Week 8 Summary

On Monday 19th March the class was split in to two groups.

In the Social Media Revolution class, the following was covered:

The presentation and reading is available in the Blackboard.

"How Facebook Changed the World"

The BBC production about The Arab Spring and how the protestors and activists used social media.

A discussion on how mobile and social media is used in current and political protests around the world.

Reading of newspaper articles and a debate on the following questions:

1. How were the activists of The Arab Spring able to report on their situation?

2. What methods were used for their revolution to begin?

3. What are the dangers of online activism?

4. How has The Arab Spring changed how social media can be used in activism and protest?

5. Identify and discuss 3 benefits there are to citizen journalism.

6. Identify and discuss 3 issues there are with citizen journalism.

The homework for this class is to write a new blog post on the title: How has the Internet changed journalism? More details here.

Week 7 Summary: Cyberculture and Online Communities

On Monday 12th March the following was covered:
The presentation is available in Blackboard. The reading is available in the key text, in the Library.


What is Cyberspace, Cyberculture, Community and Online Community?


Reading: Introduction to Chapter 8: Community in the key text: The Internet: an introduction to new media by Leila Green.


Group work: research, discussion presentation on the topic 'Online Community'.


Homework: Complete reading and preparation for next class, read: Social Media Revolution or Virtual Identity: Second Life  

Week 6 Summary: Social Media Revolution

On Monday 5th March the class was split in to two groups.
In the Social Media Revolution class, the following was covered:
The presentation and reading is available in the Blackboard.


How Facebook Changed the World
The BBC production about The Arab Spring and how the protestors and activists used social media.


A discussion on how mobile and social media is used in current and political protests around the world.


Reading of newspaper articles and a debate on the following questions:
1. How were the activists of The Arab Spring able to report on their situation?
2. What methods were used for their revolution to begin?
3. What are the dangers of online activism?
4. How has The Arab Spring changed how social media can be used in activism and protest?
5. Identify and discuss 3 benefits there are to citizen journalism.
6. Identify and discuss 3 issues there are with citizen journalism.


The homework for this class is to write a new blog post on the title: How has the Internet changed journalism? More details below.

Week 5 Summary

On Monday 27th February, the following was covered
The presentation and reading is available in the Blackboard


Digital Distribution
Of music, television and news.


Streaming, Downloading and Podcasts
Considering the benefits and issues with digital distribution of media


An introduction to the term: Citizen Journalism


Creating your own Twitter Newspaper
All students created or updated their Twitter accounts, by 'following' 15 new people on Twitter. And 'tweeting' or 're-tweeting' their first tweet. Students then created a newspaper of their Twitter feeds using http://paper.li 


Creating a tag-cloud of a blog post
All students created a tag cloud, by copying and pasting one of their blog posts into www.wordle.net and then saving and uploading the image into their blog.


Homework
To complete all of the tasks in the handout (available in blackboard)


To do the reading for the next class. The class will be split into two. See below to see which class you will be in and the links to the reading.

Preparation for Social Media Revolution class

This class will take place on 5th and 19th March. Students with surnames A - K will be in this class on 19th March. Students with surnames L - W will be in this class on 5th March. 


READING 
Please read the following before this session.


BBC news article:
"Internet Role in Egypt's protests" by Anne Alexander:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-12400319
To get an overview of the topic we will be looking at in detail in this class.


Blog: 
Citizen Journalism: Global Perspectives
http://citizenjournalism.me 
To gain an understanding on what Citizen Journalism is, who writes about it, what it's power can be.


Have a look at the preview of the book: Citizen Journalism: Global Perspectives, Edited by Stuart Allan and Einar Thorsen, published in 2009: http://citizenjournalism.me/blog/preview-book

Preparation for Virtual Identity: Second Life class

This class will take place on 5th and 19th March. Students with surnames A - K will be in this class on 5th March. Students with surnames L - W will be in this class on 19th March. 

Before the session in Second Life with Tim Johnson, you will need to create your avatar and have entered Second Life, to familiarise yourselves with this virtual environment and your avatars - also known as 'avi's'.

You will need to have:

• Registered your SecondLife name: (Please consider what personality you want your avatar to have before doing this) https://join.secondlife.com 

• Emailed your avatar name to r.gamble@worc.ac.uk and k.johnson@worc.ac.uk

• Downloaded Second Life viewer on to your computer: http://www.phoenixviewer.com/downloads.php 

• Entered and explored SecondLife at least once.

• Accept or request the friendship request of Bluesky Larkam and Mariela Eyre.

• Accept the ‘teleport’ offer to the University of Worcester island (sent by Bluesky)

• Finally you will need to make this island you ‘home'.

READING

Before this class, you will need to have read the reading Tim has suggested:

"Rebecca and I mentioned some reading we would like you to do. The first of these is Reinventing Ourselves: Contemporary Concepts of Identity in Virtual Worlds By Anna Peachey, Mark Childs. This can be found in Google Books and you should read pages 13-21. The second piece to read is at http://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/66555 Virtual Worlds: A Performative Perspective on Globally Distributed, Immersive Work, from MIT, released on a Creative Commons License. Please read all of this if you wish but it is a little long so concentrate on pages 12-15. This article is from the Sloane School of Management at MIT and, besides providing an insight into identity in virtual worlds also demonstrates just how widely, and increasingly, used virtual worlds are in business. You might also like to read part of an excellent book by Jim Blascovich and Jeremy Bailinson called Infinite Reality: Avatars, Eternal Life, New Worlds and the Dawn of the Virtual Revolution. This book can also be found on Google Books; you should read the section called The Virtual Laboratory but be careful you could get hooked into reading the rest of the book 

Remember if you have any problems with either your avatars or these readings please get in touch with me by email (k.johnson@worc.ac.uk)."

http://digitalliteracyuow.wordpress.com/2012/02/06/getting-a-bit-late

Week 4 Summary

On Monday 20th February, the following was covered
The presentation and reading is available in the Blackboard

- Participatory Culture
(For Henry Jenkins idea of 'Participatory Culture' and 'Civic Engagement' watch: 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AFCLKa0XRlw&feature=player_embedded

- Web 2.0
(Collaboration - youth as media collaborators and Sociality - youth as social networkers)

- YouTube as a Case Study (example) of 'Participatory Culture'
(Read the journal article: "YouTube as Participatory Culture by Clement Chau. Available in Blackboard)

- Facebook as a reflective tool
(Questions were asked, so that personal and group reflection can be given to 'cultural activities' and 'self-identity' reflected in social media, such as Facebook, for the questions please refer to the presentation in Blackboard.)

Homework:

To write the 3rd blog post on: 

How have mobile medias shaped participatory culture?

READ BELOW FOR MORE INFORMATION

Deadline: 9am Monday 27th February

Week 3 Summary

On Monday 13th February the following was covered:
The presentation can be found on the blackboard


- Postmodernism and New Media 
(Looking at the new media theories, introduced in the handout: Chapter 1: Digital Theory: theorizing New Media, authored by Glen Creeber, from the key text: 
Creeber, G. and Martin, R. (eds) (2009). Digital Cultures: Understanding New Media, Berkshire: Open University Press.


- Participatory Culture
(The differences between old media audiences (passive consumers) and new media audiences (active producers) and how this has created a participatory culture of active audiences)


- Life in a Day, directed by Kevin MacDonald, 2010.
(The largest 'user-gernated' and 'crowdsourced' film made, using YouTube videos. This is a key example of the topic new media audiences being active producers, we discussed what this film presented and achieved in terms of a participatory culture).
This film can be watched online for free here: http://www.youtube.com/user/lifeinaday/experience


Homework


- To register your Second Life avatar name and explore Second Life for the first time. Please follow the guidelines provided below.


- To read the New Media Glossary: a user-generated glossary, edited by the students of MECS1008. (This will be available on the Blackboard)

Week 2 Summary

On Monday 6th February, the following was covered:
The presentation can be found on the blackboard


- 'Old' Media and 'New' Media
(The differences in 'analogue' and 'digital' media, or 'traditional' and 'convergent' media)


- Introduction to the Internet
(Looking at the history of the Internet from 1960's to present day. Watched the following two links: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9hIQjrMHTv4 and http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y0pPfyYtiBc&feature=related


- Modernism and Old Media
(Looking at the new media theories, introduced in the handout: Chapter 1: Digital Theory: theorizing New Media, authored by Glen Creeber, from the key text: 
Creeber, G. and Martin, R. (eds) (2009). Digital Cultures: Understanding New Media, Berkshire: Open University Press.


- New Media Glossary Challenge
(A 30-minute challenge to find one definition of a new media term)


Homework


- To complete the New Media glossary challenge. All details are given below. If any students have missed this, please email me and I will give you the word you need to research.


- To read the handout: Chapter 1: Digital Theory: theorizing New Media, authored by Glen Creeber, from the key text: Creeber, G. and Martin, R. (eds) (2009). Digital Cultures: Understanding New Media, Berkshire: Open University Press.

Week 1 Summary

On Monday 30th January the following was covered:

The presentation can be found on the blackboard

- Introduction to the MECS1008: Introduction to New Media module

(An introduction to the module, what will be covered, what the assignments are, what teaching approaches and materials will be used.)

- Setting up the Online Learning Journals (blogs)

(Support was given to students in setting up their Online Learning Journals (blogs) which will be updated for the first assignment of this module)

Homework

- To complete the set-up of the Online Learning Journal.

- To write your first 'post' on the topic of "Old vs. New Media', giving one example of a new, digital media that has replaced an old, traditional media, and what the positive and negatives are of this. More details below.


- To read the handout: Chapter 1: Digital Theory: theorizing New Media, authored by Glen Creeber, from the key text: Creeber, G. and Martin, R. (eds) (2009). Digital Cultures: Understanding New Media, Berkshire: Open University Press.