Week 3 – Helen De Michiel Check-In

It was great video conferencing with the teams this week and talking about how the term projects are developing. If teams want to, please post your sites for any preliminary feedback before we meet again on November 2. Crowd-sourcing feedback in a safe place is only going to give you momentum and inspiration.

It is beautiful and inspiring to read and consider the array of your writing voices as they distinguish themselves here on the blog. I am really appreciating how every one of you approaches and responds to these projects from a unique and soulful perspective. How they move you (or do not!) from an audience-style perspective. How they may relate to the readings and ideas being introduced. How they can be used in your work environments. Or how they trigger new insights into possibilities for your own digital journalism or strategic communications goals.

…And, oh, the marvelous questions that are coming up!  Where is our all-night virtual cafe to ponder them together?

I invite you to remember that we are in the embryonic stages of a new, emerging medium, and what you are seeing are works comparable to 19th century photography or early silent cinema when the medium was being invented, and its language finding its grammar. The question I return to always is…”What is happening here? Why are these particular decisions made and why?  Where are these independent producers going with these tools and what are they exploring? What are the questions they are asking and what does that bring up for you? (And now, also appreciating how challenging these projects can be to make)

How to use your weekly readings essays

As you move on to your Week 3 (Private) Readings essay (due to me on Sunday night) think about a strategy for the summary that will be useful to you as you start planning your midterm paper.

Think about picking and choosing the key points that interest you so far in Spreadable Media or Digital Culture. Explain them clearly “to yourself” so that you can retrieve them for your mid term paper. (If you wish to move ahead in the readings and use more references form the books, that is an option.)

I recognize that both books are “thick” with histories, new arguments and multiple kinds of information. So…now it is your turn to take what will be of “worth” to you – from the readings (also the supplementary readings).  Begin grappling with and thinking about how you will weave them together with your midterm discussion of the themes, sites and experiences/insights you are collecting into your own framing map of “participatory media” as you are understanding and responding to it now.

Week 4 – Planting the Seeds for Your Mid-Term Paper

Please look ahead to the Week 4 Course Assignments Tab. You will find the instructions for the paper there. I encourage you to read through your posts to date,  and look for patterns and themes that are drawing YOU into the material, and how they connect to the debates and theories elaborated upon by Gere and the Jenkins authors.

The works you will look at by digital/new media artists Stephanie Rothenberg and Brook Singer are intentionally pushing boundaries, asking questions that do not normally occur to us around our relationship to the digital economy, and use the platforms themselves to critique them. Besides Rothenberg’s new piece, please look at Labor of Love and Invisible Threads, which you can access on her home page.

I know that these pieces may be a stretch for folks, but do approach them with an open mind — how are these artists exploring concepts in fun and clever tactical ways?  Explore and engage — And see you back on the Tour Bus next week!

 

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2 comments to Week 3 – Helen De Michiel Check-In

  • summerh@uoregon.edu

    I love the idea of comparing what we’re seeing to the early stages of photography or cinema! That makes me feel even more excited about the things we’re learning 🙂

  • delyser@uoregon.edu

    Hi Helen! I looked over the Week 4 guidelines for the mid term paper. Hmmmm … could we please Skyp sometime this week (Tuesday-Thursday after 6, possibly)? I need clarification. If not, no worries.

    Thanks!

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