with the same problems people with ADD encounter. For those that already have ADD--good luck! Even the website/wiki/blog format of creating seems to almost encourage distraction because of hyperlinks. While it is great to have the information right at your fingertips (as opposed to relying on footnotes and citation chasing, which is probably fairly rare for students especially), it can be easy to get distracted clicking on the links, and then getting interested in something else, and forgetting what the true assignment or goal was. This poses issues in the classroom, because students seem to get bored and distracted easier. They expect the same sensory stimulation they are used too and want to find quick, fast answers with minimal effort. Although this encourages us to be more creative as teachers, I wonder how it affects students ability to work hard and to focus. Are we going to have to start teaching meditation in school in order to help kids learn how to concentrate on one thing at a time (such as reading). Reading effectively takes so much concentration in order to truly absorb it and I wonder if this skill is starting to get lost a bit.

Also, technology is also so pervasive in our lives that it has the unfortunate side affect of making us feel like we must be constantly available. It has become harder and harder to avoid people or put work off. There is an immediacy about things, and I think it causes people to be more impulsive, selfish/demanding and less inclined to plan ahead. Whereas things used to have to be planned in advance to insure coordination with a variety of people and to get things completed during the 9-5 work day, now people have 24 hour access to people via cell phones and email. People can monitor what you are doing through twitter and facebook status updates, and they can see when you are on facebook or gmail and chat with you right there. Because of this, people are more impatient and less likely to wait for you to get back to them when it is convenient for you. Instead they will find another medium to contact you until they are able to reach you (at their convenience, not yours). This in turn leads to impulsive behaviors, because people our coerced to make decisions or give opinions on things before they have had the time to fully look into matters. This will inevitably result in poor, uninformed decisions, at least some of the time. It is also harder for people who are indecisive (like me), because they feel more more pressure to act quickly, because that is what is valued by friends, family and professionals in our world. The 9-5 job also becomes less and less realistic, as it becomes harder and harder to get away from bringing work home or at least staring at in the face via email or phone. Add in the popular idea of "working from home" and things get even more complicated, with work and personal life interfering with each other and life becoming harder and harder to keep organized or separate, leading to more multi-tasking, less focus, and ultimately, less productivity.

There is less and less privacy and the line between personal and professional life gets blurrier and blurrier. As supervisors and teachers, how do we deem what is appropriate use of computer/work time anymore? Many people save documents in their email and share working documents on google docs, so disallowing "email" sites either through filters or through library policy becomes problematic. Also with privacy issues, coworkers and students can learn more about our personal lives than ever before if we allow to become our "facebook friends" or twitter followers. How do you keep your professional and personal life separated? Is the idea of not letting your personal life interfere with your work, or not talking about it with co-workers even possible in this situation?

Fancy Phones

I don't own a fancy cell phone, but I have to admit, I'm started to experience a bit of Iphone-envy. It seems that "there's an app for that" is actually true for so many cool and useful things.

The app that intrigues me the most is "Google googles." With this application, you use the Iphone's camera to take a picture of something, and the app performs a visual search for information about the picture online. This works for book covers, business cards, advertisements, etc. To see a short video describing this process, check out: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hhgfz0zPmH4. It seems like the search works best for things that include some written words as well as images, but Google googles hopes to be able to search just images in the future in order to help with things like plant identification or food.

This idea blows my mind quite a bit! How cool would it be to be able to just use your phone to take pictures of, say, tools in a shop and be able to have a name for all of them as well as being able to look up their function on the sly. Or you could take a picture of something that you like in a magazine or on TV and see if google googles can point you to a website where you can buy the object. Scarier still, what if you could take a picture of someone (even a child) and perform a google search on them to try to identify them. It would be a bit like having the "intersect" in your phone (for any Chuck fans out there).

Another app that would have helped me earn a lot of "cool points" back in high school (or really probably still!) is Shazaam. This application uses the Ipod's voice recognition software to tell you the name and artist of a song that is playing in your environment. It only needs a few bars in order to place the song.

Pretty soon, it seems like trivia games will be a thing of the past! My recently went to an adult game night party where one of the couples kept searching for answers on their phone, as if that wasn't even cheating. I wonder what this will mean for the Ipod generation? Do you think they will even bother to memorize trivia? Will it still be valued in society?

Here are some library-related apps in case these become resources that we need to start putting on our library websites!

Free manga viewer: http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/i-manga-x-free-manga-web-browser/id342797204?mt=8&ign-mpt=uo%3D2

Comics reader, frame by frame. Download (and pay) for each comic (same as music in itunes)

http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/comics/id303491945?mt=8&ign-mpt=uo%3D2

Free audio books - http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/audiobooks/id311507490?mt=8&ign-mpt=uo%3D2

Audio book package ($1 for 13 free downloads, pay for additional). Comes with a visual bookshelf to display your downloads.

http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/audiobookshelf/id335221247?mt=8

Glee: response to Anna

I’ve enjoyed watching Glee, but I’ve often wondered how the show is perceived by people with disabilities.

Artie, one of the most popular and talented characters on the show is confined to a wheelchair, however in real life, the actor has full use of his legs. In one episode, all the Glee club members practice using a wheelchair for a week to see how hard it is for Artie. After watching this episode, I was really impressed, but I also wondered it this was a positive idea or a negative idea. It seemed to be mostly respectfully done, but part of me wasn’t sure whether to be impressed or offended.

Then the show decided to do a scrimmage with a deaf choir. This was a powerful scene, but it seemed almost negated by the caricatured, negative portrayal of the deaf choir’s club advisor, who was made fun of in the show.

Also, two characters with down syndrome were introduced onto the show. The notoriously horrible cheerleading coach decided to select a Becky, a girl with down syndrome, for her squad. Everyone was suspicious of her choice and criticized her for treating her harshly, but the coach explained that Becky would want to be treated just like everyone else. At the end of the show, we see the coach visiting her sister, who also has down syndrome. The inclusion of these two characters was for me the most genuine and commendable. I’m looking forward to seeing how their characters develop, and I hope that they continue to treat them as individuals.

Overall, I’ve been impressed with the show’s inclusion of so many different types of characters. The characters have been well-developed (maybe not at first, but eventually), and each episode addresses issues that a lot of teens can identify with or at least understand and learn from (with the exception of the ridiculousness of the adult characters’ drama).

Many people and critics seem to share this viewpoint, as the show has earned numerous awards (Peabody, diversity award, GLADD media (GLBT), etc), but some people from the groups Glee portrays (minorities, GLBT, people with disabilities) are not happy with Glee’s success. They feel that Glee is reinforcing stereotypes rather than building acceptance.

Smith, S.E. “Any Representation a Good Representation.” this ain’t living. Blog. April 25, 2010. http://meloukhia.net/2010/04/any_representation_is_a_good_representation.html

- The article focuses on the fact that characters are being portrayed stereotypically in Glee, and thus aren’t helping advocate for diversity acceptance

Albiniak, Paige. "Spinning their wheels: 'Glee' cast learns to dance like Artie." New York Post. November 8, 2009.

http://www.nypost.com/p/entertainment/tv/spinning_their_wheels_zv81BkmLdjAuHX1e5GQ7SK

- The article focuses on the episode of Glee that has the cast all using wheelchairs. It discusses the talent of Kevin McHale as Artie, the character who is confined to a wheelchair, and the difficulties the cast faced when trying to dance and perform in wheelchairs.

Elber, Lynn. "Glee" Wheelchair episode hits bump with disabled." AP. November 10, 2009.

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5iQAmC_O8Ec2pjgF9uSzZMTQLeH7gD9BSPO2O0

- The article criticizes Glee for hiring a person without disabilities to play a character who uses a wheelchair. It interviews Glee producers, who explain that the show has tried hard to create a cast that includes a wide range of ethnicities, as well as characters with disabilities and mentions that Glee auditioned anyone that could sing and perform. However, he explains that with Artie, they found a great actor in Kevin McHale and they felt that it was more important to include a character with a wheelchair on the show than to have Kevin be a “normal” character because they hadn’t found someone who was disabled to take the role. However, performers with disabilities disagree. They argue that Hollywood is a tough place for them and that they are often not given a chance out of fear of being incapable to do a good job or raising production expenses.

Fernandez, Maria Elena and Denise Martin. "Exclusive: Ryan Murphy calls tonight's episode of 'Glee' a 'game changer.'" Los Angeles Times. November 11, 2009.

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/showtracker/2009/11/exclusive-ryan-murphy-calls-tonights-episode-of-glee-a-game-changer.html

- The article discusses a Glee episode in which the Glee club advisor, Mr. Schuester, makes all of the Glee members spend time in a wheel chair for a whole week. They then perform “Proud Mary” in wheelchairs. It also discusses how the show has worked hard to be fun and comedic while accurately portraying the struggle that misfits face in high school.

Haller, BA. "Did an actual deaf choir perform on "Glee" episode?" Media dis&dat. November 28, 2009.

http://media-dis-n-dat.blogspot.com/2009/11/did-actual-deaf-choir-perform-on-glee.html

- The article criticizes the show for making fun at the deaf school's choirmaster's hearing impairment. It also questions whether the show actually used a real deaf choir, since it has used actors without disabilities to play characters with disabilities in the past. The author includes comments from a deaf discussion board as well, some of which complain that the touching performance of John Lennon's Imagine was a bit rude and presumptuous in that the Glee chorus interrupted and joined the deaf choir's performance.

Haller, BA. "Washington Post "voters" see no problem with Glee's disabled character being played by nondisabled actor." Media dis&dat. November 17, 2009.

http://media-dis-n-dat.blogspot.com/2009/11/washington-post-voters-see-no-problem.html

- Haller addresses the Washington Post survey that asks whether it is more important that Artie, the character in Glee that is in a wheelchair, be played by someone who is extremely talented and believable as a person with a disability, or that the person is legitimately a person who is handicapped. 9% of those surveyed believed that it was more important to have use an actor that uses a wheelchair in order to help raise awareness of the issue and give actors with disabilities a chance at a great role. Instead the article suggests that those surveyed feel that it is more important that the role has been created in the first place.

Dean, Jennifer. "19-year-old Riverside resident gleeful about role on new Fox series." The Press-Enterprise. June 14, 2009.

http://www.pe.com/localnews/inland/stories/PE_News_Local_S_glee15.4310398.html

- This article discusses an interview with Lauren Potter, a girl that has down-syndrome and will be appearing in an episode of Glee as a character who earns a spot on the Cheerleading team. The actress talks about how she wishes people would she her first instead of her down-syndrome.

Reading tools: audiobooks, karaoke and text 2.0!

Studies show that children that speak a dialect at home than is different from the one presented in school and in literature often struggle more with reading (Language in the Schools--Denham & Lobeck). Is this because their preferred language is not reflected in the books (as the study suggests), or could it also be that they don’t see themselves represented in the books they are reading (and are thus unmotivated)? While it is probably a combination of the two, minority students, especially in low income schools, often do not have access to books that interest them. Traditionally, many children’s books paint a rosy, white middle class picture of life that doesn’t resonate strongly with minority or low socio-economic students. If these students don’t relate with the themes or characters, they will likely not have very much motivation to read, which would then decrease their literacy levels. Thus it has become increasingly important for librarians to support publishers of minority authors such as Little Brown and to include multicultural literature in school library collections.

The study suggests that one way to help reduce reading deficits is for parents and adults to spend more time reading to children. While I agree that family reading time, where adults model positive reading behaviors alongside their kids, is beneficial for reinforcing positive reading behaviors, it isn’t the only way for busy families to support their children’s literacies efforts. Teachers can host family literacy nights and encourage parents to read to kids, but they can also empower students to develop their reading skills independently by providing them with opportunities and resources. These other options should be emphasized strongly and be made available to students and families, especially in cases where parents are uncomfortable with reading or too busy working to read to their kids.

The most common methods are probably having students listen to audiobooks while they follow along with the print copy of the book. But what if your library doesn't have audiobooks?

There are several websites that offer free audiobooks online. Here is a compilation of sites that include children's audio books: http://www.techsupportalert.com/free-books-children.

Another great resource for this is Librivox (http://librivox.org/). This website is a collection of audio books read by volunteers. Only the best quality books are included in the collection. Note: this would be a really fun project for practiced readers to work on!

Even if you do own audiobooks and print copies of the same book, how will the student know when to turn the page? Some audiotapes come packaged with the book and beep when you turn the page, but many do not have this feature.

Here are some free ideas of ways to help facilitate this type of learning:

Rosetta Project: http://www.childrensbooksonline.org/library-audio.htm

This resource is a great repository of children's books, some of which are offered in a "read to me" format, where you listen to books page by page. Available titles can be found here: http://www.childrensbooksonline.org/library-audio.htm

River Deeps "make a story" offers an interactive way to participate in creating and listening (as words are highlighted) to a story.

http://www.riverdeep.net/language_arts/edmark_lang_arts/MakeAStory/MakeAStory.html

Highlights Kids has nine animated audio books available here:

http://highlightskids.com/Stories/audioStories/audioStory_Top.asp

Karaoke:

Karaoke is a great, fun way to practice reading along, because words are highlighted as they are sung. Here's an online karaoke machine to a Justin Bieber song: http://www.karaokeplay.com/songs/love-me-5569.html.

Reading games:

Fun Fonix has a number of games that will help students learn to read: http://www.funfonix.com/games/

Videos:

Sadly Reading Rainbow is no longer being produced, but many publisher websites (or youtube) host videos of authors reading their books. My favorite is "There are Cats in this Book": http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BEEZfVfvuBg.

Reading Buddies:

Pair up teens, older students, parent volunteers or retired volunteers with younger students to practice reading aloud and listening to books.

Not so free, but very cool:

Leap Frog ""tag":

This kit requires that you buy a special "tag" pen and accompanying books. Children touch the pen to the page to listen to the page or to a particular word. I played with these at a public library and they were a lot of fun to use!

http://blogs.pcworld.com/techlog/archives/006394.html (explanation)

http://www.leapfrog.com/tag/ (vendor - with video demonstrations)

THE FUTURE:

Something to look forward to in the realm of reading technologies is "Text 2.0". This helps readers learn how to skim and keep track of where they are on the computer screen. To learn more about this exciting new technology, check out this article from "Wired". It includes a video demonstrating the way the tech will work: http://www.wired.com/epicenter/2010/03/eye-tracking-tablets-and-the-promise-of-text-20. Additional information is available here: http://text20.net/. I could see this being a great tool to use in the classroom to teach students how to skim. Many students don't realize that this is an acceptable and useful form of reading, especially in research and web-surfing contexts.

The New Digital Divide

Rima Shore’s article The Power of Pow! Wham!: Children, Digital Media and out Nation’s Future introduced a concept that was new to me: “the new digital divide.” Previously, when I heard or read the term “digital divide”, I thought in terms of unequal access to technology such as computers, internet connections, video cameras, video game consoles, software and so on. The Kaiser Family Foundation report that we read for this week focused entirely on inequalities in access to technology.

According to Shore, however, access to technology is only half of what is important to a child’s ability to develop digital literacy. Equally important is access to a range of experiences supported by caring adults, or “adult scaffolding”. She reports that research suggests that the social impact of digital media hinges not on the technology but on the circumstances and context in which they are used. Children need conversations and experiences with adults to provide the context for their digital(and traditional print, too, for that matter) literacy development. The term “new digital divide” refers to inequalities in access to supportive adult scaffolding.

This concept served as a reminder to me that along with access to technology, kids still need what they have always needed: adults who care about them and spend time with them and talk with them. As someone going into public library work, I think this is an idea that I need to keep firmly in the center of my thinking. I remember at the beginning of my youth services class (taught by our own wonderful Carol Tilley) we talked about our memories of librarians we had grown up with. Many of the strongest memories people had was of the librarian who had taken the time to know them and teach them and introduce them to books that had been important in their lives. Nowadays we may be introducing kids to great databases, showing them how to save and print documents, or teaching them how to find and evaluate websites as well as connecting them with the perfect book, but it is still that personal connection that can have a huge impact in a child’s life.

I think it’s important to remember that children may need more from me than access to some technology or instruction in how to use it. They may need to talk about what they are doing and seeing on the computer, or they may just need to talk about what is happening in their world. This suggests to me that drop-in and hang out type programs may just as valuable to kids as programs designed to teach specific skills. In looking for ways to stretch a shoestring budget, maybe just providing an after school space where kids can do homework, use computers, play games or have access to simple craft materials and staffing it with a librarian who is not busy trying to do anything other than be available to help out or chat would be a way to begin to bridge the “new digital divide.”

Comics and English Language Learners

For those of you interested, I am posting my final project website for you to view here. The site focuses on using comics and graphic novels to help teach English Language Learners (ELLs for short). Currently in my school district our ELL population for grades Pre-K through 8 is at 64%, with the majority of students being of Hispanic descent. After working with these students for three years now, I realize how important it is to reach out to these student populations. It was through this class that I have come to recognize the awesome power of comics and the graphic novel. As an artistic person, I love the idea of learning visually through this medium. I frankly am surprised that I was never lured in before. Through my research, I have learned a great deal about how this literary format can be used to help teach students learning a second language. I hope that you will visit my site and share in my new enlightenment.

Also, I would like to give a special shout out to Ruth S. as her websites in previous classes have inspired me to use Wix.com to create my own website (mostly because they put my previous efforts to shame!). Again, as an artistic person the visual element of a website is very important to me and Wix allows you to make a very snazzy looking site!

I am truly shocked at how far I have come this year in terms of my technology ability. This graduate program has had me working on wikis, social networking sites, creating websites and by God, even blogging! It's fantastic being so connected to this technological world! Thank you all for a fantastic semester, I feel that I have learned a great deal and enjoyed the ride.

Digital Comics

Sunday morning, I turned on NPR (National Public Radio for those of you who are still unaware of this radio gem) in the car while on the way to do laundry. I happened to turn on the station in the middle of an interview with comic book author Alex De Campi and was thoroughly enthralled. Again, I ran into a situation that occurs frequently with me and NPR. I was sitting in the car at my destination so that I could listen to the rest of the segment. Because I had only tuned in halfway through, I resolved myself to find the rest of the interview online later. What a wonderful world we live in that I can access information at my convenience, even radio programs that have already aired. The full interview can be found here if you are interested.

After listening to the entire segment, I learned that Alex De Campi is utilizing new formats to distribute her comic Valentine to the masses. Instead of printing a traditional copy of the text, she has only made her comic available digitally for formats such as the iPhone and electronic readers like the Kindle. She sells monthly additions of the comic online for $0.99 an issue, with twenty-four installments planned. De Campi is unique in that her comic has no print version available yet (one is planned for November) and even a web version has not been made. She is strictly marketing her product to those who are utilizing these new technologies.

This makes me think that I need to upgrade my phone. And just when I thought that I was catching up to the modern digital age; after all, I did finally join Facebook this year. The one consolation is that De Campi herself admitted to not owning a phone sophisticated enough for her to access her own work! This made me smile.

In the interview, De Campi also described how she utilized social networking sites like Facebook to find people to translate her comics into other languages. It seems like such a novel idea, and one uniquely of this generation and our mindset. Valentine is currently available in fourteen languages (Russian, Hebrew, Chinese, Japanese, Portuguese, Spanish, French, Italian, Irish, Polish, Serbian, German, Dutch and English) and will hopefully soon be available in Latin, according to the author. I do like the idea of learning Latin from a graphic novel and anxiously await its arrival.

Although a few months ago, I would have never sat and listened to a twenty minute interview about a comic book author digitizing her work, I am glad to say that now I will. I feel that my horizons have been opened with this class and am no longer intimidated by the world of technology. Now if only I had the money to purchase this new technology...

The Land of Literacy: A Tale of Two Cities

Welcome to the land of Literacy. There you will find the village of Technophobia. It is just across the digital divide from Technophilia, a city that has been trying to have a meaningful partnership with it for decades. The people of Technophilia don’t necessarily want to annex Technophobia (although some are pretty militant promoters of that particular cause); they just want to get to know them and their ways, have their own culture understood in return, maybe help them file their taxes online. The residents of Technophobia (we’ll call them T-phobes, for short) have mixed feelings about this. Some T-phobes are considering opening talks and have reached out to the representatives of Technophilia (the T-philes), but others are hunkering down and refusing to even accept communication. They have sent letters to the editor decrying the attempts at partnerships, and they have organized poorly-attended rallies (by word of mouth) at the village hall. The T-phobes who are open to the possibility often have relatives who have moved to Technophilia and have seen the kind of lifestyle they are living there. While they are sometimes quite comfortable where they are and have been doing just fine, some of them yearn for more consistent, meaningful contact with their T-phile friends and family. The divide is so great, however, that they sometimes feel like they’re speaking a foreign language instead of just a different dialect. Some T-philes feel the same way. “Let them STAY in the Dark Ages!” they rant on their blogs and in the chat rooms. “If they don’t want to advance, I’ll gladly take the jobs they’re missing out on!” And, “ If Grandma wants to talk to ME, she’d better get on Facebook!”

Some of the leaders of the two municipalities have come up with a tentative arrangement, however. Since the children of the two share the same schools, the educational leaders have decided to write curriculum that addresses both cultures’ needs and desires, and to teach the _whole_ curriculum to the entire student body. T-phobes will join their T-phile counterparts in classes in keyboarding, visual media, and social networking. T-philes will learn the arts of letter writing, conversation, and the classics alongside their T-phobe peers. They’ll mix with one another in the classrooms, on the playgrounds, and in the cafeteria. They’ll talk about what their homes are like and listen when others are talking. Then they’ll go home and tell their parents about what they learned. Some of the parents will be intrigued and want to know more. Some will tentatively ask their children to teach them what they’re doing, just so that they can have something that they are learning together with their kids. Some will make arrangements to meet their kids’ friends’ parents and maybe have them over for dinner. Some might be skeptical at first but change their minds as they see their children working with the “foreign” culture, and will begin making rudimentary attempts to create a back-and-forth dialog that will enrich each culture through the understanding of the other.

Some from each side, however, will deride what they hear about the other camp, condemning it as “a fad” or “old-fashioned,” depending on their town affiliations, and they’ll force the divide even further, making any chance at cooperation or even coexistence seem nearly impossible. Sadly, some will never learn to appreciate or understand the cultures of others. Some T-philes will continue to mock the T-phobes who can’t tell a database from a Web page instead of helping someone find a good, peer-reviewed source of professional information. Some T-phobes will continue to shun the T-philes’ attempts to communicate instead of writing a lovely note to thank them for the virtual flowers they tried to send (but didn’t arrive because the T-phobe accidentally deleted the email).

I know people from each of these places, and they are sometimes quite wary of one another. Sometimes they’re ashamed to admit where they come from, what their roots are, what their passions entail. However, people of every place and every literacy have something to share with each other. Learning media literacy does not mean abandoning print. Loving print does not mean shunning visual or other “new” media. Cross-generational, cross-cultural, cross-communicational outreach and a showing of mutual respect for ideas--new and old--is going to be the only way to bring T-phobes and T-philes together. Let the library be the place where they learn to appreciate one another!

Books and Video Games

As someone who enjoys playing video games and enjoys reading, I'm a bit conflicted after reading the New York times article "Using Video Games as Bait to Hook Readers" by Motoko Rich. I think that there are different things to be learned and enjoyed when either reading a book or some other print artifact and when playing a video game. Sometimes, interesting and useful information is acquired when playing video games. Those of us who were in elementary school in the 90s remember playing Number Munchers, and we all know about the perils of cholera and dysentery not from experience in real-life but from losing random family members and friends to those ills while traveling along the Oregon Trail. Using video games to try to encourage students to read books, however, is quite different indeed though from what those video games were trying to do.

The joy of reading books comes from not only the ability to escape to other worlds, see the world through the eyes of other people or creatures, and perform feats that we have never nor will ever perform but also in the ability to see those worlds and experience those things in any way that we'd like. Even though books describe the characters and settings, there is still the freedom to fill in the details in any way the reader would like. So, for example, even if we all read The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, we all will imagine Narnia differently. That’s definitely part of the fun of reading; you can, to some extent, augment and change the story as you see fit. That changes, however, when you move to visual mediums like games and movies. A big complaint over the Harry Potter movies was that things were left out or were changed in some way. The mediums simply afford different things. Movies and games have to define how things look and how characters speak and move. A little less is left up to the imagination.

One thing that is cool about video games that is not a part of most books or print material is the ability to affect how the story progresses and ends. Books have one ending. Someone wrote the story, someone edited it, it was copied and printed several times over, and we bought one or more of those copies to consume the story. A similar story could be told about movies. With video games, however, though there are programmed movements and programmed endings, one usually determines how the story progresses and which one of the pre-programmed endings is accomplished. So, it feels as if one has a bit more control over the process. There are some books that allow that though. I used to love reading the choose-your-own-ending Goosebumps books when I was a kid. You remember those books where if you made one decision you went to page x but if you made another decision you’d go to page y, right? Those were awesome, especially the Goosebumps books because it was always a crazy decision like jumping off a cliff and landing in some bushes below or stabbing a monster in the eye and trying to run away before he retaliated. I'd always die rather quickly, which I guess means that I'm a poor decision-maker under stressful situations, but after dying, I'd always go back and switch up my decision to see what would have happened otherwise. It was a lot of fun and sort of game-like in nature, but it was still a book. I could visualize what the monsters looked like in my mind in any way desired, and I could interpret the book’s events in any way that fit the images that I had created in my head using the author’s words. I'm not so certain that that is always the case with video games.

In addition to everything mentioned above, I think a bit of my hesitation in using video games to get more kids reading lies in the fact that video game tie-ins rarely seem to work well. The games seem to be things thrown together after successful books and movies and not something on which much thought has been given. There are some exceptions to this, as the Avatar movie and video game were both developed simultaneously. So, perhaps more thoughtful and enjoyable tie-ins are to be seen in the future, but I'm not a believer right now. Besides, kids seem to be reading these days, and not just short books, but bible-sized books like the books in the Harry Potter series. I'm not convinced that kids don't like to read these days; it just seems like they need good stories to read. If the story is good, regardless of length, they seem to be reading. Even stories that aren’t that great, e.g., the Twilight books, are still widely and voraciously read. Okay, maybe the Twilight books aren’t that bad! But they prove that kids really are interested in reading; we just have to make the effort to write and deliver stories worth reading. We don't have to trick or cajole them with games.

Both books and games are great teaching tools in their own right and can teach kids many things in different ways. As opposed to using one to convince kids to use the other, we should exploit their affordances to teach kids about information in the most natural way possible with the chosen medium.

crossing the digital divide

The digital divide study provided by the Kaiser Family Foundation was interesting and it left me wondering how much has been done since it was released in 2004 to address the disparity. I was first off surprised that the definition was at one time simply whether one had ever had access to the Internet or used a computer because I had understood it to mean regular access to either one of those two things. What didn’t surprise me was that the divide was along financial and racial lines as often times those factors sadly enough are what keep many citizens from taking part in other aspects of our world.
As I read this though, I wondered about the wisdom of giving federal dollars to programs to encourage computer and Internet use among the poor partially because, having worked in a public library before I often saw many who used by those who appeared to be in need to play online poker or do various other tasks which had no apparent connection to finding jobs or services by which to improve their lives. I understand that people need to have a release once in awhile from the grind of life. I’m guilty myself of spending time killing terrorists and other ‘bad guys’ on my computer when I should be doing other things however, when it’s on someone else’s dime that kind of gets many people’s hackles up and maybe somewhat justifiably.
Now, after having this somewhat hard-hearted look at things I thought that it’s wrong to deny those who need the access at places like libraries just because of the proverbial bad apples. I never liked being punished as a young student for the stupidity of others. I had to remind myself that there are many who simply need a hand-up to get themselves and their loved ones to the parity they seek to find(though, realistically it may not happen to the extent they seek or deserve).
I looked up on our EBSCO database to see what was available in the news recently on the topic of the digital divide and found an interesting article from the Arizona Daily Star out of Tucson, from April 19th of this year about how the local school district was jumping on board to serve as a point of access for wireless service. This was tied into a program where students could earn laptops with good grades, attendance, and the like. As one of the students in this article pointed out the library wasn’t always open and this combined effort made doing homework more easily accomplishable. Making it even easier, many local restaurants, coffee shops, and grocery stores were also making efforts to provide wireless access as a means of returning good will to the local community. I don’t know but I imagine other communities are doing similar efforts and that sounds great. If you would like to read this article, here’s the link-Partnership giving students Wi-Fi access . It said this is the permanent link so, hopefully I did this right and you’ll be able to see it. Anyhow, I think programs like this would assuage even the most hard-hearted critics of government spending efforts and provide favorable returns to communities all over.

Put Understanding First: The Case for Interdisciplinary Learning

This last week’s article, Put Understanding First, suggests today’s schools are broken because of the disconnect between the mission of secondary education and the approaches towards developing and implementing curriculum and instruction. For Wiggins and McTighe, “the mission of high school is not to cover content, but rather to help learners become thoughtful about, and productive with, content.” This philosophy challenges traditional goals of education based in preparing students to become expert task masters in a once industrial society. As time changes, the educational needs of a population differs than previous generations. Recognizing this is crucial as we try to continue to improve America’s education system. An industrial-styled education no longer will support the needs of tomorrow.

Today, society expects workers to be able to multitask, make connections and be more analytical than ever before. If we are to improve the possibility of society, I agree with the ideas of Wiggins and McTighe that we must reflect on the purposes of schooling and design curriculum by providing instruction in a way that promotes opportunity for students not to engage in rote memorization requiring drill-and-kill strategies, but rather make meaning out of the information and ideas being explored to create new knowledge, as well as coach/facilitate students in the ability of transferring skills and content. We must prepare students to think about the unknown tomorrow. In order to do this, the walls between content areas need to be broken and high schools must focus on finding ways to incorporate and expand the possibilities of interdisciplinary learning. Certainly, educators are doing this today, especially at the middle school level; however, it must be formally written into curriculum and educators must be trained in the process. The physical architecture of school buildings must be revamped, classrooms must be made open to have the resources and ability to cross content. When educators are trained and students participate in the integrated curriculum process learning will matter, and the education of today will likely support the education needs of tomorrow!

We are the Jetsons!

I loved the line in this week's reading by Rema Shore that in the current digital age we are the Jetsons.  She was quoting Shalom Fisch and she expanded by stated that "children are growing up in a world where their toys obey them and their parents converse with the family car." (page 13).  This image and the real connections to our world just made me chuckle at the things that are possible in 2010.  Especially when reading the other reading this week from 1975.  The changes and developments are so unpredictable, yet fascinating to look back on.  I think that sometimes it is easy to forget how much technology has changed and affected so many aspects of everyday life until a line like "we are the Jetsons," especially considering that we "meet" online for class each week.  these readings really brought me back to the long view and caused some further reflection on the people in my life and their media use. 

My parents are my first example.  Both of them have high speed internet at their place of employment, but in their home they still had a dial-up connection until last week.  It is not that they have little computer knowledge.  My mom knows more about connecting hardware and Excel formulas than I can ever hope to understand, but the use of the internet at home held no appeal for either of them.  Now when they talk about having high speed at home they mainly refer to the use of it by their children.  Particularly this child who also takes classes online! (Homework while visiting them was quite inconvenient.)

My next example is my grandparents.  I am very lucky to have four grandparents and none of them have ever used the internet.  They obviously grew up in a different time and place and still get the physical newspaper every day and read paper copies of books, magazines, and letters.  Not a single one has an email address.  I did get them to play Wii over Thanksgiving, but that is the extent of their electronic gaming experience.  My grandma still plays cards each week with her friends. 

This has really got me thinking about media literacy in a different context.  I know that this class is about youth and preparing them for a life that is already filled with communication, entertainment, and work centered around different elements of media, but I also think that knowing how things worked before all these media outlets and ways of expression cannot be left out of the equation.  As we work with students, I think it is important to keep in mind the varying degrees in their experience, interest, and support system of media activities and to respect their interest or disinterest in media.  These support systems of the youth have varying degrees of interest in media activities as well and varying degrees of interaction with their youth and the media.  While for many people in the workplace digital communication is highly valued, there are places where this is not true. 


When looking at the issue of the digital divide, I think it is also important to recognize the vast disparities that exist in the use of media resources across different demographics.  From the Kaiser Family Foundation report on children and the digital divide it is clear that income of the parents play a huge role in the experience and accessibility of different media.  And while some of us are the Jetsons, this is not true for many young people.  While the government during the early 2000s has taken action toward making the internet accessible in public schools and libraries, there is still the question of quality and quantity.  Is this access enough to bridge the technology gap for lower income young people, or is there more that can be done to advance their media literacy skills? 

As Amanda's example of her library and their computer situation has shown from our discussion in class, there are still places where the equipment and access does not meet the demand of the young adults who use media for homework as well as entertainment.  And with the current economic situation, further monetary assistance from the government seems unlikely.  I am anxious to learn of different grants, etc for funding that will allow more young people more access.  As a person who wants to enter the library field, I want to be part of an organization that actively works to bridge the digital divide and give students access to resources that will help them succeed.