SOCIOLOGY 115: MEDIA & POPULAR CULTURE Matt Kaliner Office Hours:  Thursday (today) 1:30-5pm WJH 404 & by appointment Friday and Monday Response Paper #3 (Observations: Go out this weekend!)  Due Wednesday, Nov 2 at 5:00pm " "The Politics of Culture and the Political Role of Cultural Institutions”  Panel discussion: Monday, October 31st, 4-6pm in WJH 1550:  Will feature several guest speakers, including Martha Tedeschi, Director of Harvard Art Museums

WARM UP QUESTION On Page 9 of the App Generation, a college student is quoted asking our authors: “In the future, why will we need school? After all, the answers to all questions are – or soon will be – contained in this smart phone. Howard reflected for a moment, and then responded “Yes, the answer to all questions … except for the important questions.” Do you agree? How would you answer? Put differently: Are there things that cannot be contained on a phone? Or should not be contained on a phone? What?

TEENAGERS ONLINE Both books highlight anxieties and fears that face your generation.

TEENAGERS ONLINE Both books highlight anxieties and fears that face your generation. Myth buster: parents are scared of the wrong stuff! (and tend to make things worse) Skeptic: what seems to make life easier might make it less meaningful and creative

HOWARD GARDNER & KATIE DAVIS Harvard GSE Theory of multiple intelligences Constructivist education

CONSTRUCTIVIST EDUCATION “ Skills and knowledge are constructed on the basis of the individual’s own active exploration of the environment” (28) “ Skills and knowledge are constructed on the basis of the individual’s own active exploration of the environment” (28) “Constructivists call for rich and inviting problems and puzzles, which will engage curiosity and catalyze extensive exploration.” (28-29) “Constructivists call for rich and inviting problems and puzzles, which will engage curiosity and catalyze extensive exploration.” (28-29) “The best way to educate is to provide inviting materials and get out of the way.” (29) “The best way to educate is to provide inviting materials and get out of the way.” (29) Constructivists suggest ambiguous assignments (with proper support and scaffolding): Constructivists suggest ambiguous assignments (with proper support and scaffolding): Working through a problem with multiple points of entry and tasks activates learning, development, and resembles real world scenarios. Working through a problem with multiple points of entry and tasks activates learning, development, and resembles real world scenarios.

Teaching vs. Exploring Condition Teaching vs. Exploring Condition Developed in laboratory experiments Developed in laboratory experiments EXPERIMENT

Bonawitz*, E.B., Shafto*, P., Gweon, H., Goodman, N., Spelke, E., & Schulz, L.E. (2011) APPLICATION:

“These results suggest that teaching constrains children’s exploration and discovery. Children who were taught a function of a toy performed --fewer kinds of actions of the toy and --discovered fewer of its other functions, than children who did not receive a pedagogical demonstration, even though all children were explicitly encouraged to explore the toy.” Bonawitz*, E.B., Shafto*, P., Gweon, H., Goodman, N., Spelke, E., & Schulz, L.E. (2011) In short: be wary of excessive guidance

REMIND YOU OF ANYONE?

“The Medium is the Message” (1964) KEY McLuhanism #3 : new media belittle the mind (because they leave too little to the imagination) KEY McLuhanism #3 : new media belittle the mind (because they leave too little to the imagination) “Each new technology creates an environment that is itself regarded as corrupt and degrading... “Each new technology creates an environment that is itself regarded as corrupt and degrading......yet the new one turns its predecessor into an art form”...yet the new one turns its predecessor into an art form” Key tension in this class: Key tension in this class: Creativity and technology Creativity and technology

APPS = CONSTRUCTIVISTS NIGHTMARE SCENARIO? “An app-filled world brings about dependence on the particulars of each currently popular app, and a general expectation that one’s future – indeed the future itself – will be dictated by the technological options of the time. It’s a constructivist’s nightmare.” (34)

APP GENERATION Why Generation? “…they’ve come to think of the world as an ensemble of apps, to see their lives as a string of ordered apps, or perhaps, in many cases, as a single extended, cradle-to-gave app” (7)

APP GENERATION “…they’ve come to think of the world as an ensemble of apps, to see their lives as a string of ordered apps, or perhaps, in many cases, as a single extended, cradle-to-gave app” (7) Constructivist pedagogy - exploratory vs. evaluative learning Constructivist pedagogy - exploratory vs. evaluative learning Empirical debate: Digital Natives and Digital Immigrants? Empirical debate: Digital Natives and Digital Immigrants?

APP GENERATION Constructivist pedagogy exploratory vs. evaluative learning App-enabling: “apps that encourage us to pursue new possibilities” vs. vs. App-dependent: “when we allow apps to restrict or determine our procedures, choices, and goals” But do app-enabling apps really exist??

DO YOUR APPS CONSTRAIN OR ENABLE YOU? G DO YOUR APPS CONSTRAIN OR ENABLE YOU? G ifs and emoji?

DO YOUR APPS CONSTRAIN OR ENABLE YOU? MEMES DO YOUR APPS CONSTRAIN OR ENABLE YOU? MEMES ? Pineapple Apple Pen

DO YOUR APPS CONSTRAIN OR ENABLE YOU? Excellent point raised in class: Apps can save time, freeing us up to do other stuff. But are we using this extra time to be creative, learn, etc – or play around within a different app?

"We left the boxes in the village. Closed. Taped shut. No instruction, no human being. I thought, the kids will play with the boxes! Within four minutes, one kid not only opened the box, but found the on/off switch. He'd never seen an on/off switch. He powered it up. Within five days, they were using 47 apps per child per day. Within two weeks, they were singing ABC songs [in English] in the village. And within five months, they had hacked Android. Some idiot in our organization or in the Media Lab had disabled the camera! And they figured out it had a camera, and they hacked Android.” On balance, the overall record of OLPC is mixed at best, and they have been widely criticized for this “drop off” delivery system.

APP GENERATION Constructivist pedagogy exploratory vs. evaluative learning App-enabling: “apps that encourage us to pursue new possibilities” vs. vs. App-dependent: “when we allow apps to restrict or determine our procedures, choices, and goals”

APP GENERATION Identity: Career oriented and pragmatic Identity: Career oriented and pragmatic The Packaged Self & risk averse The Packaged Self & risk averse leading to enormous anxieties leading to enormous anxieties Hiding behind the screen? Hiding behind the screen? Reduction in driver’s licenses in recent years, staying at home after graduation… Reduction in driver’s licenses in recent years, staying at home after graduation… Intimacy Intimacy Imagination Imagination

APP GENERATION Identity Identity Intimacy: Alone Together Intimacy: Alone Together Increased isolation despite technology Increased isolation despite technology Decline in empathy Decline in empathy “Absence of empathy is a trademark of the sociopath” (111) “Absence of empathy is a trademark of the sociopath” (111) Bullying… Bullying… Imagination Imagination

APP GENERATION Identity Identity Intimacy Intimacy Imagination: Imagination: Does relying on short cuts make you less creative? Does relying on short cuts make you less creative? (key question)

APP GENERATION Does relying on short cuts make you less creative? Very mixed results: 1.Torrance Test of Creative Thinking – declines in elaboration, fluency, originality, creative strengths… 2.Studies of pretend play of children – general increases. 3.Gardner’s own studies of student’s creative works.

APP GENERATION Gardner’s own studies of student’s creative works. Analyzed 354 pieces of student visual art over 20 years Analyzed 354 pieces of student visual art over 20 years Increases in creativity Increases in creativity Sample of short stories Sample of short stories Decline in creativity Decline in creativity How would you interpret these? How would you interpret these? (critique of remix culture)

OTHER FACTORS… Is it fair to blame this all on Apps? Is it fair to blame this all on Apps? What else is going on in your generation? What else is going on in your generation? Structured time (Boyd) Structured time (Boyd) Suburban sprawl Suburban sprawl So much else (inequality, economic insecurity etc) So much else (inequality, economic insecurity etc)

APP GENERATION VS. IT’S COMPLICATED Are you: Digital natives or digital naives? Boyd argues the “digital natives” obscures more important forms of ineq uality online. Boyd argues the “digital natives” obscures more important forms of ineq uality online. Digital divide: differential access to Internet Digital divide: differential access to Internet Digital inequality: differential knowledge of how to use the Internet. Digital inequality: differential knowledge of how to use the Internet.

MINECRAFT GENERATION? Minecraft = major contradiction to Gardner and Davis?  Problem solving, problem identification, “hacking” to create solutions Minecraft: Anecdote or full, real counter trend? Which better describes your generation? Minecraft or App Generation? None of the above?

NEXT WEEK Inequality and culture… Inequality and culture… Paper due Wednesday Paper due Wednesday NOT FRIDAY NOT FRIDAY Happy Halloween! Happy Halloween!