Last week, I facilitated our group's discussion on the topic of social networking. As the topic is still fresh in my mind, I found an article I liked that focuses on five social media literacies:
- Attention
- Participation
- Collaboration
- Network awareness
- Critical consumption
I hadn't heard of the term "critical consumption". Per the author,"Critical consumption, or what Ernest Hemingway called "crap detection," is the literacy of trying to figure out what and who is trustworthy—and what and who is not trustworthy—online."(Rheingold, 2010). This is truly a critical literacy for all of us in the digital age. The Educause article entitled,
Attention, and Other 21-st-Century Social Media Literacies, gives some good information on all five of these social media literacies and challenges us as educators to explore these interconnected literacies and we attempt to engage ourselves and our students in our current networked society. My favorite part of the article is indeed the discussion of "crap detection" which I think is a critical skill for all of us to develop as we journey through the massive information on the web. I know for myself, I've spent too much time reading "crap" on the web or trying to source accurate information. Using a couple of the techniques described in the article may help me weed through all the junk and find useful, accurate information. I guess I'll be honing my "on-line detective" skills. How about you?
Source: Rheingold, H (2010). Attention, and Other 21st Century Social Media Literacies.
Educause.
Retrieved on November 30 from:
http://www.educause.edu/EDUCAUSE%2BReview/EDUCAUSEReviewMagazineVolume45/AttentionandOther21stCenturySo/213922
Hi Sue:
ReplyDeleteI think that "critical consumption" is a skill that teachers and students need to cultivate. As Web 2.0 technologies and all other forms of forthcoming technology become increasingly pervasive in people's everyday lives, having the ability to distinguish between trustworthy and non-trustworthy information will be not only be a useful skill, but necessary one. Thank you for submitting a post on such an interesting and engaging topic.
~Aja
Hi Susan,
ReplyDeleteWhat an engaging way to remind us about some of the inferior work on the web. I think we explored some of this during our web reviews, but your witty review of this really reminded me to keep this topic front and center when exploring the www.
Thanks.
Mickey
Hi Sue,
ReplyDeleteI like the point in the article that says “we have to learn to sample the flow, and doing so involves knowing how to focus our attention.” This was a great reminder for me to get focused and consider streamlining the onslaught of e-mails and feeds I get every day to really focus on what matters!
Thank you for your comments. The website reviews were an eye-opening experience for me in regard to critical consumption. I believe it would also be fun to brainstorm (or Mind Map!)various ways that educators can help students develop some on-line detective skills in order to find "the good stuff" on the web and avoid the rest of the stuff out there.
ReplyDeleteThroughout the courses in this program I have learned to become more critical of what I read on the Internet. I used to just compare several sites to see what information correctly overlapped. Checking the source of the page is a great idea I picked up from my class last semester. Having completed the website evaluation for this class gave me new insight. Its important to keep up on how things are changing so we truly get the most out of what we read on here.
ReplyDelete