Saturday, April 10, 2010
"An Open Letter to Educators"
On adapting institutional education (at all levels) to the "information revolution." Found via tametheweb.
A notable quote:
"Society no longer cares how many facts we can memorize, because in the information age, facts are free."
Wednesday, April 7, 2010
Michael Stephens slides
I found the slide show by Michael Stephens probably the most interesting of all the things we viewed or read for this week’s class session. One of the first things to catch my attention was the book, Born Digital by John Palfrey and Urs Gasser. Where I work with high school students who are definitely a part of this group, I think this title would be most beneficial for me to read so I can understand where it is our students are coming from. I’ve already located it at my local public library and plan on picking it up soon.
In the presentation, it’s stated that 1% of searches online begin at a library web site and I don’t doubt this. As one of the following slides says there isn’t much awareness of the electronic resources to which many libraries subscribe. I am fortunate that more teachers seem to be getting the idea that we have more consistently reliable information in these resources and therefore more of them have had me speak to their classes about them. I was pleasantly surprised just before spring break when some students came by the library quite some time after school was out and hardly a student can be found let along in our domain sadly enough. However, this group came asking for the tri-fold handout I’d made up with our library’s login information for our databases. This seemed to have been done completely on their own initiative so, occasionally it appears that some of the things I tell classes do sink in with them.
Another good point Stephens makes is that for the Millennial generation, these emerging technologies are just another part of the scenery for them whereas for people my age and older, it’s like ‘wow, this is something new and fantastic’ or ‘run for the hills, there’s another new overwhelming technology to learn’. I had a discussion with a student today about this very thing and she agreed that many technological innovations today aren’t that intimidating to people her age, you just explore it with little fear of failure she seemed to be saying. There’s always someplace or someone you can go to if you don’t understand something.
I found myself and our school library to be guilty of possessing some of the signs shown in the slides that forbade gaming or social networking on the library’s computers. Initially, when I took this position I agreed more heartily with these positions but even now as I see more benefits for students to learn these technologies in a participatory culture, I know that the school administration wouldn’t be as understanding if we tried to open the door to some of these tools. I think the scary stories of the misuse of technology by young people have many less tech-savvy adults freaked about the use of such things. Though, I’m not honestly sure that I want to go as far as this guy seems to be advocating where it’s like let’s throw open the floodgates but I know I could be misinterpreting things possibly.
I do agree that libraries, public or school, do need to be open to young people’s input so that it’s a place that relevant to them and thus, a place they want to be. I think programs that teach them how to use various Web 2.0 technologies so that they can contribute to the real world are great. The Bloomington Public Library in collaboration with the some of the local high schools has in the past worked with teens on video production as part of an effort to be part of a local film festival. Activities like this certainly have real world applications and I think many of the teens involved enjoyed learning more about this technology. As I mentioned in class tonight, one way that I’ve tried to incorporate student input is by adding a link to a blog I created recently where students can share their book reviews hoping that they’ll share this information with their friends or others will stumble across it while on our site and see what comments their peers left. I fear that students may be reluctant to share their thoughts for the same reason they don’t in classes verbally-fear of ridicule. I know that I too have this fear with my online classes here though I know perfectly well that’s not likely to happen. With teenagers who know their peers can be less than mature and uncouth often times online sharing may be taken up as much as it could be and I guess that’s why I’m surprised people like Michael Stephens and the authors of the other articles were such strong advocates for young adult participation in online forums. It’s probably just a case of me missing some piece of the puzzle here and once I get a better view of the big picture of things I’ll understand better.
In the presentation, it’s stated that 1% of searches online begin at a library web site and I don’t doubt this. As one of the following slides says there isn’t much awareness of the electronic resources to which many libraries subscribe. I am fortunate that more teachers seem to be getting the idea that we have more consistently reliable information in these resources and therefore more of them have had me speak to their classes about them. I was pleasantly surprised just before spring break when some students came by the library quite some time after school was out and hardly a student can be found let along in our domain sadly enough. However, this group came asking for the tri-fold handout I’d made up with our library’s login information for our databases. This seemed to have been done completely on their own initiative so, occasionally it appears that some of the things I tell classes do sink in with them.
Another good point Stephens makes is that for the Millennial generation, these emerging technologies are just another part of the scenery for them whereas for people my age and older, it’s like ‘wow, this is something new and fantastic’ or ‘run for the hills, there’s another new overwhelming technology to learn’. I had a discussion with a student today about this very thing and she agreed that many technological innovations today aren’t that intimidating to people her age, you just explore it with little fear of failure she seemed to be saying. There’s always someplace or someone you can go to if you don’t understand something.
I found myself and our school library to be guilty of possessing some of the signs shown in the slides that forbade gaming or social networking on the library’s computers. Initially, when I took this position I agreed more heartily with these positions but even now as I see more benefits for students to learn these technologies in a participatory culture, I know that the school administration wouldn’t be as understanding if we tried to open the door to some of these tools. I think the scary stories of the misuse of technology by young people have many less tech-savvy adults freaked about the use of such things. Though, I’m not honestly sure that I want to go as far as this guy seems to be advocating where it’s like let’s throw open the floodgates but I know I could be misinterpreting things possibly.
I do agree that libraries, public or school, do need to be open to young people’s input so that it’s a place that relevant to them and thus, a place they want to be. I think programs that teach them how to use various Web 2.0 technologies so that they can contribute to the real world are great. The Bloomington Public Library in collaboration with the some of the local high schools has in the past worked with teens on video production as part of an effort to be part of a local film festival. Activities like this certainly have real world applications and I think many of the teens involved enjoyed learning more about this technology. As I mentioned in class tonight, one way that I’ve tried to incorporate student input is by adding a link to a blog I created recently where students can share their book reviews hoping that they’ll share this information with their friends or others will stumble across it while on our site and see what comments their peers left. I fear that students may be reluctant to share their thoughts for the same reason they don’t in classes verbally-fear of ridicule. I know that I too have this fear with my online classes here though I know perfectly well that’s not likely to happen. With teenagers who know their peers can be less than mature and uncouth often times online sharing may be taken up as much as it could be and I guess that’s why I’m surprised people like Michael Stephens and the authors of the other articles were such strong advocates for young adult participation in online forums. It’s probably just a case of me missing some piece of the puzzle here and once I get a better view of the big picture of things I’ll understand better.
As I was reading this weeks articles, I was reminded of a film I ran across a year ago that clearly combines media use and civic advocacy by teens. This film is called March Point and information about it can be found at here. This film follows three young men as they participate in a film making program rather than go to drug court. Initially, the young men, Travis, Nick, and Cody wanted to make rap videos and action movies, but were drawn instead to look at the effects of oil refineries on their reservation. This film follows their progress from knowing very little about the impact of the refineries to presenting the case to their senator in Washington, D.C. This film is a very powerful story and shows the impact of the movie making process in their personal, social, and civic lives.
Peter Levine discussed the importance of audience in a crowded media environment. For me March Point illuminated some of the issues that he addressed. Levine points out that in a celebrity culture the creativity of ordinary people is blocked out. March Point is sort of a combination of the two. It was funded and filmed by a non-profit organization with professional filmmakers as well as student film work done by the young men. It is also available on iTunes which is a very main stream venue for accessing many types of media. There is a potential for a large audience, but is this information actually getting to people who can make a difference and right the wrongs of the oil companies? In the film, the young men are very discouraged after visiting with their Senator and remarked that it was more of a photo opportunity than a real avenue for change. In this situation, a very powerful audience was reached and yet they wondered if this actually was an audience that would create the change they sought.
Throughout the film, the "plastic" aspect that Levine described was very evident. These teens experienced a very personal change in their habits and concerns. They became more involved in school, their community, and in preparing for their future after high school. This is a prime example of the positive youth development that public voices in media can have on young adults. These adolescents learn to care about not only their health, but the health and concerns of their whole community as well as their cultural heritage.
March Point is sort of an extreme example. This was a project that had a strong backing of funding, instructional filmmakers that worked with the young men, and experienced directors. A librarian who is interested in involving teens with civic engagement might not have the resources, film experience, or motivation to take on a project such as this. That is where I believe Howard Rheingold's article and the slides by Michael Stephens might be more useful specifically in a library setting.
Rheingold's focus on combining the digital production that teens already know how to do with civic engagement is a really useful way to encourage young adults to develop their public voice. I appreciated his description of the activation gap and the thought of bringing pro-social goals into enjoyable formats such as blogs, digital storytelling, and wikis. I particularly found the exercise he described at the end with high school students as very accessible. By using wikis to discuss an interesting topic, the students are able to cultivate skills that congressmen and congresswomen use such as discussing and arguing with peers, making decisions, and composing group summaries. This exercise attempts to develop very useful skills in a way that incorporates media in a very applicable way.
I also appreciated that both Rheingold and Levine discussed the differences between addressing a civic issue over the internet versus actually putting feet to the pavement. Rheingold's mention of social scaffolding was particularly poignant to me as it created the image of addressing community issues with support and a connection to what is already going on. As students attempt to make sense of their transition from a private voice to a public presence they can be encouraged to make the connections to those who are working on the issue and use their experience when finding a listening audience. I think that one way librarians can greatly impact their communities is by helping young adults to make these connections between the civic interests that they have and the organizations within the wider community that work to address these issues. However, libraries must be places where young adults are welcomed and can feel their voice is valued. As Michael Stephens showed, there are many examples of libraries that do not allow many things that are appealing to young adults. Creating environments that draw teens in will allow librarians to interact with teens in a way that encourages their interests and allows them to expand their involvement.
Peter Levine discussed the importance of audience in a crowded media environment. For me March Point illuminated some of the issues that he addressed. Levine points out that in a celebrity culture the creativity of ordinary people is blocked out. March Point is sort of a combination of the two. It was funded and filmed by a non-profit organization with professional filmmakers as well as student film work done by the young men. It is also available on iTunes which is a very main stream venue for accessing many types of media. There is a potential for a large audience, but is this information actually getting to people who can make a difference and right the wrongs of the oil companies? In the film, the young men are very discouraged after visiting with their Senator and remarked that it was more of a photo opportunity than a real avenue for change. In this situation, a very powerful audience was reached and yet they wondered if this actually was an audience that would create the change they sought.
Throughout the film, the "plastic" aspect that Levine described was very evident. These teens experienced a very personal change in their habits and concerns. They became more involved in school, their community, and in preparing for their future after high school. This is a prime example of the positive youth development that public voices in media can have on young adults. These adolescents learn to care about not only their health, but the health and concerns of their whole community as well as their cultural heritage.
March Point is sort of an extreme example. This was a project that had a strong backing of funding, instructional filmmakers that worked with the young men, and experienced directors. A librarian who is interested in involving teens with civic engagement might not have the resources, film experience, or motivation to take on a project such as this. That is where I believe Howard Rheingold's article and the slides by Michael Stephens might be more useful specifically in a library setting.
Rheingold's focus on combining the digital production that teens already know how to do with civic engagement is a really useful way to encourage young adults to develop their public voice. I appreciated his description of the activation gap and the thought of bringing pro-social goals into enjoyable formats such as blogs, digital storytelling, and wikis. I particularly found the exercise he described at the end with high school students as very accessible. By using wikis to discuss an interesting topic, the students are able to cultivate skills that congressmen and congresswomen use such as discussing and arguing with peers, making decisions, and composing group summaries. This exercise attempts to develop very useful skills in a way that incorporates media in a very applicable way.
I also appreciated that both Rheingold and Levine discussed the differences between addressing a civic issue over the internet versus actually putting feet to the pavement. Rheingold's mention of social scaffolding was particularly poignant to me as it created the image of addressing community issues with support and a connection to what is already going on. As students attempt to make sense of their transition from a private voice to a public presence they can be encouraged to make the connections to those who are working on the issue and use their experience when finding a listening audience. I think that one way librarians can greatly impact their communities is by helping young adults to make these connections between the civic interests that they have and the organizations within the wider community that work to address these issues. However, libraries must be places where young adults are welcomed and can feel their voice is valued. As Michael Stephens showed, there are many examples of libraries that do not allow many things that are appealing to young adults. Creating environments that draw teens in will allow librarians to interact with teens in a way that encourages their interests and allows them to expand their involvement.
Thoughts on the Gryphon Lecture
I’ve been meaning to post about the Center for Children’s Books’ Gryphon Lecture for some time now. I had been waiting to try to get the powerpoint files, but will post without them. Allison Druin gave a lecture on “Children's Search Experiences in the Age of Google, Today and Tomorrow.“ The audio file for the lecture can be found here: http://waterfall.lis.illinois.edu/dl/events/gryphonlecture/druinmar05_10.mp3. It was fascinating.
Her team of researchers, sponsored by Google, conducted research on children’s search strategies and behaviors. They found and classified several different types of searchers, and also made findings based on age and gender. Some of the searchers that she talked about included those thought that one site could find all their information needs (I think the example was a Spongebob site!), or those that would prefer to find the information visually or through a video and thus continued searching this way even if they were unsuccessful. For further details, please listen to the audio file. Unfortunately, I didn’t take detailed notes.
The lecture made me think a lot of about the way we go about teaching information literacy. We spend so much time teaching people how to develop appropriate search techniques and explaining these work the best. But WHY do these techniques work best? Simply put, it is because it is generally the best way to find information using the CURRENT system. But what if the current system is FLAWED? Instead of spending all this time educating users on how to search in ways that aren't intuitive, wouldn't it be easier to just improve the system?
ENTER GOOGLE.
Google has completely changed the way users go about finding information. Not only has it opened the door to multiple formats for learning information (text, image, video, map, audio, etc) and allowed users greater access to an expansive wealth of information at the click of a button, but it has also diminished the need for users to bother saving favorite sites or to develop good search habits. So many of the weaknesses (correct spelling only, no thesaurus/plural, no phrases, etc) of past databases that influenced good search strategy techniques are practically rendered obsolete through Google's improvements. Given this what do we as librarians do? What skills can we teach that will remain relevant?
What new technologies could be created to help? Here are some ideas:
- * A Reader/IGoogle/delicious type of a thing where pages/sites can be represented topically by image icon (perhaps the site's favicon?). Not only could there be a science type icon for a great science site, but that bookmark could fall under a "school" icon. Ways to organize in an intuitive, fun way, would be excellent. And it would be so nice if you could just drag and create easily/quickly (i.e bookmark, check mark the pictoral icons it should fall under). I realize that delicious already does this with tags and browsers do this with bookmarks, but I feel the tags don't map the sites (maybe verbally but not visually) in enough interesting ways, and it certainly doesn't seem as fun as images would be. I see this new delicious/bookmark as being more like a internet-based (universally accessible) desktop for your computer or a home page of all your sites (where you can easily see all your categories visually). It would look and act like a library webpage of your personal bookmarks.
o Ex/Zoo bookmark filed under two tags: animal, Chicago
§ To access your bookmark. Click on animal icon, click on the zoo icon (link to site). You could also click on the Chicago icon, and then click on the zoo icon (link to site). This way children might actually use the sites that we tell them about. I admit, I hardly use the sites that I find in class. They are great, but I forget about them or don't have easy access to them when I need them (lose the paper, can't find the site/forgot the name of site, don't have bookmarks with me, etc).
- * Searches:
When typing in a search box, Google could automatically aggregate the search term with the most likely related Google image next to the predicted word list. This might help in situations where you have "D-O-L" but don't know how to spell "dolphin" and there are several possibilities given that you can’t read (Ex/ for pizza: pizza hut (brand logo), pizza planet (brand logo), etc.)
International Digital Children's Library in the classroom
I’m currently doing my practicum at a high school, and I recently talked-up the International Children’s Digital Library to a few teachers, giving ideas for using the database in the classroom. One of the teachers for non-western history, who is currently teaching his student’s Sanskrit, is interested in letting me do a lesson using this database. I proposed using ICDL to allow students to attempt to read books in Farsi and to expose them to examples of other non-western writing systems/alphabets. We will also be looking at examples of children’s books from western countries and non-western countries to compare/contrast the pictures and stories, and determine whether they can tell us anything about the culture (what are the books meant to show/teach children?). While I was working on selling the resource to teachers, I came up with some ideas and thought I would share them. If you have additional ideas, please add to the list J
10 Awesome things about this FREE site:
- Search by color
- Search by emotion (how does the book make you feel?)
- Search by character type (imaginary, animal, people)
- Search options are picture icons (and words)
- Search by length
- Search intuitively helps you limit your search
- Read in any order you like (if you choose spiral view)
- Thousands of books available from around the world
- Books are translated into several languages
- Apps available for Iphone, Ipad, Netbooks, etc
Ways to use this site in a classroom setting:
Art class
- Compare artwork of books from different countries
- Compare illustrations in different mediums
Social Studies/Geography
- What do a country's children's books say about its beliefs and society?
- Compare books from around the world. How are they similar/different?
- Show samples of language (and writing systems/letters/symbols/etc) from around the world by looking at a book that has been translated into several languages OR by using books from different countries as examples of their writing systems.
World Cultures/English
- Discuss/read/compare folktales from around the world (search subject "culture and society--how people live", then "places, then isolate to "mythology/folk tales)
English
- Discuss the role of illustrations in literature (what are different types, how can they serve to supplement/tell a story?, what happens when you look at books written in a foreign language?)
History
- Discuss books about a certain time period (isolate by time, topic and/or country) to supplement discussion
- Compare different country's viewpoints of a time period/event as seen through children's lit (ex/ enemy countries)
- Identify what was happening around the world during that time
- Look at what was being written (published) during a time period -- notice any trends? what does that say about the country/world during that time?
Language
- Practice beginning languages by reading a children''s book
- Choose a book to have the class translate as a group project. (Contact site for permission)
Library
- Compare ICDL's Simple Search interface to that of Google (or several database interfaces for that matter) and compare/contrast them. What does the database infer about user tendencies? Who are the target audiences of the database? How do they cater to that audience? What is the best way to use the database?
- When would you use this database? Look at IDCL as example of an intuitive search. How does it differ from most other searches? How can you accomplish some of these same tasks using another database (i.e how would adults search achieve this information using search terms)? Teach keyword search strategies and other info literacy skills.
- Discuss the idea of a book. What makes a book? Compare different types of book formats (wordless picture book, pop-up book, traditional book, graphic novel, audio book/playaway, digital book from idcl, etc)
As a tool for librarians:
- Vague Reference Questions (Red cover....there was a dog in it. I liked it -- search by color/animal) *only works for books in collection
- Readers Advisory (I want a book about a __ that is funny) (No animals or imaginary creatures!!!) *use for tech savvy kids, or kids with internet but no books at home
I would like to see IDCL this: (feel free to respond with additional suggestions!)
- Find a way to add the bookmark to the site on the computer's desktop (rather than on the browser) as an icon (similar to the way apps works on an Iphone/Ipad)
Tuesday, April 6, 2010
The Question of Audience
Peter Levine's article for this week (A Public Voice for Youth: The Audience Problem in Digital Media and Civic Education) brought up an issue I had not thought much about--who is the audience for all of this digital media that we are having kids create; and even more importantly, what impact can sharing the work have in their lives and the lives of users?
I'm already convinced that facilitating the creation of digital media by youth is beneficial. I hadn't thought too far beyond that to the *purpose* of youth creations (other than the inherent benefits within creation) and the *who* of the intended audience. I need to do a bit more thinking before I can come to a conclusion on ways to implement these ideas within the kinds of programming I have done and am doing with young people, but I am both slightly astonished and extremely pleased to see that meaningful civic engagement has been linked to such positive outcomes among at-risk youth. I am particularly intrigued in the idea of envisioning local youth affinity groups as communities, whether schools, clubs, etc.
Eli Neiburger has spoken on the topics of gaming tournaments and civic engagement--particularly how video game tournaments can teach youth how to be good competitors, find a place within an affinity group, and effect change. I found this article [Libraries, Videogames and Civic Engagement] that expresses some of his ideas, as well as thoughts from Jenny Levine and others.
And I will continue mulling over the question of whether production in and of itself is enough, or whether it needs to be meaningful and situated within an audience, and how that can be done.
I'm already convinced that facilitating the creation of digital media by youth is beneficial. I hadn't thought too far beyond that to the *purpose* of youth creations (other than the inherent benefits within creation) and the *who* of the intended audience. I need to do a bit more thinking before I can come to a conclusion on ways to implement these ideas within the kinds of programming I have done and am doing with young people, but I am both slightly astonished and extremely pleased to see that meaningful civic engagement has been linked to such positive outcomes among at-risk youth. I am particularly intrigued in the idea of envisioning local youth affinity groups as communities, whether schools, clubs, etc.
Eli Neiburger has spoken on the topics of gaming tournaments and civic engagement--particularly how video game tournaments can teach youth how to be good competitors, find a place within an affinity group, and effect change. I found this article [Libraries, Videogames and Civic Engagement] that expresses some of his ideas, as well as thoughts from Jenny Levine and others.
And I will continue mulling over the question of whether production in and of itself is enough, or whether it needs to be meaningful and situated within an audience, and how that can be done.
Flipped out...
I've been experimenting with the FLIP video cameras that we just acquired in the library. Here is a short sample video that I made with no instruction, and just a little experimentation... I am learning as I go along. Interestingly, I offered a group of students 2 different cameras - a traditional, more familiar digital camcorder (Sony) with mini-cassette tape, or the new FLIP HD MINO. Without hesitation the kids chose the FLIP. After they filmed, they just jumped right in to the editing, preferring the new program over the usual Movie Maker they had previously learned. I was encouraged that they were not intimidated by the camera, the software,or learning something new on the fly while they were in the middle of a big multimedia assignment (they were re-scripting and filming their own version of a scene from Macbeth.) As I pulled out a Flip to try out, I kept saying to myself "If they can do it, so can I!" They inspire me everyday to keep learning new things, and applying what I learn to new situations. We're all having a lot of fun that way! I shot more film over the weekend, and I'm going to work on editing that this week - we'll see how that turns out....
Ruth Shasteen
Ruth Shasteen
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