Renee Hobbs offers a lecture and workshop at the Summer Institute in Digital Literacy

1. Digital Authorship:
A Pedagogy of Learning
Renee Hobbs
Harrington School of Communication & Media
University of Rhode Island
Summer Institute in Digital Literacy
2016

2. Digital authorship is a form of social power. Digital
authors enter into conversation with others in the
culture when they choose to share their creative work.
Digital authorship is a creative and collaborative
process that involves experimentation and risk taking.
People can choose whether (or not) to be socially
responsible for the texts they create and share.
Critical thinking about message form, content and
context makes people better creators and consumers
of digital and media messages.
PREVIEW

3. My Story
I began my career as a teacher educator in 1991

4. Beating of Rodney King by Los Angeles Police
My Story
I began my career as a teacher educator in 1991

6. Columbine High School, 1999

7. Columbine High School, 1999
PARTIAL LIST OF SCHOOL SHOOTINGS
SINCE 2010
University of Alabama, Huntsville
Aurora Central High School
Millard South High School
Chardon High School
Sandy Hook Elementary School
Hazard Community & Technical College
Santa Monica College
Arapahoe High School
Marysville Pilchuck High School
Unpqua Community College
El Centro College

8. desensitization: feeling less shock or distress at scenes
of cruelty, violence, or suffering as a result of overexposure
to images or experiences
priming: occurs when an experience or media message
increases the salience of a particular mental concept
cultivation: over time, exposure to mass media
entertainment and news media shapes people’s perceptions
of the world.
imitation: a form of social learning where people view an
act and are inspired to copy it

9. Diamond Reynolds live streams a video only minutes after police shoot
Philando Castile four times in the passenger seat of her car, July 6, 2016

10. How some people address the polarization and apathy
that are part of this cultural moment

11. As you watch, consider:
How does this video depict
the the social responsibilities
of the communicator?

13. Pair share: How does this
video depict the the social
responsibilities of the
communicator?

14. Digital authorship is a form of social
power. Digital authors enter into
conversation with others in the culture
when they choose to share their
creative work.

15.  Learn that communication can
maintain the status quo or change
the world
 Participate in communities of
shared interest to advance an issue
 Be a change agent in the family &
workplace
 Participate in democratic self-
governance
 Speak up when you encounter
injustice
 Respect the law and work to change
unjust laws
 Use the power of communication
and information to make a
difference in the world

16. At any moment, the reader is ready
to turn into a writer.
-Walter Benjamin

17. Writers Enter into a Conversation
Reading and writing are reciprocal processes of literacy

18. “The text does not release a single meaning, the
‘message’ of the author. A text is rather a tissue of
quotations born of a multitude of sources in culture.”
--Roland Barthes, “The Death of the Author,” 1967

19. digital & library resources
are overwhelming

20. We know from Project Information Literacy that
students actively try to reduce the number of
choices they have to make in order to get their
assignments done.
We know from the Citation Project that first year
college students who use sources in their writing
rarely write about them with much understanding.
They don’t summarize sources, they harvest
quotes.
Nearly half the time, the quotes they use are from
the first page of the source.
We

21. A Student PDF Annotation with Kami

22. A Student Annotates a Video with ANT

23. What is Evernote?
Knowledge management tools are online platforms that help people
find, organize and use digital resources

24. Finding and organizing information is a
practice of digital authorship
comprehension
meaning
interpretation

25. As you watch, consider: What
does the metaphor of
“scholarship as conversation”
convey to learners?

26. Entering the Scholarly Conversation
Burke, Kenneth. 1949. The Philosophy of Literary Form.
Berkeley: University of California Press.

27. Keyboard and mouse skills
Be familiar with hardware, storage and
file management practices
Understand hyperlinking & digital space
Gain competence with software
applications
Use social media, mobile, peripheral &
cloud computing tools
Identify information needs
Use effective search and find strategies
Troubleshoot and problem-solve
Learn how to learn
Listening and reading comprehension
When we access information and ideas,
we enter into a conversation

28. Sharing is a Practice of Digital Authorship

29. Digital authorship is a creative and
collaborative process that involves
experimentation and risk taking. People
can choose whether (or not) to be
socially responsible for the texts they
create and share.

30. Lone Wolf Collaborator
Visions of Digital Authorship

31. Creativity is
rooted in
wonder &
exuberance

32. Creativity is Combinatorial

34. Cloud-Based Digital Tools Support
Digital Authorship
Writing
KidBlog
Google Docs
Titanpad
Wikispaces
Storybird
Animation
Animoto
Powtoons
Osnap
Moovly
Screencasting
Screencastify
Screencast-o-Matic
Screenr
Video Production
YouTube
WeVideo
Videolicious
Shadow Puppet
Multimedia
Kizoa
Storify
Coding
Scratch
Ready
Infographics
Infogr.am
Easel.ly

35. “How do I get started?”
Digital authorship as a learning process
involves issues of creative control
“What is our topic?”
“When is it due?”
“How long should it be?”
“Do have to work with a
partner?”
“How do I get an A?”

36. Creating with digital tools involves a process of messy engagement

37. TEACHERSTUDENT
FORMAT
CONTENT
DISTRIBUTION
PROCESS
Teachers make decisions about how much
creative control to give to learners

38. Wallas, Graham. 1926. The Art Of Thought. New York: Harcourt Brace.

39. PREPARATION
INCUBATION
ILLUMINATION
VERIFICATION
Wallas, Graham. 1926. The Art Of Thought. New York: Harcourt Brace.

40. As you watch, consider:
What creative and
collaborative activities
happened before the filming
took place?

41. How to Take Care of Your Pet by Grade 1 Students at Russell Byers Charter School

42. Pair share: What creative
and collaborative activities
happened before the filming
took place?

43.  Recognize the need for communication and
self-expression
Identify your own purpose, target audience,
medium & genre
Brainstorm and generate ideas
Compose creatively using language, image,
sound and multimedia
Writing & speaking skills
Editing & revising in response to feedback
Use appropriate distribution, promotion &
marketing channels
Work collaboratively
Comment, curate and remix

44. SLEEP
How to improve your
creative competencies as a digital author

45. Learners may infer from mass media and popular culture that behaving outrageous or
goofy will bring them fame and fortune

46. Learners may infer from digital culture that being angry or mean
will attract attention

47. Because creativity is uncontrollable, there’s a lot of bad art.
Perfectionism Kills
Creativitity

48. Creativity Police

50. When digital
authors choose to
explore issues of
social responsibility,
they can create
works that provoke
new ways of seeing,
thinking and
feeling.

51. Recognize how entertainment media
communicate values & ideology
Understand how differences in values and life
experience shape people’s media use and
message interpretation
Appreciate risks and potential harms of digital
media
Apply ethical judgment and social
responsibility to communication situations
Understand how concepts of ‘private’ and
‘public’ are reshaped by digital media
Appreciate & respect legal rights &
responsibilities (copyright, intellectual
freedom)

52. As you watch, consider:
How does this video depict
the benefits, risks and
potential harms of mobile
media?

53. I Forgot My Phone

54. Pair share: How does this
video depict the benefits,
risks and potential harms of
mobile media?

55. Critical thinking about message form,
content and context makes people
better creators and consumers of digital
and media messages.

56. Top 10 Media Companies in the World

57. Media Literacy as a Civic Competency
Media education is an essential step
in the long march towards a truly
participatory democracy, and the
democratization of our institutions.
Widespread media literacy is
essential if all citizens are to wield
power, make rational decisions,
become effective change agents,
and have an effective involvement
with the media.
-Len Masterman, Teaching the
Media, 1985

58. Questioning All Forms of Authority
Media literacy, because it emphasizes a
critique of textual authority, invites
students to identify the cultural codes that
structure an author’s work, understand
how these codes function as part
of a social system, and disrupt the text
through alternative interpretations. In
learning to critically read media messages,
citizens are developing the abilities to
gather accurate, relevant information
about their society and to question
authority (both textual and, by
implication, institutional).
- Renee Hobbs, “Seven Great Debates in
the Media Literacy Movement,” 1998

59. Understand how symbols work: the concept
of representation
Identify the author, genre, purpose and point
of view of a message
Compare and contrast sources
Evaluate credibility and quality
Understand one’s own biases and world view
Recognize power relationships that shape
how information & ideas circulate in culture
Understand the economic context of
information and entertainment production
Examine the political and social ramifications
of inequalities in information flows

60. www.mindovermedia.tv

61. Digital Media Literacy Smartphone

62. ACCESS
Digital and Media Literacy Competencies

63. Digital authorship is a form of social power. Digital
authors enter into conversation with others in the
culture when they choose to share their creative work.
Digital authorship is a creative and collaborative
process that involves experimentation and risk taking.
People can choose whether (or not) to be socially
responsible for the texts they create and share.
Critical thinking about message form, content and
context makes people better creators and consumers
of digital and media messages.
REVIEW

64. Digital Authorship Enables
the Practice of Citizenship
When people have digital and media
literacy competencies, they recognize
personal, corporate and political
agendas and are empowered to speak
out on behalf of the missing voices
and omitted perspectives in our
communities. By identifying and
attempting to solve problems, people
use their powerful voices and their
rights under law to improve the world
around them.
-Renee Hobbs, Digital and Media
Literacy: A Plan of Action, 2010

65. Renee Hobbs
Professor of Communication Studies
Director, Media Education Lab
Harrington School of Communication & Media
University of Rhode Island USA
Email: hobbs@uri.edu
Twitter: @reneehobbs
LEARN MORE
Web: www.mediaeducationlab.com

66. Four of a Kind Production Teams

68. Your Assignment
Working with a team of 4 people, watch the AT&T ad, “Keep
Calm Your Internet’s On” and discuss and analyze it using
the five critical questions of media literacy.
Then use a combination of images and some voice-over
narration to produce a 2 to 4 minute video screencast,
combining your voice over narration with images.
Work with your team under
deadline pressure to get the job
done. Share your finished
production online.

69. Your Screencast Mentor Text
Renee and Rhys analyze a BrainPop video using the 5 critical questions of media
literacy

71. ACCESS
Screencasting the Critical Questions