Andy's E-learning and Digital Cultures Blog

43 Comments (and one trackback)

#1 by jen on September 15th, 2009

hi Andy – welcome. Nice work changing your blog theme! Maybe I can figure out how to give you more options to choose from.
#2 by andym on September 22nd, 2009

This comment is little more than a kid playing with all the new toys at Christmas. What does this do? Where does that go? What am I doing here?
#3 by jen on September 22nd, 2009

Hi Andy – I like your playful approach to learning and discovery.
#4 by tracy on September 23rd, 2009

Shambles in S.E. Asia – sounds like my life

Hi Andy
#5 by jen on September 24th, 2009

Hi Andy, re your tweet yesterday “I found Hand cumbersome. I found You Tube: Web 2.0 is here said the same, just simpler. Power to the learner or dumbing down?” – I couldn’t quite see the connection you were making between the video and the Hand reading – is this something you might consider expanding on in a blog post?
#6 by Jen on September 25th, 2009

hi Andy – I like how you’ve handled this – and I think you’re right about the dynamics of social networking, especially spaces like Twitter that feel so light – it seems to promise immediacy and it’s only later that the permanence of it becomes apparent. Anyway, it’s part of what we’re all here for, figuring that stuff out. Thanks for your insights.
#7 by jen on September 28th, 2009

interesting goal, Andy – keep us posted about how it works to try to capture your learning steps in that way.
#8 by Damien DeBarra on October 7th, 2009

So. What news from Second Life?
#9 by Damien DeBarra on October 8th, 2009

I guess it depends where you are Andy. I’ve noticed a lot of institutions introducing social media tools and then crushing them under the weight of a series of rules which come from a older model of learning measurement, assesment and paranoia baout levels of control.

To go back to Wesch (again) he points to the classic example of the YouTube debates during the 2008 primaries – where the 30 second response format of TV debates dictated the format of a totally different medium.
#10 by Henry on October 8th, 2009

The digital natives I’m coming across use their digital skills outside the classroom – inside they are traditionalists.
However they are often not aware of their learning skills residing outside a text-based instructional model (please write another essay/report on this and that) and instead just accept the main stream.
Unless teachers empower them by letting them choose to do their work using their preferred skill set and platform there will be little change.
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#11 by jen on October 12th, 2009

love the idea of us as a pack of hungry puppies with pencils. Re the existence of lectures on youtube – is there a distinction to be made here between material that *happens* to be on youtube and material that is created *for* youtube? I think the idea of something being ‘born digital’ is useful here. Just because something is on a computer/ in a web 2.0 application does not mean it is making good use of the possibilities of the medium.
#12 by John on October 14th, 2009

I can identify with what you are saying Andy.
At our institution, there are a number of academics who are eager to use some of the new tools with students- every academic conference I’ve/they’ve attended mentions twitter/ web 2 etc and the benefits they have for learning. But while they are genuinely concerned with improving students learning with these tools, most would probably baulk at the idea of publishing their own research or work online, to share with others, as opposed to in print journals etc. so even though students might in some way seize control of their learning, there will still be an issue with credibility and print.
Plus the issue of staff/student work floating somewhere in cyberspace on some open-source software platform which is very scary indeed for some people!!
#13 by sian on October 15th, 2009

Really enjoyed this Andy – you were a kind of digital flaneur, in and out of digital and urban spaces in a way which made the two seem interconnected and integral to each other. It seemed like the act of ’strolling’ in and out of these spaces was itself a form of reflection and critique. And I liked the way the linearity of the train metaphor gave way to the free-flight of SL at the end!
#14 by sibyller on October 16th, 2009

Great video. I like the metaphor of the journey. As you wrote in your text it’s surprising how the brain navigates journey routes on autopilot after just a few trips. Routes you would never be able to explain to anyone in words can just be followed automatically.
- And the similarity to digital learning really is striking. I found it really hard to find my way around this digital culture site at first with wordpress, all the different blogs, etc. Now it’s all automatic. Must be similar parts of the brain.
#15 by silvanad on October 16th, 2009

Hi Andy, I really liked your video. I like the way that you focused on the positive side of commuting and how it can be integrated with digital interaction, communication and learning. I took another tack – showing that while dystopic images of where internet culture will take us is rife, people are forgetting the current urban commuter experience which could be avoided by more home based digital work. I guess together our two videos show that the reality is more complex, than the simple utopia/ dystopia polarization.

By the way, it is a beautifully constructed video!
#16 by tracy on October 16th, 2009

fantastic! I loved the connections, and seeing trains made me think of the train station scene in the Matrix revolutions – maybe love is the the force that will connect us to our digital world after all
#17 by jen on October 17th, 2009

when the film started I thought you were going to make a point about how ironic it is that we traverse so much physical distance to engage in digital culture (which it is!), but your message is more complex than that I think – about liminality and spaces between (which are of course always spaces in their own right as well). I thought the music track was extremely well chosen as well. I did wonder if some (perhaps most) of the superimposed text could have been omitted without taking away from what feels like quite a coherent visual argument in its own right – did you consider going ‘text free’?
#18 by jen on October 23rd, 2009

that’s an interesting point, Andy – what would you have done in the context of developing this course do you think?
#19 by tracy on October 23rd, 2009

I see the DB as a community centre, whereas my blog is my home where you can pop over for a cuppa and a chat when you want… and which I am doing now with you. Where do you keep your cookies?

I closed my tweetdeck when that part of the course was over but I know some people are still tweeting so I glance in now and then – but it isn’t “always on” any more.
#20 by Andy Murray on October 26th, 2009

Jen. The only option I can suggest to avoid duplication is to signpost each weekly activities to particular areas. However as soon as I think about this, I instantly see this weakens student autonomy. “Why research and analyse the freedom of digital culture – but only in the areas the tutor identify” I think as the course evolves, the issue regards duplication will probably resolve itself.
#21 by tracy on October 27th, 2009

yeah, stop striatin’ our smooth spaces Andy ;-D
#22 by sian on October 27th, 2009

lol Tracy! Andy yes it’s a tricky one – I was a bit surprised how well the commentary on the visual artefacts went, when they were *so* scattered all over the internet – yet it didn’t seem to be a problem for people in the way the db might be seen to be. Is it because the db is community-focused, where the other stuff is individual-focused? I like Tracy’s description of the db as a ‘community centre’ – it captures something of its lack either of glamour or domesticity : )
#23 by tracy on October 28th, 2009

yes, the DB serves an important purpose and brings us all together – but is a bit PG Tips and rich tea biscuits, where as my blog is more Darjeeling and (dark) chocolate hobnobs
#24 by jen on October 29th, 2009

lol – I liked your interpretation of the Fine quote. Maybe virtual ethnography lets us acknowledge our own situatedness – and our positions as playwrights more easily – because we are ’seeing’ in a mediated way. This is Hine’s 8th point. But I’d argue that what we see and write is constructed by our own assumptions and experiences regardless of our research site or methods.
#25 by Henry on November 8th, 2009

Andy, Your enthusiasm for the club clearly shines through. I guess the Web-site is another male online bonding opportunity just like the post-match pub visit is in RL – again another example of our increasingly dual role in complementing online with offline – blurring the boundary in the process.
To me this is a powerful community – but then again this is what you expect from genuine football supporters.
I wonder what the Chelsea equivalent looks like?
#26 by Arthur Hall on November 8th, 2009

Interesting insight for gossip (otherwise as you say, Andy, the official Motherwell site would do).For me it’s the office grapevine created in an online form or the online pub as Henry says.
#27 by silvanad on November 8th, 2009

Hi Andy, Great ethnographic account. I think being an ‘insider’ of this community you were already immersed in the issues that are important to the community and how it works. I think it is interesting how any bit of new news is immediately challenged as to its source. I wonder how that culture emerged – the result is that it is not an out of control rumour mill but a place where Motherwell football fans can discuss what may be going on with the club and take advantage of the wide range of sources different members can have.
#28 by Sarah Payne on November 8th, 2009

I am not a football follower myself, but this seems like a vibrant and interesting community to study, especially as you are such an avid follower.
Do you think that being so close to the community affected your own subjectivity as a researcher?
#29 by jen on November 9th, 2009

your filmmaking is great, Andy – in particular the fading out and in of the singing at the start and finish really making a striking contrast with the literal – if not experienced – silence of the online discussion board.

The culture of skepticism, challenge and perhaps a pride in upholding standards of truth and newsworthiness that you draw out makes me think about Bell’s discussion of ‘modes of social control’ as a distinguishing feature of a community. I wonder if you think there are some particular people (perhaps more established forum members?) who ‘police’ speculation and gossip, or if this function is likely to circulate amongst members without regard to their status in the community?
#30 by Tony McNeill on November 9th, 2009

Hi Andy,

I enjoyed your film. I thought the discussion of the forum’s debates around accuracy and reliability of user-generated content was interesting. The forum’s debates seemed a little tame though – a few fanzines/fan sites I’ve seen tend to much more critical of the board’s and management’s decisions. Is this because, as you point out, the team’s doing well or are there other factors at play? I wonder if a Rangers or Celtic fan forum would be more critical?
#31 by andym on November 9th, 2009

Hi Tony,

Thanks for your comments and observations. I can acknowledge I made my observations on fairly gentle communication amongst the group. It can be more heated and abusive. The site is relatively calm at present because the team is doing so well and the manager is held in high esteem. In contrast, Rangers and Celtic fanzones can be extremely vitriolic communities. Sadly, they provide evidence that religious bigotry is prevelant in 21st century cyberspace. In contrast, Steelmen Online becomes hostile, if any member dares make any religious comment.
#32 by alip on November 11th, 2009

I organised a conference with a friend in 2006 where we used that lively/inert quote as a strapline. One lady replied to say she was the lively one, not her machine, and would struggle to find time to attend. Having read Hayles now it struck a chord with when she says 70% of the world’s population have never used a phone. And there was I at my desk with three phones…
#33 by Nicola Osborne on November 12th, 2009

Andy, I really enjoyed your film – like Jen I loved that contrast of noisy physical crowd to visually noisy but otherwise silent online space. It was interesting to hear about the type of interactions taking place and particularly the relationship between the fan board and the official site and I wondered how much that trust and investment in the official related to the notions of gossip and authority on the boards?

I was really interested in the position of the fan who had been elevated and displaced from the fan community into the official club publicity machine and what that role meant for bridging communities and for the maintenance or threat to that fan’s own relationships within the community – presumably next time Motherwell does less well that will be a very challenging role.
#34 by jen on November 17th, 2009

hi Andy – great summary of your thinking about the Cyborg Manifesto – I agree with your conclusion that Haraway is primarily offering a challenge to her society to rethink its reliance on binaries and boundaries. In terms of how this relates to e-learning, I hope we’ll discuss this more in week 10, but her discussion of technologies as ‘instruments for enforcing meanings’ (p45) seems relevant here – perhaps e-learning is sometimes a practice of “translating the world into a problem of coding”.
#35 by Silvana on November 23rd, 2009

Hi Andy,

It is the same in my household except I am the one who works mainly from home. My husband feels the same way about computers as your wife and gets annoyed when I am at my pc too long.

I think a large amount of my knowledge is situated online. I think that people are more or less connected to their computers/the web based on their needs and circumstances. And this can be differential within families. (interesting that this aspect has not appeared in any of the literature we have read so far.) I couldn’t have started my own business back in 1997 without the internet – for marketing myself – both in the UK and the USA. So it has been an important feature of my life since then. And I have become more and more proficient with computers and the web.

My husband’s work started to use computers later and in a more limited way. So his needs for computers has been less and while over the years he has started to use them, he does not use them to the extent that I do. And he has a very utilitarian use for them whereas I like to play and explore what I can do. And sometimes he gets annoyed when I ‘work’ too much when I am really playing and enjoying what I am doing.

But I am in danger of becoming a pc and he keeps me grounded in RL.
#36 by silvanad on November 27th, 2009

I agree with you Andy that Haraway was on the far end of the digital cultural spectrum. And if we each look at the Twitter traffic as well as any blogs we wrote (or not)that week in our lifestreams we will see that it reflects that discomfort. I think that this weeks readings really pulls it all together – and relates it to pedagogy.
#37 by sian on November 27th, 2009

Thanks Andy – I’m glad you found the paper helpful in this way (beautiful video too). I like your description of your changing relation to the lifestream – from prosthesis/fusion to record/representation/archive. I need to think more about this, as it seems to connect learning with both ‘re-familiarisation’ and distancing. How to connect this (if at all) with the uncanny I’m not sure, but it’s a really interesting idea.
#38 by Ale Abby on December 1st, 2009

Very nicely written article, hope people get more awareness from your article.
#39 by jen on December 1st, 2009

Andy, it seems that by ‘objective’ here you are meaning replicable? As in, you’re looking to see if your experience of the technologies in use this semester can be shown to work the same for other people? I’m a bit skeptical about that because I think learning is highly context dependent. Which isn’t to say that we shouldn’t try to be rigorous in our analysis of what is and isn’t working in a given context, just that I wouldn’t think that finding that a lifestream (for example) didn’t work in one situation would take away from its effectiveness in another. Similarly, trying to make a judgment about ‘digital learning’ in all its possible permutations would seem to lack the specificity needed to say anything substantive. The book that our Hand reading from block 1 came from really stresses how local and specific digital cultures are, and I suppose that’s where I’m coming from on this one!
#40 by lesley ferguson on December 2nd, 2009

Hi Andy really liked your introductory comment appealed to my sense of humour….so, in the end it was a study of a bunch of blokes talking about football then?? lol
would be interested to know what was your conclusion about yourself and your online behaviour and was your conclusion subjective or objective?
#41 by Sarah Payne on December 3rd, 2009

Hi Andy
Thanks for sharing your ideas, they sound great. I hope that we will get to see each other’s work once we have finished the course because I think there will probably be some incredibly innovative work being generated by everyone.
#42 by Damien DeBarra on December 9th, 2009

Very useful Andy – thanks. Will try to post my own list of new favourite tools.
#43 by blackbird rider on July 6th, 2010

My friend and I were arguing about this! Now I know that I was right. lol! Thanks for making me sure!

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