We’re exploring connections between the Make Movement and writing/literacies in a digital age in one inquiry group that I am part of this summer. I thought a video by David Gauntlett (the image is a screenshot from the video, embedded below) really established some firm connections along key points: that agency is in the hands of the creator to make something new out of existing materials (even digital material); that the activity of making shifts consumers away from mass-produced materials and therefore, provides an individualistic sense of creation; and that the social element of digital literacies has the potential to increase engagement and heighten the creative element of making something that will impact the world.
Gauntlett’s lecture is worth a view, I think, particularly in his criticism of television as a tool
“that does not allow everyday people to share their vision” as opposed to new media sites that do allow for that (although he admits that we should not fall into the dichotomy of television-bad/digital media good – there’s a lot of crap in digital realms just as there is a lot of quality programming on television). His lecture had me thinking about the ways to make more connections between how we encourage our students as creators of content, and not just passive users.
Peace (in the making),
Kevin