Feynman: Science "Proves" Nothing, Discovers Everything

(This blog entry is part two of a half-dozen reflections that steal teaching ideas from Richard Feynman, the Nobel Laureate physicist, atomic bomb developer, colorful personality, and pretty darn good teacher.)

Some think the strength of science is that "it" speaks in authoritative absolutes. Or that "it" PROVES things. It is not uncommon to hear science conjured in almost anthropomorphic, if not completely deified tones:"Science has proven that...!" As if science has a sentient agency.

Feynman looks at science in a remarkably different way, but a way which, if given proper reflection, does not diminish the power of science - but highlights its strengths. He makes a few distinctions in his view that may help us "laymen" have a greater appreciation for science and scientists.

• First, he acknowledges that SCIENCE doesn't really DO anything - but rather, science is a description of the actions of SCIENTISTS.
• Second, he points out that one of the main jobs of scientists is GUESSING. 
• Third, he finds epistemological authority to rest in the RESULTS, not the scientist.
• Fourth, he admits that the scientist doesn't PROVE things - and indeed, doesn't set out to prove anything. Rather, the scientist seeks to DISPROVE his own hypothesis. (Which is a primary strength of the scientific method!)

Note these comments in Feynman's lecture below:

"Now I’m going to discuss how we would look for a new law. In general, we look for a new law by the following process. First, we guess it (audience laughter), no, don’t laugh, that’s the truth. Then we compute the consequences of the guess, to see what, if this is right, if this law we guess is right, to see what it would imply and then we compare the computation results to nature or we say compare to experiment or experience, compare it directly with observations to see if it works. If it disagrees with experiment, it’s wrong. In that simple statement is the key to science. It doesn’t make any difference how beautiful your guess is, it doesn’t matter how smart you are who made the guess, or what his name is … If it disagrees with experiment, it’s wrong. That’s all there is to it."

This humble approach is far from the booming voice of authoritarian edicts often associated with scientific statements. But it is more productive. It invites knowledge and opens minds rather than shutting down conversations. It is also more realistic; it acknowledges our remaining ignorance, but frames it as a frontier for discovery. It sets us on a path of exploring the wondrous unknown. The "know-it-all" attitude has a chilling effect on gaining knowledge, but the "Feynman attitude" is a useful approach in all disciplines.

"We can imagine that this complicated array of moving things which constitutes 'the world' is something like a great chess game being played by the gods, and we are observers of the game. We do not know what the rules of the game are; all we are allowed to do is to watch the playing. Of course, if we watch long enough, we may eventually catch on to a few of the rules." (Richard Feynman, The Feynman Lectures on Physics)

*Recommended companion readings: The Structure of Scientific Revolutions, Thomas Kuhn; Against Method, Paul Feyerabend;  The Order of Things, Michel Foucault.

Real Geniuses Keep It (as) Simple (as possible)

(This blog entry is part one of a half-dozen reflections that steal teaching ideas from Richard Feynman, the Nobel Laureate physicist, atomic bomb developer, colorful personality, and pretty darn good teacher.)

Prof. Feynman during Special Lecture on Motion of Planets
(Energy.gov - public domain)

It would be easy for an accomplished professor to overwhelm students (particularly undergraduates) with a barrage of brilliant, baffling bombast. But good (in both the skilled AND ethical senses) teachers are interested less in inflating their own esteem, and more in helping move students along in their academic journeys. This idea was refreshed in my mind during my summer reading of Richard Feynman's undergraduate lectures on Physics.

Feynman was once asked by a Caltech faculty member to explain why spin one-half particles obey Fermi Dirac statistics. Rising to the challenge, he said, "I'll prepare a freshman lecture on it." But a few days later he told the faculty member, "You know, I couldn't do it. I couldn't reduce it to the freshman level. That means we really don't understand it." (Intro to Richard Feynman, Six Easy Pieces: Essentials of Physics Explained by Its Most Brilliant Teacher.)

Make no mistake about it: Feynman could never be accused of wielding Occam's Razor to the point of reductio ad absurdum. He understood that complex intellectual issues couldn't be reduced to a simple summary, but that there should be a process that facilitates the learner to approach these issues by steps:

"Not satisfied to learn physics in four years, you want to learn it in four minutes? We cannot do it in this way…. one needs a considerable amount of preparatory training even to learn what the words mean. No, it is not possible to do it that way. We can only do it piece by piece." (Richard Feynman, The Feynman Lectures on Physics.)

One collection of his lectures on physics is titled "Six Easy Pieces," which, in some sense seems like a cruel joke, (He thinks this is EASY?) - but on the other hand, it makes sense. To someone devoted to learning Physics, these steps are the easiest way to approach the most complex topics in subjects like Quantum Mechanics.

As teachers, we should not assume we are successful if we are so "challenging" that students leave class feeling lost. Rather we must provide some scaffolding steps to take students up levels so they can engage the more complex issues of our field. But the steps must require some climbing - and must lead up to the objectives of the field of study. And, yes, we can tell them these are the "Easy Steps." And, even if they don't buy it as they climb the steps, when they reach the top, they will look back and see that this precept-upon-precept plan was the best way.

The Rhetoric of Speed: The megabytes-per-second IS the Message

Every golfer has heard the saying, "Direction is more important than distance." And, golfers will come to believe the saying after losing a dozen balls that were hit far, but not accurately.

I imagine drivers who have been lost after following incorrect directions could adopt a similar motto, "Direction is more important than speed." In fact, the faster you go in the wrong direction, the "loster" you become. (I just invented that word, "loster.")

So - we are faced with another situation that may be a fecund field for mantras, mottos, and axioms: the speed of communication and information in the 21st century. Consider this quirky commercial for a French communications company that provides high speed fiber connections:

It seems that the brave new world of high-speed communications has birthed a new maxim:

"Speed is more important than... anything." 

We can see this in the use of internet in families like that of Papa Cool in the commercial. They just want to be able to see stuff, play stuff, hear stuff - without delay. They want it right now - no lag time. It seems that speed trumps all other concerns. We also see this principle instantiating itself in "news" - which was formally transmitted via newspapers, and afforded by that medium time to research, vet sources, confirm claims, etc. Even the structure of television news called for critical thinking and verification before the broadcast aired. But the new world of social media like twitter, etc. has re-shaped the practices of communications to meet the demands of an instant, 140-character, hyper-connected, brave new reality. Some would say that in news today:

"It is now better to be first, than to be accurate."

Our 21st-century challenge is to negotiate this new collection of media and critically interrogate the new rhetorics that are shaping our communication. A dozen years ago, Richard Lanham wrote:

"If economics is about the allocation of resources, then what is the most precious resource in our new information economy? Certainly not information, for we are drowning in it. No, what we are short of is the attention to make sense of that information." (Economics of Attention)

And another thing: That Papa Cool (by securing high-speed access) provides for his family, and makes them happy, is obvious. But there is another dynamic: speed makes Papa Cool... cool. He can now "fit in" with the peer groups of any of his family members. He uses his new access to learn and imitate the values, languages, and cultural practices of each group. See Papa Cool earning his coolness:

But what does Papa Cool want for Papa Cool? We have no idea of his own personal desires - other than to be cool, accepted by the various groups of consumers of speed. Papa becomes them by using their technologies, and his own identity fades into that of a member of the group(s). The individual disappears. Papa Cool is reshaped into the image of the desire of his creation.

For more thinking on this issue, read Greg Ulmer's "Flash Reason," which begins with this tought:

Paul Virilio stated the challenge to our information society: every technology includes its own disaster. The technology in question is that of our communications infrastructure, the digital media that function at the speed of light. The disaster Virilio has in mind is not only technical, but cultural and social as well (technics).  The speed of our digital world has created a dimensional pollution, compressing everything into “now.” This condition threatens to render impossible any democratic  public  sphere  since  there  is  no  time  for  deliberative  reason,  the persuasion and argument, needed to achieve the consent of the governed. (Read Ulmer's "Flash Reason" here.)

As an educator, I have the pleasure/task of introducing students to the tools and sites of current real world of communications, which are increasingly digital, connected, social and high-speed. I don't have the luxury to pretend that today's world of communications is the same as it was in the 1960's. My students already know that it is not the same. But my students and I are challenged with negotiating the sometimes seductive/sometimes dictatorial demands of the speed of new media with the need for critical thinking, research, verification, contemplation, reflection, and elegant composition.

And, as new media is continually shifting, I understand this will be a perpetually changing negotiation.Until time travel is invented, that is - then I'll be back at the city desk, using the communication literacies of old media, and hoping for a big scoop!

Open-Sharing VR First Step: Google Cardboard Pics

In the emerging area of VR media, sharing productions and compositions is a clunky and cumbersome process. Most platforms are built only for sharing within their own systems (e.g. Oculus, Google Cardboard, etc.)

So - I'm looking and I found ONE WAY you can share Google Cardboard Photos without a lot of emailing and downloading and third-party app installation -This website: https://sphcst.com

You just go to the website, share the image link of the photo you've taken in Google cardboard (from your Google photos gallery,) and it generates three ways to share the image/

Sharing VR compositions is a challenge in this emerging area. Creating, Discovering and Sharing tools (such as this one) is an excellent opportunity for productive discourse among students, scholars and explorers of this new digital landscape.

Here is an example of sharing a 3D VR photo taken by my 5 year old granddaughter:
1. URL link to the image: https://sphcst.com/ee5s1
2. QR code for the image: (You can scan this with your smartphone now and see the image in Google Cardboard.)

3. Embed code for the image produces this:

Calling Our Bluff: VR & Our "New Media" Theories

Unless you've actually strapped on the headgear and experienced it, you don't understand.

VR has arrived. 
Seriously - it's here.

CNET has an interesting take on one of the VR vehicles (Oculus Rift) here: CNET VR Special Edition.

But VR is arriving by other ways, too. I've already begun experiencing (and producing) the new phenomenon for (very nearly) FREE with my own smartphone, the free Google Cardboard and Cardboard Camera apps, and a very comfortable 15 buck headset. Tons of free VR material is even available on YouTube. (Add a cheap Bluetooth controller for a few bucks and you can do even more.)

For under a hundred bucks, there is the Samsung Gear VR headset that Lebron hawks. Gear is powered by Oculus, which is releasing its more expensive premium Rift device (mentioned above.) Microsoft Hololens is also already shipping - and more iterations are following this year.

Like I said - VR has arrived.

We Don't Know &#!@
We theorists like to think we know about "new media." We know about Technologizing the Word, and the Second Gutenberg Shift, and how Old Media Becomes Content for New Media, and how Remediation works in Re-shaping our Brains. We're pretty sure we know it all.

But, strap-on a VR headset, and it becomes clear that we don't. know. $#!@.

We Better Learn Quick
Taking a class on Tigers, or watching a documentary on Tigers, is one thing.
Being tossed in the path of a Tiger is another.
One situation is casual and leisurely.
The other is frantic.

VR has just brought FRANTIC to the new media party.
We gotta learn. Quick.

There are no experts in this field. There is no time (yet) for experts to develop. This is a media shift that is happening at  pace exponentially faster than previous shifts. We need to move, think, improvise, and act before the Tiger eats us and moves on.

Here are some ideas: (What? You got better ideas? Let's hear 'em.)

READ QUICK

1. Read. Quick. I'm not thinking of scholarly journals that take a year or more to get to press or books that take 6 years to get to print. The Tiger will have already eaten us by then. Read now - here's a start: 
2. Play. Now. Experiment with the emerging medium and its technologies. Explore, Create. Share. Download the apps. Get a headset. Talk with others. Share Experiences. Have students experience stuff and make stuff with you.
3. Write. Immediately. Be willing to have this writing be "disposable." Use a blog or a website or a social media vehicle. Editing, revision, peer review and publication can come later. After you've survived the encounter with the Tiger. "Writing" might consist of aggregating, curating, cobbling, collaging, and sharing resources in platforms like ScoopIt!, Pinterest, Twitter, Facebook, etc. 

It appears, in glorious, 360-degree 3D realness, that the VR Tiger is in front of us, so let's get busy, shall we?

(Your shared resources, contributions, ideas, etc. will be greatly appreciated. Just leave links, etc. in the comments section.)

Removed: Connected, Disconnected, Addicted

Sample from Removed Exhibit by Eric Pickersgill

I recently discovered Removed, a photography exhibition by Eric Pickersgill. In this collection, Pickersgill digitally "erased" the smartphones and tablets from the hand of his subjects in the images. To me, the resulting images were humorously discordant - and then, obtusely disturbing.

Pickersgill relates an observation that informed his work:

Family sitting next to me at Illium café in Troy, NY... Father and two daughters have their own phones out. Mom doesn’t have one or chooses to leave it put away. She stares out the window, sad and alone in the company of her closest family. Dad looks up every so often to announce some obscure piece of info he found online. Twice he goes on about a large fish that was caught. No one replies. I am saddened by the use of technology ... (from Eric Pickersgill's website)

 The photographs in Pickersgill's collection (http://www.removed.social/) may serve as a treasure trove of evocative connections to thinking about communication, dystopic futures, digital technologies, Third Sense meanings, and more.
Look. Enjoy. Think. Write. Reflect.

Your Accent Gives You Away

After a little while, those standing there went up to Peter and said, “Surely you are one of them; your accent gives you away.” Then he began to curse... - Matthew 26:73

One thing this story makes clear: if you want to maintain anonymity and not be seen as an outsider from a dominant group, (an Other,) then you might wanna keep quiet in their company.

For those of us who study issues related to discourse communities and language groups, neglecting the impact of "accent" can leave a lot of meat on the research bone. You might appreciate this clip from the BBC's Channel 4. (It might be considered a companion piece to my blog entry on the ESPN commercial on Manchester slang.)

This could enhance discussions of language as an instrument of: power, segregation, ethnic identification, character assessment, etc. It may even tie-in to teaching about RP (received pronunciation), conformity and globalization, etc.

And, no, I am not a Southerner. Why do Y'all ask?
DOH! Dadgum it! *&^%#!

A Few of My Favorite (Digital) Things

As a little Christmas present - I offer a few of my favorite digital things for 2013. I chose these things because they represent an interesting approach to digital literacies and composing for the brave new digital world in which we live. Or maybe just because I thought they were cool. Anyway - enjoy!

• The best new interactive web thingy is Bob Dylan's "Like a Rolling Stone" multi-channel music video. Oh, yeah they did that - and it's pretty cool. It's the coolest provocation to digital creativity since Arcade Fire's interactive "Wilderness Downtown," (which I still use in my intro to Digital Literacies class.)
• My favorite (though sometimes frustrating) socially-connected app is WAZE. You probably heard about it this year when Google bought the app from its developer for about a billion dollars. It's like Google Maps meets Twitter - a free navigation app that allows users (er, uh, their passengers,) to share info with other travelers such as traffic jams, accidents, weather, and, ahem - location of police. (Admittedly, I started using this last year I think.)
• For me, and I suspect millions of others, TripAdvisor has stolen time and attention from my other travel and dining apps like Yelp and UrbanSpoon. It's desktop website and smartphone apps work well together to provide friendly, useful and comprehensive collection of user-reviews on dining spots, hotels, attractions, etc.
• Did you know you can use video backgrounds for PowerPoint? I just started using this really cool feature this year. Formerly, you'd have to shell out big bucks to get this effect - or use hinky 3rd-party apps that never failed to, uh... fail.
• And, though it is hardware, I just gotta say - I love the Jambox by Jawbone. I use it around the house for the worlds most portable best music, but its easy-synching with my smartphone and laptop means I can have awesome sound for any presentation, regardless of the available equipment at the venue.

What will 2014 bring? I don't know - but I figure that, whatever it is, it will be delivered by my Amazon Prime drone.

History is Not Kind, Doesn't Rewind: Blockbuster's Gone

Every major media outlet ran the headlines we all knew were inevitable:

Blockbuster stores are closing. All of them. Forever.

The New York Times might have had the best Pop Culture Headline about the story: "Internet Kills the Video Store." (Props to the Buggles.) and Quartz has an illustrated timeline of the video store's ;life and death. And, with its death I come to speak to you in this blog. I come not to praise video stores, but to bury them... OK, and maybe to reflect on what this change symbolizes for communicators and educators.

This video, by BuzzFeedYellow, takes older folks down memory lane - and uncovers hidden secrets of our video-screen past for younger viewers:

 

Goodbye, Blockbuster

Marshall McLuhan pointed out that each new medium contains the old medium as content. And I might add that the terms we use with old media (which we know) help us frame our interactions with new media (which we are learning.) For example, we still have skeuomorphic ideas, imagery and language associated with our "Blockbuster past."

• When we return to a previous point in a YouTube video, or in a film we are viewing on Amazon or Netflix, we might still say we are "rewinding." But of course, there is never anything to "wind" to begin with. 
• And when students shoot video , they may get extra "footage" - even though there is nothing to measure in linear dimensions.
• We even call the "footage" (which is not footage at all) "B-roll," though there is nothing that we can roll up - or out.

I keep a collection of media devices from across the ages to show students what "footage" really is, what TV announcers meant by "don't touch that dial!" and how some songs became famous even though they were on "the flip/B side." But now - it is evident that the video cassette will become even more important in the Smartphone Museum exhibits.

Grammar Police Reinforcements!

If you teach English or Writing, (or any subject that requires students to communicate in any way that should be comprehended by other human beings,) you can use this video.

After you've written helpful comments, after you've referred students to the Writing Center for LOC help, after you've diagrammed sentences, after you've shown students how to bookmark the dictionary in their browsers, after you've gone on a tirade and preached from "The Elements of Style" for an entire class... (OK, that last one might be just me,) you can use something like this to reinforce your efforts and give you a moment to regroup.

Enjoy your summer, knowing this video is now in your arsenal for next term!

Now.. if we can just find a similar video on APA or MLA formatting...

Scam-Mail, Bad Grammar and Audience

Every now and then I check my spam filter and find the usual junk mail: ads for foreign pharmaceuticals, phishing scams, solicitations to buy products to make my hair (or other things) grow, and the many variations on the Nigerian inheritance scam.

Here is an example of one such email:

Good day my dear,
In confidence,i have to introduce myself, i am Miss. Christy Watars,24 years old,I am the only child of late Mr & Mrs.Richard Watars.

I prayed before contacting you, please for God sake do not see my mail as embrassment as we do not know each other before.  I wish to request for your assistance in my efforts to procure the transfer of my inherited fund from my late parents for investment ventures under your care and directive,while i continue my education in NewZealand.

I inherited Three Million,Four Hundred Thousand US-Dollars ($3,400,000.00)I wish to require your assistance in receiving the transfer of my inherited fund in your account for investment purposes only, it is my wish to come over to Newzealand to further my education while you take care of the investment on my behalf.

i need your urgent assistance to transfer my inherited fund to Newzealand and also your assistance to secure my future in NZ where I will continue my education

Please I am waiting to hear from you soonest,God Bless You.
Yours sincerely,
Christy Watars

If you are a teacher of English, you feel almost compelled to correct the grammar, punctuation, syntax and formating and return it to the user, don't you? C'mon - don't you? Yeah - me too. And even though we don't proofread and edit the document, we all must wonder, "Why do scammers send out email with such horrendous writing? Don't they know that no one is going to buy the message with such glaring mistakes?"

Well, there is a method to the madness, and a mistaken assumption on our part. ALMOST no one will buy the error-riddled pitch. But the ones who do not recognize the mutilation of the Queen's English are exactly the ones who the scammers want to reach.  If you can correct the grammar and spelling, you are probably too smart for the scammers. They aren't trying to reach you. You are not their audience. People with lower intelligence are their audience.

So - if you want ONLY people with lower intelligence to give your message a fair hearing, then, for goodness sake, do not pay attention to spelling or grammar or punctuation!

Most of our students - and we ourselves - do not hope for such a limited audience. Whether it is teachers teaching, preachers preaching, advertisers advertising, or students studying, we hope to reach more than just the dumbest people around. In those cases, good grammar and correct spelling and proper punctuation insure you include the widest possible audience - including potential employers, potential publishers, colleagues, and leaders of the community. Everyone is included when good writing takes place. (I've never heard anyone say, "I ain't going back to that restaurant - they spell everything 'right' on their menu. Smarty-pants know-it-alls!" or "I don't think we should consider this candidate; his writing is just too perfect.")

Elements of Speech & the Superbowl Pre-game Talk

This week, the Baltimore Ravens meet the San Francisco 49ers in the Super Bowl. One of these teams boasts the player who has what may be the most emotional pre-game speech/dance combination in NFL history. I'm speaking of the Ravens' Ray Lewis. Ray's  pre-game activities could be a valid artifact for communications and speech classes - it seems to be perfect for talking about occasion and the place of emotion in speech-making.

But what about all those weeks when Ray was injured? Did you ever wonder who did the pre-game speeches during his absence? Well Sports Friends offers a humorous take on that situation. In this (fictional?) situation Ray Rice approaches Joe Flacco to give the speech, and the results are a sort of Communications/Speech Class workshop on what NOT to do. I played this clip for my class and asked them to respond with comments on what went wrong with Joe's attempts - and to suggest fixes.

Watch the clip and see what you think.

Some student responses were:

• " Joe shouldn't have shown that he was nervous and that he wasn't happy about giving the speech."
• "To make his speech more effective, Joe should have used more passionate words that male sports men can relate to and that trigger the right emotions. Sentences like, 'You only have this one moment to show that you are powerful, that you have worked, sweated and bled to achieve success.'"
• "He started quoting a movie that no one would know. He should consider his audience and what they would watch."
• "Joe was referencing things his audience couldn't relate with. To be more effective he should have related more to his audience by referencing things he knew they were familiar with..."
• "Joe was not enthusiastic enough to boost the morale of his teammates..."
• "He didn't need to introduce himself to people who already knew him."

 You might build on these and other comments to talk about ethos, pathos, logos, kairos, audience, culturally-sensitive speech (the last remarks crossed the anti-semitic line, ouch.)

And, depending on the outcome of the game, you might let the students guess whether Joe or Ray Lewis gave the pre-game talk.

Buddy the Elf, Internet Free Candy, and Plagiarism

If saw "Elf" over the holidays, then you will remember this scene - Buddy the Elf is preparing to go to New York City to find his father when Santa offers him some advice, including the following:

"Well, there are some things you should know.

First off, you see gum on The street,

Leave it there. It's not free candy."

Of course, when Buddy arrives in NYC, he can't resist the "free candy" on the streets, the handrails, etc...Funny!

 ---------------

If you've taught a class that involves research, you will remember this scene - Students are preparing to complete a class to earn their degrees, and we offer them advice, including the following:

"To do good research, you should know some things.

First off, just because you can cut and paste something,

that doesn't mean it is good information.

Find reputable sources and cite them."

Of course, when your students actually get to writing the paper, they sometimes find random "free candy" on the internet to be irresistible. Not so funny.

-------------

I ran across an informative, if less-than-encouraging, article titled "The Top 10 Internet Sources College Students Us May Discourage You."  Oh, yeah, it does discourage us - especially after we've introduced them to the wealth of scholarly online resources that are available through our college or university libraries. I mean - millions of dollars worth of resources at their finger tips, peer-reviewed articles from the most erudite experts in every subject, ground-breaking studies in every field, and they "Google" for info on "steroids?"

(Thankfully, there are no sharp objects nearby as I write this. Anyway - take deep breaths and remain calm, Randy...)

So, I remind myself - and if it helps, you can remind yourself, too - our students are sort of like Buddy - this is their first trip to the big academic city. I will try to help them understand research and intellectual integrity from a broad view that deals with credibility, critical thinking, ethos, and what it means to be a "collegial" member of their new academic community. I will use a variety of approaches ranging from our official plagiarism statements to the story of Buddy the Elf. And I will keep telling myself that it's a process, and that it is my job to help my students (and colleagues) to develop an integrated approach to 21st-century digital literacy.

And I may or may not pass along this tidbit shared with me on Facebook recently:

ESPN, Culture and Speaking "English" Slang

At some point in the term, when teaching rhetorics, critical thinking, cultural literacies, speech, composition, or other topics - I find it important to discuss how language is a culturally/socially constructed semiotic system. (I usually work from a broader intro that looks at how ontology, epistemology and semiology treat a "thing," but that's another story.)

I am planning to incorporate these ESPN commercials to help students think about how language (in this case, English) is a living, growing set of signifiers and signifieds. Maybe some of my colleagues in related fields would be able to make creative instructional use of these artifacts as well...

Video one is the commercial I saw first - and though I had no idea what these guys were "saying" - I got the idea: the speakers seem to be exactly alike from a first-blush broad-brush categorizing of the individuals as being from the UK - but each views the other as a polar opposite.

A Second video (now disappeared from the web) slows the action down and adds definitions to the "slang" English from across the pond.

So, don't be a right divvy - spice up your sessions with these discussion starters/illustrations. And remember which video is which, or you'll look like a proper digital plonker.

...

Proposing Work as Exemplars for Emerging Areas - According to Gee

The following comments are a review-ish application of the concepts in James Paul Gee's 2010 New Digital Media and Learning as an Emerging Area and "Worked Examples" as One Way Forward.  I downloaded the e-book version for free for my Kindle here, and you can also find a free copy of the Google book here.  My reading, commentary, and application are admittedly influenced by my academic connections to rhetorics (as in the RCID community at Clemson University,) and by my duties as a teacher of communications and digital literacies at Limestone College, but it seems that Gee's work encourages such interdisciplinary engagement.  These comments will be part of the introduction for the presentation of the "Smartphone Museum as Exemplar" for teachers and scholars in venues such as the 2013 Popular Culture Association-American Culture Association Conference in Washington, D.C. 

“How can we proceed in building this new area into something more integrated and coherent, especially in building collaboration?” Gee suggests that using prototypical cases as exemplars is “one way forward” in the emerging area(s) of digital literacies and new media studies.

Gee references the “old sense” of exemplars, and remediates those “worked examples” toward a new application in digital literacies. As for the old sense of worked examples, Gee says “In a worked example, and ‘expert’ takes a well-formed problem and publically displays for learners how that problem is approached, thought about, worked over and solved.” Indeed, this is how most learners and scholars are “brought into” disciplines, ranging from maths to sciences to rhetorics.

(Though Gee references Kuhn, he is not explicit in pointing out that, in this description, we see how disciplines establish an accepted “right way” to think – as Kuhn might say, a “ruling paradigm” of “normal science” is established and reified through what Feyerabend might label a “consistency condition.” And while such an establishment might be seen as problematic with regards to limiting exploration to whatever approaches the establishment approves, it does provide the set of heuristics that allow new contributors to join a conversation within an emerging area of study.)

Using the idea of exemplars as worked examples (in the old sense,) Gee proposes that in emerging areas, such as digital literacies, those involved in the field should put forth exemplars, even if “play exemplars,” for the engagement of scholar-students in the field. In this new sense of worked examples, scholars in the emerging field would “display publically their thinking about how and why they did what they did, and why it may serve as a guide for future work.” This suggested approach (worked examples in the new sense) is more democratic, and markedly so, than worked examples as used in established disciplines.  In fact, Gee proposes that “we pretend to be experts in an area that, as of yet, has none.”

Gee’s remediation of the idea of worked examples does away with the idea of defending our exemplars and “winning” an academic argument. This remediated approach encourages the scholar to “lose” such academic arguments and “to see your proposed exemplar so worked over by the community that it would become fodder for collaboration.”

Though the composer-curators of the Smartphone Museum at Limestone are not part of Gee’s DML community centered at UC-Irvine, we do adopt with appreciation the democratizing approach of worked examples as a new way forward to opening discussion in areas of digital literacies, electronic pedagogies, and connected learning – and so we present our experimental installation as an exemplar for other scholar-teachers to discuss, critique, repurpose, remediate and use for their own work in the still emerging area(s) of digital literacies.

Standing Out

This summer I saw a 3-story tall ketchup bottle outside City Hall in New York. I noticed. Because you don't see a 30-foot tall ketchup bottle everyday. Sometimes you want to stand out like that.

Like when you are submitting resumes or cv's and cover letters to places where said correspondence will join hundreds of other similar pieces of correspondence on the desk of potential employers. You would like to stand out - but in a good way, of course.

I've recently shared links to sites like SlideShare's collection of visual resumes, and other resources - but I just ran across this very interesting letter by a job seeker that definitely stood out - but not because of hi-tech creativity. This job seeker stood out by his use of words. Read his job-seeking letter here. (It is interesting to note that this writer was trying to get the attention of famous movie directors and producers.) In a world where attention to writing seems to be getting rarer, deft utilization of creative vocabulary and imaginative correspondence may be just what you need to "stand out."

**"I Like Words" from the "Letters of Note" blog

OK, You Know the Jargon, We Get It...

Knowledge of "specialized language" can be useful, or.. well, not useful at all.

from the Dilbert website - strip for 9/8/2011 - http://dilbert.com/strips/

Jargon, or discourse specific vocabulary, can be help you pass into gated discourse communities in the same way a secret password can. For example, if you use words like "reify" and "discursive" and "panopticon" frequently and correctly, you may notice the atmosphere becomes warmer and friendlier at our gathering of post-(insert term of choice here) scholars. However, if you use the wrong term at the wrong time, or drop the wrong name - your shibboleth will identify you as an impostor and will chill the air around you until you slink away in to outer darkness.

What is true for a circle of post-x scholars also holds true for groups of NASCAR fans, Trekkies, Vegans, Democrats, Republicans, and Business Leaders. Being fluent in the vocabulary of your discourse community can open doors for you, establish your credibility, and ensure you a place at the table of discussion.

Outside these circles, however... please, in the name of all that is holy, DROP THE JARGON and communicate clearly with your listeners in mind!