Metacognitive Review

Journeying through this semester and learning about New Media and New Literacies really gave me a few ah ha moments in regards to my strengths and weaknesses in learning and processing information.  I have a desire to learn from school and life, motivated to do well and am goal oriented.  Where I have an opportunity is to practice better time management and demonstrating effective organizational skills.

It was so interesting to see which assignments I naturally responded to as opposed to those I had to push myself to become engaged.  Just understanding the definition of traditional literacy and learning about the evolution of it including media and technology was quite interesting.  I still get a little confused on Green’s approach to literacy and how to apply it but it is starting to click.

Networked Public Analytics including media convergence and networked participation was such a great learning experience for me being able to learn about the convergence between old and new media.

I became actively engaged in learning about Critical Literacy and Media Education (Advertising Deconstruction) as this totally relates to the fashion industry that I came from and teaching at SUNY Fashion Institute of Technology (FIT).  I’ve reviewed many different types of advertisements but deconstructing it was something totally different.

I also enjoyed learning about growing up digital as what children and students are learning today is so advanced compared to what I grew up with.  Today, first graders are given computers and tablets to use in school.   This is so different from how I grew up. They get excited from using smart boards in class and look forward to solving problems.  On the other hand, many times the digital divide creates an atmosphere where children aren’t very social (one on one interaction) and can barely have a conversation.

This class has really opened my eyes to the history of literacy and an extraordinary look into where it has evolved to today.  I enjoyed learning from my classmates and professor and look forward to the next phase.

GROWING UP DIGITAL...

The adolescent pre-teen I interviewed is a 12 year old African-American male named Jackson that lives in Washington D.C.  Jackson attends an accelerated High School in which a major part of their mission is to serve as a learning community where students undergo diverse, meaningful opportunities and experiences and receive a quality education.  He is also an active member of the Cub Scouts.  While it is said that students today are way too focused on their phones.  Jackson actually has a very nice balance.  He logs on to his favorite site Instagram daily and spends about 10-15 minutes checking it out.  It’s quite refreshing to see a pre-teen who has a balance with his social media use and is able to focus his time on other things.  Adults on the other hand could probably take a lesson from this.

The Communicative Functions of Colour

Colours are very powerful and can reduce or raise stress levels,’ believes Lilian Verner-Bonds, author of Colour Healing (pg.229). 

 When approaching the tools and techniques put into practice regarding colour, we distinguish two types of affordance in colour, two sources for making meaning with colour.  First there is association, or provenance – the question of ‘where the colour comes from’, ‘where we have seen it before’.(van Leeuwen, pg.232-233).  This is evident in advertising or the entertainment media.  The second type of affordance is that of the ‘distinctive features’ of colour.  Here we want to show some aspects of the affordances of the materiality of colour, and hence make a connection, not with the ‘grammar’, but with phonetics and phonology (van Leeuwen, pg. 233).

Some of the Key Features of Color could by applied to Green’s approach to literacy as below:

Operational

Value- The scale of value is the grey scale, the scale from maximally light (white) to maximally dark (black).

Saturation- This is the scale from the most intensely saturated or ‘pure’ manifestations of a colour to its softest, most ‘pale’ or ‘pastel’, or dull and dark manifestations, and, ultimately, to complete desaturation, to black and white.

Cultural

Purity- this is the scale that runs from maximum ‘purity’ to maximum ‘hybridity’, and it has been at the heart of colour theory as it developed over the last few centuries.  Colours with commonly used single names, such as brown and green, would be considered pure.  The names of other colours, like cyan, are mainly used by specialists, and non-specialists would refer to them by means of a composite name, for instance, blue-green.

Modulation- this is the scale that runs from fully modulated colour (for example, from a blue that is richly textured with different tints and shades, as in paintings by Cezanne) to flat colour, (as in comic strips, or paintings by Matisse).

Critical

Differentiation- is the scale that runs from monochrome to the use of a maximally varied palette, and its very diversity or exuberance is one of its key semiotic affordances, as is the restraint involved in its opposite, lack of differentiation.

Hue- this is the scale from blue to red.  In a distinctive feature theory of colour it becomes only one of the factors constituting the complex and composite meanings of colour, and maybe not even the most important one.

(van Leeuwen, pgs.233-235)

I am so interested in this topic as it is a major part of my professional career in fashion.  Color can influence the ambiance and consumer behavior of a retail store.  For example blue is a color that is attractive to the majority of people, including both genders and all age groups, so it is a good choice for many retailers. Adding some red or blue to the color scheme will add energy to the blue.  Yellow is a happy and playful color but it can create anxiety.  Red should be used in small doses in retail businesses. It can cause aggression and anger if used in large amounts so it’s wise to use it as an accent color to add energy, passion and excitement.

Also check out....http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/223799

References:

Kress, Gunther & van Leeuwen, Theo (2006). Reading Images: The Grammar of Visual Design. New York: Routledge.

Deconstructing a Print Advertisement

Coming from the fashion industry, I look at ads on many days.  During this assignment I tried to analyze from a different point of view.  The ad I chose was from the Celine fashion house, Spring 15.  Celine which is known as a trend setting ready-to-wear and leather goods luxury brand took a risk by featuring Joan Didion, 80-year old well known author in their Spring 15 campaign.  There were two main points I took away when using Marshall McLuhan’s theories. 

Hot and Cool media- specifically looking at what would be considered cool tends to keep an audience involved, deeply participated and engaged.  This ad definitely creates that interests by highlighting a very cool octogenarian who appears to be very fashionable and chic.

The medium is the message- now while there isn’t any content listed in the ad, the picture alone communicates such a strong powerful message for women and pro-aging.  This can give older women the freedom to dress up again and feel good about themselves.

photo: www.vogue.com

Weblogs and the Public Sphere....

According to Andrew O’Baoill, he assess the potential impact of weblogs on the public sphere, using a model based on the work of Jürgen Habermas to provide an ideal against which we can measure the efficacy of weblogs as a public space. 

Specifically including inclusivity of access, a disregard for external rank, and the potential for rational debate of any topic until consensus is achieved are necessary criteria for meeting Habermas's model of an idealized public sphere.

Inclusivity

Those promoting the weblog are proud of the fact that it is so easy to use, with a typical claim being that "anyone who can e-mail or buy online can blog" (Crowley, 2003).

Rank

Talking about outside rank-the reputation that a contributor builds within a public sphere can be properly taken into account, as it contributes to the warrant that a person is seen to issue with each speech act. (O'Baoill)

Rational Debate of Any Topic Until Consensus Is Achieved

The worry is that in the constant desire for new data-be it new sources to which to link or the constant need for anecdotes and entertaining memes-blogging provides a distraction, but little true insight or productive results. (O'Baoill)

Inclusivity and Rank are two necessary criteria I understand that are needed in weblogs and the public sphere.  Inclusivity basically states all are welcome as long as you can email or purchase items on line creating an inclusive environment.  The best example to use for rank includes the way Google works.  The most popular or most clicked on  key works/pages will be pushed to the top.  I’m still a little fuzzy on the rational debate of any topic until consensus is achieved.  I understand consensus as a general agreement shared by a group but how it relates to this topic I’m not sure.

References:

O'Baoill, Andrew, Weblogs and the Public Sphere, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign