Tuesday, February 24, 2009

Media Literacy

The Center for Media Literacy (CML) defines media literacy as...
"Media Literacy is a 21st century approach to education. It provides a framework to access, analyze, evaluate and create messages in a variety of forms — from print to video to the Internet. Media literacy builds an understanding of the role of media in society as well as essential skills of inquiry and self-expression necessary for citizens of a democracy."

What I understand Media literacy to be is an educational skill that allows one to acess and analyze media and the message it conveys. Media literacy is a form of education, it teaches us how think about media and then what to do with it.

What I dont understand is why media literacy isnt being taught as early as elementary school. Children are especially vulnerable to the media so that would be the perfect age to introduce such education.

Some sites that helped me to better understand media literacy were:
Center for Media Literacy
An Into to Media Literacy
Media Awareness Network: This site offered games that taught media literacy. I played one game that is geared for children ages 8-10... check it out

Hip Hop Wordles

A wordle from "A Song for Assata" and a wordle from the song "Bitches aint shit" by Dr. Dre & Snoop dog. Just interesting to compare the two hip hop songs and the image they portray.

Wordle: Song to Assata


&
'Wordle:

Monday, February 23, 2009

NY Times Offensive Cartoon

This cartoon was posted in the New York Times and I was interested to see what people thought about it. This cartoon could be interpreted many different ways and the author claims that there was no racist intention. When I look at this cartoon i see blatant racism. There is a clear connection to President Barack Obama, historical racist references to African Americans and monkeys, and of course the stimulus bill. I think it was so distasteful and disrespectful.

Tricia Rose Interviews on Hip Hop

Time Magazine Interview & Radio Station Interview

I really enjoyed reading this interview because the topic of hip hop being is very interesting to me. I think that Tricia Rose offered a very different perspective she was not defending the artist nor the critics but rather hip hop itself. She seems to have a vast understand of the history of hip hop and the current ill state of the music.

What I understood from this Interview was that Tricia Rose thinks that hip hop is not "dead" but rather hip hop is dying. She explains in this interview what hip hop use to be and what it use to mean to people versus what it is today. Hip Hop use to be fun and about people expressing what was important to them and now it is driven by money. Record labels perpetuate the excessive idea and stereotypes of ghettos, violence, racism, and sexism in the black community and the money driven artist that buy into it. That is why artist like 50 cent, T-Pain, Lil wayne, ect. easily outsell artist like Taleb Kwali, Common, and Mos Def. Tricia Rose puts fault on all sides from record labels, to artist, to radio stations, to listeners alike. Some how in the mix of all that hip hop has become ill and lost the sense of fun block parties and community bonding.

In the radio interview Tricia Rose talked about female hip hop artist. She talked female MC's and Lyricists having to prove themselves in a male dominated field. In trying to prove themselves they often struggle with sexuality. Rappers like Lil Kim or Foxy Brown choose the hyper sexual route and Tricia rose described Kim as almost a rhyming stripper. Then you also have women like Eve who embrace masculinity and toughness to make it in a male dominated field like hip hop. Eve's career as taken off and she is now not only a rapper but an actress and model as well.

One of the things I am curious about is if so many people recognize that hip hop is dying and long for the old school love of hip hop then why is it that none of the underground hip hop gets play? I understand that money plays a role in that but if the demand is their why is no response from record labels and radio stations?

Something I think would make for good class discussion is the point of "If you don't like it don't listen and turn it off." Tricia Rose made a very good point and I'm interested to see how other people feel and if they agree.

Tuesday, February 17, 2009

Digital Natives, Digital Immigrants

I really enjoyed Marc Prensky's piece on Digital Natives and Digital immigrants. I think he offered a really interesting perspective on learning. He looked at the "Digital Native" students and the way they learn compared to the way "Digital Immigrants" teach. In this article he offered many alternatives to the traditional way of teaching that is more appealing and effective for todays generation of students.

I thought it was particularly interesting when he stated that our generation has spent less than 5,000 hours reading but over 10,000 hours playing games and 20,000+ hours watching television. While I recognize that those numbers vary from student to student I think that Prensky's point is extremely relevant. I agree with him that todays generation has become accustom to immediate results and require more stimulation.

I liked that Prensky did not label the student as the problem but rather the way we are teaching them as becoming more and more ineffective. "Our Digital Immigrant instructors, who speak an outdated language (that of the pre-digital age), are struggling to teach a population that speaks an entirely new language." I think that is a really interesting point.

-What I don't understand is why Prensky presents this idea that the whole education system but completely reform to this new way. I think that it is really important to hold firm to some of the old ways of learning. If we completely conform we will have a generation that is solely dependent on technology. Just a thought, what if there came a day where that technology crashed? For instance, in hospitals they have machines that take your blood pressure or your temperature but you still need to know how to manually take someones blood pressure in case those machines fail. Just throwing that out there.

I think my point is that both the Digital Natives and the Digital Immigrants need to come to a compromise. I think that the teachers need to adapt and adopt some of the new technology while holding firm to old but relevant material. On the same token, Digital Natives need to be held responsible for their education and adapt as well.

Tuesday, February 3, 2009

When I was 13...

When I was 13... hmmm wow that was about eight years ago, ouch i feel old! That was the end of middle school and the beginning of high school, quite the transitional period. Middle school is where i formed my real group of friends. You know, in elementary school you were forced to be friends with the neighborhood kids but in middle school you had all of the kids in your age group who lived in Woonsocket to choose from (lol that thought makes me die laughing). By the time I turned 13 i was leaving middle school and entering high school, which officially gave me three years of bonding with my friends. As you can see at that time everything was about my friends! I think of all the sleepovers, and the boys, and the drama!

At this time my friends and I were also creating "our image". We were starting to pay attention to what people were wearing on tv, in magazines, and in the music videos. It was at this point that i begin to care about what i looked like and what others thought about me. Sometimes I wish I could have kept the simplistic view of "image" that i had as a child... you know were you only cared about what you liked whether it matched or not!

It was in 9th grade that boys entered the picture as well! I started to really notice boys and starting to crave attention from boys. Don't get me wrong, I was know where near boy crazy or anything lol but its just when the real attraction began!

Thinking back now on my 13th year it was such a transitional period. It was when I began to care about the things society tells women they should care about.... how you look and boys! How ironic! Its like society catches you at one of you most vulnerable point... the begining of your teenage years!