Social media and self-curatorship: Reflections on identity and pedagogy through blogging on a masters module

 John Potter, Londres (United Kingdom)

 Shakuntala Banaji, Londres (United Kingdom)

https://doi.org/10.3916/C38-2012-02-09

Keywords

Social media, identity, pedagogy, literacy, blogging, innovative, assessment, masters level, curatorship

Abstract

The widespread uses of social media have been celebrated as a unique opportunity to redesign innovative learning environments that position students at the center of a participatory, multiliteracy and peer learning experience. This article problemitizes the connection between the social uses of new media and relevant educational practices and proposes more rigorous theoretical frames that can be used to guide future research into the role of social media in education. This article reports on a case study of a small group of students who use an online module to study media, culture and communication as part of a wider master’s programme. The students were invited to reflect in a more reflexive and theoretical manner than is commonly used in a standard course evaluation about their experiences of engaging with social media as both the medium and the subject of the course. The article discusses the student experience as it unfolded in the context of an assessed piece of project work. In discussing the findings the authors locate the arguments in the context of debates about new literacies, pedagogy and social media as well as in an emergent theory of self-curatorship as a metaphorical frame for understanding the production and representation of identity in digital media.

References

Banaji, S. (2011). Disempowering by Assumption: How the Rhetoric of ‘Digital Natives' Affects Young People and Influences Civic Organisations Working with Them. In Thomas, M. (Ed.). Deconstructing Digital Natives. London and New York: Routledge; 49-66.

Link Google Scholar

Barker, V. (2009). Older adolescents' Motivations for Social Networking Site Use: The Influence of Self. Cyber Psychology and Behaviour, 1(5); 1-39.

Link Google Scholar

Bauman, Z. (2004). Identity: Conversations with Benedetto Vecchi. Cambridge: Polity.

Link Google Scholar

Boyd, D. (2007). Why Youth Love Social Network Sites: The Role of Networked Publics in Teenage Social Life. The John D. & Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation Series on Digital Media and Learning, 119-142. (doi:10.1162/dmal.9780262524834.119).

Link Google Scholar

Buckingham, D. (2007). Beyond Technology: Children's Learning in the Age of Digital Culture. London: Rout-ledge.

Link Google Scholar

Burn, A. (2009). Making New Media: Creative Production and Digital Literacies (New Literacies and Digital Epistemologies). New York: Peter Lang.

Link Google Scholar

Cope, B. & Kalantzis, M. (Eds.). (2000). Multiliteracies: Literacy Learning and the Design of Social Futures. New York: Routledge.

Link Google Scholar

Crook, C. (2001). The Social Character of Knowing and Learning: Implications of Cultural Psychology for Edu-cational Technology. Journal of Information Technology for Teacher Education, 10(1/2); 19-35.

Link DOI | Link Google Scholar

Downes, S. (2004). Educational Blogging. Educause Review, 39 (5); 14-26.

Link Google Scholar

Duffy, P. & Bruns, A. (2006). The Use of Blogs, Wikis and RSS in Education: A Conversation of possibilities. Paper presented at the Online Learning and Teaching Brisbane.

Link Google Scholar

Engeström, Y.; Miettinen, R. & Punamäki, R.L. (Eds.) (1999). Perspectives on Activity Theory (Learning in Doing: Social, Cognitive & Computational Perspectives S.). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Link Google Scholar

Gee, J.P. (2004). Situated Language and Learning: A Critique of Traditional Schooling. New York: Routledge.

Link Google Scholar

Giddens, A. (1991). Modernity and Self-identity: Self and Society in the Late Modern Age. Cambridge: Polity.

Link Google Scholar

Goffman, E. (1990). The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life (New edition). London: Penguin.

Link Google Scholar

Hargittai, E. (2007) Whose Space? Differences Among Users and Non-users of Social Network Sites. Journal of Computer-mediated Communication, 13 (1); 14.

Link DOI | Link Google Scholar

Ito, M.; Baumer, S.; Bittanti, M.; Boyd, D.; Cody, R. & Herr-Stephenson, B. (2009). Hanging Out, Messing Around & Geeking Out: Kids Living and Learning with New Media. Camb. Mass: MIT Press.

Link Google Scholar

Jenkins, H.; Clinton, K.; Purushotma, R. & Robison, A.J. (2006). Confronting the Challenges of Participatory Culture: Media Education for the 21st Century Building the field of digital media and learning Chicago: MacAr-thur Foundation; 72.

Link Google Scholar

Katz, I. (2006). Flickr, Katerina Fake and Stewart Butterfield, Extract from feature on Web 2.0 innovators, The Guardian Weekend Magazine. (www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2006/nov/04/news.weekendmagazine8) (30-07-2011); November 4th, 2006.

Link Google Scholar

Lievrouw, L.H. & Livingstone, S. (Eds.). (2006). The Handbook of New Media (Updated Student Edition). London: Sage.

Link Google Scholar

Merchant, G. (2005). Electric Involvement: Identity Performance in Children's Informal Digital Writing. Dis-course: Studies in the Cultural Politics of Education, 26 (3); 301-314.

Link DOI | Link Google Scholar

Merchant, G. (2012). Unravelling the Social Network: Theory and Research. (Forthcoming in) Learning Media and Technology 37 (1).

Link Google Scholar

Potter, J. (2008). Re-designing an MA module to Foster Agency, Engagement and Production in Online Social software. Reflecting Education, 4 (1); 81-91.

Link Google Scholar

Potter, J. (2010). Embodied Memory and Curatorship in Children's Digital Video Production. Journal of English Teaching: Practice and Critique, 9 (1).

Link Google Scholar

Rettberg, J.W. (2008). Blogging. Cambridge: Polity.

Link Google Scholar

Selwyn, N. (2010). Schools and Schooling in the Digital Age: A Critical Analysis. London: Continuum.

Link Google Scholar

Street, B. (1985). Literacy in Theory and Practice. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Link Google Scholar

Wenger, E. (1998). Communities of Practice. Learning, Meaning & Identity. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Link Google Scholar

Williams, J.B. & Jacobs, J. (2004). Exploring the Use of Blogs as Learning Spaces in the Higher Education Sector. Australasian Journal of Educational Technology, 20 (2); 232-247.

Link Google Scholar

Fundref

This work has no financial support

Crossmark

Technical information

Metrics

Metrics of this article

Views: 35500

Abstract readings: 29718

PDF downloads: 5782

Full metrics of Comunicar 38

Views: 993393

Abstract readings: 822866

PDF downloads: 170527

Cited by