1. James of Thrones: The mashup of The Game of Thrones theme with James Brown’s single, “It’s a man’s man’s man’s world,” uses speed and rhythm as an effect. By blending the two pieces, ‘the argument lies within the mashup rather than the explanation of the mashup.’
2. First Internet Pope: Pope Francis advocates for the coexistence of orality and electracy, where ‘the digital world can be a network not of wires but of people.’ He understands the role of social media as one of engagement, which allows for a culture of ‘encounter.’ Throughout the internet platform, communities share information increasing knowledge and creativity.
3. The Lizzie Bennet Diaries: The YouTube series is a multi-platform adaption of Jane Austen’s “Pride and Prejudice.” This popular remake redefines the concept of transmedia storytelling by breaking communication barriers and possibly starting a new era of storytelling.
4. Seinfeld Theme Remix: The “Seinfeld” theme was remixed with Dub-step showing how much the theme song would change if it was made in the 2013st century, compared to the 90s. It represents the shift in digital culture due to more elements becoming readily available to mix and mash.
5. Apple I-rack Parody: MadTv’s skit is a parody on the war in Iraq. Using a fictitious Apple product called the “iRack,” the skit uses parodic effects to critique the Bush policies in Iraq and Iran. It combines humor and news media expressing how TV shows are becoming source material.
6. John Ashcroft’s Illegal Immigration Remix: The remix transforms the 2001 press conference by US attorney general John Ashcroft on illegal immigration into a warning of alien invaders from outer space. It represents the importance of keeping rhetorical velocity in mind when composing. CNN most likely did not anticipate the content to be recomposed into a political remix challenging political, media, and social power structures.
In today’s era of constant technological evolution, the ‘digital generation’ use various Internet platforms to seek information. With easy-to-use online tools, participatory cultures are able to produce creative work in emerging digital forms. These new forms of digital media are becoming the dominant way of writing and learning among the digital age. In a transitional time from a culture of print literacy to digital media literacy, young adults are focusing on electracy using imagery to deliver their message. Old approaches to writing are shifting resulting in the creation of new pedagogical tools that use imaging to express style of thought. These apparatuses should be used together, instead of as oppositions. Technology is only enhancing what we already know, so we need to embrace new composting techniques.
Throughout the curation of digital media on tumblr, I witnessed public pedagogy at work across different online platforms. The curation of group work has shown me how the ways and reach of speech are now greater. Through social media networks like tumblr, twitter, and facebook, they provide platforms for inventing, creating, and sharing endless amounts of informaiton. Peer-to-peer learning allows students to personalize content, so they have a better understanding of the material. By remixing and mashing up content, composers are required to draw on multiple modes of meaning-making resulting in a better understanding of the new form of expression.
The digital composition of mashups uses speed and rhythm as an effect. For example, the mashup of Game of Thrones theme with James Brown’s single, “It’s a man’s man’s man’s world,” uses speed and rhythm to create an effect. The concept dromosphere comes into play here because everything is connecting, including the speed of the digital network and experience. This composing technique is not created by simply going fast, but also by attending to the rhythms. By blending the two pieces, ‘the argument lies within the mashup rather than the explanation of the mashup.’ In turn, we learn from mashups for our own compositions. This multimodal media allows the composer to be free of the handcuffs of writing.
In addition to mashups, remixing allows for creativity by ‘rewriting culture.’ The second post was a remix transforming the 2001 press conference by US attorney general John Ashcroft on illegal immigration into a warning of alien invaders from outer space. It represents the importance of keeping rhetorical velocity in mind when composing. CNN most likely did not anticipate the content to be recomposed into a political remix challenging political and social power structures. The remix shows creative expression and allows for another way to interpret the content.
The transition from literacy to electracy provides possible innovations for digital composition and network rhetoric. The future of digital composition focuses on participatory practices in the online video culture, which is also known as “tubing.” Participatory pedagogy and electracy interact with digital culture in ways that aren’t possible for print literacy. For example, youtube videos attract viewers based on the content; but more importantly, they attract attention based on the number of pervious views and viewers’ participation through comments. These factors result in participatory collaboration and social interaction among viewers. The interactions go beyond simple dialogue, and instead result in remixes and re-compositions of the ‘original’ content. As a result, writers and online communities build common values and learn more about the remixed form of expression.
Electracy is part of a larger shift called “the apparatus,” which produces identities, communities, and relationships in a given era. Each apparatus include respective-related components, such as institutions, social practice and culture forms, and identity. Schools are formal institutions using the logic of writing and methodology when producing knowledge. These formal institutions need to update their methods by updating composition in school. Academia is too slow and needs to get up to speed with popular culture and digital media. On the other hand, the web is an informal institution where creativity is achieved through the use of all knowledge and material. Emerging from social practice and culture forms, videos are used to express style of thought and can be easily accessible anytime.
Media identity compares the outside and inside. More specifically, personal identity experience is personal archiving, such as Facebook. It allows you to know the time and location of posts without having to remember everything. Mediated experience compares talking (outside) to sense of group exchange (inside).
However, there is not one set institution; instead, there is social networking that allows for social relations between institutions. Even though you can do more on the web, orality, literacy and electracy should all be occurring together to achieve the best outcome. For example, Pope Francis advocates for the coexistence of orality and electracy, where ‘the digital world can be a network not of wires but of people.’ He understands the role of social media is one of engagement and progress allowing for a culture of ‘encounter.’ With his twitter and instagram accounts, the Pope is part of this transition into the digital literacy era.
Through the formation of hybrid literacy, a balance between science and entertainment is established combining formal institutions (school) with informal institutions (web). An example application of multimodal composition is the YouTube series called The Lizzie Diaries. It is a multiplatform adaptation of Jane Austen’s “Pride and Prejudice.” This remake redefines the concept of transmedia storytelling by breaking communication barriers and starting a new era of story telling.
Maria Grbavac 