Predictive Profiling

Predictive profiling is one of the skills that I was trained in while in the Army. I was trained by Israeli GSS. I'm a pretty useful person to be with at the airport... or annoying, depending on your level of paranoia. I know that when I look at somebody now, I don't look at them the way that someone else probably does. Who knows though? Maybe I do. Actually, regardless of training, I'm sure that I do. To some degree I think that we all have our stereotypes and categories that, upon seeing or meeting someone we, at least initially, lump them into. Take this guy for example:

Is that a gilligan hat? I truly didn't know people still wore those. Obviously with this guy the first thing that I notice is his attire. Look at it - it's a little quirky. I would think that he tries too hard. He also probably still listens to Cypress Hill and goes to the same three bars that he's been going to since he was 18. Based on his posture and facial expression I also get the impression that he thinks he's kind of a tough guy. I think I'm gonna have to beat this guy up.
Or how bout this girl:

Wow. That's truly all I can say. I really don't want to go too in depth with this one because I'm afraid I'll find myself with those boots wrapped around my neck as this girl tries to drink my blood.

Sorry if this picture offends anyone. Observe this guy. I'm gonna assume he's poorly educated, drives a truck that's at least 30 years old, watches way too much Nascar, and is overtly racist. What is truly sad about this photo is that this is a candid shot. That means whoever took this photo had time to witness what was going on, PROCESS it, pull out their phone and snap this photo. God knows what he's at that pharmacy for.

Here we have the frat boys. These guys love having a good time. Nothing wrong with that. They will go onto graduate and contribute to society. Some will go on to do great things. Others will develop a cocaine habit.

Ah, alas we have the hipsters. These are the young people who live in small towns with nothing to offer so they make their pilgrimmage to the city. They wear oversized glasses, smoke cigarettes, and only drink coffee and microbrew.

Well, there you have it. Who knew stereotypes could be so much fun?! On a serious note though, I didn't realize how stereotypical I could be. Making judgements about the people in these pictures was way too easy for me. Maybe I should turn the camera on myself, put my pic out there and see what snap judements people would make about me.

I Am a Foreigner

I am a Digital Native. No, actually I am not. I can barely turn on my computer and sadly, I still look at the keys when I type. Though if you asked Mark Prensky, author of "Digital Natives, Digital Immigrants" , he would tell you that simply based on my year of birth, I am. Again, I disagree. Prensky's model is far too black and white, too in or out for me to accept. It is almost as though he thinks that just because one is born in this "digital" age, that person is born with an innate knowledge of modern technology. When talking about the modern student Prensky says, "Our students today are all “native speakers” of the digital language of computers, video games and the Internet." Really? All native speakers? I don't think I even used google until 2006, and I still do NOT have a facebook account. Now, I'm not naive or ignorant to the fact that there are outliers in every group or exceptions to every rule, which I may be in this case, however I don't think that Prensky left any room for exceptions in his model.

In Henry Jenkins's "Reconsidering Digital Immigrants" , he identifies and refutes the generalizations made by Prensky. Jenkins makes some excellent points, especially in reference to "digital immigrants", saying:

Digital immigrants are being defined by what they lack with cultural difference seen as an obstacle they must overcome if they are going to fully assimilate into the modern age.

Digital immigrants are seen as imposing old world standards on the inhabitants of a new world and of getting in the way of their sons and daughter's opportunities to achieve.

Keep in mind what a high portion of the folks working in Silicon Valley today are immigrants -- information workers from around the world whose expertise and mastery over these new technologies are allowing American companies to succeed. So, real digital immigrants can probably outcompute most of the so-called digital natives.

Among the most important Jenkins raises though, is what these terms imply with the relationship between young and old. He says:

"Talking about digital natives and digital immigrants tends to exagerate the gaps between adults, seen as fumbling and hopelessly out of touch, and youth, seen as masterful. It invites us to see contemporary youth as feral, cut off from all adult influences, inhabiting a world where adults sound like the parents in the old Peanuts cartoons -- whah, whah, whah, whah -- rather than having anything meaningful to say to their offspring. In the process, it disempowers adults, encouraging them to feel helpless, and thus justifying their decision not to know and not to care what happens to young people as they move into the on-line world."

I believe this exageration of the generational gaps to be the biggest flaw of Prensky's model. It not only makes adults feel "disempowered" or "helpless", but also potentially creates a gap within the individual generations themselves. Like Jenkins, I believe these metaphors are doing more harm than good, making those "digital immigrants" feel more like outsiders and that understanding information in this age is an innate skillset that they were born without.

Media Iliterate

"Media Literacy is a quality, like a tan, which can be achieved." - Neil Anderson, Association for Media Literacy.

What is media literacy? Obviously, when beginning the study of media literacy (or merely just trying to understand it), this should be the first question we ask. A week ago I can honestly say that I had a limited understanding of true media literacy. I defined it as messages from limited, mainly technological sources. After some considerable time studying the matter, my definiton has changed. My new comprehension of media literacy is the ability to understand and sort through all forms of messages encountered every day from mulitiple outlets. I found one article, Expanding the Definition of Media Literacy by Bill Walsh, writer of a weekly column called "Media Watch", to be central to my new understanding. In the article Walsh talks about "expanding the traditional view of literacy, not replacing it." He goes onto explain that no one outlet of media is more important than another: reading, writing, TV,computers, even billboards are all important.

To become media literate we must also ask ourselves the right questions. This was a recurring theme I found in almost all of my studies. Education Specialist Jane Tallim, says that being media literate is "about asking pertinent questions about what's there, and what's not there. And it's the instinct to question what's behind media productions, and to be aware of how these factors influence content." For me those questions are things like: Who was this message meant for? Who benefits from this message? What are their intentions for this message?

I'm still not certain I grasp the full extent of what media literacy is or how to answer the questions that it raises. However, I think just trying to gain a better understanding and knowing the right questions to ask puts me much closer to gaining a better view of the interconnected world that we are all a part of.

Story of My Life

For my first entry I was initially going to try and think of something clever and fun to say about myself. However, after 10 minutes of staring at a blank screen it has occured to me that I'm not that interesting. Guess I'll have to work on that. So for now, I suppose I'll tell you the basic facts of who I am.
I'm Justin. I'm from the big town of Ellijay, Ga. I'm currently writing this on an iPad. A decision which I regret immediately. I'm not your traditional college student. For starters, I'm old, I will be 27 next month. Also, I'm married to a very hot, very frustrating woman, who other than being from Cleveland, OH, and an Indians, and Buckeyes fan has very few flaws. Also she's currently working on becoming a doctor, lucky me. I also have a son, Noah. He's 20 mos old and awesome!... And simultaneously, a terror. Now, I'm sure you are all wondering why such a late start in college, right? Well, for the past many years I have been in the Army. I was an Airborne Infantry Sgt (technically I still am only now it's in the National Guard, so I only kick ass on a part-time basis). I enjoyed the Army and what I did, but I learned quickly that it wasn't the type of life I wanted for my family (I didn't even see my son for the first time until he was 4 mos old), so in June of 2011, when my last contract was over, I got out. Then the whole fam moved from Seattle, Wa., back to the great state of Georgia and here I am at Reinhardt.

Well there you have it, the abridged version of the story of my life. I'm sure that it probably doesn't give you a sense of who I am as person, but if you're that interested, just talk to me.