I finally get around to reflecting on the first topic of the course. Well, in truth, I have reflected on the topic all along, but simply haven’t gotten around to write anything down until now.
We had really interesting discussions in our PBL group, and I enjoyed collaborating through Zoom, Coggle, Padlet and Google Docs. Especially, I found the discussions related to David White’s theory on digital literacy interesting, and I experienced this firsthand in the webinar on the topic when we were asked to share our own V&R maps on Padlet (White & Pareigis, 2019).
I had familiarised myself with the V&R concept prior to the webinar by partaking of the material provided (White, 2014), so I had something of an idea of the concept. Actually drawing a map of my own digital identity was something of an eyeopener in more than one way.
First off, as we were sitting in front of a computer attending a webinar, when we were asked to draw and upload our maps to a Padlet page, my first reaction was to try and figure out what program or application on my computer to use to get it done in the (rather short) time given us. I wasted half of that time trying to figure this out, until the suggestion given us that we draw it on paper and take a picture of it with our phones finally sank in. That left me very little time to do any actual thinking on the map, and I was not all that happy with what I came up with (in about 30 seconds, I think):
The exercise made me realise a number of things that I simply had not considered before:
– working digitally does not exclude analogue or paper-based content, these can be easily combined (obvious, really)
– the visitor – residence concept should perhaps also consider the subject’s familiarity with the application in question (I also had to figure out how Padlet worked, and this was another obstacle)
– we can gain valuable insight into how we use digital sources and applications by considering our own profiles
– the visitor – residence definition is closely connected to issues of privacy and publicity
As I felt I didn’t get everything I should out of my own profile, I drew a new one that better corresponds to my reality:
Being a resident, i.e. leaving a digital trace of one’s existence, is very much connected to choice in the personal spectrum, but perhaps less so in the institutional one. This aspect of visitor by choice is in my opinion highly relevant, and we discussed it at length in our PBL group. One aspect that I got sidetracked to is the question of communication on the Internet and its effect on a willingness to publish; people might not want to publish content or opinions due to trolling and hate speech. As happened, this was the topic of a recent study in Finland.
Almost 50% of MP:s and ⅓ of local politicians have experienced hate rhetorics. Researcher Heidi Kosonen from Jyväskylä University goes on to draw the conclusion that it is not only those that are victims themselves who are affected, but there is also a fear of falling victim to it in others, which may influence the willingness to voice one’s opinion in a question. According to Elin Blomqvist-Valtonen, local politician [and my former student] agrees, and observes that there may be people who would have much to contribute to society do not want to subject themselves to the risk. This in extension affects the possibility to exercise democracy. (Svartström, 2019)
I think that this very same set of circumstances can be directly applied to the question we posed. I recognize that I myself many times have refrained from commenting online, because I have been aware of that should I express my opinion in that connection, there would be an endless debate on the matter, and the tone will frequently be less than constructive (to put it nicely). In the words of J.R.R. Tolkien, “I am dreading the publication, for it will be impossible not to mind what is said. I have exposed my heart to be shot at.”
Sources:
Svartström, A. (2019, October 5). De har hotats med våldtäkt och död. Hufvudstadsbladet.
White, D. [jiscnetskills]. (2014, March 10). Visitors and Residents [Video file]. Available: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sPOG3iThmRI&feature=youtu.be (Accessed: November 1 2019).
White, D. & Pareigis, J. (2019, October 1). Digital Literacies [Webinar]. In Open Networked Learning ONL192 course. Available: https://www.opennetworkedlearning.se/onl192-course-overview/topic-1-online-participation-digital-literacies-onl192/event-webinar-with-david-white-and-jorg-pareigis-onl192/ (Accessed: November 1 2019).
