7/9/09 posting
While reading Postman, phrases kept surfacing which I found myself highlighting: "People will come...to adore the technologies that undo their capacities to think..." (p. vii). I find students, when given a research assignment, usually react by doing a random Google search, then skim articles briefly and move on to another. What they don't do well is think about the best place to find the information they need, then read the info carefully to see what it contains. If the info doesn't jump off the page or present itself within the first paragraph or two, they'll move on to look elsewhere. This is just one of the myriad of reasons why they need media education to challenge them to question info/ "plant the seeds of doubt." "Public discourse increasingly takes the form of entertainment..." (p.3)- this was one of the "hates/dislikes" noted by classmates in today's discussion. " "Definitions of truth are derived at least in part, from the character of the media of communication through which information is conveyed..." (p. 17) Postman's writings were geared toward a much smaller media world. It's frightening to think of this idea of truth (versus spin?) is coming at us from so many places. I keep coming back to this: we have, as a society, so many ways of communicating-internet, email, youtube, blogs, twitter, facebook, etc., but are we, collectively, getting better at communicating?
The Wesch video was so fast paced, it presented much to think about at breakneck speed!
I felt bombarded with information, questions which deserve serious though, but which, if I didn't jot them down, I would easily forget! Who Will organize all of the information? How best DO we rethink issues about privacy, authorship, ownership, censorship? I look forward to these topics being covered/discussed further in class.
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