Challenges in Participatory Culture

After reading Jenkins, I most identified with the Participation Gap section found on page 12 outlining the three core problems of participatory culture. It's interesting that Jenkins discusses this participatory culture as if all young people are engaging wholeheartedly in media and all its advancements, yet there are still a large number of students who have inadequate access (if any access at all) to new media technologies. 

I think this struck me most because I co-teach a computer class with 7th graders and, with technology seemingly available to all, I was amazed at how many students did not know a lot about computers, even some of the most basic skills. Not until reading about the participation gap did it dawn on me that many of our students simply don't have access to technology. Since smartphones, IPad's, tablets and the like are commonplace in our society, I mistakenly assumed that the majority of our students had access at their fingertips, or at the very least, had experience with technology.

And so in realizing this, I can now see the lack of the new skills being utilized like distributed cognition or networking especially since the new skills actually build on the foundations of literacy, research and technical skills and critical analysis; skills that may not be sharpened; skills that may already be limited.

In Green's model, the operational, cultural and critical dimensions are definitely affected negatively as students' lack of access to technology determines how competent they will be in literacy. Competency in how to handle written language, how to grasp meanings within practices and how to both transform and perform literacy is then compromised when all students are learning at different levels, not because of the inability of some to learn, but because of the lack of access for some. 

Jenkins' writing points out that access to outdated technology at a public venue is no comparison to what one is able to achieve with technology in their home with the ability to access data, Internet, etc.  My biggest question is how do we effectively make changes for our students? Researchers and educators, like Jenkins and Green, have identified ways in which new media and literacies can positively aid in youth learning, as well as what hinders all youth from learning at the same pace or in the same capacity. I just feel frustrated that if educators can identify the problem and the solution, why are so many of our children still struggling to succeed.

Literacy...what really counts?

“what counts as literacy, how literacy changes in response to the new media landscape,” and what value we should ascribe to the new forms of communication that continue to emerge and evolve online (Jenkins, 2009).  

       What counts as literacy? This is a  seemingly simple, yet complicated question that often arises in today’s technology saturated society. Many who are perhaps over forty, would say literacy consists of reading printed texts such as books, newspapers, magazines, etc. However, those who are younger and who have been raised in the throws of technology literally available in every aspect of their lives, could rid their literacy lists of most printed texts and refer to literacy as only what is read on websites, through text messaging on cellular phones, instructions on video games or any text on social media sites. While I am included in the “over forty” age group, as an educator I have found that there is great value in the reading in which younger generations participate; however, I do question at what level reading comprehension exists for most readers. 

With regard to how literacy changes with the new media landscape, children and adults alike must be willing to assist in establishing a cohesive collaboration of the old and new ideals of what constitutes literacy. Hunter Gaudet, a student featured in the article, shared his difficulties with reading. Placed in special education classes after diagnosed with dyslexia, he believes that books are more challenging to read since they have a lot more unnecessary details and reading online simply gives the main details. I believe a lot of students, with or without learning disabilities, benefit greatly from new literacy in media simply because technology is integrated in every aspect of their lives.

As in the case with Nadia, her love for reading anime and visiting social websites does not seem to have lessened her level of literacy as she receives A’s and B’s in school. Therefore, we must ascribe some degree of value to new forms of communication that emerge online. We cannot neglect the intricacies of the instructions given to successfully playing challenging video games that take place in other countries, with multiple weapons, against different people in other cities, states or countries!  Nor can we neglect the emergence of various blogs (by youth as young as twelve years old), apps, or social media venues. In other words, just because the avenue is via the Internet does not mean that there is no value in the literacy. While I will never devalue printed texts, especially as an English teacher, as educators we must evolve our teaching and learning strategies with the new literacies with which our society is faced. After watching the cartoon The Jetson’s years ago, as children we only dreamed wildly of talking on a phone while seeing the caller’s face, or having robots in our homes to assist us in cooking and cleaning. Those dreams have since become a reality; they are an integral part of our everyday lives, and we have adjusted - quite nicely might I add. And so it is with literacy. We must then, as a society of learners, adjust to the emergence of what is qualified as literacy. 

Approach to Literacy...

"The distinctive contribution of the approach to literacy as social practice lies in the ways in which it involves careful and sensitive attention to what people do with texts, how they make sense of them and use them to further their own purposes in their own learning lives" (Gillen and Barton, 2010, p. 9). 

Please discuss what you do with various texts, how you make sense of them and how you use them to further your own learning.

Even in completing the reading required for this post, I realized how “dated” and perhaps “old-fashioned” I am in how I manipulate and make sense of a text. While some are able to read, take notes and respond to text completely on a computer, I still find myself printing a text in order to make notes which is, in my own way, one of the ways to best handle a text. With this I am better able to define unknown vocabulary, refer to the text in the future with ease, and, when necessary, use terminology and ideas from a given text which is a valid gauge of my own learning. The use of visuals - charts, graphs and illustrations - are helpful in understanding some of the verbiage that is lofty and challenging to understand. I also don’t always read every written word in a text, as some seem to repeat concepts in just different, more confusing wording.

First time blogger!

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