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.

version 8

Google is my Friend: Literacy in Searching
by Pascal Routledge

Topic 1:  Affinity Space

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.  We experimented 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.

Topic2:  Becoming an Insider

It is important to discuss what is an insider 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 certain construct of the affinity web site 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.  In analyzing the definition and reviewing our data we believe that an insider is someone who has knowledge and experiences therefore able to provide solutions to problems and issues. These solutions are based on the insider’s previous work within the affinity domain. It was imperative for us to become insiders for our current research.   As 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 insiders.   Furthermore should we continue to develop our skills to produce a stop film animation movie we would be considered experts.   We had become insiders to the stop film animation movie affinity websites due to our 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.

Topic 3:  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 not fun, try, try and try again.  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 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 topic. 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 but not 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 deemed that they are an expert.  Students use this technique regularly in finding solutions to learning problems.

Topic 4:  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.  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. 

Topic 5:  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 we would become ‘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.

Jenkins, H., Clinton, K., Purushotma, R., Robison, A. J., & Weigel, M. (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.

Pointers for group meeting:

·         Define what you/we are doing. 

o   How that definition applies to what we did.

o   Give example of what the data did

o   Connects back to what the literature says.(like a loop)

·         Does the writing reflect the research and the data?-the citation must connect to our data? How does it connect? How is it supported in our data?

·         References/Citations: Specific research material not an opinion, it must be connected to the research no fluff and filler writing

·         Find the literature to support the research

·         Apply it to the research data and experiences that we have had

·         Conclude / Applying it to the classroom?  Are they drawing from research which is supported by data, now that we participated in the 21^st C. learning model we would do it again.

What are the conclusions?

Encouragement to write and further edit, using online discussion groups children need encouragement so that they can become insiders and practice and participate in the 21^st century learning model.

Difficult to research online, want to print and have a hard copy,

Once we became insiders we became fluent of in the act of this new 21^st century learning model

Google is my Friend version3

Google is my Friend: Literacy in Searching
by Pascal Routledge

Topic 1:  Becoming an Insider

It is important to discuss what is an insider 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.” (Researching New Literacies: Web 2.0 practices and insider perspectives, COLIN LANKSHEAR page 5)  An insider is someone who can make inferences, connections and interpretations of all kinds of levels to text within a certain construct of the affinity web site that may only make partial sense to the outsider whereby the insider fully understands.  (ibid Lankshear 2007 page 2).  The act of being an insider carries a certain important understanding or “mindset” (Lankshear & Knobel, 2003, 2006) that is affiliated with the shared knowledge within the website involving new technology stuff.  In analyzing the definition and reviewing our data we believe that an insider is someone who has knowledge and experiences to solve certain problem solving issues and offering things that work with digital stuff.  Becoming an insider fits our research as it indicates that as we became more experienced 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.  Furthermore we now have the knowledge and experiences that enable us to become insiders.   In addition should we continue to develop our skills to produce a stop film animation movie we could become experts.   We were becoming insiders to the stop film animation movie affinity websites due to our growing knowledge and confidence; we even published our artefact on such social sites as YouTube and Facebook.  In contrast we were not experts in this affinity.

Topic 2:  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, Affinity Spaces, page 14).  Moreover our difficulty became how to decide who was and wasn’t an expert.  We used trial and error to assess the value of the information and our willingness to grind (Jenkins) through the stuff.  For us this pattern in our own data suggests that we were willing to work through the parts of our project that were not fun, as referred to by Jenkins through the information to master the skills, collect the materials needed to produce a stop motion film that we felt proud of in anticipation of a pay off down the road.  (Jenkins, Confronting the Challenges of Participatory Culture: Media Education for the 21st Century White Paper page 23)   Furthermore, there were times in our research where we had to return to the site for additional solutions.  Literature refers to this just-in-time-learning concept (___________).  Our research was on hold until we found a solution to move forward, and we needed knowledge and skill at this time.  While we went back to the affinity sites to find solutions to our problems it became apparent to the group the difficulty of knowing who was an expert at the technical skills needed to produce a stop motion film or an expert in the content of our stop motion film and how the project relates to Star Wars.  We tested the solutions that was posted, or were offered on the Fan Fiction Sites, by who we refer to as an insider.  As we tested the possible solutions that we found it became apparent that not all suggestions were solutions.  If the suggestion failed we deemed the suggestion given from an insider but not an expert.  We then went back to the website and found another solution, from an insider, tested their suggestions and if it was successful, and we were happy with the result, we deemed that they are an expert.  Students use this technique regularly in finding solutions to learning problems.

Topic 3:  Affinity Space

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 Affinity Spaces, p. 9) a place where participants can share their ideas and discuss topics affiliated with the website.  They are able to be involved in the shaping of the content of the space and the interactional organization of the space. (Black Affinity Spaces, p. 22)  In traditional learning we were intimidated by others because of their size, race, gender, and age.  I would not participate and I was unwilling to engage in conversation or express an opinion.  However in the new literacy mechanism all are equal as no one can see one another.  According to Black “…“newbies,” or novices, and experts share the same activities and participate in the same space.” (Black Affinity Spaces, page 14) thereby encouraging experimentation and involvement within the website.  In our research we found this to be true.  We experimented with affinity spaces, we were able to test solutions and none of us felt intimidated.  As a researcher note, we have analyzed our lack of willingness to participate in online discussions because of our learning style, and lack of experience in using this learning mechanism-affinity space.

Topic 4:  The act of “being” involved in affinity spaces

We followed a process while we were involved in the creation of our stop motion movie.  The process was going online to get information, by becoming a 21^st Century learner and using those skills.  This process reflects the use of affinity web sites and what we did while we were their.  “Affinity spaces offer powerful opportunities for learning” (White Paper: Jenkins page 9).  By being involved 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. (White Paper: Jenkins page 4).   By the use of the above, which constitutes the 21^st Century learning style we produced our artefact.  We saw how much information is available and the details involved creating a stop motion animation film.  Therefore we saw the benefit of being involved in this type of participatory culture.  My experiences in doing the research demonstrated my comfort to take an idea and to test it.  I was not standing in the middle of my classroom with 100’s of eyes watching.  Therefore the strength of this process in learning is beneficial. 

Topic 5:  On the Edge

In our research we became takers of just-in-time knowledge and technique, that is, we were stuck and needed a skill or information, we searched the site, found the information and left the site, the term we ‘surfed’ the Internet applies in this instance.

We refer to on the edge as how we felt for the following reasons:  First, because we felt that there was no need to comment and secondly, the lack of ability or expertise to comment.  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 we become ‘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” (Growing Up Digital, Don Tapscott, page 139) Learning leaning towards the “Interactive” (ibid) 21^st Century Learning.

References

Additional Google is my friend writing

Additional Ideas for Connections from class regarding Affinity spaces on web search.

At which point did I become an insider of this participatory culture activity? Why did I not become an insider in this project? I did not actively participate on a fan fiction website.  An insider is someone who is an “expert” on the particular subject.  This expert will engage in online discussions offering their suggestions, criticisms, to others as well as receiving suggestions and criticisms to perhaps something that the expert has posted.

This complete stop animation project was an act of literacy.  I had to find information for our project as the need presented itself.  This type of needing to get more information as the need arises is referred to as just-in-time-learning which is a pattern that our group found.  Analysing the data collected from our field notes clearly indicates this pattern of the use of online affinity spaces to gather information or learn each time that we came to a problem for our movie creation.  The repeated actions of this just-in-time-learning indicates the learning through digital literacy activities. 

This act of problem solving became an act of literacy as I had to find the necessary information from many different places,  the data indicates that searched for answers to our problems by making Google my friend and engaging in reading what others had discovered with how to create and improve stop motion animation using 21^st Century digital media technology.

I had become literate in the act of creating stop animation at the moment that I become able to use the specific language that is affiliated with stop film animation.

Though I used Affinity fan fiction websites for additional effects and sounds for my stop motion movie I felt that I was on the edge or periphery of participating in and Affinity such as a Fan Fiction Website, the data indicates that I was engaged in Gees idea of an affinity site whereby I searched out information as it was needed at that moment to advance my learning of stop animation.  I did not become part of the actual online discourse because my need for information is of a temporary situation, in other words, because I do not plan to be an active participant and continue to make fan fiction movies I consider myself a temporary because of the just-in-time-learning information needed for the movie project.

I did not feel like I was an expert in the creation and sharing of the stop motion animation movie, as indicated in the data:   I did not contribute or add anything to the many different posts of people who were in the know or experts in stop motion movie making using 21^st Century digital skills, therefore I was unwilling to actively participate in a discussion on a Star Wars Fan Fiction chat board.  However, there was no reason why I could not have created an account, and participated in the many chat rooms or boards where others who are in the know or at least appeared to be knowledgeable and began to become an insider. Perhaps because this was a project in learning and not entirely personal interest of my own is the reason why I did not begin to chat.

I was able to read through many posts and comments from the “community” members therefore discovering specific information that I was looking for at that moment again the just in time information referred to by _________-.  I felt that I did not have anything that I could add to the comments as I felt that I did not have enough knowledge or experience in this area.

Affinity spaces do represent an ideal learning environment as these spaces offer a digital space for participants to be a “part of” their own learning.  I draw many connections to my own personal learning through the use of such tools as a computer to access the Internet and search for pieces of published articles and how to manuals for many aspects of my ongoing learning.  For example the use of the Internet in such as ways as conducting information gathering searches on Google to search out how-to instructions for creating our stop film movie as an artefact from our learning.  As well as participating in online fan fiction sites collecting information for the betterment of the movie.  According to Jenkins and Gee:  “Affinity spaces offer powerful opportunities for learning, Gee argues, because they are sustained by common endeavors that bridge differences in age, class, race, gender, and educational level, and because people can participate in various ways according to their skills and interests, because they depend on peer-to-peer teaching with each participant constantly motivated to acquire new knowledge or refine their existing skills, and because they allow each participant to feel like an expert while tapping the expertise of others.” (White Paper: Jenkins page 10).  

Google is my Friend version 2:Literacy in searching

Google is my Friend:  Literacy in Searching
by Pascal Routledge

·         Topic 1:  Becoming an Insider

The patterns in our research data indicates a repeated involvement with websites looking for information, typical behaviour for participatory culture.  The data does not indicate that we were becoming an insider.   An insider is someone who is involved in sharing a discussion online within a certain group or web community.  As the patterns indicated I did not act as an insider because I did not engage in online discussions with members of the Fan Fiction sites that I visited.  I found that in order to be an insider of this culture I needed to have more experience with stop animation and Star Wars before I would feel that I would be an insider.  I was more of a visitor outside the web space merely collecting the information that I needed.

An insider is someone who is an “expert” or acting “expertly” on the particular subject.  This expert will engage in online discussions offering their suggestions, criticisms, to others as well as receiving suggestions and criticisms to perhaps something that the expert has posted.  As the project developed it was evident that we had established a pattern to seek out information, which we needed to produce our stop animation movie.  We found that engaging in online Fan fiction websites, where there were people or members who could share their knowledge at that time, helpful.  In addition, we were able to go back and search through old posts or discussions through these websites.  We discovered relevant information to help us with our own stop animation project.  We decided that because these members had contributed to the online discussion that they had experiences in this area making them an “insider”.  This engagement of online discourse is “literacy” or acting in a kind of “new literacy” through participatory culture using digital media that today’s 21^st Century Learner is comfortable using.

·         Topic 2:  Accessing Expertise

Accessing “expert” opinions while searching online for solutions to problems, which arose during our project, was a pattern.  Each time we were able to access “experts” through Affinity or fan based web sites accessing their prior experiences which they have shared online. “Experts and novices share the same space.”  (Black: 14 Fan fiction and affinity spaces). This type of information gathering as the need arises is referred to as just-in-time-learning which is a pattern that became evident as we analyzed our data.  Analysing the data collected from our field notes clearly indicates this pattern of the use of online affinity spaces to gather information or learn each time that we came to a problem for our movie creation.  The repeated actions of this just-in-time-learning indicates the learning through digital literacy activities. 

·         Topic 3:  Who is involved in Affinity spaces?

These online areas where youth ‘hang out’ provide many opportunities for learning to occur as needed, commonly referred to as just-in-time-learning opportunities.  This type of online social behaviour assists youth in their learning of traditional literacy (Jenkins et al, 2006, p. 4).  This open online collaboration according to research from Black supports the fundamental equality, racial equity, social status equality that is found very often among these online affiliations or Affinity Spaces: It is important to keep in mind that space refers to “…the idea of a space in which people interact rather than on membership in a community.” (Situated Language and Learning: Gee page 77) These online spaces and shared affinities offer opportunity for the learning to be voluntary and quite sophisticated.  It is at this early stage that the literacy becomes apparent in this type of media rich project which is mostly self-generated by fans; however it is understood that our stop animation project was first and foremost a vehicle for the learning to occur.

·         Topic 4: The act of “being” involved in affinity spaces

This is where the literacyness of online fan communities, like affinity spaces, such as stop film animation web sites, or chat rooms provides the insider information needed to successfully produce a digital artefact on a particular style of animation, for support of creating these movies, which further develop the participant’s literacy skills.  According to Jenkins and Gee:        “Affinity spaces offer powerful opportunities for learning, Gee argues, because they are sustained by common endeavours that bridge differences in age, class, race, gender, and educational level, and because people can participate in various ways according to their skills and interests, because they depend on peer-to-peer teaching with each participant constantly motivated to acquire new knowledge or refine their existing skills, and because they allow each participant to feel like an expert while tapping the expertise of others.” (White Paper: Jenkins page 10). 

By being involved 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. 

These are the literacy’s of the 21^st Century Learner that became evident through the act of creating a stop motion animation movie or other digital artefact. This less modern method of learning involvement or setting with the students being far less engaged in doing the work and more engaged in listening to the teacher lecturing to the students is deemed as far less effective learning; referred to as the “broadcast” approach by Don Tapscott, Growing Up Digital.  The acts of involvement in this online space is the stuff that makes up the new literacy practices and the things that students need to learn to succeed in their future.

·         Topic 5:  On the edge

The use of Affinity fan fiction websites, for problem solving, such as finding additional effects and sounds for a stop animation movie.  I felt that I was on the “edge” or “periphery” of participating in an Affinity or Fan Fiction Website.  The data indicated that I was engaged in accessing distributed expertise online.  In Gees idea of an affinity site whereby I searched out information as it was needed just-in-time to advance my learning of stop animation.  I did not become part of the actual online discourse because my need for information is of a temporary situation, in other words, because I do not plan to be an active participant and continue to make fan fiction movies I consider myself temporary because of the temporary nature of this just-in-time-learning information needed for the movie project.

I did not feel like I was an expert in the creation and sharing of the stop motion animation movie, as indicated in the data:   I did not contribute or add anything to the many different posts of people who were insiders or experts in stop motion movie making using 21^st Century digital skills, therefore I was unwilling to actively participate in a discussion on a Star Wars Fan Fiction chat board.  

However, there was no reason why I could not have created an account, and participated in the many chat rooms or boards where other insiders “hang out” because there are no boundaries therefore “everyone has a more active stake in the culture that is produced.” (White Paper: Jenkins page 10). Perhaps it is the reason that this was a project in learning and not entirely of my own personal interest that I did not act as an “insider”.

Additional ideas

( In our data, identifiable elements of this dimension of new literacies elements include accessing expertise from affinity websites, being an insider in these affinity websites, just-in-time-learning, and problem solving. In our data, X typically….  For example

·         Just-in-time-learning by accessing distributed expertise found in websites or affinity spaces

·         What is an affinity space according to __________

·         Was being involved in Affinity spaces a new literacy practice?

·         What do affinity spaces offer for learning? As indicated by data pattern

·         Namely:(
(a) Where is the ‘literacy’ in what you did? That is, what is it about the practice you engaged in that makes it a kind of (new) literacy practice? What are some of the main dimensions or aspects of its ‘literacyness’ and what examples from your data can be used to illustrate/argue for this view?
(b) How did you (start to) become ‘literate’ and ‘fluently literate’ in and through the ‘doing’ of (participation in) the practice you chose to engage in? Here again, you will use the data collected to identify significant aspects of learning how to engage in the practice and becoming more of an ‘insider’ to the practice.
(What is the pattern? What did you find? What is the conclusion?))

References