Moby-Dick Remixed: Appropriation as a New Media Literacy

Anna van Someren New Media Literacies Comparative Media Studies Massachusetts Institute of Technology Moby-Dick Remix: Appropriation as a New Media Literacy

re-imagine re-think repurpose re-work mod recombine remix vid reverse-engineer appropriate mash-up adapt machinema re-contextualize

m ash-ups fan videos, vids

idea of engaging with the dynamic text has historical precedent

idea of engaging with the dynamic text has historical precedent much of our canon of revered literature was produced by recombining previous material

\"A man might write the works of others, adding and changing nothing, in which case he is simply called a 'scribe'(scriptor). Another writes the work of others with additions which are not his own; and he is called a 'compiler' (compilator). Another writes both others' work and his own, but with others' work in principal place, adding his own for purposes of explanation; and he is called a ‘commentator’ (commentator)....Another writes both his own work and others' but with his own work in principal place adding others for purposes of confirmation; and such a man should be called an 'author'(auctor).\" -13th Century Franciscan, Saint Bonaventura

not new, but easier, faster, more prevalent

The current emphasis on digital remixing makes visible the degree to which all cultural expression builds on what has come before. -Henry Jenkins

schools still embrace the “lone author”, “artist genius”, the myth of the original creative work

schools still embrace the “lone author”, “artist genius”, the myth of the original creative work teachers need language, frameworks to investigate the ethical and legal implications of remix practice

http://www.pz.harvard.edu/Research/GoodWork.htm

http://www.pz.harvard.edu/Research/GoodWork.htm HGSE Project Zero: Good Play Young People, Ethics, and the New Digital Media: A Synthesis from the Good Play Project

Good Play’s 5 ethical categories: 1. identity 2. privacy 3. ownership / authorship 4. credibility 5. participation

if we hold onto the idea of the autonomous artist, we also miss the opportunity to provide conceptual tools needed to analyze and interpret creative works

participatory culture trad. media lit fandom scholarship critical thinking

participatory culture trad. media lit fandom scholarship critical thinking Confronting the Challenges of Participatory Culture: Media Education for the 21st Century

participatory culture trad. media lit fandom scholarship critical thinking Confronting the Challenges of Participatory Culture: Media Education for the 21st Century •multitasking •appropriation •visualization •judgment •play •transmedia navigation •simulation •networking •performance • collective intelligence •negotiation •distributed cognition

participatory culture trad. media lit fandom scholarship critical thinking Confronting the Challenges of Participatory Culture: Media Education for the 21st Century

participatory culture trad. media lit fandom scholarship critical thinking Confronting the Challenges of Participatory Culture: Media Education for the 21st Century materials for informal practical interventions for learning (online) the classroom context

Moby-Dick Teaching Guide: exploring how a better understanding of remixing might transform the teaching of Melville, Moby-Dick and literature

Moby-Dick Teaching Guide: exploring how a better understanding of remixing might transform the teaching of Melville, Moby-Dick and literature “why Moby-Dick?”

Wyn Kelly Senior Lecturer, MIT Literature Melville Scholar

Ricardo Pitts-Wiley

original text

original text training school youth r e-write

original text training school youth r e-write Ricardo script drafts

original text training school youth r e-write input from teen cast (language) Ricardo script drafts

original text performance training school youth r e-write input from teen cast (language) Ricardo script drafts

Moby-Dick Then and Now, plot description

Melville’s Moby-Dick

Melville’s Moby-Dick Ricardo’s Moby-Dick

Melville’s Moby-Dick Ricardo’s Moby-Dick NML Moby-Dick Teacher’s Guide

Melville’s Moby-Dick Ricardo’s Moby-Dick classroom activities NML Moby-Dick Teacher’s Guide

Melville’s Moby-Dick awareness of remixing in contemporary culture Ricardo’s Moby-Dick classroom activities NML Moby-Dick Teacher’s Guide

(on language)

appropriation: the ability to meaningfully sample and remix media content

Through remixing, people can generate new ideas. It can be a vehicle for people to comment upon the role of media and technology in society. Remixing can strengthen media literacy skills because it can deepen peopleʼs awareness of an authorʼs purpose and context. Context is often not well-understood as a component of meaning. Through strategic juxtaposition and shifts in context, messages change their meanings. Remixing illustrates a key concept of media literacy: that meaning is in people, not in texts. - Renee Hobbs blog interview with Henry Jenkins

collaboration, transmedia storytelling, telling stories across multiple media forms

Session 2: Activity - Finding the Sign Posts When reading a discontinuous text, looking for particular markers or \"sign posts\" becomes important in helping you navigate through the text. In this lesson plan, we define \"signposting\" as the act of identifying and connecting those contextual clues which help you identify what is contained in the passage.

Session 2: Activity - Finding the Sign Posts Whether it's philosophical musings or purely action and plot, different signposts point to different strands of meaning within a single text. The importance of a particular strand of meaning depends on the goals of the reader. Someone interested in the outcome of Ahab's quest for Moby Dick may be looking for very different signposts than someone who is interested in the practicalities of life aboard a 19th century whaling ship.

Session 2: Activity - Finding the Sign Posts In this activity, students learn that there are multiple ways of reading a text which correspond to a reader's goals or motivations. By connecting the process of looking for signposts with goals, students develop the new media literacy skills of networking (by searching for and synthesizing different signposts according to particular goals), as well as multitasking (by shifting focus when needed on different strands of meaning within a single text).

Session 2: Activity - Finding the Sign Posts Related Subjects: English, media studies Objectives: By the end of this chapter, students will: •Be able to recognize and identify literary terms, including plot, dialogue, tone, diction, and language, and to recognize and identify shifts in these (NCTE standards •Be able to identify and distinguish between different types of literary texts by performing a close reading of tone, language, dialogue, diction and purpose (NCTE standards 4, 9, 10, 11, & 12); •Understand the basics of academic annotation of a text, including identifying key passages, deﬁning unfamiliar terms, and conducting and presenting research on historical, literary, or biographical elements of a text (NCTE Standard 24); •Begin to acquire a vocabulary of literary terms and apply them to literary texts (NCTE standards 10, 12)

from reading to authoring

Sessions 3 & 4: Activity II - Creating your own discontinuous text In today's world of new media, students have to deal with alternate forms of text. Often information is presented online as hypertext with links to related or explanatory information. An understanding of how hypertext works sheds new light on older literary texts like the Bible and Moby Dick that rely on discontinuous narratives. These discontinuous, or \"digressive\" texts, can be thought of as classic 'hypertext' documents that include digressions such as genealogies, histories, or philosophical musings within the narrative itself. This activity asks student to imagine traditional texts as hypertexts, in order to aid the development of the skill of networking - in this case, not only the ability to searching for information, but to synthesize and disseminate this information in a new format.

Sessions 3 & 4: Activity II - Creating your own discontinuous text In today's world of new media, students have to deal with alternate forms of text. Often information is presented online as hypertext with links to related or explanatory information. An understanding of how hypertext works sheds new light on older literary texts like the Bible and Moby Dick that rely on discontinuous narratives. These discontinuous, or \"digressive\" texts, can be thought of as classic 'hypertext' documents that include digressions such as genealogies, histories, or philosophical musings within the narrative itself. This activity asks student to imagine traditional texts as hypertexts, in order to aid the development of the skill of networking - in this case, not only the ability to searching for information, but to synthesize and disseminate this information in a new format. Required materials * Computer to view video and hypertext examples * Computers for students (high-tech version) * Paper and Pens (low-tech version) * Paper copies of a previously-chosen passage (low-tech version) * Copies of passage from Annotated Moby Dick

www.newmedialiteracies.org new site goes live March 17th, 2008

material is digitized, networked, accessible

Moby-Dick Remixed: Appropriation as a New Media Literacy

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