Convergence Culture Week 2

I've always had an interest in the marketing profession, especially in this era of technology, and after reading Henry Jenkins book, I'm beginning to rethink my chosen profession.


When I taught school in New Jersey, my wife was the capitol budget manager for all filled candy bars and M&M's® for ©Mars, Incorporated including Snickers®. One of my favorite perks from being married to her, besides free candy, was meeting the Marketing team for launch of The StarWars Mpire which preluded Star Wars Episode III. I remember getting caught up in the hype of the movie being a huge George Lucas fan but I was more interested in how so much was being done about the M&M characters poses as major characters from the movie. Comics books, internet videos, newspaper articles, and so on fed into the hype of characters. I was teaching language arts and I tried to have a creative writing lesson using the fictional characters, but nothing ever came about. I'm reminded of all of this while reading this week. in 1977 as a 4 yr old boy seeing his first movie, I could have never imagined today's digital world surrounding Star Wars. Sure, I lived the movies out, I had all the action figures, but honestly, I never became as fanatic as today's fan culture. However, now realizing that I lived on the underexposed side of the planet, taking advantage of the popularity of something as huge as Star Wars makes some powerful noise. When my students find out that Star Wars is my favorite movie, I'm amazed at their knowledge of the movie to the point to where they put me to shame.. and they were not alive in 77'. However, because the media mayhem caused by "true fans" it's easy to go into the depths of the movie and become engulfed. Reading this week made me feel like I missed out on something.


If I missed out with Star Wars, I truly felt I missed the collaborative media cruise ship after being put to shame by Heather Lawver and her passion not only to create a phenomenal following based a novel that at the time was banned from my school library initially; but for developing the PotterWars to fight the jealousy of a major corporation that was ensued by her following. Every generation has the power to change our world, media savvy people like Heather are leading the way. "Corporations imagine participation as something they can start and stop, channel and reroute, commodify and market. The prohibitionists are trying to shut down unauthorized participation; the collaborationists are trying to win grassroots creators over to their side. Consumers, on the other side, are asserting a right to participate in the culture on their own terms, when and where they wish. This empowered consumer faces a series of struggles to preserve and broaden this perceived right to participate" (p175) Funny how Heather wins in the end. What she did was take her passion, expound upon it in a way that drew other passionate people in and gave them a voice. Ultimately their voice rang aloud and push Harry Potter to a new level. But instead of embracing the notion, the big wigs got greedy; hence the reason our country is in the state it is in... (I'll leave that for another blog)

Comments to Notes of Namaste

Netiquette/Twettiquette is of the utmost importance in this era of say what you want when you want. Tweeting has gotten so many people in trouble and I recently witness two people loosing their employment based on what was posted on Twitter. The introvert has used this device to express themselves within his own four walls to the world, but because they never had the experience of being an extrovert, appropriateness goes out the window. So would tweaking the tweeting with proper netiquette techniques really help or would that be considered stifling to people's freedom of speech?

Copywrong or Copyright... Why Can't We Just Share?

I hate to admit this, but I can't remember exactly what class we were in when this video was used. However, listening to the the Wimba session again, I was reminded of how things were when copyright truly mattered to me. Not that it doesn't now, but when I was a young songwriter back in my more youthful era, song theft was high and as the industry tangled itself in webs of lies because everyone wanted to get paid. I was one of those artist who would write out my music and put it in a sealed envelope and mail it to myself. I also mailed my music to significant family members just to back myself up. Interestingly enough, I still became a victim of copyright infringement when my manage sold my music to another producer. I had stepped away from the game to concentrate on school and to get back at me...well you get the point. I wanted to sue, but I didn't know truly what to do, so instead, I tried to benefit from the wrong but sending the original version to the same producer along with a little proof that I was the creator. I was thinking that because they liked the music they would produce it and I would get my money. But because of the conflict in ownership of the song made caused disinterest and the producers walked away. However, in today's world Creative Commons would have been my hero. (mind you this was 15 years ago) I love the idea of sharing in order to collaborate and everyone getting a hand up on the game. I think if our society wasn't so selfish and greedy and operated with the CC mentality, we as a culture would be far more advanced today. A rule in my class is C3B4ME! Which means, before coming to me looking for a solution, collaborate with 3 others to see what you can come up with. Some great ideas have come out of this rule and it frees me up to observe and guide instead of lecture. My students have realized that the sharing of knowledge is key in creating something extraordinary and it's that generation that will reshape our world.

An Indelible Impression

In one of our Discussion Quickies the question arose about remembering the first song that made a lasting impression on my life. I easily recalled the song I learned in 1st grade that was written by one of the teachers at the school. I was a sponge in my early years but I just didn't soak of knowledge, I was one of those kids that would sit and analyze what I learned for days and if I felt it was important enough, I did whatever I could to implement whatever it was in whatever I did. Music had such an influence in my life that my parents made sure that I wasn't listening to anything that was not positive in any manner. My mom would always tell me as I got older to stop listening to what she called "bumpitty bump" music that she felt was controlling my thoughts and actions. Well, initially I thought she didn't know what she was talking about, as we all did of our parents, but something would always bring me back to the Obedience song and I would turn the music off... well at least for the moment. So, I thought I would share it with you as I mentioned in my FSO post. I recorded my kids singing the song earlier this summer and I thought it would be most appropriate to have them share with you as I try to rear them the right way.

Podcaster but not a podcastee?

What’s really funny is for a guy who loves to podcast, I don’t necessarily subscribe to a large amount of publications. I have a couple that I have downloaded to my iPod and iPhone for my own kids; Hooked on Phonics and Inside the Magic. The former was initially for my oldest son who is now 5. He lacked any type of motivation when it came to learning unless I put it in an electronic format. So, as I was browsing through iTunes one of the advertising banners displayed the Hooked on Phonics podcast and I immediately became a subscriber. Basically, the podcast provides some of the lessons from the series used in many classrooms and homes that help children become more comfortable with reading. I remember Hooked on Phonics when growing up, so I thought it would be appropriate for my children as well. The video podcast is animated and fun, filled with colorful illustrations and music to engage my little man. It’s a perfect addition to learning with hand-held devices. If you use their website, (http://learntoread.hookedonphonics.com) you can access the podcast via a link at the bottom of the page but it take you directly to iTunes. So why not just go to iTunes Store, type in Hooked on Phonics and viola, you’re there. Here is a sample:

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Another the podcast subscription I have is for Promethean Planet. We use Promethean Boards (similar to interactive Whiteboards) in our district and my school only has four to go around. So in order to ensure that it stays in my room I thought it to be important that I stay abreast on the latest technology being used with the Promethean software. This particular podcast has both video and audio demonstrations of using effective teaching strategies that take advantage of the flip chart capabilities and provide what we call Activtips that integrates best practices for an interactive classroom. The podcast cover various curriculum areas and ways to make the software come alive in the classroom.

http://www.prometheanplanet.com/

When I first got into podcasting, Mr. Coley was my inspiration. Brent Coley is a 5^th grade teacher in Murrieta, California. He uses podcasting for several activities including student reporting, study guides, and sharing of projects… just to name a few. I subscribed to his podcast back in 2006 to learn how I could incorporate podcasting in my own classroom. That’s what his podcast are about, his kids and what they are doing to take advantage of this technology.

My final podcast that I personally subscribe to is ESPNRadio.com – Podcenter, specifically Mike and Mike and Fantasy Football. Yes, I know you’re wondering what the educational impact involved in this particular feed, but because I run the D.U.D.E. (Dads United Demonstrating Excellence) program, one of our major recruiting tools is Fantasy Football to begin the year. The dads must play with their student or mentee and while spending quality time discussing the curriculum involving math, science, and social studies that surround the game; we use the podcast to analyze how to put together a successful team each week.

Mike and Mike however, is for me because of the kid’s music I listen to on the way to work always interferes with my favorite morning radio talk show. So, I download to my iPod and iPhone and listen while jogging or working out.

You can access both vie iTunes or http://espnradio.espn.go.com/espnradio/podcast/index