Affinity Spaces: Searching for Learning

Saturday, June-11-11            10:37:10 AM
Affinity Spaces Version 1.21 revision in affinity space
From googledocs as of
Friday, June-10-11
Discussion Section

Affinity Spaces

What is an affinity space?  An affinity space is more than just occupying a here and now or presence.  An affinity space refers to:  “Approaching FFN as a space rather than a community then, is a way of focusing attention on the interplay among engagement, active participation, a sense of belonging, and the production of social space” (Black, 2008, p. 9). In application of this definition, affinity space is a place where participants can share their ideas and discuss topics affiliated with the website.  Users are able to be involved in the shaping of the content of the space and the interactional organization of the space (Black, 2008, p. 22).  In traditional learning we were intimidated by others because of their size, race, gender, or age. With the face to face space participants often feel unwilling to engage due to intimidation factors, thus valuable opinions and ideas are often lost. However in the new literacy mechanism all are equal as no one can see the other.  According to Black “…‘newbies,’ or novices, and experts share the same activities and participate in the same space” (Black, 2008, p. 14). This lack of personal identity encourages experimentation and involvement within the website.  In our research we found this to be true.  By experimenting with affinity spaces, we were able to test solutions and none of us felt intimidated.  As a researcher note, we felt mandated to examine our unwillingness to participate in online discussions. That is as users we could have made comments and entered into discussions with others on the site. We all chose not to and after some discussion realized it was due to our established learning styles, and lack of experience in using this learning mechanism-affinity space. “[Well, the affinity space *is* a learning space, but it is not *primarily* a learning space. It is a 'participation in a practice' space, within which, inevitably, learning occurs.]” (C. Lankshear, personal communication, June 8, 2011)

Furthermore, affinity spaces are not the mechanism for basic or fundamental learning, but rather a space for enhanced learning, which is highly motivational due to the willingness of the youth to participate in the practice- which facilitates the learning.  Traditional classrooms generally do not allow students to network together, with various 21^st Century digital skills or tools in technology.  (Gee, 2004, p.  89)  In addition, by tapping into affinity spaces and participating, youth are therefore able to gain or further develop their learning.  Moreover, it is through the act of participating in the social affinity web site that youth and learners can be involved in their own unique interests and be engaged in learning the 21^st Century skills.

In fact, Brown and Adler say that because Web architecture now provides a sophisticated participatory medium that is widely used for purposes of sharing, it can support multiple modes of learning (Brown, 2008, p. 18).   Furthermore Brown and Adler say that “…the most profound impact of the Internet, an impact that has yet to be fully realized, is its ability to support and expand the various aspects of social learning.”  (Brown, 2008, p. 18)  Learners are able to further develop or reach a deeper fuller level of learning (Gee, 2007, p. 172).   The Web or affinity site is the vehicle where we learn and how we learn further skills that are not necessarily worked on in the classroom thereby enhancing the learning.

Becoming an Insider

It is important to discuss what an insider is in the construct of an ‘affinity space’.  An insider is someone who is involved in discourse about a particular area which is at the basis of the affinity site or the social practice.  “This means that being an ‘insider’ to a new literacy practice presupposes sharing the ethos values in question; identifying with them personally” (Lankshear & Knobel, 2007, p. 228). An insider is someone who can make inferences, connections and interpretations of all kinds of levels to text within a particular space associated with an affinity web site -- or an interest shared with others -- that may only make partial sense to the outsider whereby the insider fully understands.  (Lankshear & Knobel, 2007, p. 225)  The act of being an insider carries a certain important understanding or “mindset” (Lankshear & Knobel, 2007, p. 231) that is affiliated with the shared knowledge within the website involving new technology stuff.  On the one hand it was concluded that participants who give advice are thereby insiders. However, according to an online discussion with Colin “…that is not true, because some people can spend years working in a practice and still not really ‘get it’. Insiders are people whose opinions actually count. They will always have *some* degree or sphere of expertise. ” (Lankshear, personal communication, June 8, 2011)   Which forces the question:  How does a participant in the culture become an ‘insider’ or furthermore an ‘expert’?  Lankshear continues to say that:

     You have to pay a lot of dues to become an insider, even though some insiders are vastly more expert that[n] others. Insiders have been around for a while and have paid a lot of dues to the practice. By contrast, someone can be a novice to a practice and yet have lots of relevant knowledge -- especially technical knowledge -- acquired elsewhere. There are lots of things I could provide answers to about stop animation, but I have never even made a single stop animation artefact, and there is no way I could possibly count as an insider. I just happen to know a bit about it from watching others work on SMAs, and I have read a bit, and I have some knowledge (technical) from other endeavours. ... Certainly, it is most unlikely that after a few weeks of mucking around in a field one can be anything close to an "insider". Although one could say that one is on the way toward becoming one… (Lankshear, personal communication, June 8, 2011)

In analyzing the definition and reviewing our data we believe that an insider is someone who understands the issues coupled with some knowledge and experience thus is at times able to provide solutions to problems and issues.  

It is important to note that not all of the solutions will be discovered through the affinity sites, experimentation, and trial and error contribute to the strategies used to provide solutions to our stop motion animation movie.  Some of these solutions are based on the insider’s previous work within the affinity domain. It was imperative for us to become familiar with the insiders for our current research. As novices in pursuit of becoming more like insiders, we gained experience with the production of the stop animation film; we began to use terms and words that were specific to the making of our movie artefact all elements of insider traits.  We were now using knowledge and experiences that labelled us as participants in the practice on the edge of insiders.   Furthermore should we continue to develop our skills to produce a stop film animation movie we would likely still only be considered participants.   We had become participants to the stop film animation movie affinity websites due to our participation in gaining knowledge, experiences and confidence; we even published our artefact on such social sites as YouTube and Facebook.  This one publication did not qualify the team as experts in this affinity but merely on the way of becoming a better learner of the skills needed to be a 21^st Century Learner. Our interest in this technique was to complete a sole project not seeking to become part of the culture.

Assessing Expertise

In affinity sites it is stated according to Black that ‘newbies’ and ‘experts’ share the same activities, “ and that there is a wide range of expertise and many forms of knowledge that are valued; thus, the roles of ‘expert’ and ‘novice’ are highly variable and contingent on activity and context at any given moment” (Black, 2008, p. 14).  Moreover our difficulty became, how to decide, who were the experts? We used trial and error to assess the value of the information and our willingness to grind (Jenkins, 2006, p. 23) through the stuff.  In a practical application this meant taking an offered solution from the affinity list applying it to our project and evaluating the effectiveness. For us this pattern in our own data suggests that we were willing to work through the parts of our project that were difficult and use the, try, try and try again technique.  The literature refers to this technique as just-in-time-learning concept.  Our media production was on hold until we found a solution to move forward. The team required knowledge and or a skill in order to proceed, thus we used the just in time learning method.

When we returned to the affinity sites seeking solutions it became apparent there were two distinct issues.  One of our problems was to solve technical issues and the other was a requirement to increase our knowledge of the practice as a whole -- in its 'purposive', 'epistemic' and 'normative', as well as its technical dimensions. (Lankshear, personal communication, June 8, 2011)

  Technical issues were in the production of the stop motion film, items such as how to do inserts, floating objects and fading. The other requirement was to ensure we were being true to the Star Wars history.  Knowledge of characters, events and roles was required to continue with our project.  We tested the solutions that were posted, or were offered on the Fan Fiction Sites, our concern here was the reputation of the source – was this insider or an expert.  By using the trial and error method, we tested the solutions offered and it soon became apparent that not all suggestions were solutions.  If the suggestion failed we deemed the suggestion given from an insider or merely a participant who may not have had the experience in the affinity to provide the group proper guidance. On the other hand we considered we were not able to apply the solution properly but chose to seek another solution rather than return to the site and ask a question about the offered solution. We deemed however the suggestion was not provided by an expert.  We then went back to the website and found another solution, tested their suggestions and if it was successful, and we were happy with the result, we concluded that they are more knowledgeable than the group.  Students use this technique regularly in finding solutions to learning problems.

The act of “being” involved in affinity spaces

We engaged in a process in order to create our stop motion movie.  We attempted to become 21^st Century learners, go on line obtain information, knowledge and technical skills, use the information to complete a task, a stop motion animation movie.  Furthermore, upon analysis of the data it is important to note that Google was our primary search engine which we used each time that it was needed to engage in the act of an online web search.   Something that did not emerge in our data is that the search results could be different should the search be through the use of another search engine. Online web searches, through the use of Google, resulted in the discovery of essential   information, required in the creating our stop motion animation movie.  The group was able to discover specific affinity spaces in our search for information, some examples of typical searches are listed below:  

http://www.theforce.net/fanfilms/postproduction/crawl/opening.asphttp://www.freewebs.com/starwarshomemadefilms/starwarsopeningcrawl.htm
http://www.moviesoundclips.net/movies1/starwars5/centuryfox.wav
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0080684/soundsites
http://www.galaxyfaraway.com/gfa/1998/12/star-wars-sounds-archive/
http://www.starwars.com/games/playnow/crawl_creator/
http://www.mediacollege.com/downloads/sound-effects/star-wars/
http://www.wavsource.com/movies/star_wars.htm
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2QK6zs0xxYw&NR=1

After searching the internet and finding certain websites it was then evident that there were general knowledge websites regarding certain aspects of our stop motion animation film such as sound clips.  Further searching through the websites and following recommended website links the group discovered additional fan fiction sites with specific insider tips and tricks which was the basis of the search at that time.  The discovery of these subject specific fan fiction sites provided the necessary information that was needed for the further improvement and development of our stop motion animation film. In fact it was these specific fan fiction sites that provided reliable solutions. This exercise in research reinforced the levelling of the internet for information. We considered it similar to using a beginner how to book vs. the theory of the topic with applications.

Our previous model of seeking information from texts, printed word was avoided; affinity web sites were our base information source.  By being involved, “affinity spaces offer powerful opportunities for learning” (Jenkins, 2006, p. 9). In this type of participatory culture activity, today’s youth are far more willing and able to develop their reading and writing skills, their social skills, research skills, technical skills, and critical analysis skills which are mastered outside of the typical lecture style of teaching in the classroom (Jenkins, 2006, p. 4).  By using the affinity web sites, which constitutes, the 21^st Century learning style we produced our artefact.  We experienced the volume of information available and the details involved creating a stop motion animation film, by using the click of the mouse.  Thus we participated in and visualized the benefits of being involved in this type of participatory culture.  This research experience vaulted us to test new ideas and review learning styles of our 21^st Century learners. The feeling of everyone in the classroom watching learning was eliminated, the 29 pairs of eyes were gone, and I was able to experiment without being immediately judged. We there by judge this process in learning to be valuable and beneficial. 

On the Edge

In our research we became takers, that is, just-in-time knowledge seekers. This technique follows a model you are stuck – require information and you seek a solution for the here and now to move your project forward. The information may be a skill or information, the process is to search a web site and solve your problem. Once we discovered the information and left the site, the term we ‘surfed’ the Internet applies in this instance. The approach is to find a solution and get out with the required information; there is no dialogue, interaction, or engagement with the site.

            On the edge is in relation of how we viewed our interaction with the web sites. First, after viewing the information we felt we were in no position to comment either positive or negatively to the information. We had to go and test prior to making a comment; we were in no position to evaluate the information at this point.  Secondly our established learning styles dictate take information, asses then comment. Today’s learner would easily comment from the beginning at the source of information, stating the solution looked cool or thanks we will try this solution and let you know. We were not that brave. Now that we have completed the artefact where we applied solutions from the affinity sites we could go back to them and enter discussions as to what worked and did not work.  Thereby through this activity, joined with further experimentation, additional research, and productions we would begin the long process of becoming or being considered ‘insiders’ and not just ‘surfers’.  In analysing this approach for a classroom application the essential component is the student being able to use the 21^st Century Literacy strategies.  We are being driven to provide opportunity to move us away from the 100% “Broadcast” (Tapscott, 1998) learning leaning towards the “Interactive” (Example 1) 21^st Century Learning.

References

Black, R. (2008). Adolescents and Online Fan Fiction. New York: Peter Lang.

Brown, J.S. and Adler, R. (2008). Minds on fire: Open Education, the long tail and Learn 2.).  Educause Review January/February. 17-32.

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

Gee, J. P. (2007). Good Video Games +Good Learning:  Collected Essays on Video Games.  New York:  Peter Lang.

Jenkins, H., with R. Purushotma, K. Clinton, M. Weigel, and A. Robinson (2006). Confronting the Challenges of Participatory Culture: Media Education for the 21st Century. Chicago: The MacArthur Foundation. Retrieved July 10, 2007 from http://www.newmedialiteracies.org/files/working/NMLWhitePaper.pdf

Lankshear, C., & Knobel, M.  (2007). Researching New Literacies: Web 2.0 Practices and Insider Perspectives, E–Learning and Digital Media. doi:  10.2304/elea.2007.4.3.224.

Tapscott, D.  (1998)  Growing Up Digital:  The Rise of the Net Generation. New York, NY:  McGraw-Hill.