This is another piece of work, while taking stock of the few weeks into the EDEC course.  I started out unsure what culture was, and then the plethora of images and sounds from edcMooc and edec colleagues on eLearning and Digital Cultures presented each day helped build the picture.  Reading the core materials over the weeks, I am being sensitised to many terminologies, concepts.  As part of the detox, I am looking at cultures from a different lense.

This is a result of a visit to the Autoworld Museum in Brussels. It certainly has helped me streamline my thoughts on eLearning and Digital cultures.  There is more to consider especially the impact on schooling and education but this will have to come later.  All picture copyright belongs to T.Meckenstock.

So I started by browsing through the discussion forum, and then stumbled on the edcMooc news which contained the blogs from participants.  I soon realised how much talent and skills already being exhibited by the edcMooc community.  I was reflecting on the films they have to watch and comment and the gargantious task of  the Mooc organisers to cater to so many.

Sol Le Witt’s work came to mind.  It was the perfect one to use to display some of the best work that I have seen from the participants.  Then the question of the tool.  There were too many to choose from and I was tempted to use the Prezi but was unsure about the zooming in and out effect.  I clicked on a few and I thought I would give Thinglink a go and see if it does the job for me.

It was easy enough to use and quite perfect for what I need.  I was hoping I could stream in some sound but first it did not permit embedding of sound, but secondly, there was no need for this particular artefact.  I think silence could be more effective, as there was already so much data to see and investigate.

I spent the rest of the week monitoring the various discussion groups, twitter and watching some of the films on edcMooc, while dipping in and out of my own reading on Digital and Design Culture.  I will discuss the reading on another post.  Suffice to note here, that I had not expected to read so much on design on the course!  It seems like my inner desire and childhood dreams of studying design is being realised in EDEC!

This is a great visual from an article written on the Neuroanthropology site entitled the Fear of Twitter.

This is my response to Amy Woodgate’s post who happened to have this image on her site on 10th February 2013

Hi Amy, I have this image up on my blog too but I did not comment very much on it then.  I thought it was an interesting perception of how people view communication, and you are right -  from the yardstick of snobbery of the written word!

I can’t help but think of my 17 month old toddler who is learning to gesture, sign, name objects at the moment, and the lovely sounds she is making.  She is also creating some lovely marks and scribbles on different surfaces and loves the tapping of the keyboard!  She will be going through the cycle but at a much faster rate and will be ever so proficient in the coded language of twittering and perhaps the appreciation of sound, image or a combination of these at an earlier age.  I am constantly amazed at the way she listens to a piece of music, and she tries to figure out the rhythm, and then try to shake and move accordingly!   I do like the way you have looked communication as cyclical.

I was curious how digital technologies have impacted the fashion industry.  Here is a  site which to me gives a preview of the fascinating transformation in the field as a result of digital technology.  A utopia perhaps?

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Reference:

Hand, M (2008) Hardware to everywhere: narratives of promise and threat, chapter 1 of Making digital cultures: access, interactivity and authenticity. Aldershot: Ashgate. pp 15-42.

However, Hand (2008) Hardware to everywhere: narratives of promise and threat, and Bell  (2001) Storying cyberspace 1: material and symbolic stories, have reassured me that it will be an accessible module.  Watching the videos on the EDC13 Lino Wall  has also whetted  my appetite for learning more about Digital Culture.

My feelings at the moment can be somewhat personified in the artform by Kasey Mcmahon found on this site: http://www.switched.com/2010/04/22/kasey-mcmahons-connected-cables-elevate-ethernet-to-art/

Mcmahon’s sculpture of the Wire Woman, is  interesting, as although it is named connected, it seems to have captured or bound the person up, indicating both the positive and negative dimension of  digital culture.

At the moment I am not sure which camp I belong to:  utopia or  dystopia view of  digital culture. Certainly my exploration this week, has already helped debunk some myths I had about cybercultures.

Finally, I have to say that my favourite terminology that I have come across this week is cyberpunk.

Reference:

Hand, M (2008) Hardware to everywhere: narratives of promise and threat, chapter 1 of Making digital cultures: access, interactivity and authenticity. Aldershot: Ashgate. pp 15-42.

Bell, D (2001) Storying cyberspace 1: material and symbolic stories, chapter 2 of An introduction to cybercultures. Abingdon: Routledge. pp6-29.