As I type this, my spellcheck keeps finding blog and its derivatives as misspelled words. It feels great to be ahead of the spellcheck curve and continues to validate my belief that my students should be able to spell despite the existence of such tools. Anyway, Knobel and Lankshear make a decent point about the power dynamics of blogging, but it seems relatively obvious to me. Blogging, like any other form of media, will have an unequal distribution of popularity and I don’t think anyone should be surprised. I also don’t think it should taint the medium in any way. While the blogosphere itself may not be very democratic, its existence is. That is, bloggers who have been denied access in more traditional mediums have found an audience or ways of amplifying their voices. There might be gatekeepers when it comes to success or popularity, but at least they aren’t named Rupert Murdoch. In the classroom, any student can create and develop a blog. The same cannot be said for a book or newspaper. I guess one point I’m most intrigued with in this whole technology discussion is the access students have to creating media. A student with some time, tech savvy, and resources (whether through school or a middle-class family’s income) can make his/her own CD, DVD, podcast, online radio station, etc. It’s entirely possible and likely that no one will notice or care, but the restrictions on such enterprises used to be more material things like access to a studio or studio time. Now the limits on success have much more to do with finding an audience. Of course, even if a blog has no audience, a studio is not going to shut it down
In some ways I feel like I’m back at square one and Kajder’s mantra about the right tools for the right purpose keeps echoing. I think blogs are great; there are several I read regularly (and
Blogging seems well-suited to documenting a process of some sort. In the film class at my school each film crew was required to blog about their progress (http://whsfilmfestival.com/Walpole%20High%20School%20Film%20Festival/Blog%20Main%20Page.html) as they went along. It was a new idea this year and in my evaluation had only limited success. The idea is a strong one, and the potential is there for students to blog about their film influences, post short clips of their work writing, filming, and editing, write about and comment on problems, etc.
A more universally practical idea is using a blog as a companion to a long-term project like a research paper. Students could document process work, which would utilize the blog’s chronological format, try using the blog to test ideas, connections, and so on, and get feedback from other students in the comments section. Students could link to or review other resources for whatever their topic is as well. I think this idea is feasible and could pay real dividends in the students’ work. It could give students another reason to be invested in their project, force them to try out and write about some different ideas before they go into the paper, and allow them to see others’ process.
That’s the closest I can get to satisfying the two most intimidating conditions K&L have; purpose and well-defined point of view. The point of view is something I believe students could really start to develop through blogging. I’m not sure these blogs would hold much interest to people outside the school, but I’m also not convinced they need to.
That’s what I have so far. Happy blogging!
5 comments:
Jeremy, I looked at the film website-blog and was pretty impressed even without looking at the films or clips. True, the blog entries were on the superficial side. Would it have worked better if the blog space was reserved for just the members of each filmaking group? A place to work out specific problems in the script, acting or technical side? At least n this way there is a sense of online colaboration. On the other side of the coin, these students see each other everday so any dialogue would take place in the hallways or student lounge. So, as you say,where does the use of a blog to forward thinking and writing intersect with collaboration, or does it?
GT
In this case, it doesn't get used to forward thinking or for collaboration. As you point out, the students do see and work with each other every day. I think the benefit to blogging in this context is to document process and show others, especially the other film crews, what they are doing. There is so much else going on with these film crews that I don't think it's an unsurmountable loss if the blogging doesn't live up to its potential, but I think it could be used more effectively without too much work.
Jeremy, I think you point out one of the best uses for blogging; "to document a process of some sort" Although there are multiple purposes and reasons for blogging, I think blogs are really suited to documenting a process. I have a neice in Chicago, currently working as a "Second City" player, trying to make her way into Hollywood as an actor. She has created a blog (can't remember the exact name of it--will call brother asap) and in it she writes of her auditions, screenplays, short films, and all her experiences acting, temping, and DJ-ing while she waits for her "big break". In one of her last blogs, she writes of her latest short films being entered into the Sundance film festival. In Erin's case (my neice), her blog documents her acting experiences, vents her frustration, celebrates her triumphs, keeps her family in the Northeast up to date with her happenings, and also shows some "would be" actors just how hard it really is. I'm still not sure if blogs would work really well in a classroom setting, but in blogs such as Erin's, I think they work wonderfully.
Maybe it's just my interest in other people's point of view, but I see this as a wonderful use of bloggin. I had a friend who spent a year studying wi-fi technology in Estonia and blogged about it a few times a week. Even though I was lost in the technical aspects, the experience of vicariously traveling in Estonia and experiencing the culture had me reading it regularly. I'm at a loss how to fit this into the classroom though. Are students going to be interested in reading an online documentation of each other's lives? It seems that they have a few ways they already do this on their own terms, like Facebook and MySpace, not to mention seeing eachother daily. I still don't have any brilliant ideas about how to apply this in the classroom.
Firstly I have to say I don’t like blogs I think they are dumming down the use of the English language, and making it seem like any old garbage is appropriate to post. They have become too omnipresent, and their educational potential is enormously questionable. That being said they can be useful in showing the progress of a school project etc but if you’re expecting dynamic scholarly writing you’re in the wrong medium. This is more raw journal free writing in the Kerouac style of “first thought/best thought”. The thing is though first thought is not always the best thought, and revising blogs seems to go against the very intent of the medium. As English teachers we need to constantly stress the importance of revising. New tools and toys like blogs don’t stress the importance of revising, and thus should be used carefully and with caution.
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