Digital Authorship: A Pedagogy of Learning

Digital Authorship: A Pedagogy of LearningRenee HobbsHarrington School of Communication & MediaUniversity of Rhode Island

Summer Institute in Digital Literacy2016

Digital authorship is a form of social power. Digital authors enter into conversation with others in the culture when they choose to share their creative work.

Digital authorship is a creative and collaborative process that involves experimentation and risk taking. People can choose whether (or not) to be socially responsible for the texts they create and share.

Critical thinking about message form, content and context makes people better creators and consumers of digital and media messages. PREVIEW123

My StoryI began my career as a teacher educator in 1991

Beating of Rodney King by Los Angeles PoliceMy StoryI began my career as a teacher educator in 1991

Columbine High School, 1999

Columbine High School, 1999

PARTIAL LIST OF SCHOOL SHOOTINGS SINCE 2010 University of Alabama, Huntsville

Aurora Central High School

Millard South High School

Chardon High School

Sandy Hook Elementary School

Hazard Community & Technical College

Santa Monica College

Arapahoe High School

Marysville Pilchuck High School

Unpqua Community College

El Centro College

desensitization: feeling less shock or distress at scenes of cruelty, violence, or suffering as a result of overexposure to images or experiencespriming: occurs when an experience or media message increases the salience of a particular mental concept cultivation: over time, exposure to mass media entertainment and news media shapes peoples perceptions of the world. imitation: a form of social learning where people view an act and are inspired to copy it

Diamond Reynolds live streams a video only minutes after police shoot Philando Castile four times in the passenger seat of her car, July 6, 2016

How some people address the polarization and apathy that are part of this cultural moment

As you watch, consider: How does this video depict the the social responsibilities of the communicator?

Pair share: How does this video depict the the social responsibilities of the communicator?

1Digital authorship is a form of social power. Digital authors enter into conversation with others in the culture when they choose to share their creative work.

Learn that communication can maintain the status quo or change the worldParticipate in communities of shared interest to advance an issue Be a change agent in the family & workplaceParticipate in democratic self-governanceSpeak up when you encounter injustice Respect the law and work to change unjust lawsUse the power of communication and information to make a difference in the world

At any moment, the reader is ready to turn into a writer. -Walter Benjamin

Writers Enter into a ConversationReading and writing are reciprocal processes of literacy

The text does not release a single meaning, the message of the author. A text is rather a tissue of quotations born of a multitude of sources in culture.

--Roland Barthes, The Death of the Author, 1967

digital & library resources are overwhelming

We know fromProject Information Literacythat students actively try to reduce the number of choices they have to make in order to get their assignments done. We know from theCitation Projectthat first year college students who use sources in their writing rarely write about them with much understanding. They dont summarize sources, they harvest quotes.Nearly half the time, the quotes they use are from the first page of the source. We

A Student PDF Annotation with Kami

A Student Annotates a Video with ANT

What is Evernote?Knowledge management tools are online platforms that help people find, organize and use digital resources

Finding and organizing information is a practice of digital authorshipcomprehension

meaning

interpretation

As you watch, consider: What does the metaphor of scholarship as conversation convey to learners?

Entering the Scholarly ConversationBurke, Kenneth. 1949. The Philosophy of Literary Form. Berkeley: University of California Press.

Keyboard and mouse skillsBe familiar with hardware, storage and file management practicesUnderstand hyperlinking & digital spaceGain competence with software applicationsUse social media, mobile, peripheral & cloud computing toolsIdentify information needsUse effective search and find strategies Troubleshoot and problem-solveLearn how to learn Listening and reading comprehension

When we access information and ideas, we enter into a conversation

Sharing is a Practice of Digital Authorship

To Share or not to Share, That is the Question

2Digital authorship is a creative and collaborative process that involves experimentation and risk taking. People can choose whether (or not) to be socially responsible for the texts they create and share.

Lone Wolf Collaborator

Visions of Digital Authorship

Creativity is rooted in wonder &exuberance

Creativity is Combinatorial

Cloud-Based Digital Tools Support Digital Authorship

WritingKidBlogGoogle DocsTitanpadWikispacesStorybird

AnimationAnimotoPowtoonsOsnapMoovly

ScreencastingScreencastifyScreencast-o-MaticScreenrVideo ProductionYouTubeWeVideoVideoliciousShadow Puppet

MultimediaKizoaStorify

CodingScratchReady

InfographicsInfogr.amEasel.ly

How do I get started?

Digital authorship as a learning processinvolves issues of creative control What is our topic?When is it due?How long should it be?Do have to work with a partner?How do I get an A?

Creating with digital tools involves a process of messy engagement

TEACHERSTUDENT

FORMATCONTENTDISTRIBUTIONPROCESSTeachers make decisions about how much creative control to give to learners

Wallas, Graham. 1926. The Art Of Thought. New York: Harcourt Brace.

PREPARATIONINCUBATIONILLUMINATIONVERIFICATIONWallas, Graham. 1926. The Art Of Thought. New York: Harcourt Brace.

As you watch, consider: What creative and collaborative activities happened before the filming took place?

How to Take Care of Your Pet by Grade 1 Students at Russell Byers Charter School

Pair share: What creative and collaborative activities happened before the filming took place?

Recognize the need for communication and self-expressionIdentify your own purpose, target audience, medium & genreBrainstorm and generate ideasCompose creatively using language, image, sound and multimediaWriting & speaking skillsEditing & revising in response to feedbackUse appropriate distribution, promotion & marketing channelsWork collaborativelyComment, curate and remix

SLEEPHow to improve your creative competencies as a digital author

Learners may infer from mass media and popular culture that behaving outrageous or goofy will bring them fame and fortune

Learners may infer from digital culture that being angry or mean will attract attention

Because creativity is uncontrollable, theres a lot of bad art.

Perfectionism Kills Creativitity

Creativity Police

When digital authors choose to explore issues of social responsibility, they can create works that provoke new ways of seeing, thinking and feeling.

Recognize how entertainment media communicate values & ideologyUnderstand how differences in values and life experience shape peoples media use and message interpretationAppreciate risks and potential harms of digital mediaApply ethical judgment and social responsibility to communication situationsUnderstand how concepts of private and public are reshaped by digital mediaAppreciate & respect legal rights & responsibilities (copyright, intellectual freedom)

As you watch, consider: How does this video depict the benefits, risks and potential harms of mobile media?

I Forgot My Phone

Pair share: How does this video depict the benefits, risks and potential harms of mobile media?

3Critical thinking about message form, content and context makes people better creators and consumers of digital and media messages.

Top 10 Media Companies in the World

Media Literacy as a Civic CompetencyMedia education is an essential step in the long march towards a truly participatory democracy, and the democratization of our institutions. Widespread media literacy is essential if all citizens are to wield power, make rational decisions, become effective change agents,and have an effective involvement with the media.

-Len Masterman, Teaching the Media, 1985

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Questioning All Forms of AuthorityMedia literacy, because it emphasizes a critique of textual authority, invites students to identify the cultural codes that structure an authors work, understand how these codes function as partof a social system, and disrupt the text through alternative interpretations. In learning to critically read media messages, citizens are developing the abilities togather accurate, relevant information about their society and to question authority (both textual and, by implication, institutional).

- Renee Hobbs, Seven Great Debates in the Media Literacy Movement, 1998

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Understand how symbols work: the concept of representationIdentify the author, genre, purpose and point of view of a messageCompare and contrast sourcesEvaluate credibility and qualityUnderstand ones own biases and world view

Recognize power relationships that shape how information & ideas circulate in cultureUnderstand the economic context of information and entertainment productionExamine the political and social ramifications of inequalities in information flows

www.mindovermedia.tv

Digital Media Literacy Smartphone

ACCESS

Digital and Media Literacy Competencies

Digital authorship is a form of social power. Digital authors enter into conversation with others in the culture when they choose to share their creative work.

Digital authorship is a creative and collaborative process that involves experimentation and risk taking. People can choose whether (or not) to be socially responsible for the texts they create and share.

Critical thinking about message form, content and context makes people better creators and consumers of digital and media messages. REVIEW123

Digital Authorship Enables the Practice of CitizenshipWhen people have digital and media literacy competencies, they recognize personal, corporate and political agendas and are empowered to speak out on behalf of the missing voices and omitted perspectives in our communities. By identifying and attempting to solve problems, people use their powerful voices and their rights under law to improve the worldaround them.

-Renee Hobbs, Digital and Media Literacy: A Plan of Action, 2010

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Renee Hobbs Professor of Communication StudiesDirector, Media Education LabHarrington School of Communication & MediaUniversity of Rhode Island USAEmail: hobbs@uri.eduTwitter: @reneehobbs

LEARN MOREWeb: www.mediaeducationlab.com

Four of a Kind Production Teams

Your AssignmentWorking with a team of 4 people, watch the AT&T ad, Keep Calm Your Internets On and discuss and analyze it using the five critical questions of media literacy.

Then use a combination of images and some voice-over narration to produce a 2 to 4 minute video screencast, combining your voice over narration with images.

Work with your team under deadline pressure to get the job done. Share your finished production online.

Your Screencast Mentor Text

Renee and Rhys analyze a BrainPop video using the 5 critical questions of media literacy

ACCESS

Screencasting the Critical Questions