Click here to view the embedded video.

 The mime act by Julien Cotterau in the video above shows the power found through both the presence and absence of sound, image and gesture.  Barthes (1977) states that “The stage is the line which stands across the path of the optic pencil, tracing at once the point at which it is brought to a stopand, as it were, the threshold of its ramification. Thus is founded –  against music (against the text) - representation. (Barthes, 1977, p.69, italics in original)

 Barthes, R. (1993) Image-Music-Text London: Fontana Press

Life circumstances this week have made getting my thoughts onto the Tumblog a challenge!

Diversity

The high point of this week was the MOOC Hangout. The value of this experience was immense and I came away feeling that I had learned something new [use of Google +] and reinforced something already present [the sense of our class community].

This week was a chance to spend time looking at all of the digital artifacts that we created and it was amazing to note the diversity of presentation forms and user approaches – a little like a digital pic ‘n’ mix! From this collection it is easy to see what each platform showcases in terms of suitability for specific uses. It was reassuring to note that feedback I received showed that what I set out to depict was achieved.  Self – reflection on how I would do things differently next time is an important part of the feedback process though I think that the tight time-frame impacted on the final result. I am very impressed by the other artifacts and will definitely use some, if not all of the platforms in the future.

Areas that I dipped into this week included cultural narratives and the potentially varying ‘human’ capacity of one media over another. The former reminded me of Canadian photographer Jeff Wall’s piece The Storyteller, representing a social setting marginalised through exclusion from cultural technological transformation. The latter area continued reflection on the power of image vs text and how content / circumstance calls for one over the other.

]]> http://edc13.education.ed.ac.uk/nikkib/2013/02/17/overview-week-5/feed/ 0 http://edc13.education.ed.ac.uk/nikkib/2013/02/17/cultural-narrative/ http://edc13.education.ed.ac.uk/nikkib/2013/02/17/cultural-narrative/#comments Sun, 17 Feb 2013 22:44:07 +0000 Nikki Bourke http://edc13.education.ed.ac.uk/nikkib/?p=263

The Storyteller / Jeff Wall

“The figura of the storyteller is an archaism, a social type which has lost its function as a result of the technological transformations of literacy. It has been relegated to the margins of modernity, and survives there as a relic of the imagination, a nostalgic archetype, an anthropological specimen, apparently dead…such ruined figures embody essential elements of historical memory, the memory of values excluded by capitalist progress and seemingly forgotten by everyone. This memory recovers its potential…parallels the process in which marginalised and oppressed groups re-appropriate and re-learn their own history. This process…and its impact is transforming standard criteria of literacy, creating openings for a newer concept of modernist culture.”

“The Storyteller” in Jeff Wall The Storyteller (Frankfurt am Main: Museum fur Moderne Kunst., 1992)p. 7

Wall’s snapshot captures the essence of the marginality stemming from technological transformation integral within an ever changing cultural landscape. Re-education and re-appropriation in order to access lost literacy runs parallel to the idea of the multimodal structure. Exploration and utilisation of new forms and modes helps to promote maximum literacy and understanding.

On the MOOC this week there was a very interesting forum thread titled ‘Are some media more ‘human’ than others?’ which considered among other things the power allocation of the binary text vs image. I like this marketing advertisement from Sky as it amalgamates both elements.

This week was challenging and great fun!

The main focus of this week was the creation of a digital artifact. Decisions on which elements of the MOOC to focus upon and how to present the artifact were of primary concern. Choices made… Dystopia on Glogster! This presentation platform was new to me and I found that the visual which I had in my head transferred easily onto the screen. I wanted to move away from text [where I feel most at home] and dabble in sound and image.

What I found really refreshing about this task was the diversity of the artifacts. The eight of us, given the same brief, submitted a varied and exciting range of presentations, each one substantially unique. I view such variance as a byproduct of  the vastness found in both the MOOC and the substantial number of presentation platforms that we have access to.

Interaction with the MOOC over the past two weeks has me feeling more at ease with it. My posts this week have considered how I feel about the MOOC and the potential impact, if any that a shift in the group dynamic has had on shaping these feelings.  Although it is massive in content and participant numbers the solid structure helped me to become more at ease with my navigation through this great online ocean.

• It makes me wonder if I would feel differently about the MOOC if it had been part of the module framework from day one?

• Has this shift from few to many had an instrumental impact on how I view the MOOC?

In scheduling the MOOC several weeks into the course, the participants are eased into the concept and practice of the MOOC. This also emphasizes the size and power of the giant classroom.

My experience of this change in class numbers  from <10 to >10,000+ left me in a ‘transitional’ phase, mostly getting my head around the diversity and vastness offered by the MOOC , participants and content.

I think that for me this period of transition was invaluable. In order that I could grasp MOOC concepts it needed to be a standalone feature and most importantly it needed that group dynamic shift to help in my interactions with, perception of and placement of the MOOC.

I had never used Glogster before. In fact, the first time that I had even seen the word in print was when I saw it on the list of ‘possibles’ provided to us for our artifact presentation options.

 As a presentation platform Glogster ticks several boxes. It supports audio, text and image. At the outset of this project I had was very conscious of my inexperience when it came to audio / sound so I decided that it would HAVE to be a majority stakeholder in my presentation. Screeching violins, unnerving whispers and the most dystopian-esque music I could find online! 

Having the option to ‘create’ [ term loosely applied!] a visual background and build upon it allowed me to think in terms of layers. By layering the topic it became easier to break down the interactions / discussions of dystopia from the MOOC  and see how various components could/n’t knit together. This digital artifact project was a series of firsts for me….introduction to Soundcloud,  experimentation in charcoal and  of course the use of the presentation form Glogster itself. It is a nifty presentation platform, one that I would both use again and recommend.

My digital artifact, dystopian frequencies tries to capture the feeling of dystopia through image, sound and text.

Please click on the image to access the artifact itself.

A reference list of materials used in the artifact are available here.

So the rollercoaster is gaining momentum…This week it has been a case of holding onto the rails of this fast moving vehicle we call EDC. New topics and subjects of interest present themselves with every turn and I have had to find a balance between an exploration of these capillary routes and staying on the main line. Oftentimes the side routes won out…though reassuringly they always seemed to loop back at some point to the central trajectory.

This week my posts have centred on deciphering how these issues and concepts fit in with one another. Perhaps the most interesting [personal] result of this week’s interactions has been a perspective shift. My understanding of the relationship between the book [medium] and the reading/writing [mode] has altered, has been placed within the landscape of the social, economic and the cultural. The impact of multimodality on media provides an open, limitless platform of which the reader / writer may avail.

The concept of convergence, covered by both Kruss (2005) and Thomas (2007) helped to locate my understanding of transliteracy in contexts that I could relate to.

This week also introduced  the MOOC. This is all new to me but very exciting.

Indeed Kress (2005) recognises that our theories of learning, meaning and writing, if design focused, would take account of the social and cultural environments and consider communication requirements of materials, audience, resource availability and the practicality of the design in meeting these requirements. We need the convergence with these environments to provide engagement which will support and encourage active learning.

This video reminded me of what Thomas (2007) refers to as our transliterate lifeworld ” a combination of physical environment and subjective experience that makes up everyday life…an ecology which changes with the invention of each new media-type.” It reminds me of the connection between normal life and the media convergent environment.

References:

• Kress, G (2005) Gains and losses: new forms of texts, knowledge and learning. Computers and Composition. 22(1), 5-22.
•  Thomas, S et al (2007) Transliteracy: crossing divides. First Monday. 12(12). [web site]
• Henry Jenkins, 2001. “Convergence? I diverge,” Technology Review, volume 104 (June), p. 93