Season's Greetings!
I'm a day eariler that I said I'd be. Oh well.
This week, I’ll begin with a piece of the quote Mike said gripped him:
"Assessment and filtering greatly impact the degree to which some technologies can be adopted in schools..."
We’ve been talking about how to assess and filter internet content since the beginning of the course. It’s something we need to teach, a new literacy. Interestingly, I found what I think is a good article in my travels since class time (since I am posting this on Sunday, I had some time to do some homework). It has to do with film literacy and was published in 1955. It can be seen at my resources site (I use the Google free space), titled The Necessity of Learning How to See a Film. It is quite connected to what we’ve been doing with film and literacy and has everything to do with assessing and filtering. The Peters (the one linked above about how to see a film) article also underscores a part of Mike’s second quote:
"... those who have the opportunity to learn technology skills are in a better position to obtain and make use of technology than those who do not."
O Literacy, Literacy! Wherefore art though Literacy? Survival, says Literacy, survival. We must be able to grant equal access to technology if everyone will have the opportunity to find success in the 21st century, unless we go back to horse and buggy. Wealth still influences the digital divide in education, by how much money school districts have to spend on technology.
Anyone know what time it is? Remember, there’s an app for that!! A little segue to my next point, the films! Tom Wujec made his point about the relativity of technology, and so did Sid Davis with his work of safety. “To everything (turn, turn, turn) there is a season (turn, turn, turn), a time to every purpose under heaven.” Do you know the song by the Byrds, the lyrics from Ecclesiates (music by Pete Seeger, 1959)? Not sure how the titleless, creditless YouTube shorts of today fit into what I’ve just said. Perhaps it's that titleless and creditless film is like graffiti. That fits with today’s season... an environmental mess all over, irresponsible corporate executives, unaccountable governments, cutbacks to education funding. Ya, I guess there's a fit. I think the Sid Davis film is more pertinent to the times than is apparent... we always need to be careful how we work and play. That message never goes out of season.
Last message. The BMW commercial. Denis asked, “What’s the message.” Ah... small ideas become big ones that can culminate in a saving power, the Hydrogen 7! Great idea. Too bad it's more expensive to run that car than an old gas guzzler. I am caught up with what Denis pointed to about the duration of the individual shots. How many frames of film? One to two second clips glued together. The commercial is a great short film that has great implications for the classroom. This is not to say we use existing commercials in the classroom, though we can. Here I’m getting at creating short films with goals in mind. How did Madden do his films, how did Sid Davis do his? The techniques of filmmaking could be applied to make excellent learning objects, objects that grab attention and deliver the message. Maybe I’ll have one ready for my 10 minute TED.
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Hi Garry, I was thoroughly entertained by your blog this week! As a response to what you wrote on the BMW commercial, I had the same idea running through my head. At around the 1:20 mark of the commercial, there's some text at the bottom of the screen that says "BMW CleanEnergy. Responsibility with Performance." All the while, the viewer is thinking to themselves, "Hey! I can save the world and still have a great car!" Of course, there's no mention of the cost for the car. Ay, there's the rub. Everybody wants to save the world*, but nobody actually pays attention to the "*" in the statement, which means that saving the world comes at a cost. And usually, the cost is a pretty penny!
ReplyDeleteI concur with (young) Mike - entertaining post, you have away with words, Gary.
ReplyDeleteYou are right, video is so important - and powerful - in communicating a message. From Hollywood type movies, documentaries and ads, there is power when images and audio are combined to tell a story. Media literacy should include a study of this medium. (Now, where can I get a Hydrogen BMW?)
Just a comment about the digital divide. While access is important - and perhaps key - it goes further to include skills, connectivity and purpose. Many say the divide is closing, maybe it is, but it will continue because the rapid pace of technological change makes it hard to keep up. The divide is still an important issue that needs addressing.
Oh yes - the Byrds (with David Crosby) harkens back to a time when rock was young & music was awesome!
The BMW commercial about the car running through water struck me as very comical.
ReplyDeleteHydro-powered cars is a pipe dream that serves better as a publicity stunt that actual reality. The power required to generate hydrogen fuel, plus the need for a new continent wide infrastructure, make it an impossible and impractical mode of powering transportation.
The message of that commercial is that the car lives in a fantasy world: a world where everyone can afford $80000 cars, fuel up at imaginary hydro stations, and drive through lush green landscapes devoid of any traffic.
Thanks for the link to the site about BMW's actual cost of ownership of one of these cars! I'll stick to my bicycle.
... but can your bike drive through waterfalls? Oh - that wasn't real?
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