Four interesting examples of new literacy practices found on the internet:
1. AFFINITY SPACE
Wikipedia (2017) defines fanfiction (a.k.a fanfic) as “fiction about characters or settings from an original work of fiction, created by fans of that work rather than by its creator.” Below is a fanfiction titled Titanic: A Life Journey, written by a fan of the ‘Titanic’ (BruvItsLit, 2016).
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A fanfiction written for fans of the ‘Titanic’
Fanfics writers and readers are settled in a whole different world of their own and have created their own language as means to communicate and share their love and interests of various topics/characters/people. This space is made possible as participants value new ideas and knowledge whilst acknowledging quality of content based on their mutual passion rather than through experts (Lankshear & Knobel, 2014).
Reference List:
Wikipedia. (2017). Fan fiction. Retrieved from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fan_fiction
BruvItsLit. (Producer). (March 14, 2006). Titanic: A Life Journey. Retrieved from https://www.fanfiction.net/s/2842586/1/Titanic-A-Life-Journey
Lankshear C & Knobel M. (May 27 2014). Studying New Literacies. Retrieved from http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com.ezproxy1.library.usyd.edu.au/doi/10.1002/jaal.314/full
2. MEME
Gil (2017) explains meme as ” a virally-transmitted cultural symbol or social idea.” From hilariously captioned photographs that mock human behaviours to videos that embed deep philosophical meanings; memes have became a global social phenomenon (Gil, 2017). They are primarily intended for humour and entertainment but can also play a role to be educational and enlightening for the society. As established by Lankshear & Knobel (2014), “Meaningful expression and cultural artifacts can be shared with the click of a mouse and as extensively as one chooses via digital networks.”
Below are merely just some examples from Patrick’s (2016) article on ‘The Best Political Memes to Get Us Through This 2016 Election’ and Battle’s (2016) ’10 Best Memes of 2016′.
Reference List:
Gil, P. (August 2, 2017). What is a Meme? Retrieved from https://www.lifewire.com/what-is-a-meme-2483702
Patrick. (March 10, 2016). The Best Political Memes to Get Us Through This 2016 Election. Retrieved from http://www.brostrick.com/viral/funny-political-memes-donald-trump-hillary-clinton-sanders-cruz/
Battle, Z. (December 24, 2016). The 10 Best Memes of 2016. Retrieved from https://studybreaks.com/2016/12/24/memes/
Lankshear C & Knobel M. (May 27 2014). Studying New Literacies. Retrieved from http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com.ezproxy1.library.usyd.edu.au/doi/10.1002/jaal.314/full
3. TWEETING
The ‘Wendy’s Twitter Roast’ phenomenon from earlier 2017 has gathered individuals from all over the world to tweet the fast food company solely for a humorous roast. Many has captured the best tweets yet from Wendy’s and shared it online for entertainment and laughter. This manifests Lankshear & Knobel’s claim (2014) that new literacies are becoming more interactive as they require mass collaboration with constant flows of feedbacks and sharing of resources. A great example of this was Wilkerson’s nugget challenge for Wendy’s earlier this year (Wilkerson, 2017).
Reference List:
Wilkerson, C. (Producer). (April 5, 2017). Retrieved from https://twitter.com/carterjwm/status/849813577770778624/photo/1
Lankshear C & Knobel M. (May 27 2014). Studying New Literacies. Retrieved from http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com.ezproxy1.library.usyd.edu.au/doi/10.1002/jaal.314/full
4. VIRAL VIDEO
A viral video is one that has gained millions of views rapidly within a short timeframe. The music video of Korean solo artist, PSY’s ‘Gangnam Style’ has gone viral back in 2012 (Officialpsy, 2012). It is only after this that people has started to take an interest in Korean Pop Music (K-POP) and became eager learners of the Korean language. Evidently, the rapid growth of electronic networks in today’s society has expanded the reach and engagement for new literacies beyond the capability of prints (Lankshear & Knobel, 2014).
Reference List:
Wikipedia. (2017). Viral Video. Retrieved from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Viral_video
Officalpsy. (Producer). (Jul 15, 2012). PSY – GANGNAM STYLE(강남스타일) M/V. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9bZkp7q19f0
Lankshear C & Knobel M. (May 27 2014). Studying New Literacies. Retrieved from http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com.ezproxy1.library.usyd.edu.au/doi/10.1002/jaal.314/full
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