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Steve Wheeler (2012). Digital for engagement in 02 emerging online cultures. eLC Research Paper Series, 5, 14-25. Digital Literacies for Engagement in Emerging Online Cultures

Steve Wheeler Digital literacies for

#02 Plymouth University engagement in emerging

United Kingdom online cultures [email protected] tu res g e m nt

l i ng O n li e Cu Abstract r Eng a fo t eracies We are living in a period of technological our methods of communication, the maintenance i n Em er g al L i

t advancement that is both unprecedented of our relationships, commerce, the protection i g

i and widely disruptive. Rapid transitions from of personal privacy, creative processes, D the previous ages of centralised traditional publication of content, and the emergence publication and broadcast media to the present of new digital tribes and virtual clans. In day digital participatory media has been schools, colleges and universities, change is surprising for many especially those working being promoted that is profound and wide in . Many things have changed, reaching. This paper discusses these changes including the design of computer interfaces, the and exposes some of the issues, challenges processing speed and portability of devices, and opportunities we now need to meet as the accessibility of information and knowledge, professional educators. 14

Keywords

digital literacies, disruptive technology, social networking, , online learning

eLC RESEARCH PAPER SERIES ISSUE 5 · Communication & Learning in the Digital Age | ISSN 2013-7966 Steve Wheeler (2012). Digital literacies for engagement in emerging online cultures. eLC Research Paper Series, 5, 14-25.

Introduction nature of these tools and the seismic changes they bring require us to conceive an entirely We are witnessing a period of technological new set of literacies. We are not solely development that is both unprecedented and concerned with skills or competencies, but widely disruptive. The rapid transition from by a far deeper form of cultural engagement, an age of centralised traditional publication and hence I use the term ‘literacies’. I am not and broadcast media to the present day simply expressing my own views. This paper also digital participatory media has taken many by reflects the views of many other commentators surprise. The social web has spawned a dynamic including Lea & Jones (2011), Beetham et al and emergent spectrum of virtual cultures, (2009), and Lankshear & Knobel (2006) who acknowledge that the exponential changes

social mores and online practices. In the short #02 time since the Internet has existed, much has that are occurring require new responses.

Essentially, the skills and competencies that i n Em er g D

changed, including the design of computer i g

have dominated higher education are now i

interfaces, the processing speed and portability t al L i of devices, the accessibility of information and considered by many to be inadequate in

the face of the rapid proliferation of social i ng O n li e Cu l knowledge, our methods of communication, the t eracies for Eng a maintenance of our relationships, commerce, networking services, mobile technologies the protection of personal privacy, creative and pervasive computing, but should be processes, publication of content, and the transformative (Beetham et al, 2009). Our comfortable practices are being disrupted by

emergence of new digital tribes and virtual tu res clans (Wheeler, 2009). The music, movie, new technologies, and it is expedient that the broadcasting and publishing industries have teaching profession responds positively to this g e m nt all suffered significant revenue losses (Lessig, disruption by developing and mastering new 2005) as a result of the significant shift from ways to cope with the changes and challenges ‘atoms to bits’ predicted nearly two decades to which it is exposed. earlier by Negroponte (1995). Even the long established dominance of the telephone Several recently published articles, both in company is being eroded by web services such conventional paper based mode and online, as Skype (Godin, 2008). Most significantly, have explored the notion of ‘digital ’, the digital age has been responsible for a and as expected, there are diverse views. disruption of the traditional learning paradigm, Anderson (2010) for example, defines digital ensuring that the self-help ‘learning webs’ literacies as the ability to exploit the potential 15 theorised by Illich (1970) have become a reality. of computer technologies. Literacies, in all their Moreover, the open democracy unleashed by forms, are at once cultural, social and personal new has fomented an erosion of (Kress, 2009) and enable us to interact fully in the oppressive pedagogical practices redolent specific cultures. Some warn that without an of traditional education (Freire, 1993). Living adequate level of literacy, have the and learning in a digital age brings many capacity to disadvantage some (van Dijk, 2005), opportunities but also many challenges. whilst others warn of the nature of the web to undermine knowledge and competency (Carr, 2008; Keen, 2007). However, the overwhelming Disruptive technology majority of commentators eulogise over the potential of the social web to liberate education, The argument I wish to pursue here is that and democratise learning, with the caveat that new media and digital technologies offer new digital literacies are practiced. opportunities for learning yet the disruptive

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ISSUE 5· Communication &Learning Digital the in Age|ISSN 2013-7966 eLC PAPER RESEARCH SERIES in Emerging Online Cultures and topics within themodules Iteach to help already usedto enable me to develop themes below constitutes aroad mapwhich Ihave those identified by others. But for me,the list there maybesignificantwork, overlap with defined, and given published thepreviously notis anexhaustive yet it is to list, befully with, andimmersion within, online culture. This identified from myownextensive engagement of nine of the keydigital literacies Ihave In this offer paperIwill abriefexposition use, are eventually assimilated asliteracies. the world butwithhabituated oftheinternet, ‘netiquette’ – can bealien to thosefirstentering communication –sometimes referred to as Similarly, theinformal rules ofonline assimilate. unwritten rules were particularly difficult to the language) were unfamiliar territory andthe for motorists (andinthecase ofFrance, also at firstproblematic, because the formal rules to inFrancethose skills driving was ortheUSA of theroad intheUnited Kingdom. Transferring unwritten ontheleft handside rules ofdriving specific, and complied withthewritten and andcompetenciesof skills thatwere culturally When Ilearnt to drive inEngland, Ilearnt aset (1970) termed ‘cultural capital’. so doing webuild whatBourdieu andPasseron personal learning (ormeta-cognition) andin nature ofourworld butalsotheprocesses of critical ofnot self-awareness onlythesymbolic know. Further, literacy allows usto develop a of thatilliteracy, Iwon’tknowwhatdon’t apprehend themeaning ofsomething because to fully participate within myculture. IfIfail to or engagewithtextandtherefore Iam not able of reading andwriting), Icannot read thesigns IfIamilliteratemore thanskills. (inthesense specific culture weacquire anddevelop much the argument thatasweengagewithourown butratherdescribe skills, asanalignment to I usetheterm ‘digital literacy’ here not to emerging online cultures. eLC Research Series,5, Paper 14-25. Steve Digital Wheeler (2012). literacies for engagementin offer. Watching nolonger is adistributed TV this today, with somanychanneloptions on lessIt is likely thatwewould be able to do night. theprevious what wehadwatched onTV could allsit downfor coffee andtalk about of satellite andcablechannels. Oncewe TV occurred due to theproliferation ofhundreds to combat themedia atomisation thathas dimension. In Rose’s view, sifting can help and sustaining –allofwhich have asocial three functions –supplementing, sifting so social aboutsocial media? Roseoutlined read ‘real life’) world. In his blogpost What’s social networking helpshis off-line (for this offered someinteresting abouthow views and informal contexts. JonathanRose(2010) us to learn more effectively inboth formal particularlysmartly, inamannerthathelps Firstly, Ibelieve weneedto network more of social networking asadigital literacy? Butwhatare theessentialor Bebo. components out ontheperipherymaystill beusing Myspace ManyuseTwitter,account. andsomeofthose have aFacebook ormaybeaLinkedIn account, very familiar withsocial networks? Mostofus thisWhy is soimportant? Surelyweare all effectively exploit social networking services. the cardinal digital literacies theability is to For thoseengagedinonline culture, oneof ng ki Social Networ using newandemerging technologies. students to maximise their learning potential          Self broadcastingSelf Filtering andselecting content Reusing/repurposing content Organising andsharingcontent Creating content Managing Identity Maintaining Privacy Transliteracy Social networking Steve Wheeler (2012). Digital literacies for engagement in emerging online cultures. eLC Research Paper Series, 5, 14-25. communal activity, nor is much of modern life. gives us advance information about whether we What we can do however, with the aid of social would find connecting with someone useful. media, is to find out what our commonalities are So the ability to use social networking and who is within our community of practice, effectively is a key literacy for the scholar to through filtering tools (such as hashtags) on acquire right now. If used appropriately, social and other timeline tools. media can provide rich social and intellectual rewards. Those who fail to network effectively Social networking can also help us to find may struggle to succeed in a pressurised world. content we need, when we need it. Social bookmarking tools such as Delicious and Diigo enable us to drill down to excavate deeper Transliteracy knowledge through our social connections. #02

Karen Stephenson (2004) believes we ‘store Transliteracy can be defined as being literate i n Em er g D i g

our knowledge in our friends’. She describes across a variety of different platforms. In i t an emerging distributed intelligence which essence, it is the ability to be able to create, al L i is not limited by how much we can store and organise and share content, and communicate i ng O n li e Cu l t eracies for Eng a retrieve from our own personal memories. across, and through, a variety of social media, Today, it’s not what we know, but who we know discussion groups, mobile devices and other that is more important. We now live in an services that are commonly available. This increasingly connected world where we have assumes that we communicate differently tu res ubiquitous access to friends and colleagues. depending on the tool we use. When I give a

Selecting the right tools that will enable each face to face presentation, it is qualitatively g e m nt of us to connect into and exploit the collective different (for me and my audience) to a remote intelligence of the most relevant communities presentation I give through Elluminate or Adobe of practice is one of the new digital literacies Connect. The experience is not all that changes - professionals and students will need to draw we also tend to behave differently, and ‘manage upon. our impression’ in a different way online. The way we represent ourselves (using avatars, Finally, social networking skills will require user names) varies for many depending each user to be adept at connecting with new on what medium we are using. I represent friends and fellow community members. But how myself differently in Second Life to the way will we know whom to connect with and whom to I represent myself on , because 17 ignore? It’s not as if we are in a large room at each environment has specific affordances a party, deciding who looks or sounds like the that prompt different responses from me. In most interesting person to make a bee-line for. LinkedIn, I manage a professional version of No, it is infinitely more complex and information my online persona, which evaporates when I’m rich than that. We now have the ability to on Facebook. On Twitter I am a bit of a mixture. tap into vast amounts of information about Sometimes I like to have a bit of fun, and at the bewildering number of people we daily other times, I’m deadly serious. I have already encounter on social media platforms. We can see indicated that each tool has its own particular by their avatar and username (sometimes) what set of affordances which enable or constrain kind of person they are and whether it would particular ways of using it. In many ways, be interesting to connect with them. Profiles however, although these tools are different, and follow/follower information are also useful they all have a common purpose. Thomas et al sources of detail about a person’s interests (2007) state this very well: and background. What they tweet, post or share

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ISSUE 5· Communication &Learning Digital the in Age|ISSN 2013-7966 eLC PAPER RESEARCH SERIES in Emerging Online Cultures emerging online cultures. eLC Research Series,5, Paper 14-25. Steve Digital Wheeler (2012). literacies for engagementin comfortable witheach,andhave the requisite secret to success to is ensure thatthey are But studentsdouseallof thesetools, andthe when theywantto sendeachother messages. rather thantheinstitutional e-mail system alsothe reasonis theychooseto useFacebook institutional Learning Management System. It using anexternalwikithantheyare using an reason whymanystudentsare more atease a website, orhowto save afile. Thisis one time thinking abouthowto around navigate thinking about whattheyare learning andless importantis thatstudentsspendmore time are able to dosoinaseamless manner. It vital thatthey and shareitis content, Students today use a variety oftools to create learn differently. answer –which underlines thefact thatweall anditmaybedifferentanswer to that, to your ideas inpictures orasapodcast? Iknowmy reading webetter atext?Are atpresenting our learn better watching aYouTube or video and appropriate in any given we Do context. discern which tools bethemosteffective will andalsobeingare atourdisposal, able to whatever media andcommunication tools that transliteracy should beaboutseamlessly using in combination withother tools. Ultimately, used effectively inallitsvariations, andalso significance andhoweach ofeach can be tool, more important for usto recognise the digital replace will spurious.It’s paper-is media are different -for example whether forSo Thomaset al,theargument over whether some veryobstructive divides.” opportunity hope,an to we Itis, cross present. writing, interaction culture, and both past and media, butofallliteracies relevant to reading, instead towards aunifying ecology not just of battles over versusdigital, print amove and for achange ofperspective from away the digital media, theconcept oftransliteracy calls film and tonetworked TV handwriting, print, “From signing early orality and through personal details youmakeavailable ontheweb. allamatterIt is ofpersonalchoice which information. performs search aGoogle to findmore apply for a job,andtheir potential employer those photographs inafew years,whenthey still becomfortablewonder iftheywill with post uponto their social network sites. I amazed atthedubious photos somestudents people doexactly thatevery dayonline. Iam bizarre andhazardous behaviour. yet And stranger. Iftheydid, itwould beconsidered details theywould never dream ofgiving to a personal photographs anddates ofbirth, lives every day.Theseincludecontact details, of people postupdetails oftheir private seem increasingly pervasive, andmanymillions to protect ourprivacy ontheweb?Social media This raises aquestion: anyofusreally able Are others astounding. is many ofusare nowelectronically connected to when wegoonline.theextentto And which about thewaywehandle ourpersonaldata belongings. yet manyofuscan And becareless your houseandrifledthrough yourpersonal very angryifsomeonecame snooping around Iamcertainonline environment. youwould be potential for ourprivacy to bebreached inany vulnerableof usis because thereahuge is on theprotection ofpeople online. Indeed, each This(2006). aligned is to e-safety, which focuses something strongly emphasised byBuckingham management andprotection ofonline privacy, important digitalAnother literacy the is Maint directors. become ourownbroadcasters, publishers and assume even more significance, asmore ofus increasing asadigital import literacy. Itwill value. This thereason is transliteracy gaining is literacies to exploit eachtool to itsoptimum aining Prv a cy Steve Wheeler (2012). Digital literacies for engagement in emerging online cultures. eLC Research Paper Series, 5, 14-25.

Your privacy settings may help you to protect information in it (this is just common sense) your personal information, but even if you know and watch your back - protect your identity, how to choose the correct settings (and many because you never know who may be looking students don’t) how can you be really certain over your shoulder. that your content is fully protected from prying eyes? Posting up your home address and telephone number, and then adding to your Managing digital timeline that you are going on holiday next identities week, might be asking for trouble. How can you be certain who has access to your timeline? How If all the world is a stage, I demand better do you know how many people read your Twitter lighting! I also want someone to prompt me feed or your Facebook updates? when I forget my lines. Some better costumes #02

would be nice. Oh, and more exotic scenery? And i n Em er g D i g

You also leave a data trail behind you wherever while we’re at it, how about a better script - one i t you go on the Internet. Google and other search that more accurately reflects my true feelings…. al L i engines maintain a record of all the sites you i ng O n li e Cu l t eracies for Eng a visit during your time online. Many sites send William Shakespeare wrote the immortal lines cookies to your computer when you enter them. ‘All the world’s a stage, And all the men and Some of these can be malicious, allowing other women merely players: They have their exits people to gain access to your computer memory, and their entrances; And one man in his time tu res and if spyware has been used, to also record plays many parts’. The lines, appearing in the your keystrokes when you pay for something play ‘As You Like It’, were his acknowledgement g e m nt on Amazon using your credit card. Although it’s that not only is life transitory, but that each still quite rare for this to happen, this kind of of us performs several roles throughout our criminal activity is on the increase, and without lives. Shakespeare also implies that each of us appropriate Internet Security software, you run has an audience of some kind. I infer from this the risk of being one of the victims. Have you that I also play some roles reluctantly, possibly thought about the amount of personal detail you because I am constrained to act in ways that hold about yourself and your friends on your may not accurately represent the real ‘me’. mobile phone? If you use public wifi networks But what is the real ‘me’? Perhaps one’s true or open your mobile to Bluetooth connectivity, identity is dependent upon a variety of factors you may also be opening up the entire content including context, emotional state and health 19 of your mobile for intruders to capture and status. Possibly it changes depending on use. A recent report from the BBC Click team relationships with the people who are in close revealed that although malware for mobile proximity while acting out that particular role. phones is on the increase, simple user naivety is still responsible for the majority of privacy Social anthropologist Erving Goffman (1959) problems. tried to address these questions when he proposed his ‘dramaturgy’ model - his For me, raising the awareness of students and interpretation of the ‘presentation of self in other web users to the dangers of the Internet everyday life’. For Goffman, human behaviour will always include the problem of maintaining was very much dependent on time, space privacy. The golden rules are: Be careful what and audience. By audience, he meant those sites you visit (your security software should who observe the actor, or with whom s/he alert you to any unsafe sites), be careful what interacts. In essence, Goffman argued that you post up online that may have personal we each present ourselves to others in a

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ISSUE 5· Communication &Learning Digital the in Age|ISSN 2013-7966 eLC PAPER RESEARCH SERIES in Emerging Online Cultures to suit thedifferent normsandsocial objects), usernamesand forms of interaction, or animated characters used to represent real same personusing different avatars (images (Wheeler &Keegan, 2009).This maymeanthe they use-andthrough textandother media depending onthesocial media platform people portraythemselves differently There further is to evidence suggestthat increasingly multiple anddecentred. through technology -thatouridentities are result ofprolonged interaction withothers forms ofpersonalidentity are emerging asa Her studies led Turkle to propose thatnew as real to themastheir identity in‘real life’. worlds, andthatinsomecase thesebecome people employ multiple identities invirtual Web wasstill embryonic, Turkle showedhow domains (MUDs).Published in1995, whenthe inmultiple behaviour user by observing to conduct detailed studies into ‘Life onScreen’ Sherry Turkle wasoneofthefirst researchers people represent themselves spaces. invirtual media, askssomenewquestions abouthow broadcasting andpublishing through social inpopularity ofself the phenomenalgrowth The rapid emergence ofdigital media and (Miller 2009). &Arnold, also occurs inonline performance oftheself connections andgain influence with others, and commonis to usedto allhumansandis form performance. managementofimpression Such just asanactor doesduringapublic stage scripts (speechpatterns), props andcostumes, playing (self-representation) thatcan involve themselves to others involves somekindofrole Goffman, thewayeachpersonrepresent accepted andfocused upon.According to observe howmuchtheydesire to beliked, singer manipulates his audience andyouwill Notice howacomedian, stage actor orpop that are commonly held byactor andaudience. the cultural values, norms,andexpectations carefully managedversion thatcomplies with emerging online cultures. eLC Research Series,5, Paper 14-25. Steve Digital Wheeler (2012). literacies for engagementin persistent andsearchable form. me to knowwhatIamthinking, inaconcrete, perspective. In essence, writing ablog enables me perhapsto aproblem from view adifferent Theblognot content written thepost. allows to mesomething Imayhave missed ifIhad write, andtheninturn,thatcontent mayreveal for example, Iamcreating newcontent asI the world around us.WhenIwrite ablog post unknown activities andwaysofconceptualising who usethemto draw attention to previously artefacts can alsoinfluence theindividuals as effectively intheir absence. In turn,such to solving problems thatcould not besolved according to Vygotsky (1978), theycan beaids material outworkingofknowledge creation, and as communities ofpractice. Artefacts are a can beshared within social contexts such with learning whenwecreate artefacts that learn bydoing, andwemore actively engage of contentWe important is inanycontext. learning, understand youwill whythecreation If yousubscribeto theoriesof constructivist that provides learners withaclear advantage. makes upthecardinal triumvirate ofskills and together withorganising andsharing, personal learning environment (PLE)models, creation animportant is feature inmany appropriate, subject specific content. Content students require today theability is to create ofthemostimportant digitalOne literacies Cre impression -ourdigital identity? pay attention to thewaywemanageouronline audiences? howmuchshould eachofus And impressions to suit theexpectations oftheir and to whatextentdotheymanagetheir others. Buthowmuchdoestheactor change, audiences change,someare friendlier than better ‘lighting’ and‘scenery’ thanothers. The my initial metaphor, somesocial media have those various environments. In thecontext of expectations ofthecommunities thatfrequent a t ing content Steve Wheeler (2012). Digital literacies for engagement in emerging online cultures. eLC Research Paper Series, 5, 14-25.

Clearly, blogging is only one way to create discoverable. Tagging will also make finding and publish content online. The use of wikis content within a large stack of bookmarks a lot in group learning to promote collaboration easier. You can search for content in ‘bundles’ and make a record of what has been learnt - this is useful if you only want to see the links is becoming more popular in all sectors of in your list related to ‘podcast’ or ‘audio’, for education. Podcasts, normally in the form of the example. Some tagging tools also offer tag audio recording of an event, are also a means clouds - clouds of labels that have larger or of projecting and sharing content to others smaller font size depending on the amount of so that they can listen at a time and in a place times they appear in your bookmark list. (usually on the move) of their choosing. But we can go further using tagging, so Sharing of other forms of content such as that content becomes a community artefact #02

images and videos can be easily achieved with around which groups can discuss, interact i n Em er g D i g

the use of photo and video sharing services and collaborate. Using a web service such as i t such as Flickr and YouTube. I often share my Delicious for example, will allow you not only al L i slideshows through Slideshare, and receive to make your content more visible to those i ng O n li e Cu l t eracies for Eng a feedback and other data on their subsequent who are searching using key words, but it will uses. However, for any of the above formats of also reveal to you (and to the other users) user generated content to be fully usable, it first exactly who else may be interested in the needs to be located. Without organisation and same, or similar content. This is more than tu res tagging (the use of key descriptive words) such just bookmarking. It’s social bookmarking - content is not searchable. In my next post organising your content, and the content of g e m nt in this series on digital literacies, I will explore others, into sets that are more useful and more this facet of the social web in more detail. socially coherent. The number at the start of each displayed in my own Delicious account indicates how many other people have Organising content bookmarked the same link. If you click on that link, it will display them. Click on any user and The very act of creating content, whether it is you will see what other links that user has a video, blogpost or podcast, is often with the bookmarked. Some of these may have slipped intention that it will be shared in some way, past you, but you can now see them and also usually on the web. Now we have the social web, visit those sites and then bookmark them if 21 there are more ways than ever to make your you think they might be useful to you. You can content available to a vast audience. But how also hold conversations with those others do you share in such a way that makes it visible around you about the sites you find interesting, to the web? The answer is that you organise it and perhaps learn even more about your by ‘tagging’ it. You think of key words that best mutual interests. This is the power of social describe your content, and then insert them bookmarking - just one of the many ways you into the appropriate box within the tool you are can organise and share your content on the using. social web.

Tagging content is something of an art. Choosing the correct descriptive words to Repurposing content tag your content, can sometimes be a little uncertain and is often subjective. But tag The ability to repurpose, remix or otherwise you must, if you want your content to be reuse existing content is one of the key

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ISSUE 5· Communication &Learning Digital the in Age|ISSN 2013-7966 eLC PAPER RESEARCH SERIES in Emerging Online Cultures repurpose and remix other people’s content too. rights, andalsosimplify howyoucan use, content whilst protecting yourownintellectual Commons enable youto will share yourown that have emerged inrecent years. Creative Creative Commons are justtwooftheinitiatives of changeinthedigital domain. Copyleft and music CDs,there are alsosomewelcome signs internet content justlike theydoto booksor ultimately despised copyright laws applyto Although theseoutmoded,unwanted and remain archaic andarcane. changing rapidly, butfor many,copyright laws repurposing Thewebis ofcontent copyright. is get Theonlybarrierto to sharingand keepit. likeis love -youcan give itaway,butyoustill if theycan beofbenefit to others? Knowledge and share alike -whyhoard knowledge orideas The ethos ofthesocial thatweshare webis translated myslides into other languages. results for mehasbeenwhenpeople have of course). Probably oneofthemostpleasing workshops (withfull acknowledgement to me used myslides for their ownpresentations or them for have Some yourownusewithoutcost. the design themesof myslides, and repurpose youcanis, take theimagesortexts,even own slideshows. Ialsoallow derivatives -that slidesindividual thatcan be insertedinto their either ascomplete slideshows, orto select that allows others to download anduse them them underaCreative Commons (CC) license available onthis Slideshare site, andIpublish of myrecent slide presentations are freely others to repurpose oralter this Most content. available for download andmanyare allowing teachers andacademics to maketheir content Currently thereatrend is for scholars, your ownneeds. be reused, oreven adapted oraltered to suit web, thelogical choice would beto seeifitcan wheel? Ifcontent already is available onthe features ofthesocial web. Whyreinvent the emerging online cultures. eLC Research Series,5, Paper 14-25. Steve Digital Wheeler (2012). literacies for engagementin call ‘the curators.’ In asense,curators are special breed ofwebusersoutthere that we Enter thedigital curation tools. There a is all presentedcontent, inone place? Wouldn’t itbenice to have up to date, regular the vast quantity ofcontent we wantto keep? and wellused,butare theyenoughto cope with favourite Thesetools content. are alsoexcellent com orDiigo.com to tag, store andshare their Manyare usingfind it. Delicious.tools suchas to organise yourcontent whenyouactually this not is enough.Thenthereproblem is ofhow information. Often, for busyprofessionals, even example Wolfram Alpha),andproviding focused against highly structured data (seefor answer engines, computing yourquestion intelligent search engines are morphing into we tend ofthemore to Some usethemalot. enginesSearch have their place, andofcourse, thatexists ontheinternet?the dross andtrivia How dowefindthegold dust content amidst all web today creating is content onadaily basis. Justabouteveryone usingswamp usall. the ‘tsunami ofcontent’ online thatthreatens to content ontheweb. Recently Iwrote aboutthe have available to you.It’s exactly thesamewith andhowmuchtimeyou are intheevent, you a numberoffactors, including howinterested highlights? dependon Theanswerofcourse will you watch theentire broadcast orjustthe When therelive is coverage TV ofanevent do content Filtering andselect allowed to re-use it. somewhere onthepageto seeifyouare on theweb,look outfor alicence agreement timenext youfindsome really useful content time consuming, butalsovery rewarding. So, the new creative appealsto content, many.Itcan be or anycombination ofthese-to makeentirely The ‘mashup’-using images,text sounds,videos, ing Steve Wheeler (2012). Digital literacies for engagement in emerging online cultures. eLC Research Paper Series, 5, 14-25. a little like their counterparts in museums, But we need to be aware that the social web because they tend to trade in very specialised, has shifted the balance of power away from focused content. As a part of the great commercial production companies in favour collective, curators choose a topic they are of the individual. The shift is from push to interested in, and then search and display pull. This is a characteristic of the Web 2.0 dynamic content related to this topic, using and Edupunk movements - the do it yourself one or more digital curation tools. They are culture in which costly proprietary systems collectors of the virtual and ephemeral and and tools are spurned in favour of haphazard, they have some great tools. unbranded, informal mashups and loose aggregations of tools. There is a huge array Scoop.it is a very useful and attractive curation of social web tools to choose from and many tool, enabling summaries and snapshots of of them are free at the point of delivery. #02

related content from , media sharing sites Furthermore, it is a participatory ecosystem. i n Em er g D i g

and other social media to be displayed, usually Where Web 1.0 was all about downloads, Web 2.0 i t in two columns. is about uploads too. Web 2.0 tools have made al L i

it possible for a massive, unprecedented surge i ng O n li e Cu l t eracies for Eng a Storify is another style of curation tool, in self-publication and personal broadcasting. enabling the curator to search for specific The usage statistics of video sharing service content from social media sites that can be YouTube should convince even the strongest sequenced into a blog style story. The curator sceptic that people really want to share their tu res can add their own text, and embed the final content. As I write this paper, YouTube is product into their blog. boasting over 3 billion views within each 24 g e m nt hour period and receives 72 hours of uploaded A third curation tool is Pearltrees, which works video each minute (RTE News, 2012). Also, the as a kind of connective network of content, photo-sharing service Flickr is claiming that in which can be shared, repurposed and linked in a 2011, between 4.5 million images are uploaded number of ways across social media platforms. every day, and hosts well in excess of 6 billion The Pearltrees Teams group function also photographs and other media such as short enables users to collaborate to create shared video clips (Royal Pingdom, 2012). The blogging curated collections of content. sentinel service Technorati lists 1.2 Billion blogs currently active (Technorati, 2011). These are

All three tools allow conversations and further phenomenal statistics. People everywhere are 23 sharing, and all three are very attractive as a using the web to broadcast, publish and share means of making sense of the vast amount of their ideas, opinions and creative works to content there is on the web. There are of course the rest of the world. It may not all be great many other tools being developed that can content, but here and there, you will find gems also perform similar tasks of consolidating and if you search for them. This is not narcissistic – accumulating content, and offering it in a digest it is natural and progressive engagement within form to busy professionals. The great collective the online participatory media culture. it seems, are becoming the great collectors. The music industry has had to learn the hard way that it no longer has the monopoly on Self-broadcasting music production and distribution. It now co- exists alongside independent companies and The term ‘self-broadcasting’ would seem on individuals, all of whom are just as intent on the face of it to be somewhat narcissistic. selling - or in some cases, giving their music

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ISSUE 5· Communication &Learning Digital the in Age|ISSN 2013-7966 eLC PAPER RESEARCH SERIES in Emerging Online Cultures References be resilient. This kindofdigital literacy enables bloggers, broadcasters andpublishers needto way, itcan alsobeharshandeven abusive, so very informal, andcan beanonymous.Either also bethenot-so-social-web. Peer is review Butbeware, forpersist. thesocial webcan bloggers, this the onlyspurtheyneedto is if theyalsocomment onyourposts.For many returnwill again andagain. be Thebonuswill garneraloyal followingwill ofreaders who consistent quality andquantity ofposts,you readership, andifyouare lucky,andproduce your ideasover aperiodoftime attracts a ideas online for others to discover. Blogging are very quick methods ofpublishing your Podcasting, equivent, vidcasting, anditsvisual discover thesameorsimilar content. simply theywill goelsewhere to a paywall, of educational Whenstudentsencounter content. been raised abouttheopennessandavailability the openaccess movement.Public awareness has tohaving sit upandtake notice -particularly to educational Traditional content. publishers are and studentsare doing thesamething, with away for free -to thepublic. Manyteachers emerging online cultures. eLC Research Series,5, Paper 14-25. Steve Digital Wheeler (2012). literacies for engagementin Goffman, E.(1959) ThePresentation Everyday in Life ofSelf . Garden City, NY:Doubleday. Godin, S.(2008)Tribes: Weneedyouto lead us. London: Paitkus. Freire, P. London: (1993)oftheOppressed. Pedagogy Penguin. Carr, Making usStupid? N.(2008)IsGoogle TheAtlantic, July/August IssueRetrieved from May21,2012, http:// DefiningBuckingham, D.(2006) Digital Literacy: Whatdo Young People need to knowabout Digital Media? Digital Bourdieu, P. & Passeron, J-C.(1970) Reproduction Education, in Society Culture, and 2ndEdition. London: Sage. H.,Littlejohn,Beetham, L.(2009)Thriving theTwenty-First in A.&McGill, oftheLearning Century: Report J.Anderson, (2010) ICT Transforming Education: ARegional Guide. UNESCO Bangkok: Publication. www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2008/07/is-google-making-us-stupid/6868/# Kompetanse, 1(4),263-276. LLiDAReportJune2009.pdf (accessed 21May,2012) Literacies aDigital in Ageproject (JISC). Available online at:http://www.academy.gcal.ac.uk/llida/ practiced. and dangers,iftheappropriate literacies are social media can far outweigh thelimitations of platforms. Thebenefitsofengaging with the ability to beequallyadept across avariety asitrepresents oneofthemostimportant, is but perhapstransliteracyare allimportant, online identity andprotecting personal data repurposing managing andsharingcontent, one’s online presence, creating, organising, successful outcomes. Theability to manage and demandsanewspectrumofliteracies for digital media can befraught withdifficulty, tois bealifelong learner. Learning through its disruption. To beastudentinthis century irrevocably, andhasthecapability to sustain The digital changing ageis ourlives C the reach oftheir digital footprint extends. and producers makesamarkontheweband time theypostoruploadauthors newcontent, social webculture, andallitsrewards. Every learners andteachers to fully engageinthe onclus ion Steve Wheeler (2012). Digital literacies for engagement in emerging online cultures. eLC Research Paper Series, 5, 14-25.

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