I want to diverge a little from my fieldwork at School One and write a little about my thoughts on media. I use the term “media” rather than “medium” as I have come to realise that all media suggests an inherent multiplicity and as such, media can never really be singular. The production of this claim comes primarily from Marshall McLuhan’s “The Medium is the Message” where he posits that the content of any medium is always another medium. Our systems of communication have evolved around this particular claim. Digital technology merely creates shifts in the way we present information, rather completely reinvent it.
As such, I find this to unsettle what we consider “new media”. The “new” in “new media” insinuates that this type of media has never been seen before. However, this is not necessarily the case. To take the concrete example of digital writing and composition (here is a link to some of my own explorations), it would seem as though the new media project completely reinvents the way in which we communicate information. However, the project still comprises of certain media that we are familiar with. Only the technology itself changes.
This line of thinking has made me consider the “new media projects” existent in the English classroom at School One. In a conversation with the high school teacher, she mentioned that her students were daunted by the idea of producing a “video project”. In examining a couple of past projects, I came to find that the students made use of media such as text and photographs — media that students are already familiar with. It was interesting then to consider why the students felt so overwhelmed. Perhaps it was the idea of producing something that contained so much? Or using iMovie — a technology that not many of them had tried before?
Nevertheless, this made me consider thinking about how to teach students to become literate with “new” media. Perhaps it is just a matter of teaching students the components that comprise the greater project. By being able to recognise that these type of projects are made up of elements that students are already familiar with, the fear surrounding the creation of this type of a project could be quelled.