knowing by doing?

as fears about the dark side of social networking abound, one question continues to persist for me: to what extent does someone (a researcher of adolescents' literacies, for example) benefit from participating in the digital communicative landscape when aiming to make sense of that landscape within the lives of aforementioned adolescents?

i recall having a similar conversation about gaming and literacy research and wondering whether one had to play video games in order to research gaming in the lives of youth. thinking back to that conversation now, i am reminded of a video i saw recently on edutopia in which mimi ito is being interviewed about her digital youth study. in it, ito describes three ways that she observed youth engaging in informal learning outside of school with technologies:
hanging out
messing around
geeking out

each of these "ways in" - what ito and her colleagues refer to as "genres of participation" - is associated with various sets of practices and postures and social communities. as i thought about these distinctions (see video and full report for on these genres), i began to wonder about how researchers fit into (or don't) these participation genres. and to what extent and in what ways do we locate ourselves within these already hybrid spaces and moments of digital participation...

...on courtship in the 19th century

just discovered a fun-tastic blog written by a phd student who is studying the transformation of love and marriage through an analysis of personal ads:

advertising for love

fun :)

.

youth voices on michael jackson

it's hard not to be moved and overwhelmed by the outpouring of reflection, sadness, memories, and testimonials in response to the sudden death of michael jackson. what i've been particularly struck by, however, have been the responses of adolescents, many of whom were born within the last two decades and whose current music artists claim to be influenced by the musical stylings pioneered by a true individual.

here's a taste of what i've heard and read, from a youth perspective:

• youthradio.org - "Remembering the King of Pop: Audio Montage"
• eric (18) texts: "James Brown- December 25th. Aaliyah- August 25th. Left Eye- April 25th. Micheal Jackson- June 25th. How Random is dat...Pass It On" ... "that line-up is just saddening & ridiculous"
• LA youth - "Teens remember Michael Jackson"
• earth times - "Lebanon's teens mourn Michael Jackson"
  

new (literacies-related) reads on my summer 'must read' list

The Routledge Handbook of Multimodal Analysis (Routledge) - Edited by Carey Jewitt - out July 2009

Assessing New Literacies: Perspectives from the Classroom (Peter Lang) - Edited by Anne Burke & Roberta Hammett (and part of the New Literacies & Digital Epistemologies series edited by Colin Lankshear & Michele Knobel)

The Word and the World: The Cultural Politics of Literacy in Brazil (Hampton Press) - Lesley Bartlett

Handbook of Adolescent Literacy Research (Guilford Press) - Edited by Leila Christenbury, Randy Bomer, & Peter Smagorinsky

any other suggestions??

insight project presents: bird's eye view - a youth theater performance

The youth theater company,
the Insight Project, presents:

Bird’s Eye View

A staged reading followed by a discussion
of Justice and the Arts

Details:
Friday, May 8th @ 7:00 pm

@ Cowin Center - Teachers College, Columbia University, 525 W. 120th St., New York, NY 10027


Synopsis:
David’s got problems - a rap sheet, a schizophrenic uncle, and a pregnant girlfriend, just to name a few - and his friends’ solutions may be more trouble than help. How does a young man find a way to walk a straight path and still keep his head up in the streets?

Directions to the Cowin Center: Take the 1 train to 116th St., walk four blocks north on Broadway and turn right onto 120th St. Use the main entrance for Teachers College located on the north side of 120th St., between Broadway and Amsterdam. Follow signs for the Cowin Center.

The Insight Project is part of CASES CEP. For more information, go to www.cases.org

For more information about this performance, contact Lalitha Vasudevan:
email: lmv2102 AT columbia.edu | phone: 212-678-6660

interesting documentary, unsettling content

clip 1:

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

clip 2:

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

for more on this msnbc documentary, locked and loaded: kids and guns in america, see links on this page: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3036750/

writing and literacies sig - website and newsletter

check out the writing and literacies sig website - join us this year for an excellent program in san diego!
also check out our latest newsletter, chock full of members' pub info, links, and info about this year's business meeting featuring eva lam and paul kei matsuda.

and now, a wordling of this year's program (based on the titles) - enjoy :)

links!!! media, storytelling, documentary...

a long overdue compilation of fabulous links i learned about while attending the making your media matter conference hosted by center for social media at american university.

and now, in no particular order:
http://media-democracy.net/
http://cmml.usc.edu/
http://www.meaningfulmedia.org/ - funders database
http://www.unheardvoicesproject.org/- job loss due to outsourcing
http://www.newmediawomen.org/ - 10k prize
http://www.newday.com/ - coop of social issue media makers; selling media to educ'l market
http://www.unnaturalcauses.org/
http://festival.sundance.org/2009/film_events/films/dirt_the_movie
http://cinematech.blogspot.com/
http://www.youtube.com/user/mediathatmatters
http://www.ijcentral.org/ - social network for int'l justice, focusing on icc
http://mobileactive.org/ - resource for activists using mobile techs
http://www.prx.org/ - public radio exchange
http://betsylevypaluck.com/Paluck_Green_AnnRev_2009.pdf - a report about 'prejudice reduction'
http://www.snagfilms.com/ - virtual movie theater
http://www.artsengine.net/index.php/ - indy media distributor
http://cinematech.blogspot.com/ - somebody's interesting 'bout cinema' blog
http://www.madeinla.com/ - about film 'made in l.a.' - interesting look at how a movement and a film are wrapped in each other
http://www.bavc.org/ - bay area video coalition
http://www.wardancethemovie.com/ - beautiful film - was discussed under the panel heading of 'what happens when you make a beautiful film about a dark subject'?
http://www.chimpanzeeproductions.com/ - the filmmaker of the CP film 'through a lens darkly' also featured in 'beautiful film' panel
http://silverdocs.com/ - afi/discover channel doc festival

at a glance: writing and literacies sig sessions at aera, 2009

1. Genres and Structures in Writing
Session type: Paper Discussion (formerly known as Roundtables)
Time: Tue, Apr 14 - 10:35am - 11:15am Place: San Diego Marriott Hotel & Marina, Marriott Hall Salon 4

2. Hybridity, Multimodality, and New Forms of Composing
Session type: Symposium
Time: Wed, Apr 15 - 8:15am - 10:15am Place: San Diego Convention Center, Room 28D

3. Literacies Between Borders and Across Contexts
Session type: Paper Session
Time: Thu, Apr 16 - 8:15am - 10:15am Place: San Diego Convention Center, Room 28B

4. LitScapes: Mapping the Terrain of Youth Identities, Spaces, and Texts
Session type: Symposium
Time: Thu, Apr 16 - 10:35am - 12:05pm Place: San Diego Convention Center, Room 28B

5. National Conference on Research in Language and Literacy Presents Authors of Its Series “On…” Series
Session type: Interactive Symposium
Time: Thu, Apr 16 - 2:15pm - 3:45pm Place: San Diego Convention Center, Room 28B

6. Sociocultural and Historical Perspectives on Literacy
Session type: Paper Session
Time: Thu, Apr 16 - 2:15pm - 3:45pm Place: San Diego Convention Center, Room 25B

7. Theorizing and Implementing New Directions in Writing and Literacy Research
Session type: Interactive Symposium
Time: Wed, Apr 15 - 2:15pm - 3:45pm Place: San Diego Convention Center, Room 28D

8. Twenty-Five Years of New Literacy Studies: Looking Back and Looking Ahead
Session type: Symposium
Time: Wed, Apr 15 - 10:35am - 12:05pm Place: San Diego Convention Center, Room 28D

9. Writing and Literacies SIG Business Meeting
Session type: Business Meeting
Time: Thu, Apr 16 - 6:15pm - 8:15pm Place: San Diego Convention Center, Room 28B

10. Writing Identities
Session type: Paper Discussion (formerly known as Roundtables)
Time: Tue, Apr 14 - 11:25am - 12:05pm Place: San Diego Marriott Hotel & Marina, Marriott Hall Salon 4