Making communications land - Are they received and understood as intended? we...
Wrld203f2013 8-22
1. 22 August 2013
11:00am – 12:15pm
MPALC 1102
Dr. Kathryn Murphy-Judy
WRLD/INTL 203
GLOBAL MEDIA AND NEW LITERACIES
2. TODAY’S ITINERARY
1. Before we start: 2 notetakers and the Bb discussion feed.
2. Course basics
• Blackboard & VCU media
• Clickers
• Attendance & Grading (media literacy, information literacy, global literacy,
collaborative/social media skills)
• Task based learning (everyday summaries, discussions, actions), but also:
• VCU Peace Conference
• Undergraduate Research Conference presentation
• Final project
3. Werner Herzog & texting
4. First task : Read one of five texts, summarize and be prepared to report on Tuesday (BB)
5. Wrap up
3. COURSE BASICS : BLACKBOARD
• Our site
• Our syllabus
• Assignments
• Discussion Board
• Grades
• Other academic media: Google apps for VCU
• Free ‘other’ apps: note taking apps, social bookmarking, blogging, microblogging,
presentational media, social media, print, radio, tv-video, film, multimedia, data imaging
and infographics, etc.
4. Clickers
You must bring your clickers to class
every session.
Buy them from B&N or Virginia Book
Company
7. Learning to learn
What we all need to learn is how to swim
the avalanche (or hitch the right ride into
the big wave--see ad), from the overload
how to choose wisely & quickly what we
need to learn/use, discern what is valuable,
if we need ‘other’ perspectives are and
where they might be; what to save for
future and where; how to use this ‘stuff’ to
construct an argument, convincing vision,
innovate; who else we need with us on this
journey; how, when, where and why to see
convergence as a sanity and effectiveness
ploy.
8. FROM THE CENTER FOR MEDIA LITERACY
Author Douglas Rushkoff calls the current youth generation "screen-agers" because their media
use is not distinguished specifically as television or video games or movies or computers — or
even telephones — but simply as a series of screens which they both access and manipulate in
a constantly evolving stream of shared communication….
In this kind of world, the content of a specific media message is no longer all that relevant. It's
only one of thousands received everyday. What is important is facility with analyzing new
information as it's received, evaluating it against one's prior knowledge, formulating a response
and ultimately communicating to others your decision or point of view.
In other words, what is important is not so much the message itself as how we make sense of
the message and by extension, of the mediated world around us. It demands a new kind of
literacy, rooted in the real world of instant information, global interactivity and messages created
on multiple media platforms….
As writer Alvin Toffler points out "The illiterate of the 21st century will not be those who
cannot read and write but those who cannot learn, unlearn and relearn."
9. • "All messages are 'constructed.'"
• "Media messages are constructed
using a creative language with its
own rules.”
• "Different people experience the
same media message differently.”
• "Media have embedded values and
points of view.”
• "Media messages are constructed
to gain profit and/or power,"
Key Question #1: Who created this
message?
Key Question #2: What creative
techniques are used to attract my
attention?
The best way to understand how media are
put together is to do just that - make a video,
create a website, develop an ad campaign.
Key Question #3: How might different
people understand this message
differently from me?
Key Question #4: What lifestyles, values
and points of view are represented in -- or
omitted from -- this message?
Key Question #5: Why is this message
being sent?
FIVE KEY QUESTIONS & FIVE CORE CONCEPTS
PROVIDE A "SHORT-CUT" AND AN ON-RAMP TO ACQUIRING AND APPLYING INFORMATION
PROCESS SKILLS IN A PRACTICAL, REPLICABLE, CONSISTENT AND ATTAINABLE WAY.…
10. SO WHAT WE’LL BE DOING
• Attendance & Grading based on media literacy, information literacy*, global literacy,
collaborative skills, & social media skills
• Task based learning (everyday summaries, discussions, actions), but also:
• VCU Peace Conference
• Undergraduate Research Conference presentation
• Final project
• Reading: TED talks, articles, weekly France24/Al-Jazeera/Deutchewelle/HaoHao Report/&c.
• Connecting f2f with international students, events, activities (Conversation Partners)
11. FOR TUESDAY (SEE ALSO BB ASSIGNMENTS)
• For Tuesday (or sign up for one of 5 readings:
• Zuckerberg
https://www.facebook.com/isconnectivityahumanright/isconnectivityahumanright.pdf,
• 2030 report on global realities
• Media Literacy http://www.medialit.org/reading-room/media-literacy-national-priority-
changing-world
• http://techcrunch.com/2013/08/20/facebook-internet-org/
• new media and immigration/education http://techcrunch.com/2013/04/11/fwd-us/ v. UK
vans http://observers.france24.com/content/20130807-british-humour-lambasts-racist-
government-billboard-vans
So in designing this course, which I’ve taught for 4 years, I became overwhelmed this summer. How can I choose the ‘right’ information, background knowledge, images, apps, and trends out a a deluge, a tsunami, an onslaught?I can’t. But WE can.
Get ‘handle’ on what we need to learn for global media and new literacies: too much, too fast, to volatile. Anything from 5 years ago is potentially compromised knowledge.
