Resources on the course website

We have posted 3 resources to the course website at   http://colin.lankshear.googlepages.com/cornerbrook08   They are Ch 15 on analyzing research data from our Teacher Research Handbook; a nice chapter by Andrew Burn on analyzing multimodal texts; and a chapter on identity as a lens for doing educational research by Jim Gee.   None of these is required reading, but you may find them useful somewhere down the line.

Some definitions of identity

Rebecca Black
Black argues that "identity" is "the ability to be recognized as a 'kind of person' … within a given context" (Black 2007: 118).

Angela Thomas
Being recognized as a certain 'kind of person', in a given context, is what I will mean by 'identity'.  In this sense of the term, all people have multiple identities connected not to their 'internal states', but to their performances in society." (Thomas 2007: 166).

Jon Marshall (2007)
"Identity is a process of categorization which involves the allocation of membership of people into groups.  I am an academic, a footballer, a soldier, a wife, etc.  The properties of the group are emphasized in relation to other groups and to the situation (p. 27). … People categorize themselves and are categorized in relationship to other groups.  These categorizations are related and dynamic, as people attempt to determine the attributes which allocate themselves and others to various groupings and demonstrate closeness to group prototypes.  People may have differing self-categorizations as members of different groups, some of which will change during their lifetime, and others of which (as appear with gender), are always relevant.  Identity categories are not just chosen but imposed." (p. 23)

James Paul Gee
Discourse can be seen as the underlying principle of meaning and meaningfulness. We "do life" as individuals and as members of social and cultural groups—always as what Gee calls "situated selves"—in and through Discourses, which can be understood as meaningful co-ordinations of human and non-human elements. Besides people themselves, the human elements of co-ordinations include people's ways of thinking, acting, feeling, moving, dressing, speaking, gesturing, believing, and valuing. Non-human elements of co-ordinations include such things as tools, objects, institutions, networks, places, vehicles, machines, physical spaces, buildings. And "[w]ithin such co-ordinations we humans become recognizable to ourselves and to others and recognize ourselves, other people, and things as meaningful in distinctive ways" (Gee, 1997, p. xiv).

References

Rebecca Black (2007). Digital Design: English language learners and reader reviews in online fiction. In M. Knobel, & C. Lankshear. (Eds.), A new literacies sampler (115-136). PeterLang: New York.

Gee, J. (1997). Foreword: A discourse approach to language and literacy. In C. Lankshear, Changing Literacies. Buckingham: Open University Press.

Gee, J. (2001). Identity as an Analytic Lens for Research in Education. Review of Research in Education, 25, 99-126. Washington, DC. W. G. Secada, American Educational Research Association.

Marshall, J. P. (2007). Living on cybermind: categories, communication, and control. Peter Lang Publishing: New York.

Thomas, Angela. Blurring and breaking through the boundaries of narrative, literacy, and identity in adolescent fan fiction. In M. Knobel, & C. Lankshear. (Eds.), A new literacies sampler (pp. 137-165). Peter Lang: New York.

Analysing data

There are all kinds of ways in which you can analyze your data. Here are three possibilities that might interest you.

Focussing on someone's Facebook profile

Categorical analysis

(a) Identity in terms of displayed interests

•    data drawn from
o    analysis of photos posted to his site (photos showing him playing pool/billiards, photos of his gorgeous garden)
o    analysis of group memberships (local area interests)

(b) Identity in terms of maintaining social relationships

•    data drawn from:
o    analysis of applications added to his profile (the majority of which are about sharing some thing with others or about "friends")

(c) Identity in terms of the causes he supports and what this might suggest about what his values are:

•    data drawn from causes he has joined and has displayed on his profile (e.g., breast cancer pink ribbon cause, Canadian Forces)

Sociolinguistic analysis

Friends seem to be important within Gary's profile.

•    Of the 128 applications Gary himself has added to his profile 20 of them explicitly mention "friend" in the title of the application (e.g., Hug a Friend, Forever Friends, Make New Friends, My Party Friends); x of them mention "share" in the title and/or the body of the application; etc.
•    In his profile he explicitly states he is "looking for friendship"

His identity on Facebook is, in part, constructed in dynamic relationship with his Facebook friends (often through the results of comparative quizzes and through the language and images found in "gifting" or "action" exchange applications):

•    Conceptual verbs like "compare," "(a)like" etc. characterize his profile on Tuesday July 8.
•    Action verbs like "hug," "kiss", "chat"
•    Emotion verbs like "flirt", "love", "like"


Social semiotic analysis (Kress and colleagues)

(a)    Representational metafunction: what ideas or information do the images convey (i.e., "What is this about?")

(b)    Interpersonal metafunction: what messages about Garry's personal relationships with others, about how he conducts himself as a friend of a particular kind are sent by the images visible on his profile (i.e., "what are the implied relationships here and how do we know?")

(c) Textual metafunction: Pays attention to layout, to the proportion of images to text, to the position of images and text etc. (i.e., "What are the effects of the representational choices made in order to produce this text or sign?")

Data drawn from, for example:

•    An analysis of the "gift" icons sent to him by his friends
•    Analysis of image types (at the representational level) shows more "kawaii" (i.e., cute) pictures than anything else. What does this suggest?



Focussing on your fieldnotes

Categorical analysis

Becoming/being an insider to Facebook
•    Data in the form of:
o    Technical terms specific to Facebook
o    Evidence of greater facility in navigating Facebook applications
o    Evidence of attention to customizing your profile

Constructing your identity within Facebook
•    Data drawn from, for example:
o    Types of friends you invite to see your profile
o    Types of groups you join
o    Preferred applications as documented in your fieldnotes (e.g., Travel quiz play time etc.)


Sociolinguistic analysis
•    Process focus: Analyzing you notes and identifying change over time in how you speak about what you're doing as you become/be a Facebook insider (e.g., increasing use of Facebook specific terms, increase of use in positive confidence-related terms)
•    Conceptual focus: Analyzing your notes to see how your own conceptions of, say, identity changes and developments over time.


Michele Knobel, PhD
Professor, Dept of Early Childhood, Elementary and Literacy Education
3173 University Hall
Montclair State University
Montclair  NJ  07043

http://everydayliteracies.blogspot.com
http://www.coatepec.net

Journal special issue focussing on social network sites

Y'allmight be interested in this special issue of the Journal ofComputer-Mediated Communication as additional background reading foryour paper:

http://jcmc.indiana.edu/vol13/issue1/

A template to guide your report writing

Introduction e.g., "This paper reports our investigation of some of the ways people do "identity work" in social networking sites. …." Some background to the focus on "identity" and identity work e.g., Briefly describe and discuss some aspects of how and why there seems to be so much interest in "identity" at present – drawing on reading you do/have done. Key concepts framing this study Your account of what some of the literature has to say about concepts that seem important for your study. This is where you focus on identity as a theoretical concept, and any other concepts in which you're interested in analyzing in your data (e.g., learning, risk-taking, social interaction, participation). It will also include consideration of literacy in relation to doing identity work. What kinds of "literacy moves" are being made in order to present self or to "do" identity? (e.g., is "sending a gift" a literacy move? Is this a form of what literacy now is? What other forms might there be? Etc.) Purpose/aims of the project e.g., To explore one or more social networking sites from the perspective of identity and presentation of self To develop (more of) an insider perspective on social networking To address the question of how "identity work" gets done or is performed in social networking sites Data collection Describe how you collected your data (e.g., fieldnotes, digital images/screen grabs, recordings, interviews, counts of things etc.) Give an account of the kind of data you got – what sorts of things you emphasized, tried to collect data on, and some examples of the data collected. Mention any ethical considerations taken into account Data analysis Describe how you analyzed your data—make sure that your approach to data analysis is in harmony with your goals for the study and your key concepts Findings This is where you write up what the results of what your data analyses told you about identity and presentation of self, and about any other key concepts of interest This is also where you describe any unexpected findings/outcomes of your data analysis that may have arisen. Conclusions Summarise the conclusions you reach based on the study and in relation to the goals of your inquiry. In other words, what did you find out about identity and how people "do" identity in social networking sites (variations, comparisons, specific strategies, etc.). Identify what you think are the most significant things you discovered about literacy, identity and social networking.

Happy Birthday!

Happy 29th birthday Milan!

Have a great day.

Hopefully you won't experience any meltdowns this summer ! (a.k.a. the blue screen of death)

With love from all your cohert buddies

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net making

hi, net working/making to me always involved weaving rope into a mesh to catch fish! This is not the same! Funny, that it also involves a "school" ,

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newbies

Wow! We now have a computer that works, albeit only one between us. We have set up our face book accounts and are now attempting to blog. Wish us luck! 
 
Sonja, Deborah

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hello myspace users

Hello out there....are there any more myspace users here???? What do you
think? Definately different from Facebook....hard to navigate. Perhaps
just ignorance on my part? What do you think Milan?

Notebooking Field notes

Field notes can be logged automatically using the notebook application.  Roland Peddle was kind enough to share this with our group. 

~ Right click on the desktop.

~ Select "New" 

~ Then "Text document"  (This will open notepad)

~ Rename

~ Open this window

~ Type    .LOG

~ Close this window and save

~ Open again and type your field notes. 

~ Each time you finish, close and save

my space isn't friendly for making friends!

Hello,
 
My Space isn't nearly as efficient as Facebook; it's applications and layout forces the user to waste time searching instead of interacting with other groups/friends. When considering adding friends, we experienced great difficulty in connecting over the afternoon and felt frustrated by the process.
 
Cheers,
 
Milan
milan parab
http://milanparab.tripod.com

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hello

I just learned that google is not the best way to find a blog!
zonya

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Screen Grabs

Step 1:   Find the screen you wish to print.
 
Step 2:   Press Fn (Function) and Prt. Sc (Print Screen) simultaneously
             Please note that on some computers it is Ctrl. Prt. Scn.
 
Step 3:   Go to 'Start'.  Then 'Programs'.  Then 'Accessories'.  Open 'Paint'
 
Step 4:   Go to 'Edit'.  Select 'Paste'.  (Or:  right click and paste)
 
Step 5:   Go to 'File'.  Choose 'Save As'.
 
Step 6:   Save under 'Pictures'.
 
Step 7:   Go to 'Google.docs'.
 
Step 8:   Go to your file in which you would like to paste your picture
 
Step 9:   Place cursor at point of insert.
 
Step l0:  Choose 'Insert' from menu bar.
 
Step 11:  Select 'Picture'.
 
Step 12:  'Browse' for your file.
 
Step 13:  Insert picture.
 
Step 14:  To crop picture, click inside the picture
 
Step 15:  Click the small box at corners and drag inward to desired size.
 
 
Explore away!  Connie, Karen & Deanne

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google docs presentation

I just learned how to use google docs presentation and was able to post a picture on my slide 

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how to blog

i am learning how to blog and more about facebook. More importantly i have learned i have a lot to learn!
annette clarke-jacobs

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What is the difference between a blog url and a blog email address for posting?

Through several attempts to access the blogger to make a posting, I realized that there is a difference between a "blog url" and a "blog email address for posting".  I was trying to open up an email address rather than the locator that I am posting it to! 

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Google Docs

 
I've been touring Google Docs and exploring how to set up a slide show presentation. Cool!

 

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Facebook Group

Just want to let everyone know that I created a Facebook group for this course.  The group is called:

MSVU Masters Course 08

 

 

First day

Day 1: Monday, 7 July.

•    Aim at becoming an insider of/to your selected social network. You need to a get sense of this space; how it works, what it means to conduct oneself as a proficient user/member of this space.
•    If you're already au fait with say, Facebook, think about exploring another social networking site and comparing the two.
•    You will start in pairs or trios and explore your selected social network site together. Then, by Friday of this week, find two other sets of pairs etc. to make up a group of around 6 people. This larger group will be your report-writing group.
•    Make use of our in-house social network insiders, too—don't be shy about asking people for hints and tips as you muck around in your chosen space.
•    The focus for this course is about identity and social networking.

Key concept:

Identity:
•    The idea and practice of a "linear life-course" used to dominate people's thinking about identity
•    Now, a linear life-course is out of the ordinary. Jim Gee talks about the workplace now being characterized by "shape shifting portfolio people" – that is, people who's working lives comprise a series of projects and who work collaboratively with a range of different people etc. and not necessarily for the same company each time
•    Zygmunt Bauman and "liquid modernity" – things keep changing; what you knew before and had learned through previous experience isn't guaranteed to remain useful or to work in the same way in a similar situation down the track
•    Current times are characterized by flexibility, mobility, transience, true diversity
•    Identity is shaped on the fly and no longer always tied to Church and State (i.e., to religious beliefs and national borders)
•    In place of the old "life project" (assuming one would be working for 50 years for the same company and work one's way up within this company or institution), people are now making the development of their identity their life project. This might not be consciously so, there is plenty of evidence to suggest that this is indeed the case. That is, identity is one of the few remaining things over which we still have some measure of control. This is especially the case for young people who can and do invest in shaping, nurturing—even designing—presenting and negotiating their identities, mediated by a stack of digital technologies that have emerged and become quite widely available on a scale.
•    This investment in identity might well explain the attraction of social networking sites (and blogging, etc.)
•    Bauman uses his claims about "liquid modernity" to critique what he calls the "content fetish" of schools. That is, he argues that digital technologies make accessing content (i.e., facts, dates, etc.) super-easy and accessible, and that people are valuing strategies for thinking and doing stuff with content. Yet schools are paying not attention to this shift.
•    Erich Fromm – a social psychologist – argued that humans are very different from other animals by dint of having consciousness. Human beings, through the development of their consciousness, were ripped apart from their primary bond with nature. Humans are conscious of themselves as separate entities. This separation has called into being a set of basic, powerful needs in order for humans to remain psychically intact. Three of these needs include:

o    social relatedness
o    identity
o    a framework with which to make sense of the world

•    The risk society—a society characterized by the fragmentation of the family and local community by moving physically around the world in pursuit of work/projects, by moving/living virtually as part of their work and/or everyday lives. This risk society throws into sharp relief the growing absence of the human needs identified by Fromm as a default mode within people's lives. Thus, people's investment in social networking spaces makes all the sense of the world when read within the context of the risk society.
•    So, how do people actually do identity work within social networking spaces? How do their interact with others? How do they make sense of this space in which they are participating? One key point here is that it is impossible to have a truly "private" identity. Philosophers like Wittgenstein argued that language makes thinking and social activity possible. Language enables us to categorise and classify the world so that we ca interpret it for ourselves and for others. Language itself can never be truly "private" either; it has always—and will always—be thoroughly socially constructed and enacted. Thoughts, concepts, etc. are truly public. As Martin Buber put it: for every "I", there is a "Thou". What I am and who I am is truly and deeply shaped and informed by my interactions with others. Our identities are bound up with our relationships with the people around us (as well as with those who came before us, and most likely those who will come after us). Any analysis of "identity" therefore needs to include an analysis of the individual, as well as of the individual in relation to others within a given social context or activity. In short—and tying this to your previous coursework—identity also is thoroughly shaped by (and shapes) D/discourses (see Gee 2004).
•    In your analysis of the social space, examine how people interact with each other; what words do they use; how do they react to each other and what does this tell you about them; what meanings are conveyed by the images/videos/URLs people choose to post to their spaces; what applications they've installed in their profile space and who else is linked to these applications and what this tells us.
•    To analyse your data and the concept of identity within your data, you can use sociolinguistic analysis of what people write; semiotic analysis of what images are posted (e.g., people's profile images; people's public photo albums); categorical analysis of relational activity; taxonomic analysis of interactional types; etc.
•    You will need to use Scholar.google.com and your access to the Mount Saint Vincent online journals to locate readings relevant to your study.
o    http://www.msvu.ca – click on "library"
o    username: research
o    password: academic
o    Or, you can always use the 14-digit barcode number on your ID card and the last 4 digits of either your student number or your telephone number to access to MSVU's online library



Class website:

http://colin.lankshear.googlepages.com/cornerbrook08

Class blog:

http://socialnetworking08.blogspot.com

To post to this blog, compose your post in an email message and send it to:

colinjl.socialnetworking08@blogger.com


Task:

Use the first session to explore a range of social networking sites, including (but not limited to):

•    http://www.myspace.com
•    http://www.facebook.com
•    http://www.bebo.com
•    http://www.orkut.com
•    http://www.blackplanet.com
•    http://www.migente.com
•    http://www.friendster.com
•    http://www.hi5.com
•    htpp://www.cyworld.com