i-Anya

Skyping at 2:45am for me, we begin to map out our workshop for this conference. Here’s the overview for the conference program…

Embodiment in Virtual Environments: Exploring Literacies, Identity, Research, and Community

Charles Kinzer, mathematics, science, and technology, Teachers College, Columbia University
Angela Thomas, University of Sydney

An increasing number of scholars, researchers, game/educational designers, and reporters in the popular press are writing about the economic, educational, and personal aspects of a virtual life online. Communities form and disband, individuals join or are excluded, and people can take very personally the virtual environments that they present, either intentionally or unintentionally, to others. With crossover from the “real” to the virtual (and the opposite) being an area of research and providing the underpinning for transfer of learning across real and virtual boundaries, educational opportunities and issues related to literacy, broadly defined, are being foregrounded.

Participants in this workshop will enter a virtual world, tour environments within that world, meet people and consider issues pertaining to research in such environments. The workshop format allows discussion and consideration of possibilities as well as presentation of some current activities. Thus, in keeping with the workshop format, the session will range from a presentation and consideration of issues related to virtual environments to hands-on tours and examination of applications in Second Life. We will meet others in-world, see how education might be facilitated, and consider embodiment and reality with spaces that exist electronically and perceptually.

See Rebecca, that’s how I manage to be involved in several projects at once, planning meetings at 2:45 am Who else here thinks I am crazy?

Remember last year that I mentioned this conference, associated with the National Council of Teachers of English Assembly for Research :
What Counts as Literacy? Living Literacies of the Body and Image,
and I said it would be absolutely the most perfect conference for me to attend and I wished I could go..

Anyway just look at Jay Lemke’s talk about research directions into New Literacies, I think he might well have been reading my blog *laugh* -

New Media & New Learning Communities: Critical, Creative, and Independent
Jay Lemke, Educational Studies, University of Michigan

Today’s students are teaching themselves to be media producers as well as media consumers. As they learn to blur the boundaries between consumer culture and user-made media, will we learn to cross the divide between school curricula and the rest of students’ multi-literate lives? How can we help them remain critical as well as creative outside of school and for the long term? Research on students’ literacies needs to focus on their networked media: from fan-fiction sites, blogs, and MySpace identities, to online gameworlds, home-made podcasts, and SecondLife machinema. Research towards innovative, improved educational systems for the future needs to look beyond schooling to how professional educators can participate in learning communities whose goals are set by their members. I will describe a new research agenda that looks at learning across media, across sites, real and virtual, and across timescales.

Well, I am going!!! See, here I am on the schedule, presenting with Professor Charles Kinzer in a 2 hour workshop session!!

But in reality, I will be sitting at home in my nightgown and slippers clasping a hot cup of coffee at 6 am in front of my computer, particpating through Second Life! Luckily my avatar won’t have bags under her eyes, and can look perfectly glamorous

We’ll be talking about Second Life, avatars and the usual… Stay tuned for more!

Here’s a new form of interactive game / narrative which pushes the boundaries of what is real and what is virtual - the Girlfriend Experience. I find it really interesting from a linguistic point of view that they mention Second Life, and refer to “first life” - the terms seem to have become synonymous with a sexy new way of referring to 3D vertual worlds in general, regardless of whether it is actually Linden Labs’ Second Life or not. Here’s the blurb from the site:

The avatars of The Girlfriend Experience will be available every Wednesday, Thursday and Friday from 20:00- 23:00. They can also be observed live in the Analog Villa, the Mediamatic Exhibition space.

The rampant growth of online avatar communities such as Second Life and World of Warcraft has enabled the creation of a personal online social and economic existence. Simultaneously this triggers inherent questions about this existence, as it questions what the consequences will be for first life, or reality.

When you use virtual avatars you can do as you please. In The Girlfriend Experience you will have to get to know each other first. Player and avatar explore what they can do for each other and how far the avatar wants to go to execute specific desires. It is ambiguous who is really controlling the situation. You have ten minutes to figure out what you can do with your avatar. After that, your time is up and another player can take your place.

The title of the project, The Girlfriend Experience, denotes the paradoxical character that online social interaction has. On one hand, the safe anonymity by using the avatar, on the other the intimate releases and projections that can spread easily. For Martin Butler is this the merging of two apparent extremes, anonymity and intimacy, which characterizes an important part of contemporary social traffic. The best paid prostitutes are the ones with whom the client feels as though he is with his girlfriend, or with whom he has a Girlfriend Experience.

Goodness! Don Leu just sent me the massive outline of chapters for a handbook I contributed to about research in New Literacies, and its going to be an amazing collection of chapters. Look!!!!! Its an honour to be in such great company. The Handbook is due out in June or July, and it promises to be substantial in more ways than one.

TABLE OF CONTENTS
THE HANDBOOK OF RESEARCH IN NEW LITERACIES

Editors:

Julie Coiro, University of Connecticut
Michele Knobel, Montclair State University
Colin Lankshear, James Cook University
Donald J. Leu, University of Connecticut

INTRODUCTION

Central Issues In New Literacies And New Literacies Research

Julie Coiro, University of Connecticut
Michele Knobel, Montclair State University
Colin Lankshear, James Cook University
Donald J. Leu, University of Connecticut

SECTION I. METHODOLOGIES

An Introduction To Methodologies

Toward A Connective Ethnography Of Online/Offline Literacy Networks
Kevin M. Leander, Vanderbilt University, USA

Large-Scale Quantitative Survey Research On New Technology Uses
Ron Anderson, University of Minnesota, USA

Converging Traditions Of Research On Media And Information Literacies: Disciplinary, Critical, And Methodological Issues
Sonia Livingstone, Elizabeth Van Couvering, and Nancy Thumim, London School of Economics and Political Science, UK

The Conduct Of Qualitative Interviews: Research Questions, Methodological Issues, And Researching Online
Lori Kendall, University of Illinois, USA

The Case Of Rebellion: Researching Multimodal Texts
Andrew Burn, Institute of Education, University of London, UK

Experimental And Quasi-Experimental Approaches To The Study Of New Literacies
Jonna Kulikowich, The Pennsylvania State University, USA

SECTION II. KNOWLEDGE AND INQUIRY

An Introduction To Knowledge And Inquiry

Learning, Change, And Power: Competing Frames Of Technology And Literacy
Mark Warschauer, University of California, Irvine, USA
Paige Ware, Southern Methodist University, USA

The Web As A Source Of Information For Students In K-12 Education
Els Kuiper and Monique Volman, Vrije Universiteit, Amsterdam, The Netherlands

Where Do We Go Now? Understanding Research On Navigation In Complex Digital Environments
Kim Lawless, University of Illinois at Chicago, USA
P.G. Schrader, University of Nevada, Las Vegas, USA

The Changing Landscape Of Text And Comprehension In The Age Of New Literacies
Bridget Dalton, Center for Applied Special Technology (CAST), USA
C. Patrick Proctor, Boston College, USA

Exploring Culture In The Design Of New Technologies Of Literacy
Patricia Young, University of Maryland, Baltimore County, USA

Multimedia Literacy
Richard Mayer, University of California, Santa Barbara, USA

Multiliteracies And Metalanguage: Describing Image/Text Relations As A Resource For Negotiating Multimodal Texts
Len Unsworth, University of New England, Australia

SECTION III. COMMUNICATION

An Introduction To Communication

Mediating Technologies And Second Language Learning
Steven Thorne, The Pennsylvania State University, USA

Of A Divided Mind: Weblog Literacy
Torill Elvira Mortensen, Volda University College, Norway

People, Purposes, And Practices: Insights From Cross-Disciplinary Research Into Instant Messaging
Gloria E. Jacobs, St. John Fisher College, USA

Gender In Online Communications
Jonathan Paul Marshall, University of Technology, Sydney, Australia

SECTION IV. POPULAR CULTURE, COMMUNITY, AND CITIZENSHIP: EVERYDAY LITERACIES

An Introduction To Popular Culture, Community, And Citizenship: Everyday Literacies

Intersections of Popular Culture, Identities, And New Literacies Research
Margaret C. Hagood, College of Charleston, USACollege Students And New Literacy Practices
Dana J. Wilber, Montclair State University, USA

Just Don’t Call Them Cartoons: The New Literacy Spaces Of Animé, Manga, And Fanfiction
Rebecca Ward Black, University of California, Irvine, USA

Cognition And Literacy In Massively Multiplayer Online Games
Constance A. Steinkuehler, University of Wisconsin—Madison, USA

Video Game Literacy: A Literacy Of Expertise
Kurt D. Squire, University of Wisconsin—Madison, USA

Community, Culture And Citizenship In Cyberspace
Angela Thomas, University of Sydney, Australia

New Literacies And Community Inquiry
Bertram C. Bruce and Ann P. Bishop, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, USA

SECTION V. INSTRUCTIONAL PRACTICES AND ASSESSMENT

An Introduction To Instructional Practices And Assessment

Digital Writing In The Early Years
Guy Merchant, Sheffield Hallam University, UK

Teaching Popular Culture Texts In The Classroom
Richard Beach and David O’Brien, University of Minnesota, USA

Using New Media In The Secondary English Classroom
Ilana Snyder, Monash University
Scott Bulfin, Australia Learning Management Systems

The Price Of Information: Critical Literacy, Education, And Today’s Internet
Bettina Fabos, Miami University in Oxford, Ohio, USA

Researching Multimodal Literacy
Pippa Stein, University of Witwatersrand, South Africa

Multimodal Reading And Comprehension In Online Environments
Claire-Wyatt Smith and John Elkins, Griffith University, Australia

New Literacies In Math And Science
Edys Quellmalz and Geneva Haertel, Center for Technology in Learning, SRI International, USA

Virtual Learning Environments: A Higher Education Focus
Colin Baskin and Neil Anderson, James Cook University, Australia

SECTION VI. MULTIPLE PERSPECTIVES ON NEW LITERACIES RESEARCH

An Introduction To Multiple Perspectives On New Literacies

Savannah: Mobile Gaming And Learning? by K. Facer, R. Joiner, D. Stanton, J. Reid, R. Hull, & D. Kirk

Being a Lion And Being A Soldier: Learning And Games
James Paul Gee, University of Wisconsin, Madison, USA

Savannah: Mobile Gaming and Learning: A Review Commentary
Susan Goldman and Jim Pellegrino, University of Illinois at Chicago, USA

The Nature Of Middle School Learners? Science Content Understandings With The Use Of On-Line Resources by J.L Hoffman., H.-K Wu, J.S. Krajcik, & E. Soloway

Intertextuality and the Study of New Literacies: Research Critique and Recommendations
Peggy N. Van Meter and Carla Firetto, The Pennsylvania State University, USA

Internet Pedagogy: Using the Internet to Achieve Student Learning Outcomes
Bob Bleicher, California State University Channel Islands, USA

Instant Messaging, Literacies, and Social Identities by C. Lewis & B. Fabos

An Essay Review Of The Lewis & Fabos Article On Instant Messaging
Donna Alvermann, University of Georgia, USA

Thoughts On The Lewis & Fabos Article On Instant Messaging
David Reinking, Clemson University, USA

L2 literacy and the design of the self: A case study of a teenager writing on the Internet by W.S.E. Lam

Critical Review: “L2 Literacy and the Design of the Self: A Case study of a Teenager Writing on the Internet”
Catherine Beavis, Deakin University, Burwood, Australia

A Commentary On “L2 Literacy, Electronic Representation of Self, and Social Networking”
Richard Duran, University of California, Santa Barbara, USA

The journey ahead: Thirteen teachers report how the Internet influences literacy and literacy instruction in their K–12 classrooms by R.A. Karchmer

Researching Technology And Literacy: Thirteen Ways Of Looking At A Blackboard
Colin Harrison, University of Nottingham, UK

Internet Literacy Influences: A Review of Karchmer (2001).
Jackie Marsh, The University of Sheffield, UK

I am so thrilled to be in communication with Barry Joseph of Global Kids, and to be learning more about the work that is being done with teens in Second Life. Their site, Holy Meatballs, is truly inspirational, full of texts, images and machinima that the kids have created. UNICEF’s voices of youth project featuring these kids is explained here, and is the subject of the video above. My friend and colleague Danielle Mirliss first raised my awareness of Global kids in her Slatenight article, Henry Jenkins has been to visit the kids there (with the support of the NMC), and I’ve been excitedly following along, looking forward to becoming much more involved myself. So stay tuned

Wanna watch an old movie that is now in the public domain? Here’s a film noir from the 40s! I knew there were sites you could register at to access movies online but I didn’t know you could go get them from google!!

Although I only had a very tiny bit of funding last year to start me up in Second Life it didn’t last long, and I spent a small fortune on land, tier, and classroom costs from my own pocket. Although I applied for funding to continue, I was unfortunately unseccessful (honestly…. it was deemed that paying for land in SL was “an inappropriate use of funds”, but let’s not get into how upset I was when I was told that). So I had to sell up and return to being homeless.

However thanks to the amazing kindness of my friend Dell, I am now squatting on his gorgeous sim in my cute yacht (thanks to the clever craftswomanship of Sabrina Doolittle, of Linden Lifestyles fame). Here we are chilling out on the deck and pretending that we are still on vacation:

I also tossed in my academic “serious” image for a while with this cute pink hair (appropriately called “Party Girl” from a design house called “Naughty Designs”). So… I might be entrenched in unit outlines, meetings, more meetings, “retreat” days, lecture preparation and admin by day, but by night I’ve turned into a wild woman!

OK, maybe wild woman isn’t really me … actually its an interesting phenomenon to have my personal and professional lives blend so much in Second Life. I made an alt (which means an “alternate” account with a different name- I called my alt Sofie) in an attempt to keep personal and professional lives seperate, but then I realised that almost all my friends in Second Life were professional colleagues in some form or another, and I didn’t feel right not being Anya for very long!

What I’ve started noticing is that people can tell what mood I am in by the colour of hair I am wearing. I teach visual literacy, and I do art as a hobby, so I know the power of colour as an interpersonal meaning making resource. But I didn’t realise just HOW powerful it was, and how it affected my interactions with others. I have three colours I seem to regularly use: blonde, dark brown, and pink. Blonde is when I am feeling happy and energetic. Dark brown is when I am feeling serious, and pink is when I am feeling a little silly. Although I consciously choose what I wear for the social purpose of my activities (academic, personal etc…) I wasn’t consciously aware of choosing according to mood. My friends all knew before I did!!

Wow!!! I was just reading Colin and Michele’s blog and discovered this post about 23-year-old Chilean journalism student Francisca Solar whose fan fiction has just been published by Random House!!! How amazing. (Note to Tiana and Jandalf, my favourite fan fiction writers: you two should be next!!!) .

Here is the BBC report, and it includes the following comment:

The Decline of the High Elves became a massive online smash, generating 80,000 views and positive reviews from Harry Potter fans around the world.

The published version is titled “La Septima M”:

Here’s a youtube video of Francisca speaking about the journey she took from writing the fan fiction to publishing it:

Australia’s Madison magazine (which doesn’t have a website) published the article below about Second Life in their January edition. The author was Alexandra Carlton, and I am reproducing it here with permission from the Deputy Editor, Lizzie Renkert.

I especially wanted to reproduce it not because of any startling revelations it has about Second Life (after all, the author of the article states she only spent 3 evening sessions in the world), but because it makes a link to one of the best magazines from inside Second Life, Second Style. I really like the fact that the author took the time to speak to Celebrity Trollop, the editor of Second Style, to better understand SL fashion. There’s repeated criticism about journalists and reporters who come into Second Life, spend a few hours there, and then make outlandish, unfounded, or very shallow comments about what it is and what it has to offer. Anyway, here is the article, with Philip Rosendale and Second Style featured on the final page. Click to get to the enlarged versions.

Larry Johnson (aka Larry Pixel), the dynamic CEO of the New Media Consortium, has announced the further developments of NMC’s projects in Second Life. Yesterday he launched a new site, the NMC Virtual Worlds site:

and announced the expansion of the NMC virtual campus to a massive 29 sims:

Already boasting some gorgeous new builds including a machinima school and a space observatory, the sims are also beautifully landscaped to simulate oceans, mountains, lakes and rivers to provide a relaxing ambience for teaching and research in Second Life.

From what I can tell, Larry and the NMC are the largest non-profit organisation in Second Life and kindly provide the campus facilities for use to many educational organisations and individual educators like myself (I will be using the facilities to give a conference talk next month since I cannot personally attend the US conference).

Larry is also a spokesperson about the use of Virtual Worlds in education in association with the MacArthur Foundation, and was recently spotlighted with his article “Who’s Listening to the Avatars?”

NMC was behind the Impact of Digital Media Symposium last October, where I spoke about “The Avatar as Communication” as part of the Slatenight events presented in the Symposium. They continue to be the leading force in SL education and now have a huge staff of artists, builders, designers and educators working together to push the boundaries of all of the affordances of the virtual world for its creative and educational potential.

I arrived back from Tasmania on the weekend and one of the 1000 emails awaiting me was from the popular Daughters of Freya author, Michael Betcherman, announcing his new email narrative, Suzanne. I signed up immediately and have started reading the first instalments over the past 3 days - forget the 999 other emails I am still wading through, these are the most fun emails to receive every day. Here’s a little synopsis:

Suzanne
by Michael Betcherman

“A delightful farce … Jane Austen meets Carrie Bradshaw, or maybe Woody Allen meets Shakespeare.” - Jake Onrot, Vancouver BC.

Opening your email will never be the same again!

Suzanne Braun has been invited to a cottage on Lake Joseph, the summer playground for Toronto’s rich - and very rich. She heads north with one goal in mind, to return home with a wealthy fiance in tow. And she won’t let anything stand in her way.

The story is told through emails exchanged among the characters. But instead of reading the emails in a book, they’re delivered straight to your inbox in “real time”, 2-3 emails a day over the three weeks it takes for the story to unfold.

You can’t turn a page to find out what happens next … you have to wait for the next email to arrive.

I just love what I am reading so far - it *is* delightful and makes me laugh and smile and … I would love to chat to others about it - is anybody else reading it and want to share your thoughts with me?