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To our dear friend Harvey Sheppard of Bottle Cove, Newfoundland.

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Table of Contents

Acknowledgments

ix

Chapter 1: DIY media: A contextual background and some

contemporary themes
Colin Lankshear and Michele Knobel

Part 1: Audio Media

Chapter 2: Music remix in the classroom
Erik Jacobson

27

Chapter 3: DIY podcasting in education

Christopher Shamburg

51

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

Part 2: Still Media

Chapter 4: Visual networks: Learning and photosharing
Guy Merchant

79

Chapter 5: Photoshopping/photosharing: New media,

digital literacies and curatorship
John Potter

103

Part 3: Moving Media

Chapter 6: Machinima: Why think games
when thinkingfilm?
Susan Luckman and Robin Potanin

135

Chapter 7: Stop motion animation

Angela Thomas and Nicole Tufano

161

Chapter 8: Flash fundamentals: DIY animation

and interactive design
Rebecca Orlowicz

185

Chapter 9: AMV remix: Do-it-yourself anime music videos

Michele Knobel, Colin Lankshear and Matthew Lewis

205

Afterword
Henry Jenkins

231

Notes on Contributors

255

Index

259

Subject Index

263

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Acknowledgments

The editors and authors would like to thank the following for giving permission to use their images within the chapters of this book: Yahoo! for
permission to use the screen shots from Flickr appearing in Figures 4.1,
4.2, 4.3, 4.4, 5.1, and 5.5; Guy Merchant for permission to use his photographs in Chapter 4; John Potter for permission to use his photographs
in Chapter 5; Heather Armstrong for the screenshot from her blog,
dooce.com, appearing in Figure 5.2; Go Squared Ltd. (htp://www.gosqu
ared.com) for permission to use the icon set titled 40 Image Editing
Icons (currently available at http://www.gosquared.com/liquidicity/ar
chives/384) and shown in Figure 5.3, and in particular, James Gill of Go
Squared Ltd., who created the icons appearing in Figure 5.3; Alice Potter for all images appearing in Figures 5.4a, 5.4b, 5.4c, and 5.4d; Alexandro Nuez for his original artwork for a Machinima storyboard
appearing in Figure 6.1; Shinywhitebox.com for the screenshot from
iShowU appearing in Figure 6.2; Anim8 Stop Motion creator, Michael
Mallon, for his time and responses to interview questions; Keegan and
Greg Twigg (twiggarts on YouTube) for the image appearing Figure 7.1;
and Martin Waller for his detailed comments about using stop motion in

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

his Year 2 classroom, and for permission to use the image appearing in Figure
7.6 in this volume.
The editors particularly thank the authors for their contributions to this
book. We know they all lead busy and demanding lives, and are deeply appreciative of the time, effort and expert insights they have given to this project.
We have learned a great deal from each of them.
Caitlin Curran is due special thanks for her administrative, behind-thescenes work on this manuscript, including help with formatting, proofreading, obtaining permissions, among other, often tedious, tasks. Requests
for assistance were always met with a smiling Sure! and tasks were meticulously done and completed well ahead of schedule. We are very grateful for
her contributions to this book.
The editors warm thanks are also due to Harvey Sheppard and Vera
Joyce of Lark Harbour, Newfoundland, for offering whenever access to
their computer and the internet during the summer of 2009 while we were
writing the introduction to this book (ostensibly on vacation and away
from all that stuff). They also contributed directly to our thinking about
DIY culture and ethos in everyday peoples lives.
We thank the various universities, colleges and schools employing the
contributing authors for supporting their research and publishing activity. In
our own case as editors, we thank the following universities for their ongoing
support of our work: Montclair State University, James Cook University,
Mount Saint Vincent University, and McGill University.
We also thank everyone at Peter Lang Publishing for making this such an
easy project to administer. Quick answers to our queries, the right forms to
fill in at the right time, and important advice regarding formatting and figures are just some of the valued input we received. In particular, wed like to
thank Bernadette Shade and Chris Myers for their usual patience, goodwill
and good humor throughout this writing project.

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Chapter 1

DIY Media: A contextual background

andand
some
contemporary
themes
some
contemporary
themes
COLIN LANKSHEAR AND MICHELE KNOBEL

Introduction
This book aims to introduce do-it-yourselfDIYmedia to educators and
caregivers who are aware that young people are doing a lot of digital media
work on a day-by-day basis and who would like to know more about what
this work involves. Its audience includes teacher educators, in-service teachers and teachers in training, educators involved in professional development
and after-school programs, librarians, parents, and other caregivers who want
a better understanding than they currently have of what many young people
are doing with digital media. The following chapters explore what is involved
in creating mediaand learning how to create mediafrom the standpoint
of participating in a range of DIY media practices, such as podcasting, music
remixing, creating flash animations, making machinima movies, and so on.
The book takes a practice approach to its subject matter. Each chapter
addresses its particular form of media engagement in ways that illuminate it as
a sociocultural practice. Practices are socially recognized ways of using tools
and knowledge to do things (Scribner & Cole, 1981; see also, Gee, 2004,
2007; Hull & Schultz, 2001; Lankshear & Knobel, 2006). Podcasting, for
example, involves using particular kinds of tools, techniques and technologies
to achieve the goals and purposes that podcasters aim to achieve, and to use
them in the ways that people known as podcasters recognize as appropriate to

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their endeavor in terms of their goals and values. We think that understanding what many young people are doing with digital media is a matter of
understanding what it is they are intent on doing and being when they engage
with media as DIY creators/producers. This is a matter of knowing something about their goals and aims and purposes; their tools and how they use
them; the knowledge they draw on and seek to obtain in crafting their production to a personally satisfying level of expertise; the values and standards
they recognize as relevant to good practice.
The audience we envisage for this book is one that seeks a better understanding of young peoples DIY engagement with media for educational reasonsin a broad sense of educational. They are not just curious about
what kids are doing. Rather, they want to be able to make meaningful and
respectful connections to these practices; connections that will contribute to
learning in ways that will enhance young peoples prospects of living well in
the present and the future. In some cases, making these connections might
simply involve coming to appreciate the complex skills and understandings
inherent in these pursuits, instead of worrying about DIY media tinkering
and experimentation as nothing more than a waste of time or as eating into
students attention to homework. In other cases, it might be a matter of seeing how connections can be made between classroom curricular requirements
and what children and young people are doing-for-themselves with digital
media. This is not to suggest that teachers should suddenly turn around and
import each and every DIY media practice directly into the classroom. The
point is, rather, to understand how key learning principles and systems of
appreciation (Gee, 2007) tied up in these practices can be used to inform
sound teaching practices (e.g., how the principles of effective video editing
developed from creating machinima can be translated into editing written
narratives or play scripts).
Developing this latter kind of understanding is not a matter of just reading about DIY media practices in the abstract. It requires, more than anything, some kind of embodied, hands-on engagement in the practice. And
this, in turn, extends well beyond simply coming to grips with the technical
aspects of a given DIY media practice (e.g., how to move the playhead to
where you want to clip a movie, how to add searchable tags to your photos
within Flickr.com), although this dimension is important. It also necessarily
includes a commitment to obtaining a sense of insider perspectives on the
practice by spending time participating in, and even contributing to, relevant
affinity spaces. Affinity spaces are specially designed spaces (physical and virtual) constructed to resource people tied together . . . by a shared interest or
endeavor (Gee, 2004, p. 73). These spaces can extend across online archives
or artifact hosting websites (with provision made for leaving review comments, etc.), discussion boards, face-to-face events, paper-based and online

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guides, and the likeall of which support people in accessing and sharing
knowledge that is distributed and dispersed across many different people,
places, Internet sites and modalities (ibid.). In the case of creating a stop
motion animation, for example, this might include spending quite some time
browsing the videos archived at StopMotionAnimation.com or on
YouTube.com and reading review comments in order to generate a sense of
what constitutes a good stop motion animation (e.g., photo display timing
is set to ensure a sense of fluid motion, lighting remains constant from photo
to photo within a single scene). Watching a good number of videos hosted at
either site soon shows which themes, topics and storylines are done to death
in the world of stop motion animation, and which are fresh and innovative.
Reading interviews with stop motion animators about what got them started
and what keeps them involved at sites like Anim8StopMotion.com also
affords useful insights into trends within DIY stop motion animation creation
as well as helps to identify what are considered to be landmark videos that
contribute to setting the benchmarks for judging innovative animations (see
Chapter 7, this volume). A focus on practice therefore includes the technical
dimensions of the practice, as well as the insider perspectives on what it
means to create something well (or well enough to be personally satisfying or
to meet a given purpose).
Accordingly, each chapter in this book begins with a section that discusses the particular media practice in focus (e.g., podcasting, music remix,
photosharing) from the standpoint of insiders to that practice. The authors
consider some of the cultural knowledge and cultural ways that members of
that practiceor sharers of that affinity (Gee, 2004)recognize, contribute
to, honor and strive to maintain and develop. The authors present their perspectives in ways that will provide newcomers or strangers to the practice
with a sense of who the people are who participate in the practice, what is in
it for them, and how they interact with others within this practice. At the
same time, the authors points of view engage those of other people participating in the practice whose views may vary on some points (e.g., around
future trends and directions), thereby opening up possibilities for further
reflection, debate and growth.
The middle section of each chapter is a how to get started statement,
designed for people who want so far as possible to learn by doing (and
create while learning) in the area of DIY media, but who would also like a
ready reference to augment the support they can get face-to-face from expert
others, or that they can access online by running Google searches, trawling
sets of relevant frequently asked questions (FAQs) and answers, accessing
discussion forums, and so on. We firmly believe that in order for outsiders
or newcomers to begin to move towards becoming insiders, they need to
begin by participating somewhere. This is much the same as it is, say, for
ethnographers who want to study a culture different from their own. Ethno-

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graphers need to begin participating in eventstypically in everyday events

that have discernible steps such as food preparation or religious ceremonies
before they can start understanding these events as an insider might. Observation alone is insufficient for understanding any culture. Working at
getting on the inside of a practice has two dimensionsas weve already
alluded to above: the hands-on dimension, and the culture/affinity dimension. The aim of the middle section in each chapter, therefore, is to give newcomers support in having a go at a range of DIY media practices. Each
chapter includes within this section reference to key sites within the practice
that help mobilize affinities (e.g., Machinima.com for machinima makers,
AnimeMusicVideos.org for AMV remixers), along with other recommended
sites for obtaining technical help and other resources. Many chapters also
include references to online how-to guides or structured walkthroughs that
act as direct props for newcomers to use to support getting stuck in and
mucking around with producing a media artifact of one kind or another.
The final part of each chapter is intended to contribute to the evaluative,
reflective, critical dimension of social practices from an educational standpoint. It poses so what? questions about media practices in relation to educational purposes. This involves negotiating a tricky tension between intrinsic
and more instrumental purposes. There is a world of difference, for example,
between the intrinsically motivated pursuits and efforts of bona fide fans of
media phenomena (Jenkins, 1992, 2006a, 2006b)who engage in the practice because it is integral to their cultural interests, peer relationships and
identitiesand the pressures felt by many educators and teachers in training
that they should get up to speed on 21st century media and skills; that they
should pursue some insider-like proficiencies and appreciations of new
media practices in order to make better teaching and learning connections
with digital age learners and with contemporary shifts in theories and practices of learning (Buckingham et al., 2004; Ito et al., 2009; Jenkins et al.,
2006). We are sensitive to this tension because we feel it ourselves on a dayto-day basis. To the extent that we ourselves can make the time and create
the space, we revel in mucking around, tinkering, and creating media
artifacts for the sheer intrinsic pleasure of doing it and the sense of fulfillment
it generates when something comes off at a level or standard we are content with (all too rarely, of course!). For us, this is the heart and soul of DIY
mediapeople doing it because they cant not do it. At the same time, we are
acutely aware of the extent to which we have only got into this stuff
because we have felt we had to in order to do the best job we can as educators. As editors, this book is very much grounded in our own experiences
of contradictions: contradictions that the chapter authors have been recruited
to explore and, we suspect, that they experience to varying degrees themselves on a continuing basis.

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Our brief to the chapter authors was to write for a wide range of users,
including relative newbies through to those who are very much at home
using their computers. This caveat reflects our own teaching experiences; in
graduate courses we have taught teachers who needed to ask their neighbor
over to help them find the on button on their new laptop computer, teachers who only recently opened their first email account, and teachers who had
long been using blogs and digital movie editing processes in their classrooms.
Computer-savvy teachers are likely to find the historical background in each
chapter provides useful contextualizing information; newbies are likely to
find the step-by-step guides and suggestions for finding additional support
and trouble-shooting advice online most helpful to begin with. All readers
are likely to find something of interest in the suggestions for teaching each
author provides. This collection is designed to be dipped into on a just-intime-and-place basis, and the chapters can be read in no particular order, as
can the sections within each chapter. When all is said and done, however, it is
only an introduction to each of the eight DIY media practices showcased
across the chapters. And it is certainly not an exhaustive accounting of all the
possible DIY media practices currently engaged in around the world. In sum,
this book offers a series of how-to guides, but it is no substitute for immersing oneself in the social practices associated with creating a digital media artifact well and doing it yourself. Hopefully, however, it may help to encourage
at least some readers to throw themselves into mucking around with one
or more of the cultural practices and associated digital media described,
according to personal preferences and interests.

DIY and DIY media

As terminology in common usage, DIY or do-it-yourself is usually traced
to the early mid-1950s U.S. scene (Merriam-Webster.com cites 1952; dictionary.com cites 19501955). Early uses made particular reference to people
(by implication, mainly males) undertaking maintenance, repair or modification work on major investment items like homes and vehicles, without (necessarily) having the specialized training or expertise associated with that work.
In such cases, individuals believed they could do the work in question sufficiently well to be able to bypass the paid (often costly) services of specialist
personnel (such as professionals or tradesmen). Benefits from doing this
include saving money, convenient completion times, personal satisfaction,
having it done the way one wants, and so on. The rise of DIY coincided historically with the growth of the suburbs and suburban lifestyles in the U.S.
and elsewhere throughout the western world. It moved established forms of
domestic activity and self-reliancesuch as farmers fabricating their own
implements and/or repairing commercially produced implements, and

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women knitting or sewing garments for the familyonto new terrain, and
onto a new scale. Furthermore, it also allowed the domestic producers of
long established home-made artifacts to aspire to a different quality of production. Whereas home-made traditionally implied products that were
folksy or otherwise visibly not commercially produced, DIY-ers could
now aspire to a more professional look and feel to their production.
The tasks, tools and knowledge framework derived from the concept
of social practice provides a useful way of understanding this phenomenon.
The new home-made of post-1950s DIY emerged as more specialized tools
and knowledge became more readily accessible (i.e., available to nonspecialist people at affordable prices), allowing ordinary people to entertain
the idea of pursuing what had hitherto been specialized tasks. In the area of
home improvement, for example, this involved the emergence of small scale
but sophisticated power tools, along with locally available night courses,
hobby classes, magazines and other DIY publications, kitsets and their
included step-by-step guides. Much the same applied in areas like sewing,
knitting, and cooking/catering or home entertaining, as new knowledge
resources akin to those available for home improvement emerged alongside
increased access to sophisticated programmable sewing and knitting
machines, overlockers, and professional grade ovens and food mixers, and the
like.
It has subsequently become common to talk about a DIY ethic, and to
extend talk of DIY far beyond its most common early referents.
The DIY ethic . . . refers to the ethic of being self-reliant by completing tasks
oneself as opposed to having others who are likely more experienced complete
them. The term can indicate doing anything from home improvements and
repairs to health care, from publication to electronics (Wikipedia, 2009a, no
page).

At the level of an ethic, DIY has been linked to a range of antecedents

and values systems. These include a late 19th century Arts and Crafts movement associated with figures like William Morris, which sought to keep traditional arts and crafts alive in the face of displacement by escalating
industrial/mass production processes and/or to reject a growing industrial
aesthetic (Wikipedia, 2009b).
More recently, DIY has been associated with a range of 1960s--1970s
philosophies and countercultural trends, including anti-consumerist, anticorporatist, environmental, self-reliance, self-actualization, New Age, and
subsistence values and practices (see, for example, Lavine & Heimerl, 2008;
Spencer, 2005; Wikipedia, 2009b). For example, the work of Ivan Illich
(1971, 1973a, 1973b, etc.) provided an especially sophisticated and forceful
account of how professionalized institutions, from the church to the school,

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have disabled people, forcing them to become dependent on those professionals who alone are sanctioned or authorized to provide various services.
The logic of enforced consumption of professional services through manipulative institutions (Illich, 1973a) conditions people to confuse the process of
realizing values with the process of consuming commodities. What people
can do perfectly well for themselves has been rendered illegitimate, and, to
the extent that legitimate services come at a price, what is readily available in
principle has become economically scarce in practice. The result is a profound
and disabling disempowerment, which includes being robbed of the
opportunity to discover what one might in fact be able to do for oneself and,
in many cases, do better and more to ones personal tastes and beliefs than is
delivered by a professionalized institution or bureaucracy. Illich went so far
as to describe schoolthe age-specific, teacher-related process of full time
attendance at an obligatory curriculum (1973a, p. 32)as the reproductive organ of the consumer society, and was a key informant (along with
people like John Holt and Everett Reimer) for the emergent homeschooling
and unschooling movements of the 1970s.
Many commentators (e.g., Spencer, 2005; Tiggs, 2006; Wikipedia,
2009b) highlight the influence of 1970s punk on the evolving DIY ethic and
on the subsequent direction of DIY media in particular. They talk of a substantial DIY subculture grounded in anti-corporate and anti-consumerist values having impacted DIY music and (online) self-publishing and encouraged
personal styles of self-presentation, self-expression, and identity work.
With respect to self-publishing, punk amplified the orientation and scale
of zines, or cut and paste publishing (Knobel & Lankshear, 2002). These
short-run magazineszines for shortwere originally typed texts that
were cut and pasted by hand into booklet form and copied. Some writers
date zines as an identifiable cultural form back to the 1940s (Chu, 1997;
Duncombe, 1997, 1999; Williamson, 1994). Personal zinesperzinesare
more recent, achieving critical mass in the mid-1980s. These zines grew
out of the 1970s punk rock scene as fans put together fanzines about their
favorite bands, focusing on biographical details, appearance dates and venues, album reviews, and the like. According to a Wikipedia (2009b) entry,
the burgeoning zine movement took up coverage of and promotion of the
underground punk scenes, and significantly altered the way fans interacted
with musicians (no page). These zines were distributed during concerts or
via networks of friends and fans. They soon evolved into more personalized
locations of expression and their topics and themes ranged far beyond the
punk rock scene. They nonetheless retained their roots in a DIY ethic,
becoming a key gateway to DIY culture and generating tutorial zines
showing others how to make their own shirts, posters, magazines, books,
food, etc. (Wikipedia, 2009b). Increasingly, zines are published on the
internet (sometimes referred to as ezines). Conventional paper zine pro-

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duction now also often involves computers in the production process,

although todays zinesters typically retain the DIY ethos and the look and
feel of original zines; for example, using computers to key and markup the
text, then cutting and pasting texts and images onto each page after they have
been printed, and then scanning or copying these pages as they are.
Of course, punk subculture nurtured the development of DIY music,
whereby legions of bands generated audiences, created fan bases, recorded
their music and produced merchandise outside the ambit of corporate labels
and the kinds of constraints imposed by commercial considerations. This
created opportunities for smaller bands to get wider recognition and gain
cult status through repetitive low-cost DIY touring (Wikipedia, 2009b).
Above all, perhaps, so far as subsequent DIY music media is concerned
punk taught people that you dont have to be virtuoso to . . . make music. Similarly, the computer-based music phenomenon has taught people they dont
need instruments or other people to make music. Remix, as a particular form of
that [DIY] principle, teaches people that anybody can comment on or interpret
already existing music. Finally, as with punk, the expectation is not that you are
remixing to secure immortality. The idea is that doing it yourself (DIY) is a
worthwhile activity in and of itself (Jacobson, p. 32, this volume).

Other important DIY media practices and influences ran alongside punk
in the 1970s (and earlier), like dance music and fan video remixing, but were
not explicitly countercultural or ideological in the sense that punk was. Dance
music remix dates to Jamaican dance hall culture in the late 1960s and the
wish to customize existing music to suit the tastes and needs of different
kinds of dance audiences. Drawing on the potentials of particular tools and
technologies (e.g., turntables, magnetic tape, audio tape recording) DJs and
individuals with access to recording equipment began using homespun techniques to remix songs. DJs used twin turntables so that they could play different versions of the same song simultaneously whilst manually controlling
for speed (beats to the minute). Others edited tape recordings to meet their
purposes, by sampling and splicing tapes, often literally cutting and pasting
them, and by combining different tracks from one or more multi-track
recordings. Remixers produced speedier versions of a song, a more stripped
back sound, elongated songs to keep people dancing longer, and so on
(Hawkins, 2004; Jacobson, this volume; Seggern, no date). When digital
sound became the norm, all kinds of sampling techniques were applied,
using different kinds of hardware devices or software on a computer.
The important point here is the innovative make do and invent on
the fly character of this kind of remixing and modification of existing music.
In the absence of specialist tools, techniques and knowledge for achieving
certain purposes, people invented their own. In many cases they contributed

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to developing techniques and defining tasks that record companies subsequently took up. In this way they anticipated present day digital media developments where, for example, video games fans have developed innovative
and cost-effective ways of producing videos using game engines and screencapture recording software, in a process known as machinima. The various
aesthetic and video techniques employed in machinima have influenced roleplay video game design itself (especially with respect to the increasing sophistication of cut-scenes between game segments or levels), along with
commercial media, including television advertising (e.g., Volvos Game On
and Coca-Colas Coke side of life commercials) and commercial entertainment (e.g., the Make Love not Warcraft episode of South Park and MTVs
machinima music videos) (see also Knobel & Lankshear, 2008; Picard, 2006;
Chapter 6, this volume).
Similarly to the case of music remixing, access to analogue video
recorders and commercial videos led to the emergence of fan-based video
remixing, using footage recorded from television or videos. This was a linear
and often tedious process that typically required many hours of manually
working two analog video recorders. DIY music videos were especially popular, and the first Anime Music Videos (AMVs) were made by fans using analogue tools.
One VCR would play the source footage tape while the other would
record the footage onto the AMV tape. The creator would record a piece of
footage, pause the AMV tape, find the next piece of footage to use, record,
and continue to repeat the slow, tedious process through the whole AMV.
Music was put in at the end, often recorded off of a CD or tape (Springall,
2004, p. 22).
By the mid-1980s, DIY media were already a well-established popular
cultural pursuit across a range of analogue formats: notably, zines, music
remixing, self-published comics and fan fiction, and video remixing, filmmaking, and groups recording their own music. The ease, scale, quality and
social organization of engagement in DIY media have, however, undergone a
quantum change from the mid 1980s, as digital electronic tools, production
techniques, and electronically networked communications have become
increasingly accessible (for detailed accounts see, for example, Benkler, 2006;
Burgess & Green, 2009; Bruns, 2008; Jenkins, 2006a, 2006b; Lankshear &
Knobel, 2006; Leadbeater & Miller, 2004).

The DIY media scene today

In the sense we are using it here, DIY media comprise digital entertainment and expressive mediaanimation, live action video, music video, music,
spoken voice tracks, other artistic worksproduced by everyday people to

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meet their own goals and personal satisfactions. These goals and satisfactions
might be associated with fanship in some larger phenomenon, affiliation with
some social group, or interest in something particular, or might simply
emerge out of having the opportunity to tinker with and explore the means
for producing a media artifact of one kind or another.
DIY media in this sense are very much characterized by people being able
to produce their own mediawhether they be radio-like podcasts, original remixed music, animated video shorts, music videos, etc.by making
use of software, hardware and insider skills, techniques and knowledge that
were previously the domain of highly-trained experts who had access to specialized and typically very expensive media production know-how, resources
and spaces.
The increasing availability of free or almost free image, video and sound
editing software, the increasing affordability of computers and digital still and
video cameras (including free availability of such resources in a growing number of public libraries and community media centers), and the relative ease of
finding online how-to guides, trouble-shooting help, raw resources (e.g.,
source video, sound effects) collectively make it possible for everyday people
to become media producers rather than merely media consumers (Leadbeater
& Miller, 2004; Shirky, 2008).
Axel Bruns (2008) takes this analysis further to argue for the emergence
of produsers. He explains how conventional distinctions between producers and consumers no longer hold within an online, networked economy and
argues instead for recognizing a new hybrid: the produser. A produser,
according to Bruns, is an active and productive user (p. 23) of content
created, developed, modified, and shared by a community. That is, produsers
use rather than consume (i.e., use up) artifacts, knowledge, information,
content and other resources (p. 14). Within this model of active and productive use, content or artifacts prodused by a community are always available
to others and open to revision or reworking in ways, ideally, which are
inherently constructive and productive of social networks and communal
content (p. 23). The concept of produser captures how digital, distributed
networks make possible non-hierarchical and open participation in online
communities, the rapid sharing of ideas and resources, how users are able to
tap into the collective intelligence of a group or community to contribute in
small, modular ways to larger projects, and how knowledge can be used and
shared among peers and experts. Bruns emphasizes the importance of
internet-mediated networks and servicessuch as blogs, wikis, video-hosting
sites, etc.in helping make this possible.
Indeed, the genuine sophistication of even the most basic audio and editing programs and the possibility of drawing on existing media to resource
DIY media projects mean it is quite possible for the everyday person to create a polished product without necessarily being artistic (i.e., able to draw

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11

well, sing beautifully, play a musical instrument, take museum-quality photos,

etc.). For example, as mentioned earlier, free screen-recording software (like
Fraps), role-playing video games or 3D virtual worlds that provide characters
and scenes, and free video editing software can be used to produce machinima (see Chapter 6, this volume). Previously, this kind of animated video typically required numerous key frame and in-betweener artists, expertise in
animation and general film effects and techniques, and/or access to and facility with computers designed especially for creating or editing the animation
(costing tens of thousands of dollars), studio space, musicians to create the
video soundtrack, voice actors, expertise in the areas of animation and filmmaking, serious funding, and so on. Now, it is perfectly possible for someone
without any formal training in film or animation techniques, and who cannot
draw to save him/herself, to create an engaging animation in their home
office or bedroom.
A sense of the sheer scale and range of DIY media engagement today can
be gauged from looking at the proliferation of user-content management
websites that have sprung up online since the early 2000s. These kinds of
service sites do not create their own content but, instead, make it possible
for everyday users to post their own content online. Massive sites like
YouTube, OurMedia.org, Stickam, Blip.tv, Flickr, Picasa, Photobucket, PodcastAlley, Podomatic, and LibSyn, to name just a few, fall into this category.
Not all of the content posted by users to such sites is DIYa good deal of it
is taken directly from television, DVDs, radio, or from other online spaces
(e.g., photos of celebrities, other peoples music remixes), although Eric Garland (2008), who is involved in the online measurement business, argues that
user redistributed content should be considered an important part of DIY
media. At the time of writing, the video hosting service, YouTube, is attracting over a billion views a day; the photohosting site, Flickr, hosts more than
a billion images; and the podcast-hosting site, Podcast Alley, hosts 4.7 million
podcast episodes.
In addition to these massive sites, numerous more specialized online sites
exist that have been purpose-developed for hosting particular kinds of DIY
media. Typical examples, among many others, include:
Machinima.comwith over 26,000 unique visitors in September 2009
for hosting machinima videos and spanning a large number of types of
machinimacategorized according to the game engine they use, and
searchable by the kind they aredrama, comedy, thriller, romantic, fantasy, sci-fi, etc.
AnimeMusicVideos.org, or AMV.orgwith over 23,000 unique visitors
in September 2009is devoted to hosting anime music videos (video
remixes that use predominantly anime footage and are set to music). As
with Machinima.com, AMV.org enables viewers to search for videos by

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type (drama, comedy, romance, etc.) and by anime series (e.g., Naruto,
Great Teacher Onizuka, Evangelion, etc.).

Aniboom.comwith close to 68,000 unique visitors in September

2009and Newgrounds.comwith 1.3 million unique visitors in September 2009which host flash animations and flash games.
StopMotionAnimation.comwith roughly 16,000 unique visitors in September, 2009which hosts stop motion animations, spanning everything from claymation, doll and figurine animation, line-drawing
animation, sand-based animation (2D and 3D), live action stop motion,
everyday object stop motion, and so on.
DIY media creators often have a good sense of the professional standards
typically applied to the media they themselves are creating (cf., comments by
Matt in Chapter 9, this volume). This doesnt mean that working to professional standards is always a consideration in DIY media creation; the outcomes of rudimentary explorations of a new technique are often satisfying
and sufficient. Morover, there are ample instances on YouTube of cellphone
videos showing friends riding their bikes off piers or bridges into deep water
(and all kinds of similar fare) to suggest that DIY media creation is often
more concerned with maintaining social relationships than with exercising
any will to production quality or conceptual sophistication. At the same time,
accomplished DIY media creations reveal amateurs working to professional
standards (Leadbeater & Miller, 2004, p. 9). Prior to the explosion of DIY
media creation, knowledge of these professional standards was often confined
to those who were highly trained in the area. These days, online how-to
guides, dedicated open discussion forums where experts and novices alike can
participate, help boards and blogs, user-created media content review and
comment spaces, and ready access to what are regarded as exemplary models
of the target media artifact make many elements of professional standards
explicit and accessible to the everyday person (e.g., amateur anime music
video makers committed to professional standards know that good quality
AMVs dont include clips that are subtitled or have different screen resolutions from one another, that they avoid clichd transitions between clips, and
so on).

DIY media as a window on the contemporary

Part of our interest in DIY media stems from how experiences of creating
and learning to create new media through participation in popular cultural
pursuits employing new technologies within a range of affinity spaces (Gee,
2004) can be seen as instantiating and illuminating some important current
trends to do with how we identify ourselves, participate with others, con-

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nect with others, mobilize resources and learn (Hagel & Seely Brown,
2005, p. 3). DIY media provide a window on some distinctively contemporary ways of being in the world. In this section we will briefly address some
aspects of identity, participation, resource mobilization and learning.

Identity
Identity is widely identified as a key to understanding entre into and sustained participation in cultural practices of creating and sharing digital media
within such pursuits as fanfiction writing, video game building or modding,
creating movie trailers for fictional movies, music remix, and so on (see, for
example, Alvermann et al., 2007; Alvermann & Heron, 2001; Black, 2007,
2009; Burn, 2008; Chandler-Olcott & Mahar, 2003; Gustavson, 2008; Hull,
2004; Lam, 2000; Pleasants, 2008; Thomas, 2007a, 2007b). In his recent
discussion of the digital society, Allan Martin (2008) presents a helpful line
of argument for understanding why identity work has become such a visible
focus of activity within contemporary daily life. Martin builds on work by
people like Bauman (2000), Beck (1992), and Giddens (1999) to argue that
under current conditions within societies like our ownwhere the classical
industrial order prevalent from the mid-19th century has gradually dissolved
into a society of uncertainty and riskconstructing individual identity has
become the fundamental social act (Martin, 2008, p. 153). The declining
significance of industry (and social class categories tied to types of employment), nation state, and institutionalized religion, which were the three pillars of the modern order, has robbed individuals of the certainties . . . of
work, order and belief that they had long provided (ibid.). The idea of the
long term has become increasingly meaningless, and for people enduring
these post-modern conditions life has become an individual struggle for
meaning and livelihood in a world that has lost its predictability (ibid.). As
Martin puts it:
The taken-for-granted structures of modern (i.e. industrial) societythe nationstate, institutionalized religion, social classhave become weaker and fuzzier as
providers of meaning and, to that extent, of predictability. Even the family has
become more atomized and short-term (2008, p. 153).

In the face of these conditions, says Martin, constructing individual identity becomes the major life project (ibid.), and within the daily pursuit of
this end, consumption, community-building, and digital culture converge in
interesting ways. Ways and styles of consumingsuch as owning particular
artifacts, or being a fanbecome badges of order (p. 153) that offer at
least some temporary or provisional sense of normality and existential safety.
Since we can no longer take the community (as we previously knew and
experienced it) as a given that confers aspects of identity (ibid.), the

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processes of building communities and actively finding communities to

become involved and participate in have become conscious action-forming
parts of constructing individual identity. Digitally-mediated participation in
affinities and communities assumes major proportions in this context, including, of course, becoming involved in creating and sharing digital media. Martin notes that within societies like our own, digital tools have become an
almost ubiquitous means for people to present themselves to society at large.
They can do this
by creating and broadcasting statements (developing blogs or personal websites,
contributing to online fora, sending email, texting, presenting a curriculum
vitae, etc.) or multi-media objects (mounted on social collection sites). [Digital
tools] also enable social identity development, making oneself in interaction with
others, members of strong groups such as family or friends, or weak groups
such as online communities (2008, p. 155).

From this perspective, the nature and significance of high-investment

participation in digital media affinities for doing identity work can be understood as an integral and radically coherent dimension of being a contemporary person living a contemporary life. We think it is especially important for
educators and caregivers to consider this perspective when reflecting on (or
worrying about) the kinds of investments young people make in pursuits like
creating, sharing, and otherwise interacting around digital media creation
and the kinds of preferences and priorities they exercise with respect to activities they choose to engage in most energetically and enthusiastically.

Participation
The phenomenon that Henry Jenkins identifies as an emerging participatory
culture is crucial to understanding contemporary social and cultural life. Participatory culture is what happens when consumers take media into their
own hands and become actively involved in contributing to cultural development through creating media, sharing it, and responding to it (Jenkins,
2006, p. 132; see also Benkler, 2006; Bruns, 2008; Chapter 3, this volume).
Participation, in this sense, describes how consumers themselves can be
media producers, side-stepping, or, at least, reconfiguring traditional relationships with broadcast media companies that previously placed consumers
in passive, receiver roles. Jenkins claims that [t]he power of participation
comes not from destroying commercial culture but from writing over it,
modding it, amending it, expanding it, adding greater diversity of perspective, and then recirculating it, feeding it back into the mainstream media
(Jenkins, 2006, p. 257; see also Bruns, 2008, p. 93). To participate in this
kind of culture is to be both a consumer and a producer who contributes

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activelyalbeit to varying degrees and in varying ways according to interest,

time, resources, etc.to the media available for others to view, listen to, read
and enjoy and use in turn.
In an influential occasional paper published jointly by MIT and the
MacArthur Foundation, Jenkins and colleagues (2006, p. 8) explain the rise
of participatory culture in terms of social and cultural responses to the
explosion of new media technologies that make it possible for average consumers to archive, annotate, appropriate, and recirculate media content in
powerful new ways (Jenkins et al., 2006, p. 8). They define a participatory
culture as one:
1. With relatively low barriers to artistic expression and civic engagement
2. With strong support for creating and sharing ones creations with others
3. With some type of informal mentorship whereby what is known by the most
experienced is passed along to novices
4. Where members believe that their contributions matter
5. Where members feel some degree of social connection with one another (at
the least they care what other people think about what they have created). (Jenkins et al., 2006, p. 7)

In the context of a much larger discussion of media education for the 21st
century, Jenkins and colleagues highlight the creative and innovative dimensions of participating in what Gee calls affinity spaces. They identify affinity
spaces as highly generative environments, from which new aesthetic experiments and innovations emerge (2006, p. 9) and argue that participating
regularly in affinity spaces develops a range of skills and proficiencies that are
likely to prove valuable in the workplace, as well as for being able to most
fully enjoy ones interests (ibid., p. 10). These include: being comfortable
with communicating via a range of electronic modes, being able to multitask
and make rapid decisions, being able to navigate and process information
obtained from a range of sources, being able to collaborate with diverse
others.
With respect to our focus on DIY media specifically, Rebecca Black illuminates this generative nature of participating in affinity spaces in her own
study of fan fiction writers (e.g., Black, 2007, 2008). Black describes how
three fans of anime (e.g., the Card Captor Sakura series) became successful
writers of fan fiction (stories based on existing media narratives and written
by fans). These writersall of whom were English language learnerswrote
fanfics which they posted to the website Fanfiction.net, the premier online
fanfic-hosting website. Over time, based on feedback received from other
writers, they enhanced their creative narrative writing prowess, and each
developed a large following of readers. In these cases, the affinity space com-

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prised commercial anime series, fan websites and discussion boards devoted
to these series, FanFiction.net (where authors can be reviewers and reviewers
authors, regardless of writing expertise or number of fanfics posted to the
site), and the availability of all kinds of informal support services (such as
beta-readers who will read a story before its posted online for public reading
to help with editing and smoothing the prose).
Black documents how obtaining reviews from strangers provided her
three informants with powerful motivation to continue writing and posting
to the site. She further explains how participating in this site encourages and
supports writers in developing original and innovative storylines, even if
many of their principal characters are taken from existing commercial media.
For example, one of her study participants explained in an interview (Black,
2006, p. 16) that when she realized that many of her readers had little understanding of Chinese and Japanese history she wrote two fanfics in response.
One combined elements of the movie, Memories of a Geisha, and the anime
character, Sakura (from the Card Captor Sakura series). The other was set
in 1910 Kyoto, Japan, [and centered] on Sakuras struggles with an arranged
marriage (ibid.).

Mobilizing resources
In their introduction to a stimulating discussion of emerging models for
mobilizing resources, John Hagel and John Seely Brown (2005, p.1) remind
us that in the course of their daily lives people perceive and act on the basis of
common sense assumptions about the world around us and the requirements to meet our goals (ibid.). Such assumptions collectively make up
common sense models for judgment, decision-making and action within
everyday routines. Hagel and Seely Brown claim that each major technology
shift generates a new common sense model, and that in the context of contemporary technology innovationsnotably, the microprocessor and packetswitched electronic networks dating from the 1970swe are now on the
cusp of a shift to a new common sense model that will reshape many facets
of our lives (ibid.).
Interestingly, in terms of our focus in this book, Hagel and Seely Brown
identify digital media as a key domain within which early signs can be found
of an important shift toward a new common sense model of how best to
mobilize resources under foreseeable conditions of uncertainty, and where a
focus on sustainability of resources will become increasingly important. They
describe this emerging new common sense model in terms of a shift away
from push approaches toward pull approaches. This shift can in turn be
understood in terms of a convergence between the twin needs to confront
uncertainty (itself partly a consequence of recent technological innovations)

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and to promote sustainability, on the one hand, and the opportunities technological innovations offer for meeting these same needs, on the other.
Hagel and Seely Browns argument has particular relevance to educators,
because education/learning is a major sphere of resource mobilization, and
to the extent that the projected shift from push to pull plays out, education/schooling will be impacted in far-reaching ways.
Very briefly, throughout the 20th century the dominant common sense
model for mobilizing resources was based on the logic of push. Resource
needs were anticipated or forecast, budgets drawn up, and resources pushed
in advance to sites of anticipated need so they would be in place when
needed. This push approach involved intensive and often large-scale planning and program development. Indeed, Hagel and Seely Brown see programs as being integral to the push model. They note, for example, that in
education the process of mobilizing resources involves designing standard
curricula that expose students to codified information in a predetermined
sequence of experiences (p. 3). Education, in fact, is a paradigm case of the
push model at work.
According to Hagel and Seely Brown we are now seeing early signs of an
emerging pull approach within education, business, technology, media,
and elsewhere, that creates platforms rather than programs: platforms that
help people to mobilize resources when the need arises (p. 3). More than
this, the kinds of platforms we see emerging are designed to enable individuals and groups to do more with fewer resources, to innovate in ways that
actually create new resources where previously there were none, and to otherwise add value to the resources we have access to. Pull approaches respond
to uncertainty and the need for sustainability by seeking to expand opportunities for creativity on the part of local participants dealing with immediate
needs (p. 4). From this standpoint, uncertainty is seen as creating opportunities to be exploited. According to Hagel and Seely Brown, pull models
help people to come together and innovate in response to unanticipated events,
drawing upon a growing array of highly specialized and distributed resources.
Rather than seeking to constrain the resources available to people, pull models
strive to continually expand the choices available while at the same time helping
people to find the resources that are most relevant to them. Rather than seeking
to dictate the actions that people must take, pull models seek to provide people
on the periphery with the tools and resources (including connections to other
people) required to take initiative and creatively address opportunities as they
arise . . . Pull models treat people as networked creators (even when they are
customers purchasing goods and services) who are uniquely positioned to transform uncertainty from a problem into an opportunity. Pull models are ultimately
designed to accelerate capability building by participants, helping them to learn
as well as innovate, by pursuing trajectories of learning that are tailored to their
specific needs (p. 4)

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We see all this, par excellence, in contexts of participation within DIY

media affinities. Affinity spaces are paradigm instances of the kinds of platforms Hagel and Seely Brown have in mind. Their expansive character in
terms of creativity and innovation is precisely what Jenkins and colleagues
(2006) mean when they identify affinity spaces as generative environments.
Indeed, the logic of the pull platform is precisely the logic of participatory
culture, viewed from the standpoint of resources and creativity.
Hagel and Seely Brown describe the emergence of pull approaches within
media production (see also Bruns, 2008). DIY media producers take existing
media resources and customize them to their individual needs, tastes and purposesoften with collaborative support of othersthereby creating an
expanded range of media choices for others (cf. Hagel & Seely Brown, 2005,
p. 6). This occurs at different levels and intensities of interaction and
engagement.
At the most basic level, younger generations of customers are increasingly customizing media to better suit their individual needs. For example, rather than
relying on music companies to pre-determine the mix of songs on a CD . . .
music listeners are [increasingly] downloading individual tracks and assembling
[and sharing] their own tailored sequence of songs. (ibid.)

At another level, podcasters are sharing their customized selections of

music from many different artists with friends and wider audiences (ibid.).
At still another level, machinima movies made using massively multiplayer
online role-playing games can involve large-scale collaborations. Because of
the distributed nature of much of this kind of collaboration it is possible that
many of those involved never meet face-to-face duringor even afterthe
project. Illegal Danish Super Snacks is a well-known machinima made
within the online role-playing game, World of Warcraft (see: http://machinima.com/films.php?id=1940), and was shortlisted for a U.S. Machinima
Award in 2007. This 20-minute video was a collaborative effort involving
around 100 individual players from several countrieseach operating their
own game character within a series of designated locations within the game
along with 10 voice actors. A number of participants never met each other or
the director of the machinima.
DIY media creators, then, can be seen as early exponents of pull
approaches to mobilizing, using, and expanding resources. This further
affirms their presence at the leading edge of contemporary trends.

Learning
Scholars like Rebecca Black (2008), David Buckingham (2003), Andrew
Burn (2009), Julia Davies and Guy Merchant (2009), James Gee (2003,

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2004, 2007), Henry Jenkins (2006; Jenkins et al., 2006), Marc Prensky
(2006), Will Richardson (2006), Katie Salen (2008), John Seely Brown and
Richard Adler (2008), and Constance Steinkuehler (2008), among others,
have discussed at length how online resources and popular cultural affinities
have converged in ways that enable and sustain modes of learning very different from the predominantly push approach of conventional schooling.
Seely Brown and Adler (2008) discuss this convergence in relation to how
new technologies have helped leverage the potential of social learning and
then consider how these technologies might further contribute to the development of a demand or pull approach to learningLearn 2.0that will
better serve the needs of twenty-first century students (p. 20).
By social learning, Seely Brown and Adler mean learning based on the
assumption that our understanding of concepts and processes is constructed
socially in conversations about the matters in question and through
grounded [and situated] interactions, especially with others, around problems or actions (2008, p. 18). From a social learning perspective, the focus
is more on how we learn than on what we learn. It shifts the emphasis from
the content of a subject to the learning activities and human interactions
around which that content is situated (p. 18). This is just the kind of
engagement and process a DIY media creator experiences when, for example,
s/he interacts with peers to resolve (what turns out to be) a file compatibility or file conversion problem in the course of creating an AMV or a machinima movie.
Social learning also puts the emphasis squarely on learning to be (Seely
Brown & Adler, 2008, p. 18; Gee, 2007, p. 172). According to Seely Brown
and Adler (2008, p. 19), mastering a field of knowledge involves not only
learning about the subject matter but also learning to be a full participant in the field. This involves acquiring the practices and the norms of established practitioners in that field or acculturating into a community of practice.
In the case of Rebecca Blacks fan fiction writers mentioned previously,
they are not learning fan fiction content per se but, rather, learning to be proficient/better/successful fanfiction authorsand learning a lot about fan fiction as a social practice in the process. In Chapter 9, our co-author and
informant, Matt, describes key aspects of his own endeavors in learning to be
the best AMV creator he can be.
With respect to burgeoning Web 2.0 resources and the possibilities for a
Learn 2.0 model grounded in a social learning ethos, Seely Brown and Adler
(2008) claim that resources like blogs and wikis, mashups, social networks
and social network sites like Facebook or Orkut, content-sharing sites, online
affinity spaces and the like, exemplify

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[a] new user-centric information infrastructure that emphasizes participation

(e.g., creating, remixing) over presentation, that encourages focused conversation and short briefs (often written in a less technical, public vernacular) rather
than traditional publication, and that facilitates innovative explorations, experimentations, and purposeful tinkerings that often form the basis of a situated
understanding emerging from action, not passivity (p. 30).

In a parallel argument to that presented by Hagel and Seely Brown

(2005) about approaches to mobilizing resources, Seely Brown and Adler
argue that current and foreseeable challenges posed by uncertainty and sustainability portend a need to move from a push approach to learningthat
builds up an inventory of knowledge in students headsto a demandpull approach. A pull approach shifts the emphasis toward enabling participation in flows of action, focusing on learning to be through
enculturation into a practice as well as on collateral learning (Seely Brown &
Adler, 2008, p. 30). Such an approach would involve providing learners
with access to rich (sometimes virtual) learning communities built around a
practiceand resourced as appropriate from the bounty of the internet.
Learning would be passion-based: that is, motivated by the learner either
wanting to become a member of a particular community of practice or just
wanting to learn about, make, or perform something (ibid.).
This, of course, is the kind of learning that participants involved in the
kinds of pursuits described in this book already engage in on a daily basis. It
is steeped in values, processes, and forms of interaction that many young people associate with their norm for learning.

Overview of the book

The DIY media practices in which young people engage are many and
diverse. There is not space to deal with all or even a majority of them here.
The following chapters address music remix, podcasting, photosharing,
photoshopping, machinima, flash animation, stop motion animation, and
anime music videos. This selection aims to provide readers with a general
introduction to a set of DIY media practices that are currently popular among
young people and that are also sufficiently straightforward and accessible for
newbies to muck around with and explore. Furthermore, the practices
selected for treatment here mean that much of the books content transfers
well to other kinds of DIY media. For example, the video editing techniques
described in Chapters 7 and 9 can be applied to creating live action videos
and video remixes. The audio editing techniques described in Chapters 2 and
3 can be used to create soundtracks for more complex audiovisual projects.
Archiving and tagging photosdiscussed in Chapters 4 and 5can inform a
range of complex DIY media projects, such as large-scale, collaborative photo

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narratives or a series of user-created comics. At the same time, we are conscious that a range of popular DIY practices have, of necessity, been omitted.
These include making live action videos (popular among live action roleplayers and cosplayers); non-commercial newsblogs; wikis; blog fiction and
fictional blogs; digital music creation; digital art; videoblogging;
comics/graphic novels; video remixes of different kinds (such as those focusing on political commentary, satire, parody, spoofing, etc.); eyewitness videos
about newsworthy events (e.g., Witness.org); live-casting online (e.g., using
Yahoo Live, or Justin.tv); to name just a few. We hope that the combined
efforts of the authors in this collection will stimulate others to pick up some
of the options we have had to pass up here.
The book has been organized in three parts: audio media, still media,
and moving mediawhich might equally well be described as focusing on
the audio, the visual and the audiovisual. From the outset we aimed to ensure
that the book did not become dominated by one type of DIY media. Thinking in terms of types of DIY media was useful in this respect. The order of the
sections isnt important and does not imply, for example, that podcasting is
easier or less sophisticated than, say, creating machinima. Rather, organizing the book the way we have is intended to encourage readers to begin to
form their own folksonomies around different ways of thinking about types
of DIY media.
Finally, despite their scale and significance within popular culture, a number of the practices addressed below, such as creating flash animation and
machinima, have received little research and scholarly attention to date. This
book aims to help bring them into the frame.

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Chapter 2

Music remix in the classroom

ERIK JACOBSON

SECTION ONE
So what is music remix?
The idea of remix, taking an existing cultural resource and reshaping it, has at
this point in time moved far beyond its origins in the world of music production. Indeed, the possibilities that digital technology and social networking software offer have led some to suggest that the concept of remix is a way
to understand the current cultural moment (Knobel & Lankshear, 2008).
This book itself is a testament to the kinds of interesting work people are
doing today in a variety of media. This chapter will return to remixs origins
in music to look at what it is, why people engage in remixing music, how to
do it, and what the educational or developmental implications might be for
using music remix in the classroom.
In some sense, remixing music is not a new idea. As long as people have
been making music they have been taking the ideas of other musicians and
reworking them into something they can call their own. A musicians interpretation of a song written by somebody else bridges the gap between the
given and the created. For example, folk songs have been passed down over
the years, reworked and adapted to the ears of subsequent generations. Many
blues songs are built on the same basic bass lines and chord progressions, but
blues musicians have been finding new ways to make songs and to put their

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spin on shared resources for over one hundred years. Jazz musicians can take
a well-known melody and push it into new and interesting shapes (see
Coltranes version of My Favorite Things as an excellent example of how radical an interpretation can be while still being recognizable as a given song).
However, the inherent malleability of music has come to be articulated differently in an age when technology allows people who cannot play any instruments themselves to rework and reshape previously existing songs.
Reinterpretation can now be accomplished through the use of a computer,
and increasing numbers of people create their interpretations or reinterpretations via digital technology.
How is remixing different from the creation of music using digital technology? One key difference is that remixing remains focused on reworking a
given song (or songs). So, in contrast to digital music creation in which
music is genuinely composed or where the musician takes bits of preexisting songs (called sampling) to create a new song in which the source
sounds are not necessarily recognizable (think of a dense collage of sounds),
in remixes the source song(s) retain their identity in some recognizable form.
Navas (2007a, no page) suggests that in remix, regardless of what is added or
taken away, the aura of the original will be dominant. Thus, listeners
should still recognize the elements of the original tracks on which a remix
draws.
Thus, there is an inherent tension in remix, just as there is with any sort
of (re)interpretation of an original or source song. While the aura of the
original song might be dominant in a remix, it is always in danger of being
lost in amongst the sounds added or subtracted to the final track. In this way,
remix challenges the aura of the original and claims autonomy even when it
carries the name of the original (ibid.). The question is how far can you go
in remixing a song before it becomes something substantially new. Of course
the question can also be asked at the other end of the continuum: How much
has to be altered to constitute a remix? Is just adding an extra measure or
chorus enough to justify adding remixed by after the title of the source
song? For amateur DIYers, such questions might not be so pressing, but for
professional remixers such questions are currently hotly debated and difficult
to resolve.
Another key difference between digital music creation and music remix is
that remix tends to call attention to its own use of samples. Samples in this
sense refer to discrete bits of music or sound taken from previously recorded
materials that are placed in a new context (e.g., part of a drum rhythm, a guitar sound, a bit of a vocal). Remixers often expect their audiences to experience recognizing samples as part of the enjoyment and meaning making of
listening. Indeed, part of the enjoyment of remixes is identifying how parts of
the original sound within the context of the remix (e.g., spotting the music

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to Dr Who or Inspector Gadget when they are remixed with other songs). This
recognition often draws on a shared nostalgia (Do you remember that?!)
and supports a sense of connection between the remixer and the audience. So
for example, Hip-hop producers, unlike pop producers, have therefore chosen not to mask the means of production and have often chosen to draw our
attention to the fact that they have recontextualized elements from another
artists song (Haupt, 2006, p. 110). In this way, sampling and remixing are
posited as just as valid forms of interpretation as Coltranes jazz improvisations using well-known songs.
Because the tension between the idea of an original and the autonomy of
an interpretation is at the core of remixing, it allows remixes themselves to be
commentaries on the process of creating meaning. For example, the drum
tracks of James Browns 60s funk masterpieces have long been a really rich
resource that many remixers draw upon. When multiple remixers utilize the
same sample (of I Feel Good, for example), the audience can reflect on how it
is being used in each case. Each song becomes a lesson in remixingOh,
they started with that drum track, added the vocal, and then put in that guitar bit. . . . Listeners can then decide if the assembled bits add up to a new
meaning (that is, they appreciate the work that went into the remix and get
something new out of the song) or are just so many parts that dont hang
together (Yeah, I get how they did it, but so what?).
Although avant-garde musicians began experimenting with editing tapes
and using tape recorders as instruments as early as the 1950s, remixing really
took off in popular music in the 1960s and the 1970s. Two common forms
of remix from this era act as two ends of a remix continuum. At one end
there are remixes in which the aura of the original is clearly dominant. At
the other end are remixes that represent the limits of interpretationthey
pose questions about how far a remix can go (as an interpretation of an original) without creating something entirely new.
Remixes that maintain a clear sense of the original are often created to be
dance floor friendly. Remixers reshape aspects of the song to get people to
move. At some level this represents remix at its most straightforward. For
example, since the mid-1960s, DJs in Jamaica have been famous for taking
the same instrumental track (riddims) and laying new vocals over the top.
In fact, you can purchase entire albums that consist of the same instrumental
track played over and over. Each new vocal track creates another version (a
Jamaican term for remix). Similarly, in the 1970s, producers took known
songs (e.g., Blondies Atomic), added additional percussion (or emphasized
the beat in other ways) and extended the length of the track so it could be
dropped into a seamless mix created by a clubs DJ. Although this process
was first associated with disco remixes of songs, it spread to other genres that
were interested in getting people onto the dance floor, so that even punk
bands like the Clash ended up with dance remixes of certain songs (see vari-

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ous mixes of their song Magnificent Seven, for example). Whether new vocals
have been layered over an existing instrumental track or the beats under an
existing vocal track have been altered, these types of remixes tend to be
clearly recognizable as the song in the title.
At the other end of the continuum are remixes that exemplify a cut-andpaste aesthetic that challenges the idea of the aura of the original. In these
remixes songs are radically reshaped, sometimes with the use of multiple samples from a variety of sources. For example, the birth of hip-hop in the
United States is grounded in DJs taking the drum breaks and other parts of
funk and rock records (e.g., James Brown, Aerosmith, etc.) and using record
scratching and sampling techniques to combine them while the MC rapped
over the top. Unlike Jamaican riddims, hip-hop DJs didnt simply take one
instrumental track and have their MCs rap over themthey created altogether new instrumental tracks from previously existing ones. Yet these
instrumental tracks called attention to the source material and thus to themselves as a form of remix. For example, the first mainstream rap success, the
Sugarhill Gangs Rappers Delight, did not hide the fact that it was sampling
from Chics Good Times. In fact, hearing the Sugarhill Gang rap over the
familiar guitar riff from Good Times was part of the fun of the song. This kind
of sampling pushes the idea of remix to its logical extreme; the edge where
the listener recognizes both the aura of the original source and the remixs
call for recognizing something new. Thus, Rappers Delight is a song in its
own right, but it also would not exist without Good Times.
In the 1970s, remixing was happening both in the production studio
(with high-end technology) and in the street (with turntables and mixers,
electronic devices for combining different audio sources). By the mid-1980s
cultural critics were suggesting that hip-hop represented the cutting edge of
music creation, and that remixing was an art form that captured the zeitgeist.
The idea of remix came to be seen as a cultural process more generally
(rather than just limited to music), and the cut-and-paste aesthetic was seen
as a claim to some new sorts of knowledge (see the flowering of postmodernist writing about culture, for example). At a more concrete level,
what caught peoples attention was that rather than reworking old forms like
folk and the blues on traditional instruments, people engaged in remix were
interpreting songs without actually using instruments.
By the late 1980s and early 1990s, remixing became part of the mainstream. In the studio, pop acts started using pre-existing recorded music as
source material. While some of these artists focused on sampling a diverse
array of sounds to create complex compositions (see the Beastie Boys critically lauded album Pauls Boutique), others worked with just one or two recognizable bits of songs (see Bittersweet Symphony by The Verve, built on a
sample from the Rolling Stones Sympathy for the Devil, or MC Hammers U

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Cant Touch This, which basically consisted of him rapping over Rick James
Superfreak). Mobys album Play consisted of old gospel vocal tracks set to
new electronic music compositions. Subsequent critical debate about Play
focused on the nature of remix (Who is the author of this?) as much as it
did on ongoing arguments about the politics of cultural appropriation
(How does race factor into who gets recognized as an author/musician?).
Since that time, the advent of cheap music editing software has moved
the creation of remixes from the production studio back into the hands of the
people (as it was with the birth of hip-hop in the first place). Remixing now
takes place in basements and bedrooms all across the globe. Websites provide
samples for use and places to share remixes. Chat rooms allow for communication between people engaged in remixing. This period has also seen the
advent of a popular form of remixing called mash-ups, in which two (or
more) songs are combined to make one song in which both parts are still recognizable. A vocal track from one song might be placed over the music track
from another song. Oftentimes this is done to make a point (e.g., these
songs are very similar despite being made by different artists possibly working
in different genres) or in an attempt to be funny by using the sharp contrast
between the songs (e.g., combining a Britney Spears pop song with a heavy
metal track by Metallica). Perhaps the most famous example of this is DJ
Danger Mouses Grey Albuma mash-up of the Beatles White Album with
Jay-Zs Black Album. These mash-ups are not legal, and not intended for sale
but instead are circulated among those interested in the format.
There are many reasons for why people get involved in remixing music,
but most seem to do so for pleasure, politics, or the intersection of the two.
Just as is the case with traditional instruments, people simply like to create
music. The fact that it can be done on computers using samples doesnt alter
this pleasure. There is a creative and artistic urge satisfied by making remixes.
For other people, there is a simple pleasure in working with new digital technologies to produce new music. Many people just like to play around with
software or hardware by taking them for a test spin. Creating remixes is one
way to see what they can achieve with the digital technology they have
(which is also the case with other digital technologies discussed in this volume). Other people engage in music remixing because they are attracted to
the ideological element of it. This can be as straightforward as adding a voice
clip of a politician or public figure to an existing track (e.g., dropping samples
of a speech by George Bush into a song). Some see the format and process of
remix itself as ideological in nature and part of a larger cultural critique of
ideas and assumptions about authorship or the ownership of art. For this reason, reworking parts of the existing music canon (e.g., a Beatles song, a
Beethoven symphony) and re-envisioning it is seen as a political act. This idea
finds support in the legal response to some high-profile examples of remix-

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32

ing. For example, the band Negativland was sued by U2 and others for a
remix of I Still Havent Found What Im Looking For that sampled a weatherman reading the lyrics of the song and Casey Kasem making off-color offair comments about U2 (see Negativland, 1995, for an account of the case).
DJ Danger Mouses Grey Album was never an official release, but the Beatles
record company sued to force him to stop distributing it. Interestingly, this
act might have extended the life of this mash-up, as people interested in
remix culture became involved, and the continued distribution of the recording became a political act (see Ayers, 2006, for an account).
Although the Grey Album is the most celebrated case of remix as a political act to date, many people involved in remix culture are interested in
exploring new ideas about the ownership of intellectual or artistic creations.
The open source software movement, shareware and copyleft all have analogies in the music production community. Many of those involved in remix
culture reject traditional ideas about ownership. Like the open, collaborative
service, Wikipedia, audio remix can be seen as a democratic ideal, in which
anybody with a relevant set of software and hardware and access to samples
(or songs that can be sampled) can become an artist. People create songs or
samples and post them on the internet, with the expectation and hope that
somebody else will pick them up and make something out of them in turn.
Remix, in this way, is at the forefront of greater debates about what it will
mean to create or to own a piece of artwork (cf. Lessig, 2008). It also extends
some of the lessons of punk rock. Punk taught people that you dont have to
be a virtuoso to get up on stage and make music. Similarly, the computerbased music phenomenon has taught people they dont need instruments or
other people to make music. Remix, as a particular form of that principle,
teaches people that anybody can comment on or interpret already existing
music. Finally, as with punk, the expectation is not that you are remixing to
secure immortality. The idea is that doing it yourself (DIY) is a worthwhile
activity in and of itself.
There are a number of websites where you can explore the current world
of music remix. The four listed below illustrate many of features discussed
above:
(a) ccMixter (http://ccmixter.org)
The site describes itself in this way:
ccMixter is a community music site featuring remixes licensed under Creative
Commons where you can listen to, sample, mash-up, or interact with music in
whatever way you want (ccMixter.org, 2008, main page)

The site contains samples and remixes that are available for use in remixing
(this includes a cappella vocal tracks, too). The site also has editors picks and

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playlists that highlight good work available via this site. Artists can upload
profiles of themselves and samples of their work to this space. Data are
included about which songs have been remixed. There are chat boards
(http://ccmixter.org/forums/7) where people pose specific questions about
the remix process, ask for compositional advice, or call for project participants. Sample topics include, A call to all singers for a slow blues rock
record, How to make my mix sound professional, and Compositional
methods.
(b) Opsound: Open Sound Resource Pool (http://www.opsound.org)
The site describes itself in this way:
Opsound is a gift economy in action, an experiment in applying the model of
free software to music. Musicians and sound artists are invited to add their work
to the Opsound pool using a copyleft license developed by Creative Commons.
Listeners are invited to download, share, remix, and reimagine. (Opsound.org,
2008, main page)

The site has songs and remixes made available by artists under a Creative
Commons Attribution Share Alike license.
(c) Remix Fight (http://www.remixfight.org)
This site was created to provide a chance for remixers to compete with each
other. In a FAQ section they explain:
Remix Fight is a remixing community open to everyone. We get people to send
us source files for their songs and then make that source available for download.
People download that source, make a remix, and then e-mail an mp3 of their
mix to us. Then, we post all the mp3s weve received and set up a poll so that visitors to the site can listen to the mixes and vote on which one they like the best.
At the end of the month, we close the poll and announce a winner. (Remix
Fight, 2008, Frequently Asked Questions)

Remix Fight is a handy site for music remix beginners or newbies to

spend time on, listening to good and bad quality remixes alike in order to
obtain a sense of what can (and perhaps should not) be done.
(d) The Free Sound Project (http://www.freesound.org)
This site is focused on sounds and sound effects, rather than songs, but still
encourages people to remix. For example, adding additional sounds to an
existing song track can radically alter the mood of the song or even change its
meaning.

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SECTION TWO
How to make your own basic remix
There are many different software programs that can be used to create a
music remix. Typically, remixing is done using the same programs that are
used to create digital music. Some of these programs are proprietary and thus
need to be purchased. There are products available only for Mac (e.g.,
GarageBand) and only for PCs (e.g., Fruity Loops, M-Audio Session Software). There are some programs that are available in two versions: the basic
(or demo) one is free and the more advanced one needs to be purchased
(e.g., AcidPlanet, Sound Studio). In addition to using software programs that
are housed in the users computer, remixing can also be done entirely online. For example, Remix Galaxy (http://www.remixgalaxy.com) is a website
that has a sequencer and samples that can be used to create new remixes.
For each digital music or remix software program there tends to be
online tutorials and chatrooms in which users can help each other out. In
addition to the site noted above, there are some sites that provide general
advice about remixing (e.g., http://www.teachdigital.pbwiki.com/digitalmusic). Regardless of which platform is being used, the process of remixing
in each is basically the same. Multiple audio files are added as individual tracks
which are then combined to form an integrated piece of music. These tracks
can be used to add new sounds or to reshape elements of an existing song.
The window of each music remix program provides a menu of editing
options. For example, the user can change the volume, the pitch, or the
tempo of the sounds they input into the file. Most procedures rely upon cutand-paste processes. That is, the user highlights parts of a song they want to
copy, copies this selection to the computers clipboard, and then pastes the
selection into a track in its new form. When possible, the vocal track can be
separated from the instrumental track in the same way. More detailed or
complex remixes take advantage of higher-end functions, but a user can create their first remix without having to master very many key strokes.
For the purposes of this chapter, we will look at remixing using Audacity,
which is available free online (as part of a Creative Commons licensing agreement). There is a free users manual for Audacity (http://audacity.sourceforge.net/help/documentation) as well as a shorter online help guide
(http://audacity.sourceforge.net/onlinehelp-1.2/reference.html).The directions given below for how to create a basic remix draw on both of these
resources (see also, Chapter 3 in this volume). Although the examples presented are from Audacity, the steps covered will basically be the same for any
kind of remixing and music remix program.

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After selecting a song for remixing, you:

1. Create a File
2. Work with Samples
3. Build the Remix
4. Export the Song
Each of these will be reviewed in turn.

1. Create a File
In any remix software platform, you begin by creating a new file or project. For example, in Audacity, you begin a new project by moving the cursor
to File on the menu bar on the top of the screen and selecting New. This
will create a new file without any tracks. To import a whole song, you move
to Project on the menu and select Import Audio. This will allow you to
select the song you wish to start with, and will create a stereo audio track. In
this case, I will be remixing We Shall Not Be Moved as performed by Mavis
Staples, so I have imported this song intact. Figure 2.1 is a screen shot of
what the project looks like at this point.

Figure 2.1: A song file imported into Audacity

The waveform display allows users to move around within the song file
(e.g., for editing or sampling purposes) by using the shape of the track. By
zooming in on the display (available under the View section of the menu),

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users can find pauses or breaks in the music, which is helpful when selecting
samples. The user can also listen to any section of the file by moving the cursor, clicking on a location within the track, and hitting the play button on
the upper part of the window. The other buttons (see Figure 2.1, top lefthand side) provide additional typical audio functions (record, pause, stop,
fast forward, and rewind).

2. Work with Samples

Once the focal song has been imported, users can begin remixing by
adding additional audio tracks. To do this, move to the menu bar and under
Project select either New Stereo or New Audio track. This places a
new track right below the already imported track (in the present example,
Mavis Staples We Shall Not Be Moved). Here you also can import samples,
loops or other sounds (using Input Audio under Project) or start working with pieces of the original song.
For example, for my project, the first decision I made was to take parts of
the song itself to use in the remix. The beginning of this version of the song
has a few measures of a slow drumbeat without any vocals. I liked this part
and thought that I could layer some vocals from other sources on top of it.
To create this sample I listened to the track again and stopped the cursor at
the point where I wanted the sample to end (in time with a completed pattern of the drumbeat). I then scrolled back to the beginning of the song to
highlight the drumbeat selection. When I was sure it was what I wanted, I
copied it (using Command + C, or Copy in the drop-down Edit menu).
Next I went back to Project in the main menu and added another
blankaudio track. In that blank audio track I pasted the copy of the sample
I had just created (by using Command + V) (see Figure 2.2). This is a basic
copy-and-paste procedure and it can be used throughout the process of making a remix with Audacity (as well as other remixing software).
As Figure 2.2 shows, the isolated sample of the drumbeat is very short.
To create a longer passage that can provide a context for or background to
new vocal samples, I have to paste multiple copies of the sample side-by-side
within the same audio track. Once I have a sense that this new instrumental
section is long enough, I can move the original source song back in its play
track by selecting the song, moving the cursor forward, and then under Project, selecting Align Tracks, and then Align with Cursor. This isolates
the instrumental section so that I can easily add other samples to it. Figure
2.3 shows what my project now looks like on-screen at this point.

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Figure 2.2: Small drumbeat sample in Audacity

Figure 2.3: Adding a sample to a remix project

For my project, I wanted to add additional samples to the song. The easiest way to do this is to create new audio tracks into which you import samples. You can use the Import Audio function to import any sound files that
you already have on hand (e.g., other songs, other sounds, etc.). Once they
have been imported, you can edit them into the form you want (using the
cursor and the function commands). If you have a large sample and you are
going to delete most of, it might be easier to create a new project altogether
and do the editing in that file before importing it into your current project.
Copying-and-pasting works across project files as well as within them.
Of course, you can also create new sound files by recording directly into
your project file. There is software that allows you to record whatever you are
listening to on the computer (e.g., internet radio, sound files from web

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pages, etc.), but that is not required to do this. All you need are a few cheap
cables from an electronics store to have your computer serve as both receiver
and recorder. Most computers have a jack for headphones and an audio input
jack (typically on the side of laptops and on the front of desktop computer
harddrive boxes). By using a cable to connect the headphone jack to the
audio input jack, you can have Audacity record whatever is coming out of
the headphone jack. In order to hear and monitor the process, you can buy a
cord that plugs into the headphone jack on one end and has two additional
jacks on the other end. Your headphones can plug into one, and the cord
connecting to the audio input jack can go into the other.
For this project, I am interested in grabbing a sample of Martin Luther
King, Jr.s last speech. I dont have a copy already on hand, but I know that
it is available on YouTube. Once I locate it there, I create a new audio track
within Audacity and click the record button on the top of the screen.
Then I hit play on the YouTube video. I listen as the whole track is
recorded, and then I copy and paste to grab the samples I want for my remix.
Figure 2.4 shows the section of the program I use for this part of the process.
The record key is the button with the circle on it, and the chart to the right
provides information about the volume of the input (see Figure 2.4).

Figure 2.4: Using Audacity to record sound playing on your computer

Figure 2.5: Creating a loop of audio plus stretches of silence

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In my project, I want to use three sound samples from the video Ive
found, but I dont want them stacked up next to each another. I can create
spacing in the Martin Luther King, Jr. sample track by adding the amount of
silence I desire. To do this I go to Menu, select Generate, choose
Silence and then input the number of seconds of silence I would like. Now
I have created a larger loop or sample of Martin Luther Kings words that I
am going to add to my mix. I can copy and paste this loop throughout my
project. Figure 2.5 shows how my project file now looks:
The project now comprises three rows of sounds. The track in the top
row is the original song. The second track down is the drum instrumental,
and the third track down comprises the Martin Luther King, Jr. samples.
To adjust the volume of each track, users can click on the Audio Track
box, which appears directly to the left of the track (see the left-hand side of
Figure 2.5). Moving the cursor up and down on the - / + scale changes the
gain applied to the track. In my case, I increased the volume of the Martin
Luther King Jr. samples (the third track in Figure 2.5) to make sure they
would not get lost amongst the other elements of the mix. As you move
through the creation of the remix, you will find yourself listening to certain
sections over and over to hear if they are working.

3. Build the Remix

Once the initial track has been input, and new audio tracks have been
created and added to the project, the remix process now involves repeating
the same actions: Identifying samples and sounds that you would like to add,
editing and reshaping the samples, and placing them in the appropriate place
in a given track. In addition to cutting and pasting, loops and samples can be
reshaped using tools built into the program. Under the Effects menu,
there is a wide range of ways to work with the sounds that have been input.
These include, for example, bass boost, fade in/out, wahwah, tremolo,
reverse, change speed, and change pitch, among many others.
These are the kinds of things that are covered in the user guide, but perhaps are best learned through actually making your own music remix and by
reading and participating in online remix chat-rooms or forums. The Audacity Wiki (http://wiki.audacityteam.org/index.php?title=Tutorials) provides
step-by-step tutorials in:
Reworking voice records
Vocal removal
Mixing stereo tracks to mono
Audio restoration (e.g., click and noise removal)

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Other support and feedback are offered at the sites mentioned in the first
section of the chapter (e.g., ccMixter.org).
In terms of completing my We Shall Not Be Moved remix project, I
did the following:
Near the beginning of the song I added an introduction by Barbara Dane
(from her own recorded version of We Shall Not Be Moved)
I continued to add samples from the Martin Luther King, Jr. speech
throughout the project
I added vocals from a Spanish-language version of the song (No Nos
Movern) and several other versions of the song (by the Almanac
Singers, the Seekers, and some un-attributed singers who were part of
the civil rights movement in the U.S.)
Finally, I added an outro by pasting the drum beat loop that I had created earlier on and used it to close my remix.

4. Export the Song

When the project is finished, you are ready to export the file. This means
you save the song as a single file that can be burned to a disk, copied to an
mp3 player, uploaded to the internet, and so on. Remix music programs by
default save your file as a project that can only be played within the remix
program itself. This is done so that you can continue editing your project.
Once you export your remix file, you will no longer be able to pick it apart,
copy and paste in new sections, or edit inside the file.
Depending upon the remix software you are using, exporting your song
may be done in several different ways. Some software allows for directly
exporting files into formats like mp3. Audacity does not. The Audacity Users
Guide explains:
Audacity cannot encode MP3 files by itself, because the MP3 encoding algorithm is patented and cannot be legally used in free programs. However, Audacity has been programmed to recognize other existing MP3 encoders that you
can download separately. All you have to do is to obtain the appropriate MP3
encoder and then show Audacity where it is located. (Audacity, 2008, no page)

The Audacity website (http://audacity.sourceforge.net/) provides links

to encoders that will run on Windows, Linux/Unix and Macintosh platforms. There will be similar information for other platforms at their own
sites, or an internet search will help you find what you need.

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Once completed and exported to a standard audio format (e.g., *.mp3,

*.wav, *.aiff, *.ogg), the project is now transportable as a complete, standalone song.

SECTION THREE
The educational benefits of music remix
Hopefully the discussion in the opening section of this chapter has shed some
light on why people engage in music remixing and how easily it can be done
using readily available technology. The third and final question to be
addressed in this chapter is how and why remix might be used in the classroom. There are (at least) three possible educational reasons to think about
remix as a classroom activity: (1) its connection to other skills needed in the
contemporary world; (2) the way it opens up discussions about the nature of
artistic creation; and (3) the fact that it offers students a chance to discover
and articulate their own ideas about hermeneutics, or text analysis and interpretation. Each of these is worthwhile on its own (that is, in relation to
remixing music) but can also be applied usefully to other creative works
(including those based on print) and academic disciplines. Each of these suggested educational benefits is addressed in turn below.

21st century skills

Recent studies have found that one in every two American teens have used
digital technology to create media content and that one-third of them have
shared this content on the internet (Lenhardt & Madden, 2005; cited by
Jenkins, 2006, p. 3). No doubt many of these content producers are music
remixers. On the surface this seems to indicate that students are doing fine
without having these activities take place in the classroom. However, Jenkins
(2006) suggests that while these adolescents are developing skills associated
with content production and dissemination, they can still benefit from
school-based pedagogical interventions. One reason for this is the existence
of what has been called a participation gap in which there is unequal
access to the opportunities, experiences, skills and knowledge that will prepare youth for full participation in the world of tomorrow (Jenkins, 2006, p.
3). This focus on full participation is different from long-standing concerns
about gaps in access to computer technology itself (what has been called the
digital divide). Although increasing numbers of students have access to
computers and software, they may not have opportunities for meaningful participation in any of the various communities that digital technology and social
networking platforms foster and support. It is participation in these commu-

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nities that allows students to fully develop the range of skills required in the
current digital age.
For example, beyond basic skills such as keyboarding and basic computer
operations, Jenkins (ibid.) emphasizes the importance of the following 21st
Century Skills.
Play: The capacity to experiment with ones surroundings as a form of problem-solving
Performance: The ability to adopt alternative identities for the purpose of
improvisation and discovery
Simulation: The ability to interpret and construct dynamic models of realworld processes
Appropriation: The ability to meaningfully sample and remix media content
Multitasking: The ability to scan ones environment and shift focus as needed
to salient details
Distributed Cognition: The ability to interact meaningfully with tools that
expand mental capacities
Collective Intelligence: The ability to pool knowledge and compare notes with
others toward a common goal
Judgment: The ability to evaluate the reliability and credibility of different
information sources
Transmedia Navigation: The ability to follow the flow of stories and information across multiple modalities
Networking: The ability to search for, synthesize, and disseminate information
Negotiation: The ability to travel across diverse communities, discerning and
respecting multiple perspectives, and grasping and following alternative norms

This is not the place in which to go into detail about each of these skills
(Jenkins report is available online for readers who would like more detail),
but it is worthwhile to note that engaging in remix depends upon the existence and development of a number of the skills identified. Certainly, remixing is an opportunity for play and performance (as is the production of any
piece of music or art). Remixers work with new technologies and new sounds
to explore the possibilities of each. Additionally, remix as a political act
(whether by adding overtly ideological content to songs or by distributing
freeware programs to facilitate remixing) is grounded in a deep praxis where
ones philosophy is enacted and reflected upon as part of play and
performance.

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For example, in 2007 the musician M.I.A. released a song called Paper
Planes. The base of the song is the melody and rhythm of the Clash song
Straight to Hell, and M.I.A. raps over a remixed version (that includes the
noise of cash registers and gun shotsthe sound of money being made in
ways legal and illegal). In the original song, the Clash used the generation of
children fathered and abandoned by United States soldiers in Vietnam as a
metaphor for the exploitative relationship between Western capitalist powers
and oppressed populations in Southeast Asia. M.I.A., born in London to a
politically radical Tamil family, spent most of her early life moving from country to country (including Sri Lanka, India, and back to England). In remixing
Straight to Hell, M.I.A. stakes a claim as a member of the population the
original song focuses on, directs her lyrics to what it takes to get by as an
immigrant in an unwelcoming society, and adds a sonic overlay (e.g., the gun
shots) that adds street cred and political commentarythis is the sound of
life of people in the working-poor Diaspora. Many of our students are using
their own homemade remixes to make similar commentaries about their own
identities and border crossings. Indeed, this connection of remix technology
to daily decisions around how we perform and/or resist cultural, economic,
or gender identities means that we have to listen for the new ways in which
our students are working through long-standing issues.
Indeed, what might be distinct about remix (compared to the traditional
production of music) is how heavily it draws on some of the other 21st Century skills identified by Jenkins. Most importantly, the technical or mechanical aspects of remix (e.g., finding the source song, identifying the sounds or
materials that will be used in the remix, sharing the song on the internet) are
both individual and communal in nature. To participate in online remix communities means to recognize where resources are stored, how to access them,
and how to share them in return. Being an active member of a music remix
chat room or discussion board means you are willingly sharing resources and
are open to the idea that knowledge is an assemblage of ideas and experiences
generated by novices and experts alike. This use of networking, distributed
cognition and collective intelligence is the hallmark of online life and students must be comfortable with each of them for meaningful participation to
occur. For some students, remixing might provide the perfect invitation to
join this kind of communal work. It certainly can be argued that sharing
music remixes (and advice about how to remix) is a much better use of social
networking technology than page after page of photos of adolescents getting
drunk or throwing faux gang signs. Remixing provides opportunities for the
kinds of project-based, collaborative learning for which teachers strive.

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Creation and dialog

Sharing information or content via online communities or through peer-topeer networks has led many to wonder if this generation of students will
develop a changed attitude toward intellectual property (Jenkins, 2006, p.
3). On the one hand, this changed attitude can be framed as negative (e.g.,
commonly expressed concerns about illegal file sharing or the stealing of
music). From this perspective, young people who share commercial music
without concern for copyright are described as parasitic, benefiting from thework of others without paying their fair share. However, this changed attitude toward intellectual property can also be framed as a positive if it is
understood as escaping from the weight of privileged authorship and canonical tradition (compare, for example, 20th century movements in visual arts in
which artists played with intellectual property, like Duchamp painting a
moustache on a copy of the Mona Lisa). Remixing treats everything as fair
game for reinterpretation and everything as a possible resource for crafting a
(re)interpretation. Indeed, remixing music fits very well with Jenkins definition of appropriation as the ability to meaningfully sample and remix media
content (2006, p. 4). This is a creative act that depends on using preexisting materials that might be somebodys intellectual property. However, remixing is not simply taking somebody elses intellectual property and
putting your name on it. Jenkins (2006) suggests that the skill of appropriation, which is a key dimension of remix:
may be understood as a process that involves both analysis and commentary.
Sampling intelligently from the existing cultural reservoir requires a close analysis of the existing structures and uses of this material; remixing requires an appreciation of emerging structures and latent potential meanings. Often, remixing
involves the creative juxtaposition of materials that otherwise occupy very different cultural niches (p. 33).

Understanding appropriation as a creative act (of which music remix is

just one example) calls attention to two key aspects of the creation of art.
First, it supports the idea that no work of art is created ex nihilo or out of
nothing. Artists are always sampling intelligently from the resources to
which they have access (e.g., historical and contemporary content, styles and
themes). Second, appropriation understood as a creative response to other
work exemplifies the kind of conversations we see happening in other art
forms. Art implies, either explicitly or implicitly, a commentary on other art
(and the world). One painters work can be understood as a thoughtful
rejoinder to another. Poets write and respond to other poets, and novelists do
the same. People who create remixes engage in just these sorts of ongoing
dialogues, reshaping previous works and expecting their own work to be
reshaped or cut-up for use in another remix. Although this process is often

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addressed in art and English classes, it might seem so abstract that students
dont get a sense of it in real-world terms. With well-structured pedagogical
interventions, students and teachers can make productive analogies between
music remix as commentary and appropriation in art (more generally) as
commentary. Having students themselves engaging in the act of commenting
through appropriation might make it clearer. For example, imagine asking
students to remix a recording of a traditional English folk song. Then, at the
same time, imagine providing students with information about the traditional
plots, characters, themes, and tropes that Shakespeare had on hand before he
started putting paper to pen. It takes nothing away from the genius of Shakespeare to suggest that he appropriated materials from the existing cultural
reservoir (Jenkins, 2006, p. 33). Instead, it points to the very nature of that
genius. Discussing with students why his particular tale of star-crossed lovers
is so well loved above countless other versions of the same story encourages
them to think deeply about his art and craft.
This analogy between remixing music and art as conversation also can be
extended to the social sciences. For example, in some sense historiography is
the study of History as sampling. That is, we can ask the same sorts of questions of historians as we do of musicians, writers and artists. For example,
how do those telling or writing history select from available resources to
shape the story that they want to tell? How is one history a commentary
on another history of the same event? How many fresh elements or perspectives does a history have to have to constitute a new contribution
(rather than simple plagiarism)? Like working with Shakespeare, it is not a
large leap from having students articulate the process of (re)interpreting a
song to them analyzing the interpretive work of historians. Remixing and the
discipline of History are both ongoing conversations about meaning.

Finding hermeneutics
For the last few decades the following aphorism has made the rounds: talking about music is like dancing about architecture. Its origin has been attributed to many different people (and thus is a kind of free-floating meme), but
it typically carries the same meaning. That is, talking about music is counterproductive because spoken language cannot possibly capture or express the
meaning found in music. For example, you can analyze the score, list the
instrumentation and note the techniques the musicians are using, but these
are experiences of a different order to listening to (or playing/singing) this
music. (It is said that Tolstoy was once asked what Anna Karenina was
about, and he replied that the questioner should start reading at the first
word of the novel). Thus, talking about remix and sampling might serve to
place us some distance from experiencing (and fully understanding) the
meaning of any given remix. While playing a given piece, musicians have

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always been able to play passages or quotes from other songs within a piece
to call attention to the dialogue in which they are engaging (jazz music is the
perfect example of this). What is different about remixing is that rather than
simply being copies or recreations of those passages, remixes of music often
utilize samples that call attention to themselves as such. These are not exactly
direct quotations, since the original performances are sampled and reshaped,
but they have a distinct quality to them. They combine with traditional elements of music (e.g., instrumentation, timbre, volume, tempo, etc.) to create
new opportunities and requirements for meaning making. As noted earlier, in
remixing, meaning is often found in the juxtaposition of sampled elements.
This requires a certain kind of mastery. In the case of complex remixas distinct from mash-ups, which typically just take the vocals from one song and
overlay it on the music of anothercomprehension relies upon an understanding of the original sources of the samples used (and the contexts within
which they were created) and a sense of the new context being created by
the remix itself.
For example, in the remix project described in the preceding section of
this chapter, the use of the Martin Luther King Jr. samples can resonate in
multiple ways. His powerful voice and words heard against a somewhat martial drumbeat and the melody of We Shall Not Be Moved can evoke optimism
and determination, it can evoke pessimism and grief that he did not live to
continue the struggles he devoted his life to, or it can move the listener to
other emotions. Of course, it could also leave them cold and uninterested
either due to the topic or the piece of art itself. Finally, the remix described in
the preceding section was created during the lead-up to the U.S. elections
that saw for the first time an African American running forand later elected
aspresident. This potentially adds another layer of meaning to this remix
for listeners, regardless of their own political positions.
If remix is brought into the classroom, how do we avoid the pitfalls of
talking about music? Clearly, to write a five-paragraph essay about a specific
remix would drain the life from it (What I meant to say with this remix . . .
would be as productive as What I meant to say with this poem . . .). Rather
than writing down a list of what makes a good remix, students can create
their own remix to illustrate their ideas. Similarly, the best way to respond to
a remix is with another remix. So for example, a student could comment on
MC Hammers rather lazy use of Rick James work in U Cant Touch This by
making a new remix that is more complex and richer in terms of potential
interpretations. This activity is similar to a common classroom practice
whereby students respond to poems by writing their own poems (see Love
That Dog by Sharon Creech, 2001, for a story told in such a manner).
Engaging in remix would deepen that experience. In each case, students
should be allowed to develop their (sometimes unconscious) hermeneutic

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sense without being asked to dance about architecture. Indeed, although I

dont want to justify the use of music remix in the classroom primarily on the
grounds that it is good for print literacy development, the play of sound and
noise in music remix has clear analogies in poetry. Sometimes the sound of
the words, instead of their content, is the point, and they can only be
responded to with other sounds. Seriously engaging in remix is about exploring new philosophies of aesthetics, which we should welcome on the part of
students regardless of the media.
Of course, sometimes the point is the content, and the meaning of the
remix rests in the juxtaposition of elements that have clear ideological value.
For example, a student could join the debate about Mobys appropriation of
African-American culture by taking Mobys work and adding samples from
speeches by Malcolm X or Toni Morrison in ways that address this issue. It is
the use and the placement of the samples themselves that would carry the
meaning, rather than any accompanying essay (What I meant by including
Malcolm X here is. . . .). Activities like this would highlight connections
between students developing ideologies and hermeneutic skills (including
transmedia navigation and judgment, as noted by Jenkins, 2006).
Although talking about music is like dancing about architecture is usually understood as a dismissive comment, it is possible to understand it in a
positive light. Indeed, the goal of criticism lies in helping to uncover latent
potential meanings that viewers, readers or listeners might not find at first.
However, beyond the explicit use of oral or written language to shape interpretation (e.g., What we hear in this piece . . .), we can also imagine commenting on a work of art using another medium. For example, a dance in
the public space of a building could call attention to the way the space is actually lived in and used (as opposed to the design on the blueprint or the intention of the architect). Here dancing about architecture might be a very
productive activity. Likewise, in talking (or writing) about music remix, students and teachers might find new ways of looking at things. However, this
requires a commitment to exploration through writing, rather than simply
using print as a means to return to a traditional form of assessment (e.g.,
Provide evidence that you have learned X). This is what is happening in
online remix chat-rooms, which might be models for talking or writing about
music in the classroom in ways that ideally are communal, democratic, honest and open-minded. Pedagogical interventions based on full participation
have a better chance of helping students discover and develop their own
hermeneutics than lectures on the meaning of Troilus and Cressida. For some
students, music remix might be the best way into this kind of discussion and
learning.

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Conclusion
The advent of new types of technology has begun to shift the way that educators and others talk about the work in which students are engaged. Indeed,
students have to negotiate a semiosphere that is more explicitly interactive
and communal than ever. They are expected to respond to and use the
diverse contents of the cultural reservoir. Taking music remix seriously
offers one potential way (of many) for us to recognize how students add to
and draw on that cultural reservoir. Although we cannot assume all youngpeople have access to and expertise with the kind of technology described in
this chapter, many do, and we can only benefit from talking to them about
how this technology offers the chance for old-fashioned pleasures like making
music or mucking about with something that somebody else took hours to
create. For many people, irreverence is fun in and of itself, but realized in the
form of a discussion about how meaning is created, challenged, dissembled,
and recreated, it can also be a rich opportunity for learning. However, any
time educators think about ways to draw on what their students are doing
outside of the classroom they run the risk of leaching the pleasure out of the
activity, and thus making it into just another schoolish assignment (see examples of how disinterested students are in sanctioned graffiti spaces, for
example). Music remix should not be reduced to being a gateway to traditional print work, or used as nothing more than a useful analogy for other
academic work. It should first and foremost be recognized as a valuable activity in its own right. Once it has been established that what is at stake in music
remix does not have to be justified by calling on other already accepted academic goals, moving the discussion into those other arenas will feel much
more organic, and thus is much more likely to be productive for teachers and
students alike.

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Remix Fight (2008). Frequently asked questions. Remix Fight. Retrieved August 20,
2008, from http://www.remixfight.org/faq

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Chapter 3

DIY podcasting in education

CHRISTOPHER SHAMBURG

SECTION ONE
Roots of a podcaster
What initially attracted me to podcasting was the power of audio to entertain,
inform, and persuade. Although I was a child during broadcast television of
the 1970s and 1980s, my fathers nostalgia for radio puzzled and fascinated
me. I did sense a lost magic when I saw portrayals of radio dramatizations on
TV and in moviesthe wonders of meek actors transformed into superheroes, sacks of flour into fist fights, and kitchen knives into duels. As an
adult I became an avid listener to audio books and to the National Public
Radio (NPR) station that is broadcast across the U.S. This began with long
commutes to work and weekly four-hour drives between New York and
Washington, D.C., which I did for two years in a long-distance romance with
my future wife; I knew the layout of every rest stop and the schedules of
every NPR station along the New York/D.C. corridor. So when I became
aware of podcasting in 2004, I was excited to learn more about it, with only
a vague and distant hope of becoming a podcaster myself.
Podcasting refers to the practice of creating and distributing audio and,
increasingly, video for people to access in a variety of convenient ways, most
notably, via a computer or portable media device. What distinguishes a pod-

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cast from any other media file on the internet is that it is subscribe-able. A
user can use an intermediary service to automatically locate new episodes of
a given podcast series or show and make them available for downloading. The
term podcast refers to the syndicated show as a whole as well as to individual episodes. Nevertheless, it really is the syndication and resulting subscribe-ability that characterize podcasting. Moreover, the ease of subscribing
to a podcast show and the increasing file storage capacity of computers and
portable media devices encourage consumers to subscribe to numerous podcasts simultaneously. The simplicity of accessing, searching, and continually
revising subscriptions encourages a broad and diverse pool of podcasts and a
fascinating array of individual podcasters.

The medium and the diversity

The process and practice of how podcasting is consumed are crucial to considering the medium itself as generative, just as the process of sitting in a large
and dark theater with a group of people viewing moving images was crucial
to moviemakers through most of the 20th century. The term podcast is a
combination of the words iPod and broadcast. That being said, neither
an iPod nor iTunes nor any other proprietary Apple software is required to
create or consume podcasts. Its possible to listen to podcasts on a variety of
portable media devices (e.g., portable mp3 players), simply listen using a
computer and audio software or via a CD player once the podcasts have been
burned to a CD disk. There are dozens of podcatchersintermediary software or online services that enable listeners to subscribe to and download a
podcast. For example, Microsofts Zune software enables users to subscribe
to podcasts and load them automatically each time they sync their Zune
player with their computer. The same holds for Creatives Zen portable
media player, too. Nonetheless, it would be nave not to acknowledge that
the most popular way to access podcasts at the time of writing is through
iTunes software on a computer and then to transfer the podcasts to an iPod
portable media player (cf., Brown & Green, 2007). Apple was the first company to build podcatching capabilities into its portable media player interface
software, and being first with respect to launching new technological
developments certainly directly impacts the extent to which a particular
medium comes to dominate the field. Thus, any potential podcaster needs to
consider the popularity of the iTunes interface and file format early in the
production process, regardless of their own preferred software and portable
media players. Thus, in what follows, I will refer to the common technologies
of iPods and iTunes, while recognizing at the same time there are numerous
other options.

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It is nothing unusual for a person to subscribe to 2 to 3 dozen podcasts at

the same time and to have 5 to 10 episodes from each of those podcasts
loaded to an iPod. Subscriptions can be set to download and refresh the most
recent episodes from every podcast. Plugging the iPod into the computer
synchronizes the iPod with the downloaded podcasts and automatically
transfers the most recent episodes to the iPod (this function can be set to
manual transfer, too, for greater control over what is transferred and what
isnt). Below are three examples of podcasts that could be found on a typical
iPod.
Podrunner
Begun as music mixes for his wifes exercise programs, Los Angeles DJ Steve
Boyetts Podrunner is one of the most popular podcast downloads on iTunes,
with an average of over 600,000 downloads per month and sponsorship of the
series including the U.S. Navy and Timex. These weekly podcasts are intense
musical mixes, each about an hour long, and correlated to different target heart
rates for running, cycling, and aerobic exercise (e.g., Relayered at 158 bpm or
Dawntreader at 168 bpm). A subscriber has a continually changing set of
mixes on an iPod to run, spin, or walk to.
The Brian Lehrer Show
Brian Lehrer is a radio talk show host on New York Public Radio, WNYC. His
Peabody Award-winning show broadcasts from 10am to noon each day, attracts
a widespread and loyal listenership, and usually contains 5 different segments of
interviews, call-ins, and conversations each day. Every segment of every show
can be downloaded from the WNYC website or via podcatcher software such as
iTunes. A listener who might be at work during the time of the shows broadcast
can now access each segment of each show. After listening to a segment, synchronization with the computer can be set-up to delete the shows that were listened to and replace them with new ones.
Although an example of repurposed mediawhere an already in-place show is
converted to a podcast, rather than being produced in the first place as a podcastit is an excellent example of the power of podcasting. In fact, in 2005 the
Annenberg Online Journalism Review titled an article Will NPRs Podcasts
Birth a New Business Model for Public Radio? (Glaser, 2005). In July 2008,
repurposed public radio programs account for seven of the top 25 mostdownloaded podcasts on iTunes.

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Millennium Influence

Daren and Katie Sutton work in the Christian youth ministry field. According to
their website, Millennial Influence (http://www.minfluence.com), their show
Millennium Influence Podcast (MI Podcast), strives to help encourage parents
through an open discussion of topics relevant to raising teenagers. The show
offers engaging and accessible advice for parent on topics such as talking to your
kids about a parents remarriage, dealing with summer boredom, and what to do
if you think your child is gay. Capitalizing on the medium, MI Podcasts description on iTunes reads, the MI Weekly Podcast is no longer than a short commute (1015 min). Their podcast promotes and extends their work in training
youth ministers.

Though diverse in their resources, rationales and target audiences, it

would not be unusual to find such diverse podcasts as these (each with 510
episodes) on a persons computer or iPod along with a few dozen others. Not
only do all of these podcasts share free and simple distribution networks
such as iTuneson a relatively equal footing, but it would not be difficult to
rival the production value of any of them using free software and an eightdollar microphone. To me, this is the equivalent of having a fully functioning
radio station in your garage in 1993. The popularity of do-it-yourself podcast
production also means there is easy access to countless how-to manuals and
intuitive production and distribution technologies online as well. Furthermore, the amateur podcaster today has a potential global reach that was unattainableperhaps even unimaginablefor the majority of radio stations prior
to the internet.

Getting hooked
The potential power to reach a large audience using technologies to create
audio shows that rivaled those of professionals was about half the enticement
for me. I spent the first ten years of my career as a high school English
teacher (and my wife is a high school English teacher), and I tend to look at
the world through that lens. What really lit the fire under me about podcasting were three key events in my own life. First was a trip to Disney World
that I took with my wife and two kids in 2004. One of the exhibits there
focused on Foley artists (the people who recreate the in-the-moment, everyday sound effects heard on movies and television shows). The exhibit comprised a demonstration of how ordinary items are used to make everyday,
often taken-for-granted sound effects like footsteps, doors opening and closing, ice clinking in a glass, and so on. It was mesmerizing. I suddenly realized
that the ability to convey entire worlds of spaceships, armies, and jungles
using ordinary objects such as mop buckets and paperclips held the kernel of

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a powerful idea that could thoroughly engage students (and, from the sight
of parents jumping to their feet in their eagerness to participate in the
demonstration, adults, too!).
Second, I long had been a fan of Youth Radio (http://www.youthradio.or
g), a non-profit initiative to empower youth by engaging them in using audio
technologies to broadcast their own ideas and reporting. U.S. National Public Radio would occasionally play segments from Youth Radio, and it was
about the same time as my trip to Disney World that I found the Youth Radio
podcast. The reports in this podcast are a mix of interviews, reporting, and
commentaries, with titles such as Children as Medical Interpreters about
kids who act as interpreters between doctors and parents who do not speak
English, and Return of the Girlie Girl about femininity and Sesame Street
Muppets. These reports integrated adolescent experiences with a range of
social and cultural phenomena in compelling ways. I listened to dozens of
segments and over time created step-by-step guidelines and templates for students to use to create similar segments (Shamburg, 2008).
Third, I came across the two particular podcasts which simultaneously
provided entertainment for me as a listener and inspiration for me as a
teacher: ArtMobs and Dramapod.
ArtMobs
David Gilbert and his students at Marymount Manhattan College created alternatives to the standard museum tours with their ArtMobs podcast (http://mod.b
logs.com/art_mobs). In producing their podcast shows, Gilbert asks his students to consider such things as what the characters in paintings would say and
to create a soundtrack for a particular piece of art. These podcasts promise subscribers who visit the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) that youll hear things
youll never hear through MoMAs headphones.
Dramapod
Dramapod (http://www.thedramapod.com) is a collection of new and old audio
dramas; from old time radio shows, to author readings of self-published books,
to current fanfiction. A listener can subscribe to individual shows and vote and
comment on individual episodes. Dramapod offers content to listeners with
tastes that lie in old radio serials or who have unquenchable appetites for Star
Trek fan-written stories.

These three sets of experiences coalesced in 2005, when I was working as

a consultant for an online high school. I suggested, developed, and later
taught Podcourse (http://podcourse.blogspot.com), an online high
school English class based on student-created podcasts and which continues

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to run each year. The course approaches literacies and new literacies by focusing on culture and digital technologies within the context of authentically
producing podcasts rather than on reproducing traditional English classroom
activities (e.g., round-robin play reading, teacher-directed poetry analysis).
In Podcourse, students conduct interviews (like Brian Lehrer does in his
radio show podcast, or Daren and Katie Sutton do in their IM Podcast), create audio tours (like ArtMobs) and audio plays (like Dramapod), and remix
music and poetry for walking or running (like Podrunner). They produce this
content for real audiences and for real purposes.

Communities and resources

My shift from listener of podcasts to creator of podcasts would only have
been a dream if it were not for some very special communities and resources.
First, as a teacher who wanted students to have access to this software at
home, expensive professional audio editing software was not an option. After
some searching, I came across the SourceForge Project (http://www.sourc
eforge.net), a community of open source software developers and open
source software projects. One of SourceForges projects is Audacity
(http://audacity.sourceforge.net); a free and powerful multitrack audio editing software package (see Chapter 2 in this volume for more about Audacity).
David Murphy (2005) of PC Magazine writes that the program mimics its
more expensive brethrenAdobe Audition and [Sonic Foundrys] Sound
Forgein providing recording and audio file-editing tools, and its easy
enough for beginners while including plenty of advanced features for audiophiles. PC World voted it one of the top 100 products of 2008 (Sullivan,
2008). The Audacity website (http://audacity.sourceforge.net) also has tutorials and a dedicated support wiki for users.
Many potential podcasters are stymied by a fear of unintentionally violating copyright law. Copyright and fair use laws are ambiguous, and media
industriesespecially in the U.S.have reacted to the relative ease of creating and sharing digital copies of media in often highly restrictive and punitive
ways that can have a chilling effect on amateur new media creators. In the
next section I give some advice on the legal and ethical use of copyrighted
material. Suffice it to say for now that my podcasting work (and the work of
my students) would have been thwarted if not for the help I received from
the Creative Commons Mixter service (http://www.ccmixter.org) and the
Free Sound Project (http://www.freesound.org). These spaces provide music
and sound effects that have a sliding scale of copyright restrictions (e.g.,
free to use for commercial and non-commercial purposes through to the
resource must be attributed to the original author or creator, cannot be
remixed, must remain intact and cannot be used for commercial purposes).

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Both services also provide extremely helpful communities of audio editors

and audiophiles who are happy to help novices navigate the ethical appropriation of other peoples material.

Audio lives
I would like to conclude this section with a note about video podcasting.
One of the inevitable requests I get from teachers and students is to work
with video podcasts (also known as vodcasts). While Im not opposed to
video podcasts, I strongly favor working with audio. Audio is here to stay.
There is a physical reason why audio is a medium that will not go away. The
Romantic poets attributed the physical attributes of aural communication
the phenomenon that sounds need to physically penetrate the body through
the ear to be perceivedto its hold on our emotions and imaginations. There
is also another, more practical reason for the timelessness of audio as a
medium. People will want content that they can experience while they are
still able to see what they are doing at the time. Driving a car, working on a
computer, running a marathon, or walking down the street are all experiences
that we can do as we listen to an audio podcast. Regardless of the sophistication of a video device, it is hard to imagine doing any of these activities safely
or productively while watching video. Indeed, some audio podcasts even
work harmoniously with these physical acts to actually improve performance.
Thus, for me, the creative and imaginative powers of audio hold me
spellbound.

SECTION TWO
Doing your own podcasting
There are two main features of a podcast: the medium itself and its subscribe-ability. For this tutorial we will focus on a particular audio file type
the mp3 filewhich is an extremely space-efficient audio file that runs in a
large number of software programs and on a wide range of audio players
(much of what follows applies equally to vodcasts or video podcasts, too).
Subscribe-ability refers to audio content that has an RSS file (also known as
an RSS feed) associated with it. RSS stands for Really Simple Syndication and is a combination of programming code inserted into a file and a
syndicating service that enables users to subscribe to this file (or set of files) in
much the same way that analogue newspapers are subscribed to in the physical world and appear on ones doorstep without you having to do anything
more than pay your annual dues. RSS is what gives a podcast its legs.

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To begin, we will first create an mp3 file using Audacity, the free multitrack audio editing program created at SourceForge. Audacity is available for
for PC, Mac, and Linux platforms. It is a small but powerful program. If you
prefer to use a different piece of software (e.g., GarageBand, Sony Acid
Xpress), you can still follow the general steps of this tutorial. Audio editing
software is like word processing softwarethe majority of the skills are transferable among programs. Also, if you already know how to use a word
processor and a tape recorder, you already have about 90% of the skills
needed for audio editing (e.g., hitting a record button, copying and pasting).
In terms of hardware, all you need is a computer and a microphone. You can
buy a good microphone for under $20 at a computer or office supply store.
Access to the internet while creating your podcast is also optimal with respect
to being able to locate audio files youd like to use but isnt absolutely necessary as long as you have a range of audio files to hand on a harddrive or CDROM.

Podcast tutorial: Goals and procedures

There are technical and educational skills that this tutorial addresses. On the
technical side, the overall goal is to create an mp3 file using multitrack audio
editing software. You will do this by mixing original audio that you record
with existing audio files that you (legally and ethically) download from the
internet. You will then edit and manipulate the individual tracks to create a
single new audio file. Finally, you will use free podcast hosting and RSS subscription services. The technical procedures of this tutorial are based on the
principles of effective procedural instruction identified by Black, Carroll and
McGuigan (1987) in their article, What Kind of Minimal Instruction Manual Is the Most Effective?
Along with technical instructions, there are some broader, educational
ideas embedded in this tutorial. You will get a chance to examine the role of
context with respect to situations and language use, explore unique aspects of
audio in terms of mediums, and practice ethically using the intellectual property of others to create original content. These goals will be of interest to you
if you want to use or build upon this tutorial with students.
Keep in mind that your own podcast show can be a variety ofor even a
mix offormats (e.g., interviews, dramatizations, commentary). For this particular podcast tutorial, you will create a short audio dramatization because it
teaches a broad set of technical and educational skills related to podcasting.
Here are the steps that you will complete:
1. Download the software and accompanying encoding and media files (see
below)

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2. Record original dialogue and narration (you will play two characters and
the narrator in an audio play)
3. Mix in existing music and sound effectsfreely and legally
4. Shift and manipulate audio tracks
5. Export your project as an mp3 file
6. Submit your file to a free podcast hosting service

Getting set up
So, to begin, download the following three files:
(1) The software: Audacity (For beginners or newbies, avoid beta versions of the software because these often tend to be unstable and can contain
glitches that can cause unnecessary frustration for someone not familiar with
how the software should work.) Available free of charge from: http://auda
city.sourceforge.net
(2) The file: Lame_enc.dll (You will only have to access this file one time,
when you create your first mp3. It comes in a zipped folder with documentation.) Available from: http://lame.buanzo.com.ar/
(3) The zipped folder: cs272_-_Free_and_Legal_Podcaster.zip (A collection
of songs and sound effects that you can use freely and legally if you cite
them). Available from: http://ccmixter.org/files/cs272/15557

Figure 3.1: Audacity project workspace (version 1.2.6)

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Getting Started with the Software

After you download and install Audacity, open it and you will see a screen
like that in Figure 3.1.
The controls in the top left-hand corner are the ones you will use the
most (see Figure 3.2 for a close-up). The selection tool will let you choose
segments or clips from tracks, and the shift tool will let you move tracks along
the timeline.

Figure 3.2: Common Audacity tools

Recording voices
The audio play you will record for your podcast will be the dialogue below.
You will choose a set of characters, write a brief narrative to introduce your
scene (no more that 15 words total to be recorded before the dialogue
begins), enact the five lines of dialogue below, and add music and sound
effects. Begin by choosing one pair of characters from the following list:
Pet Store Clerks
Gangsters
Spies
Boxers
<<Add Narration Here>>
Person 1: I missed you.
Person 2: Its been a long time.
Person 1: I forgot to give you something.

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Person 2: What is it?

Person 1: This.
Plug your microphone into your computer (there should be a jack for
the plug in the front or back of your desktop computer or on the side of your
laptop) and record your opening narration text. You record by pressing the
record and stop buttons on the Audacity control panel (see Figure 3.3). After
youve recorded your narration, you should have a voice track displayed in
the Audacity project window (see Figure 3.3). If you decide youd like to try
your recording again, simply remove the voice track by clicking the x by
the track name and rerecord.

Figure 3.3: Recording the narration

Now record your audio play dialogue the same way. When you press
record, a second track will automatically display in the Audacity project window. You might want to mute the first track so it does not distract from your
new recording (see Figure 3.4). After you record the second track of dialogue, you use the Shift Tool to move this second track and align with the
end of your narration track (see Figure 3.4)

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Figure 3.4: Moving and muting a track

If you have extra recording space before or after a track (fumbling for
words, forgot to stop the recording, etc.), you can remove it by selecting it
and deleting it (Figure 3.5).

Figure 3.5: Selecting and deleting part of a track

Importing existing audio

Now you will add music and sound effects to your audio drama. After you
import these additional audio clips, you will use the same skills of moving
and selecting as you did in working with your spoken audio files. At this
point, you should unzip the folder cs272_-_free_and_legal_podcaster.zip if
you havent already done so. You will import the tracks yourself by going to
the menu bar at the top of the audacity project window and clicking on Project and selecting Import Audio. Youll be prompted to open a file; this is

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where you select the folder containing your unzipped sound files (see Figure
3.6). Youll find a variety of music and sound effects in this folder.

Figure 3.6: Importing an existing audio track

You should begin your audio dramatization with one of the music clips in
this unzipped folder and end your audio play with one of the sound effects.
The sound effect should correspond with the This of the audio play dialogue. Playing and experimenting with each of the files in your unzipped
folder will help with your selection.
By now, your project should look something like Figure 3.7.

Figure 3.7: Four audio tracks inside an Audacity project

You might want to have the music and narration play at the same time.
You can lower the volume of the music track by adjusting the volume of that
track, or you can select a portion of the track and go to Effects in the menu
bar and select, say, Fade out if you want the volume of the music to trail off
(see Chapter 2 in this volume for additional instructions on adding effects to
audio tracks).

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Citing sources
Before you export your Audacity project file as an mp3 file, you need to cite
the sources of your audio. Although the files you used in addition to the ones
you created were in one of my collections on ccMixter.org, I originally took
them from other sources. While you do have some flexibility to use copyrighted resources under fair use parameters, I like nonetheless to stick with
copyleft resources, just to be on the safe side. Copyleft is a term used to
describe intellectual property that has fewer restrictions for unauthorized use
than copyrighted material per se. An excellent system of copyleft registration
is Creative Commons (http://www.creativecommons.org), andas mentioned earliertwo good sources of Creative Commons audio material are
ccMixter (http://www.ccmixter.org) for music and the Free Sound Project
(http://www.freesound.org) for sounds and sound effects. Creative Commons material comes with a sliding scale of permissions and restrictions relating to attribution, profit, and modifying the work. The one requirement
found across most files, however, is that you have to attribute your sources.
Thus, at the end of your podcast, you should record an attribution clip using
the following script, or your own version of it:
The music for this project came from Creative Commons Mixter <<Say Original
File Nam(e)>> with a <<Say Type of License>>. The Sound Effects for this project came from the Free Sound Project <<Say Original File Name(s)>>. All sound
effects have a Creative Commons Sampling 1.0 Plus license <<or whichever
license applies>>.

To help with your attribution script, Table 3.1 presents a summary of the
original file names and copyleft licenses for the set of zipped files (i.e.,
cs272_-_Free_and_Legal_Podcaster.zip) at the start of this tutorial.
Music
Mp3 Name

Original File Name

Artist

Original Source

from ccMixter.org

Creative Commons
License Type

Creepy Techno

AussieJohn_-

Aussie

http://ccmixter.org/media/files/AussieJ

from Aussie John

_Around_Dusk.mp3

John

ohn/13476

Guitar from

accousticRyan_-

Accoustic

http://ccmixter.org/media/files/accoust

Attribution 2.5

Accoustic Ryan

_Acoustic_sunrise_gui Ryan

icRyan/5248

Generic

http://ccmixter.org/media/files/oscarx

Sampling Plus 1.0

Attribution 3.0

tar_background.mp3
Slow Piano from
Quest

oscarx_-_Quest.mp3

Oscarx

/1638

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Tense Sounds

noelkay_-

from Noel Kay

_Fourmi_2.mp3

Noelkay

http://ccmixter.org/media/files/noelkay

Attribution 3.0

/12926

Sound Effects
Cat

Growl

cat2.wav

dog.wav

noisecolle

http://www.freesound.org/samplesView

ctor

Single.php?id=4914

ljudman

http://www.freesound.org/samplesView
Single.php?id=23387

Machine Gun

Punch

Single Gun

m240.wav

Stomp That.wav

Shot.wav

Matt_G

http://www.freesound.org/samplesView

All sound effects

Single.php?id=30749

from the Free Sound

JCambs19

http://www.freesound.org/samplesView

Project come with

90

Single.php?id=38156

Attribution 1.0

mastafx

http://www.freesound.org/samplesView
Single.php?id=33276

Ticking Sound

SmallCarriageClockT
icking.wav

acclivity

http://www.freesound.org/samplesView
Single.php?id=30608

Table 3.1. Sources for Music and Sound Effects in Tutorial

Exporting your audio project as an mp3 file

Finally, you will export your entire audio project as an mp3 file. Doing so
makes your project transportable as a file that will play using a range of software programs and on a range of media players. Omitting this final step
means your project will only ever play inside the Audacity program and wont
be upload-able to the internet. I would recommend saving your work as an
Audacity project as you go alongthis keeps all of the individual pieces
together in the one folder in case you want to revise it later (you wont be
able to work under the hood of your audio file once its saved as an mp3).
Exporting your project file as an mp3 is simple. However, there is one important, extra step that you need to take the first time that you export any project file as an mp3.
The first time you export an mp3 from within Audacity, you will need to
tell the program where the lame_enc.dll file is; this is the encoder file that
you downloaded earlier. This small program will interface with Audacity and
enable it to produce mp3 files (see Chapter 2 for an explanation of why this
extra step has to be done manually). When you click on File in the menu
bar, then Export, the program will prompt you to find the location of the
lame_enc.dll file. Click the Browse button and locate this file on your com-

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puter harddrive (see Figure 3.8).

Figure 3.8: Locating the mp3 Encoder File

Syndication
As I previously mentioned, an mp3 file is not a podcast unless it is syndicated,
even if it is posted to the internet. You need to give it the power of subscribe-ability so that listeners can retrieve your podcast automatically using
a podcatcher service such as iTunes. There is a long and ever-changing list of
options for adding subscribe-ability to your mp3 file, and no single one will
fit everyones needs. Four popular services that offer free hosting and syndication services are Podomatic (http://www.podomatic.com), OurMedia
(http://www.ourmedia.org), Blip.tv (http://www.blip.tv), and Liberated
Syndication (http://www.libsyn.com
The specific procedures followed for uploading your podcast vary from service to service (and are modified by individual services over time). However, if
you can add an attachment to an email message, you should easily be able to
visit a hosting and syndication web site, register with their service, and submit
your audio files. You can submit the audio play that you created in the tutorial above or develop new material.
All of these hosting and syndication services will allocate you a dedicated
webpage that will archive your shows. In this way, a listener can access your
work simply through a web browser without having to subscribe. In addition, each service will also allocate you an RSS address for your new podcast

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show (it will look something like this: http://www.mugglenet.com/muggl

ecast/mugglecast.rss). You can use this RSS address to register your podcast
with iTunes.

Advice on copyright
In the tutorial above we used copyleft material that has Creative Commons
licenses. By far the most frequent question Im asked when working with digital media is about copyright. It has been my experience that most educators
have an overly restrictive perception of copyright and digital media. This correlates with a report by The Center for Social Media, The Cost of Copyright
Confusion for Media Literacy (Hobbs, Jaszi, & Aufderheide, 2007). Hobbs,
Jaszi and Aufderheide found that confusion about copyright laws within education has debilitating consequences for educators. In particular, they found
that [t]eachers use less effective teaching techniques, teach and transmit
erroneous copyright information, fail to share innovative instructional
approaches, and do not take advantage of new digital platforms (p. 1).
Educators in the United States should know that U.S. Copyright Law
does allow for fair use (U.S. Copyright Office, 2006). Fair use allows people
to use other peoples material (print, music, images) without obtaining or
paying for their permissionwithin reason. To be able to use another persons work under fair use guidelines, there are four interrelated factors to
consider.
The purpose and character of the use (How are you going to use the
work? Fair use favors criticism, commentary, satire, and educational purposes)
The nature of the copyrighted work (What kind of work is it? It is much
easier to claim fair use for facts like the weather or scientific information)
The amount and substantiality of the portion taken (What parts are you
taking? Fair use favors small amounts, unimportant sections or parts)
The effect of the use upon the potential market (Will anyone lose money
if you copy and play this? Fair use favors copying in which no one loses
money)
This process of reflecting on and applying the four fair use factors to
working with digital media should be a welcomed teachable moment in
classrooms. Students and teachers have to be able to navigate the ambiguous
legal guidelines for media use with their own well-developed ethical compass.
I would strongly recommend avoiding strict rules about the amount or types
of material that you can use without permission. Guidelines offering such
advice typically represent the most conservative interpretations of fair use.

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The most salient example here is the Guidelines for the Fair Use of Multimedia document developed in 1996 by the Conference on Fair Use. These
guidelines specify limits for the educational use of video, audio, and images
that do not require obtaining permission from the rightsholder (e.g., 3 minutes of a movie, 3 seconds of a song) (University of Texas, 2001). These
guidelines are replicated within numerous policies in school districts and universities, despite the fact that they are hotly opposed by organizations such as
the Association of Research Libraries, the American Library Association, the
National Association of School Administrators, the National Education Association, the U.S. Catholic Conference, and the National Association of Independent Schools (Association of Research Libraries, 1997). Indeed, in
response to these guidelines, the Association of Research Libraries called on
its members to resist relying on any proposed code of conduct which may
substantially or artificially constrain the full and appropriate application of fair
use (Association of Research Libraries, 2007).

SECTION THREE
Educational applications
Podcasting offers a powerful tool that can engage students in learning and
prepare them for lives in the 21st century. The key for using podcasting successfully in education is, I believe, to abandon the model of simply enhancing
the existing curriculum and to deeply reflect on the types of skills we want
students to have in the kind of world in which they are living now. Podcasting offers an inexpensive way to create and share compelling media that correlates to authentic activities outside of classrooms. With podcasting, students
can create original content as they ethically and effectively collect and remix
the work of others and become participants in culture, politics, and society.
Educators need to believe that podcasting can be a vehicle for teaching
powerful ideas. Applying the term powerful ideas to educational technology was pioneered by Seymour Papert in his groundbreaking book Mindstorms: Children, Computers and Powerful Ideas (1980). Papert saw
technology as a catalyst and incubator for powerful ideas, as opposed to a
means to simply improve the teaching of existing curriculum. Papert writes
that one comes to appreciate how certain ideas can be used as tools to think
with over a lifetime. One learns to enjoy and respect the power of powerful
ideas (1980, p. 76). My observations and my hopes encourage me to think
that student podcasting can promote several powerful ideas that students can
use as tools in their thinking. For example, the hands-on and reflective
approach to copyright, fair, use, and digital media that students employ in
their podcasting becomes a tool for them to think further about the balance

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of individual rights and community benefits. The powerful idea of creating

something for a particular audience becomes a tool for students to use to
anticipate audience needs and to empathize with others. Here, issues of fair
use and audience are not disembodied lessons but fundamental to the
doing of podcasting.
Using podcasts can be a bad idea for teachers if doing so does not come
with a deep concern for doing things differently. Podcastingthe medium
and associated technologiesjust as easily can lead to bored students, vacuous classrooms, and tedious teaching as any rote learning activity can. Imagine this scenarioa projection of my own mistakes early in my career
teaching high school English. A tech-savvy teacher listens to a variety of podcasts, continually searching and culling his subscriptions on iTunes, and is
eager to bring some of this compelling content into the classroom. He hears
a great feature about the history of an indigenous tribe along the Amazon
basin that ties in perfectly with a unit hes teaching on the Amazon Rain Forest. A few days later, he schedules some time to share this podcast episode
with his students. It will be just the perfect enhancement of and exposure to
the topic that will motivate his kids: compelling content with high production value that brings the outside world into his classroom.
He brings in his iPod and Bose speakers and sets them up at the front of
the room. The students sit in their seats; the teacher goes to the back of the
classroom and hits play on his remote control. The kids sit and listen. Some
kids sit attentively, genuinely interested and following along. Other kids surreptitiously work on homework for other classes; they will not be quizzed on
the content of this podcast and it really isnt that interesting to them.
The remaining students put their heads down on their desks, giggle, whisper,
or play with rubber bands.
Podcasting can be a powerful medium, but unless we use it within a
broader context of educational reform it can be misapplied easily and reinforce an increasingly irrelevant educational model. It is like the Professor in
Gilligans Island using his genius to make a bicycle-powered washing
machine from bamboo, instead of getting the castaways off the island.

Podcasting and curriculum reform: Guiding principles

My use of educational podcasting began in earnest in 2005 when I was working with the NJeSchool (http://www.njeschool.org), the largest online public high school in New Jersey. I had conducted some research for the school
on successful and unsuccessful online courses and noticed that much of the
online content that was commercially available was designed around students
reading reams of pdf files of textbooks. We started to think about the types of
content that would work well online as well as about broader questions to do
with the types of skills that students would like to or need to have. We came

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up with what we called the Podcasting and Creative Audio course, known
more colloquially as Podcourse (http://podcourse.blogspot.com). This
was a high school English class focused on student-centered podcasting
(Shamburg, 2009).
Podcasting became a vehicle for exploring authentic activities that truly
engaged students. Instead of looking at trends in education, we looked at
how people used digital technologies to create, produce, and communicate
via podcasts. There are a number of detailed studies of new literacies that
informed the direction of this work. Prominent among them were Lankshear
and Knobels New Literacies (2003), William Kists New Literacies in Action
(2004), and Henry Jenkins Convergence Culture (2006b) along with Confronting the Challenges of Participatory Culture: Media Education in the 21st
Century (Jenkins, 2006a). Below are common, key ideas that informed the
direction of this work (Shamburg, 2009).
Participation: Digital technologies have given us unprecedented abilities to create media and content with which to express ourselves to varied and distributed
audiences. Media creation toolswhich 20 years ago were only available to a
handful of media conglomeratesnow come preloaded on even the least expensive computers. Relatively low-cost, high-speed internet access also affords participation in networks of content distribution that have never before been
possible for amateurs and hobbyists.
Appropriation: Remixes, mashups, copy-and-paste practices are part of the constitution of our digital environment. Students need the skills and mindsets to
effectively and ethically synthesize the work of others into original and compelling work.
Media: Students need to understand that different mediaaudio, video, text
and different technologiespodcasting, online video archives, blogginghave
different properties, advantages and weaknesses. They need to learn how to
identify, choose, innovate with, and capitalize on these media and technologies.
Ethical Behavior: Students need to understand that with the opportunities made
possible by networked and digital technologies, there are also risks and responsibilities. We cannot teach this to students by blocking out the changing world
but must develop techniques to guide them in developing their own ethical
compasses and responsible behaviors. They need to be able to identify ethical
boundaries and existing abuses of new media as well as to conduct themselves
responsibly with respect to what they do with other peoples work.
Personal Interests: Schools need to take a more dialectic approach to balancing
educative goals with the experiences and learning goals of students. This not
only correlates with the last three decades of research on cognitive science, inter-

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est and learning. This idea also pays attention to the fact that what is happening
in schools with respect to skills and content doesnt always match whats being
used and is needed in life outside school.

Along with these common themes found in studies of new literacies, one
major guiding principle for my own work with students is the connection
between the worlds of bits and atoms. In New Literacies, Lankshear and Knobel (2006) describe the dual worlds of bits and atoms. Building on this distinction, I explored those areas where bits and atoms intersect. When we
come to rely on the internet for driving directions, when we hop across different online dating sites looking for companionship, and when we debate
global warming via video responses posted to YouTube, it becomes imperative that students see the connections between our digital lives and physical
worlds and avoid the solipsism of cyberspace (Shamburg, 2009). Podcasting
can do this. When students interview a parent, create a walking tour, or
record a recipe, they are making this crucial connection almost by default.

Student projects
The process of developing the units for Podcourse can be a model for curriculum development or at least offer points for consideration. The curriculum for the course deliberately cultivated the place where authentic
podcasting activities intersected with student interests. When such activities
were found or developed, I tried to uncover and nurture the powerful ideas
(Papert, 1980) embedded in these activities. These ideas were used in turn to
develop materials and resources that would carefully scaffold student learning. Seymour Papert, one of the earliest advocates of children using digital
technologies at very young ages, saw digital technology as a way to incubate
and liberate powerful ideas. While the concept of powerful ideas will differ
among teachers, the term can be a rallying point and reminder of the important and noble work that we should aspire to as teachers.
Once the Podcourse activities were developed, they were placed in a
sequence in such a way that demand on students cognitive and creative skills
was noticeably increased. Primarily, the demand for collecting and organizing
material created by other peopleincluding research findings and reports,
music, quotes from texts online, sound effect files, among othersand then
synthesizing this material into an original product (i.e., a powerful idea) grew
as each project progressed. For example, students begin the Podcourse with
an activity similar to the tutorial in the preceding section of this chapter. They
have to search, select, and use other peoples music and sound effects to produce their unique visions of a few simple lines of dialogue. The fascinating
part of this activity is the way in which the resources they find and ultimately
select not only advances, but also modifies the students original conception

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of how their audio project should sound. This process is analogous to designing and conducting good research. Working on the audio play easily lays
foundations for students to learn how to ethically and effectively quote from
interviews, how to conduct supporting research for a podcast, and how to
synthesize and comment respectfully upon the opinions of others.
Podcourse activities or projects are organized into units of work. These
units traverse a range of purposes or audio text types. Some of these include:
1. Media Reviews. This unit focuses on students consideration of audience.
Students review a work of media of their choicesuch as a television show,
video game, comic book, movie, or noveland pay close attention to the
purpose of their review and its target audience. Students are given scaffolding
materials that prompt them to choose an audience, consider the prior knowledge of their audience, and to anticipate certain questions from their
audience.
2. Fictional Dramatizations. Students create an audio dramatization of segments of a novel or play, complete with music and sound effects. They are
guided in the transformation of written prose or a play script into an audio
drama. Here they get to reflect on, explore, and capitalize upon the unique
attributes and effects of the podcasting medium.
3. Audio Tours of Important Sites. Students develop a walking tour of a public place that has significance to them. The main goal is that the audio tour is
to be informative and interesting. Students can pick an audience (e.g., a general audience, teenagers, young children, runners) and develop appropriate
podcasts. Each student is encouraged to and supported in their efforts to
broaden the perspective of his or her tour by including social or historical
research in their podcast as well as clips from interviews with people who are
closely familiar with the site being toured.
4. Historic Interviews. Students interview a friend, family, or community
member about a particularly interesting time period or event. The interviewee can have participated in a single historic event or there can be a focus on
social history such as life during a particular time period (the home front of
WWII, the 1960s, the Cold War). Students connect the experiences of the
interviewee with research on larger social and historical trends.
5. DVD Commentary. Students can cue a movie to a particular point and
then write and record commentary that runs while the movie does. They can
collaborate with friends, family, or community members in developing their
commentary. The project can be modified to be a sports commentary (e.g.,
play-by-play descriptions and what is referred to as color commentary in
the U.S.commentary that adds context, humor and random player or game

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facts to the sports commentary), or to be a more substantive version of Mystery Science Theater 3000 (a now-defunct U.S. television show in which a
small cast of characters watched scifi movies and added in their own, usually
hilarious, comments about the movie itself). This project works especially
well when an interview format is used to comment on a movie clip, especially
when the interviewees are family members or friends who have some experience with the subject or time period being presented in the movie.
You can see commentary and student examples at: http://podcourse.blogspo
t.com.
In summary, a very real aim in my work with student podcastingtaught
in Podcourse and shared in teacher education classes and in books like this
is to help students and teachers to better look outside to the world and inside
to student interests.

Beyond podcasting: Teaching and reflection

Getting students comfortable with skillfully navigating the places where
authentic activities mix with their interests is one of the most worthwhile
things we can do as educators and goes well beyond the scope of a single
technology practice such as podcasting. My argument is that this type of curriculum can help students to become self-actualized individuals within a
global community. Educators and labor experts see this kind of skillful volition as an important component in the new digital economy (cf. Gee, 2004;
Rifken, 2004). Joseph Campbells (Apostrophe S Productions & Public
Affairs Television, 1988) famous call to follow your bliss even gives a spiritual connotation to this pursuit. Podcasting facilitates this larger goal of productively participating in communities and networks as each participant
hones and expands individual interests.
Looking outside to the world and reflecting deeply on what we do (and
why we do it) inside the classroom can be more difficult than we appreciate
as educators. There is a stifling cache of unwritten traditions and formal rules
and standards that inhibit the type of deep questioning that should happen in
schools. Podcasting offers a very real means for encouraging students to ask
real questions about their world, to follow their intuitions about the relationship between history, people and now, to really think about things, rather
than to memorize dates and facts. Its not that Shakespeare, American history, or rainforests should not be taught. Its that they should be taught in
tandem with purposes that teachers and students can believe in and commit
to; that is, powerful ideas as intellectual tools.
I would like to conclude with some thoughts on education from Ken
Ronkowitz, a former language arts teacher, and currently an educational
technology guru and writer of the blog Serendipity 35 (http://www.serendip

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ity35.net). Ken reflects on a virtual field trip a group of English teachers were
taken on within Second Life. It is a virtual tour of the house that was the
model for Nathaniel Hawthornes House of the Seven Gables. Ken writes that,
the English teacher in me would immediately wonder what value it would
be to walk through the home anyway. What does an actual field trip offer students? (Ronkowitz, no date). I am not dismissing this virtual project, but I
hope that it comes with important reasons for studying that novel in the first
place and that the virtual world is not a spoonful of high-tech sugar for doing
obligatory work. In that same blogpost, Ken goes on to write a poignant passage about his successes teaching S.E. Hintons The Outsiders and concludes,
It saddens me to see that there are Cliff and Spark Notes for The Outsiders.
What might a teacher do to that book that would send a reader there instead
of [to] the book itself? (Ronkowitz, no date). My guess is that such a
teacher would treat it in the same way many teachers have been treating literature for the last 50 years, focusing on rising actions and arcane symbolism instead of treating it like a great story that kids can enjoy and engage in,
and which is closer to the authentic reasons why we read books outside of
school anyway (for a fascinating description of the contrast between reading
inside of school and reading outside of school, see Atwell, 1998). Podcastinglike helping kids to be active readersbegins by looking at ways we
engage with the world outside school.
For podcasting and for teaching beyond podcasting, one of the noblest
things we can do as educators is to teach the powerful ideas that live in
authentic activities outside of school while validating who our students are
and who they want to be in that outside world.

References
Association of Research Libraries (1997). Association of Research Libraries: CCUMC
multi-media fair use guidelines letter. Retrieved July 17, 2008, from http://www.arl
.org/pp/ppcopyright/copyresources/ccumc.shtml
Association of Research Libraries (2007). Association of Research Libraries: Conference
on fair use joint statement. Retrieved July 17, 2008 from http://www.arl.org/pp/ppc
opyright/copyresources/confu.shtml
Atwell, N. (1998). In the middle: New understanding about writing, reading, and learning
(2nd ed.). Portsmouth, NH: Boynton/Cook.
Black, J. B., Carroll, J. M., & McGuigan, S. M. (1987). What kind of minimal instruction
manual is the most effective? In P. Tanner & J. M. Carroll (Eds.), Human factors in
computing systems and graphic interface (pp. 159162). Amsterdam: North Holland.
Brown, A. & Green, T. (2007). Podcasting and video podcasting: How it works and how
its used for instruction. In C. Crawford et al. (Eds.), Proceedings of Society for Information Technology and Teacher Education International Conference (pp. 19151921).
Chesapeake, VA: AACE.
Apostrophe S Productions & Public Affairs Television (Producers). (1988). Joseph Campbell and the power of myth [VHS tape]. New York: Mystic Fire Video.

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Gee, J. P. (2004). Situated language and learning: A critique of traditional schooling. New
York: Routledge.
Glaser, M. (November 29, 2005). Will NPRs podcasts birth a new business model for
public radio? Annenberg Online Journalism Review. Retrieved August 3, 2008, from
http://www.ojr.org/ojr/stories/051129glaser/
Hobbs, R., Jaszi, P., & Aufderheide, P. (2007, September). The cost of copyright confusion for media literacy. The Center for Social Media. Retrieved July 29, 2008, from
http://www.centerforsocialmedia.org/resources/publications/the_cost_of_copyrigh
t_confusion_for_media_literacy.
Jenkins, H. (2006a). Confronting the challenges of participatory culture: Media education
for the 21st century. Boston: MacArthur Foundation. Retrieved July 7, 2008 from
http://www.projectnml.org/files/working/NMLWhitePaper.pdf
Jenkins, H. (2006b). Convergence culture: Where old and new media collide. New York:
New York University Press.
Kist, W. (2004). New Literacies in action: Teaching and learning in multiple media (Language and Literacy Series). New York: Teachers College Press.
Lankshear, C., & Knobel, M. (2003). New literacies. London: Open University Press.
Lankshear, C., & Knobel, M. (2006). New literacies (2nd ed.). London: Open University
Press.
Murphy, D. (April 5, 2005). Music utilities. Retrieved July 23, 2008 from PC Magazine
[online] at http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,1814231,00.asp
Papert, S. (1980). Mindstorms: Children, computers, and powerful ideas. New York: Basic
Books.
Rifkin, J. (2004). The end of work (2nd Edition). New York: Penguin.
Ronkowitz, K. (no date). Virtual paths into literature. Retrieved July 25, 2008 [online]
from Serendipity 35 [blog] from http://smsdesign.org/index.php?/archives/459Virtual-Paths-Into-Literature.html
Shamburg, C. (2008). National educational technology standards for students: English language arts units for grades 912. Eugene, OR: International Society for Technology
in Education.
Shamburg, C. (2009, in process). Student-powered podcasting: Teaching for 21st century literacy. [manuscript]. Eugene, OR: International Society for Technology in Education.
Sullivan, M. (May 27, 2008). The 100 best products of 2008. Retrieved July 28, 2008
from PC World [online] http://www.pcworld.com/article/14616112/the_100_be
st_products_of_2008.html
U.S. Copyright Office (2006). Copyright office basics. Retrieved July 29, 2008, from
http://www.copyright.gov/circs/circ1.pdf
University of Texas (2001). Multimedia fair use guidelines. Retrieved July 29, 2008, from
http://www.utsystem.edu/ogc/INTELLECTUALPROPERTY/ccmcguid.htm

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Part 2: Still Media

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Chapter 4

Visual networks: Learning

and photosharing
GUY MERCHANT

SECTION ONE

Introduction
Last summer I was invited down to a Graffiti Jam held in the old tennis
courts on the edge of an urban park near where I live. I had become interested in graffiti a while back. As a professional educator with an interest in literacy practicesand particularly in the ways in which some of these practices
are formalized and held in high esteem while others are marginalized, or
even, as in the case of most graffiti, simply made illegalId been photographing the tags, slogans and wall-art in my neighborhood for a year or so.
I used these images in my work, as examples of forms and mark-making
processes that normally are overlooked as a literacy practice.
I had also been using Flickr (http://www.flickr.com), the photosharing
site for a number of years, and here I gradually built up a set of pictures on
graffiti. These pictures had received some comments from others but had
never really created a stir except in one instance when a colleague was rather
vociferous about how graffiti defaced the environment. Little did I know that
some graffiti artists actually used Flickr to store images of their own work,
and, over time, had come across some of my pictures on that same site. As a

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result I received some illuminating commentstranslations and footnotes to

some of the work I had photographedand then an invite to the Graffiti
Jam. I almost decided not to go, but in the end my curiosity won out.
The air was thick with the smell of spraypaint and the sound of R&B
music when I arrived. Some of the artists worked freehand; others from
sketches or manga strips. I was acknowledged by some and ignored by others
as I took my pictures. One of the organizers talked to me and told me how
there was no place for some of these people to work and how they were
forced to do illegals on warehouse buildings and railway bridges, always
keeping an eye out for the police and so on. This was writing on the run
indeed! But the organizer also explained how across England, the graffiti, the
music and the related dance styles were part of a shared culture that united
this diverse social group of mostly young people. The graffiti artists had a
shared sense of identity. Traveling from other cities to this abandoned tennis
court, the site of the Graffiti Jam, was an important social occasion, an act of
group affiliation.
My favorite photograph from that day shows a paint-spattered ghettoblaster, a discarded hoodie, and a stack of cans, both spray paint and extra
strong lager beer cans. Later on, when I uploaded my photographs to Flickr
(see Figure 4.1), I received a range of comments in response. Some appreciated the pictures themselves and some heaped praise on the graffiti itself. One
commenter politely suggested that I remove a picture that showed someones
face. Only the week before there had been some prosecutions targeting graffiti artists; I duly obliged, removing that shot from my photostream.

Figure 4.1: Graffiti collection (from: http://www.flickr.com/photos/on-the-run/)

Reproduced with permission of Yahoo! Inc. (c)2009 Yahoo! Inc. FLICKR
and the FLICKR logo are registered trademarks of Yahoo! Inc.

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It would be easy to make grand claims about photosharing. Sites like

Flickr are used in many different ways, but most of the time the people using
it show ordinary, everyday events: their children growing up, their parties,
their holiday snaps, and things in their neighborhood that interest them. And
thats really the way I use Flickr. Flickr (perhaps it would be more accurate to
say Flickrites) constitutes an online community. Its a community just like any
other but one which is constructed at least partly in an online space. You can
find professional photography, gifted amateurs, the arty, the quirky and of
course, in the twilight zone, hidden from view, there are the less salubrious
images and the outright pornographic pictures (offensive images are
reported, flagged and hidden from normal or public view as we shall see
later).
In what follows, I want to tease out some important themes that show
how social networking around photographs illustrates some of the central
features of Web 2.0, the attraction of user-generated content, and how new
practices are emerging which present exciting opportunities for learners and
teachers. In doing this I will focus almost exclusively on Flickr, arguing that
it is not only a hugely popular photosharing site but that its design illustrates
and supports social networking. To introduce these themes I want to spend a
short while thinking back over the events that led to the Graffiti Jam,
described above, and some of the issues that this raises for me and for educators and researchers interested in new media.

Picturing social networks

By uploading my own pictures of graffiti on to the Flickr site, labeling them,
and putting them on public view, I had in some ways gone public about
my own interest in graffiti as a literacy practice. Although it could be argued
that the public is in this case limited to people who might be motivated to
search the internet for images of graffiti and further limited by the rather slim
possibility that they might come across my modest collection within this particular site, there is certainly no restriction on the viewing of a Flickr image
that has been flagged as public. Flickr, with some 6 million accounts, is
undoubtedly a very popular photosharing site (Guinness Book of Flickr Statistics, 2007), but more than this, its functionality allows for social networking. So visitors can comment on photographs, add tags to photos, and send
each other messages through Flickr mail. In short, Flickr presents a context
for social affiliation. In his studies of videogaming, Gee (2004a; 2004b)
introduces the concept of affinity spaces as a way of describing these kinds of
contexts for social affiliation: social contexts that are guided by purpose,
interest or content. Here we can see how Flickr provides a context for multiple affinity groups, such as the graffiti affinity group and spaces Ive described
above.

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Studies of Web 2.0 repeatedly refer to the concept of social networking as

a way of describing one of its key characteristics (Davies & Merchant, 2009;
Lankshear & Knobel, 2006), and, laying aside for the moment more complex
accounts, most Web 2.0 applications can be defined by their dependence on
user-generated content and the opportunities they provide for interaction
between users. In this way, interaction takes place around a social object
(Engestrom, 2007). In the case of Flickr, the social object is the digital photograph; for Amazon it is the book, and for YouTube, the video. These social
objects are the focus of user-generated content and the resulting interaction
that takes place. As objects become of particular interest to individuals, a
social network often develops around them. This is not particularly different
to the formation of traditional interest groups, save for two aspects. First,
because the interaction is online, social networks are often dispersed (time
and location are no obstacles to communication), and second, because social
networking sites allow for varying degrees of engagement, they lend themselves to lightweight engagement and multiple group membership (see Benkler, 2006, for a fuller discussion of the implications of this phenomenon).
Concerns over the threat posed to the established social order through
the growth of virtual communities begin to seem rather alarmist when we
consider how Web 2.0 networking merely extends existing social interactions.
In my own engagement with Flickr, something like three quarters of my
interactions are, in fact, with people I already know and see face-to-face on a
regular basis. So, rather than undermining social interaction, photosharing
can be a form of social enrichment. Displaying pictures online can, on the
one hand, add another dimension to relationships with friends and family.
They may well comment on what you have uploaded when you next meet in
person or view and comment on your photographs when you are traveling.
On the other hand, as the graffiti example illustrates, photosharing also can
lead to the development of brand new relationships. In this way we can see
how sharing online can both thicken existing social ties and help to establish
new ones. More complex patterns arise as offline friends begin to interact
online, and online friends arrange face-to-face meetings. Of course, some
online friends remain just that and have no particular interest in anything
more (see Merchant, 2007a). This new pattern of social interaction has been
described by Wellman (2002) as networked individualism, and it signals
the potential of Web 2.0 applications to organize social relations to suit the
individual.

Pleasing yourself
The popular misconception that online communities (like MySpace or Facebook, for example) present some sort of danger, as we have seen, clearly does

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not hold then for Flickr. In fact, to the contrary, it does seem to be the case
that social networking sites such as Flickr create new social possibilities. As
mentioned earlier, Wellman (2002) introduces the concept of networked
individualism to describe the way in which individuals can begin to exert
more control over their levels of social participation by making informed
choices about who they interact with and when. In this way, user-generated
content systems like YouTube, and social networking sites like Facebook
allow for more fluid social engagement. Decisions about levels of participation in photosharing communities are placed firmly in the hands of the user,
as we shall see in the following section. At the most basic entry level, you can
simply use Flickr as a private online archive of photographs. You then have
the opportunity to view, download or upload your images directly from the
Flickr server on any networked computer, wherever you are, and at any time.
There is no pressure or obligation to do any more than this.
Many users are keen to make slightly more of photosharing though, by
allowing contacts (classed either as friends, family, or both) to view and comment on particular photographs. This level of use gives the individual the
choice of restricting viewing to existing networks or to personalized networks
created as a friends list. This is entirely consistent with the notion of networked individualism, since the control lies in the hands of the user. At the
next level, a more adventurous use is to make some, or all, of your images
public, thereby entering more fully into the photosharing community. As we
shall see, this can lead to wider involvement and networking (see Davies &
Merchant, 2007), although the extent of this engagement and networking,
still, remains largely controlled by the user. In this way, you please yourself
in the Flickr environment, and it is precisely this that makes it a high quality
Web 2.0 site and service. Joining groups and making new contacts and
friends are achieved by invitation and consent. Flickr is designed so that
sophisticated social networking toolssuch as privacy controls, comment displays, photo sequencing, and category labelsare placed at the disposal of
the individual.
My own use of photosharing can be seen as a way of sustaining and
enriching communication within a dispersed network of friends and contacts;
for me, its an additional way of keeping in touch. As well as this, invitations
to join online groups or to submit pictures to topical or thematic image
pools can add a further attraction to using Flickr. As with blogging, there is
an interesting and motivating recognition effect when someone comments
on an image you have uploaded (Davies & Merchant, 2007). Such comments
may be humorous, or simply appreciative of the object or the photographic
merits of ones image. Flickr offers multiple opportunities for social interaction and so communication is both densely layered and fluid. Davies (2006,
p. 219) describes how this works, as Flickr members add:

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contributions such as digital images, comments about photographs (comments

on photo content, composition, format, source and meanings) and technological solutions and suggestions; as well as all kinds of information. These contributions are brought to the Flickr space, thus constituting the fabric of the Flickr
space. The space is therefore in a state of constant affirmation and renewal, for
contributions can be seen to both sustain the existing values as well as develop
them.

In this way, joining Flickr is about becoming part of a much wider community. But the architecture of the online space allows the individual to control the level and frequency of involvement and to use photosharing in ways
that are most pleasing or useful to the individual.

SECTION TWO
Getting started with Flickr
All you need to get started with Flickr is a digital camera and an internet connection; in fact, you can even begin to explore the site before you decide to
upload any of your own photographs. On the home page of Flickr
(http://www.flickr.com) you can take the official tour (see the hyperlink
labeled Take the Tour) and this will take you through a 7-stage orientation
process. If you have read the previous section of the chapter, this is probably
not necessary; you could simply sign up for a Flickr account. The initial signup process is straightforward and free of charge. You just go to
http://www.flickr.com, click on the Create Your Account button, and follow the instructions.
This requires you to create a Yahoo ID (if you dont already have one),
enter your email address, and confirm some basic details. Once you are
signed up it is well worth spending some time simply exploring the site. What
follows is a straightforward guide to doing this. Individuals will want to
explore the site in their own ways, according to their own interests and ways
of learning. Below I suggest some ways in which you might get to know
Flickrthey are not in any particular sequence but point to some of the features that you may find interesting. Alternatively you can locate a Flickr tutorial on YouTube (e.g., search for Flickr + tutorial) or go to orangejacks
tutorial, which is a more advanced guide that is linked to his own examples in
Flickr (at: http://rob.orangejack.com/2006/01/25/get-flicker).

Searching using tags

Once you are in the Flickr environment it is well worth becoming familiar
with the social tagging system. Tags are the descriptors (technically referred

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to as metadata) that people use when sharing their pictures online. Tagging operates like a key-word system. For example, the graffiti photographs I
referred to above show tags like street art, graffiti, writing,
Sheffield. These labels were chosen and added by me to help categorize
my photographs and to help other people find my photographs. To see how
this works, go to the Flickr Explore page (at: http://flickr.com/explore).
Scrolling down this page youll see the Flickr tagcloud (see Figure 4.2). This
tagcloud is a summary of the most commonly used tags in Flickr, with the
larger-sized words representing the most popular tags. The aggregation of
tags is sometimes referred to as a folksonomy (see Marlow et al., 2006). The
idea behind a folksonomy is that a body of knowledge can be built democratically through participant-users without recourse to the traditional
authority of a discipline, a body of experts, or an established tradition of
practice.

Figure 4.2: The Flickr tagcloud. Reproduced with permission of Yahoo! Inc. (c)2009 Yahoo! Inc.
FLICKR and the FLICKR logo are registered trademarks of Yahoo! Inc.

The tagcloud is only one of several ways of exploring photos on Flickr.

The main Flickr tagcloud will show you popular tags but, of course, you
might not be interested in any of these. Lets suppose, for example, that you
are interested in images of Canada. Although Canada does not feature on the
tagcloud you can still search for photos people have tagged with the word
Canada. A simple tag search will take you straight through to the most
recently uploaded photographs that have been given the Canada tag.
Results of this tag-based search will be displayed as a grid of thumbnail
images. Clicking on a specific picture will take you directly to a larger view of
this image, whereas clicking on the photographers Flickr name (underlined

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as a blue hyperlink) will take you through to that persons page or

photostream.

Uploading your pictures

Flickr offers a number of different tools for uploading your own photographs. Figure 4.3 shows the basic image upload interface. Here you need to
click on You on the navigation bar at the top of the Flickr page (its near
the Flickr icon and opens a drop-down menu). Choose the Upload Photos
and Videos option. If this isnt showing, then you need to check that you
are signed in, since this option is always available when you are. From here
on, you just need to follow the onscreen instructions. You can upload directly
from your camera, from images on your desktop, or images stored on a smart
card or flash drive plugged into your computer. I find it quite useful to edit
and label my images before I start uploadingotherwise they just have an
obscure numeric filename and you end up with images you might not particularly want on your photostream.
Uploading is very straightforward, but you do need to be patient.
Depending on the time of day, the size of your images, and the speed of your
machine it will take a few minutes. The basic uploader interface or window
shows you how far along you are in the uploading process. Once uploading
is complete, the page displays a message near the bottom of the screen that
says Finished! Next: add a description, perhaps? Thats all you need to do
to display your image onlinebut, of course, titles, descriptions and tags are
very important within the Flickr community, not to mention useful for personal reference purposes, so its worth spending some time on this by clicking on the hyperlinked text Click here to add a description that appears
below each uploaded image. From a technical point of view, this is how Flickr
prompts you to add metadata about your images (Marlow et al., 2006).
Because Flickr searches take into account image titles as well as tags and
member screen names, choosing a suitable title for your photograph is helpful. In the example displayed in Figure 4.3, I have chosen Footprint in the
Snow for the title of the image, which is about as accurate as you can get.
You have a little more leeway with tags, because you can describe your image
in a number of different ways. Here, Ive used boot, snow, footprint,
and print as my tags for this image. Finally you can add your description.
Descriptions vary enormously in the Flickr environment. Some Flickrites use
the description to provide further information about the context or about
camera settings used to take the photo; some use this option to evaluate or
comment on their image, and many simply dont use this function at all.
Any of the above operations can be left to a later date, and they can all be
easily modified. If you want to change a description or add or remove a tag,

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simply click on the image with which you want to work and the options will
be available on the new page that appears after you click through. This is also
one of the ways by which you can create a set of pictures, grouped, for example, around a theme, an event or an interest.

Figure 4.3: Titles, descriptions and tags

Reproduced with permission of Yahoo! Inc. (c)2009 Yahoo! Inc. FLICKR and the FLICKR
logo are registered trademarks of Yahoo! Inc.

At this point it might be interesting to look at how experienced users of the

Flickr site operate and how they use these and other features of photosharing
(see also Chapter 5 in this volume). Here are some examples:
Nancy Waldman (onscreen: nuanc) runs a webzine called The Practical
Creative Quarter (http://practicallycreative.net). She takes a whole range
of interesting images. They are titled, tagged and organized into myriad
sets. Search for Barrys grandfathers fiddle to see how Nancy uses
notes on her images (you need to roll your cursor over the picture to
activate and read the notes). See: http://www.flickr.com/photos/nuanc
Thomas Williams (screen name: thw05) is a professional photographer
who concentrates on industrial photography. He uses precise titles, and
his descriptions that are usually about the image and why he took it. His
photographs are carefully tagged and grouped in to sets. See: http://flickr
.com/photos/thwphotos

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Julia Davies (screen name: DrJoolz) is a friend and colleague. She is an

academic who enjoys photography and writes about Flickr and other new
literacy practices. DrJoolz uses titles, contextual descriptions, and tags.
She enjoys the interactivity of Flickr and responds quickly to comments
on her pictures. For example, look at the image swoon and man with
bag for a good example of the kind of social interaction that takes place
within her photostream. See: http://www.flickr.com/photos/drjoolz
Craig Robertson (screen name: craigrobertson), based in Scotland, takes
some amazing landscapes. He uses titles, has a lot of tags and submits his
photographs to a number of image pools. His images attract a lot of
attention. For example if you search his photostream for Stairway to
heaven you can read the many comments made about this particular
image (currently at 66, which is a large number of comments within the
Flickr universe). See: http://www.flickr.com/photos/craigrobertson
These are examples of some of the ways in which photosharing and social
networking intersect, but it is worth recalling how I previously outlined ways
in which members are in control of their level of participation in Flickr communities and can please themselves with respect to how they choose to use
Flickr. How you choose to participate is entirely up to you. In addition, its
also very much worth noting that you dont have to be a skilled photographer (Im certainly not one) to enjoy what photosharing has to offer. Likewise, many peopleagain, like meare quite content to display quite
ordinary snaps from their everyday life rather than limit their displays to
serious artistic images.

Creating your Flickr identity

Venturing out into online social networking spaces is a personal choice. For
some people this is a daunting experience, whilst others find it exhilarating
and even mildly addictive! The first obvious step is to establish a Flickr identity by working on your profile page. You can access this by clicking on Your
Profile on the drop-down menu at the top of your home screen. Youll
find it alongside the You hyperlink. Editing your profile page allows you to
say a bit about yourself and your interests. You can also upload a photograph
or image to represent you (this is referred to as your buddy icon and
appears on your personal pages, on comments you leave on photos, and on
messages that you send to other Flickrites). Like many people I use a photograph of myself, but others maintain anonymity by choosing a symbol or
graphic image instead.
By clicking on Your contacts at the top of the profile page, you can
find out how to invite friends to view your photostream. As you begin to par-

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ticipate more in Flickr you will increase your number of friends, and they will
be listed on your profile page. Most of my Flickr friends I know quite well
already; some I meet face-to-face on a regular basis, and others, usually
because they are geographically remote, I only see from time to time. Contacts who are not existing friends, but people I simply have contact with
through Flickr and shared interests, are also displayed here. This is a good
illustration of how online social networking can both strengthen existing
social ties with friends and family and help to establish new relationships.
Images that are marked as public on your photostream will soon begin
to attract some attention, particularly if they are seen as interesting by others
and even more so if they are carefully titled and tagged. Others who are photosharing may leave a comment or invite you to be a contact. Of course, you
are free to accept or decline, but in this way you can begin to build up a list
of contacts. This means that new photographs you upload will appear on
their Flickr home page, and similarly, their new images will appear on your
home page. Over time you can build up quite a complex web of interactions
through photosharing.

Participating in the Flickr community

Full participation in photosharing depends upon responding to approaches
from others who visit your photostream as well as active engagement with
the images uploaded by your friends, contacts, and the wider community.
New content and regular interaction play a central role in the affirmation and
renewal that are necessary to maintaining online social networks. As Davies
(2006, p. 222) observes, the organisation of content and the interactivity of
[Flickr] work in unison, each fostering the other, keeping the site viable and
dynamic.
So, regular uploading of images is enhanced by the notes people attach
to your actual images, comments they leave in response to an image, and
Flickr mail that is exchanged between friends and other contacts. It is as if
this written, verbal interaction is the lifeblood of the social network. As the
examples of different peoples photostreams described above show, this creates a dense and sometimes nuanced web of meanings. In Figure 4.4 we can
see how some of these richer meanings are created. The image has a title,
description, and a tag list, which provide the wider communicative context.
Superimposed on the photograph is a note, which reads: You must be crazy
if you think we could get away with that! This message is revealed as you
run your cursor over the image. In this case the note has been used to function as a speech bubble. In the text box below, titled Add your comment,
you can see an interactive comment in the process of being composed.

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Figure 4.4: Comments and notes add meanings to images

Reproduced with permission of Yahoo! Inc. (c)2009 Yahoo! Inc. FLICKR and the FLICKR logo
are registered trademarks of Yahoo! Inc.

In this way, some images can become the focal point for a whole range of
interactions between a number of people. This is a good example of multimodality (Kress, 2003) at workthe visual and verbal modes work together
to establish and develop meanings.
The architecture of Flickr also provides other opportunities to create
affinity spaces through the use of image pools or groups. These can be either
public or private and are owned by a group administrator. Public groups
can opt to be either invitation only or they can allow anyone to join. Private
groups are hidden from view and you join by invitation only. There are
groups on just about every conceivable topic area. For example, a quick
search for image pools on insects showed 4,281 groups at the time of writing,
with the largest group having 9,473 members. If you want to increase your
participation in Flickr, then the message is clear: join groups you are invited
to join, find groups to join that share a photographic interest of yours, or
even set up a group of your own.

Using Flickr as a resource

Many popular uses of Flickr extend out of the photosharing site itself. My
account of the Graffiti Jam at the beginning of this chapter illustrates one
way in which this can happen. As I have explained, visual and verbal
exchanges around posted images serve to enrich social contact between
friends and family, as well as with those within the Flickr community. It is

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also not unusual for some of these virtual friendships to become real
friendships. One of the ways in which this happens is through Flickr meets.
Here, groups who are interested in photographing similar subjects, or those
with members living in the same area, will arrange to meet up in person with
the intention of taking photographs together. So, for example, the Flickr
Bloga companion to Flickr itself thats used to alert users to things of interest (see: http://blog.flickr.net)advertised a Street Art Photowalk on June
14, 2008, organized by members of the Tate Street or Studio Group (see
also: http://upcoming.yahoo.com/event/734886). Figure 4.5 shows Trois
Tetes (camera held up to face)a real-life friend of mineon one such Flickr
meet.

Figure 4.5: Flickrites on a photowalk

The ways in which Flickr can become a resource for wider social networking are augmented by its capacity to work alongside, and integrate with,
other online spaces. The interoperability of Flickr and a number of blogging
services allow users to post images directly from their photostream to their
personal blog. This encourages two-way traffic between bloggers and the
photosharing community. Flickr members can direct visitors to their photostream on to their blog (for instance, by including their blog address in their
Flickr profile), while readers of their blog can be directed to Flickr, by clicking on images embedded within blog posts, or via a click-through Flickr
badge on the blogs sidebar.
Other Web 2.0 applications also integrate well with Flickr. It is possible,
for example, to subscribe to photostream syndication (RSS) feeds from Flickr
to keep track of friends updates. I use Netvibes (http://www.netvibes.com)
to organize and share my feeds. Netvibes is a customizable web service that
acts like a kind of webtop (i.e., like your computers desktop, but completely online). You link your blogs, Flickr photostream, social network
spaces, and anything else you use regularly online to this one webpage that

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automatically updates every time you log on. In addition, Voicethread

(http://www.voicethread.com)explored in a later sectionallows you to
import images directly from your photostream into a multimedia environment to create a customized and interactive slideshow. This has obvious
social affordances in terms of developing networks of interested others but
also has considerable educational potential.

Other Flickr features

It is simply not possible in a short chapter to capture and describe all the features of this popular and sophisticated photosharing site. My choices have
been guided partly by my own preferences but [partly] also by the desire to
illustrate some of those Web 2.0 features that seem to have direct relevance to
education. So, rather than ignore some of the aspects of Flickr that I have
chosen not to focus on in detail, this section ends with a listing of applications that youre likely to find both interesting and useful.
Geo-tagging. This is a facility that allows you to match images to specific
locations. Using the Organizer menu on the navigation bar in Flickr,
you simply drag and drop your chosen image on to a world, regional or
local map. (Theres a short screencast tutorial at: http://flickr.com/help/
screencasts/vol1/)
Discussion forums. This is a standard feature of many websites. Forums on
Flickr are usually located within groups, and so they become useful for
following up particular interests or needs. For example, the Flickr for
Education group has an active discussion board where educators
exchange ideas about using photosharing to promote learning.
Interestingness. This is an idea developed by Flickr. It is a way of drawing
your attention to different images in the photosharing community. If you
click the Explore button on your Flickr navigation bar, the first page
gives you a brief rationale for the Explore function. A further click will
take you to the most recent interesting images. However, the algorithm used by Flickr to calculate interestingness remains a mystery and
is hotly debated among aficionados.
Popularity. Information on number of views per image can be quite a
hook for some people. On your Flickr home page you will notice that
Flickr automatically lists the number of views (and comments) for each
photograph. But you can also get information on your whole Flickr
stream. Clicking the Popular button on your navigation bar takes you
to a page that rank orders your images. You can look at rankings for
number of views, number of comments, number of times an image has
been nominated by someone as a favorite . . . and a ranking in terms of

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interestingness. Its quite engaging to watch these data over time and to
see how your photographs are doing within the Flickr community.
Flickr stats. You can also request more sophisticated Flickr statistics for
your photostream. It usually takes Flickr 24 hours to generate this information. This service is pretty sophisticated and probably has little relevance for the occasional user, but it does give some insight into the kind
of information that can be collected. Among other things, Flickr stats
provide graphic representations of views over time, more detailed information on the images most viewed, and details of where your viewers are
coming from (i.e., referrals from websites outside Flickr).

SECTION THREE
Learning through photosharing
Photosharing is applicable to a wide range of educational topics and contexts.
It certainly could be argued that, in a very general sense, the usefulness of any
resource depends upon the vision and creativity of the teacher and the capacity of learners to experiment with, and explore, its wider potential. At a very
basic level, a photosharing site like Flickr is an enormous archive of images
that can be drawn upon to support and enrich almost any area of learning.
After all, recent developments in the socio-semiotic field of multimodality
(see Kress & Leeuven, 1996; Kress, 2003) have shown how for some kinds of
learning, the visual image can be more effective than a verbal explanation. It
is also widely accepted that the inter-relationship between the verbal and the
visual helps to create new meanings (Duncum, 2004).
While photosharing in and of itself clearly constitutes a substantial general resource for teaching (see also Chapter 5 in this volume), this section
focuses on some important and specific educational uses. In what follows I
suggest five areas in which Flickr can play an important role. These are illustrated by examples from a range of educational contexts. The five areas are as
follows:
Learning through seeing. This is concerned with the ways in which sharing visual images can lead to a process of learning which I describe as
attentive noticing. Here, the learner, by becoming part of a specialist
or expert community, is able to build on an initial interest in order to
learn more about a topic.
Learning through reflection. This depends on using an image or a
sequence of images to frame and provide critical distance on an object or
event. Part of the process of reflection involves looking again or looking
more closely at phenomena, and I argue that visual images provide
potent opportunities for doing so.

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Learning about image. This is about building an understanding of visual

culture, about image composition and effect. It also involves looking at
image and context, as well as at how techniques such as cropping and
manipulation change the way we read the visual.
Learning about multimodality. This can complement work on learning
about images, but looks explicitly at how the visual image mixed with
other modalities (such as sounds and music, spoken language, and the
written word) creates meanings.
Learning about Web 2.0. As we have seen, photosharing sites such as
Flickr, incorporate key social networking features. The wide range of
social interactions that are supported, the practices of tagging and aggregation, as well as features such as personalization and inter-operability
make photosharing a good study in Web 2.0 orientation.

Learning through seeing

In a paper titled Mind the Gap(s) (Merchant, 2007a), I wrote about my
own experiences in learning through social tagging. I showed how the
process of categorization led to the accumulation of new information as well
as a new way of seeing. I illustrated this through my own involvement in the
Padlocks group on Flickr (see: http://www.flickr.com/groups/28363713
@N00). I described what I called the process of attentive noticing and
knowledge building in this particular area. Although the example was of a
slightly frivolous everyday topic, you only have to substitute the attentive
noticing of padlocks for looking at, say, geometric shapes in the school environment and you have a familiar item in the early years mathematics curriculum. Alternatively, placing the focus on categorizing lifeforms as vertebrates
or invertebrates establishes a fundamental building block for the natural sciences. In this way, social tagging and the construction of folksonomies have
an important role to play in illustrating how knowledge-building practices
between dispersed individuals can be achieved. It also underscores the educational relevance of photosharing (Marlow et al., 2006).
Figure 4.6 is a model of the processes involved in social tagging and suggests ways in which we can learn through seeing. In the first part of the cycle,
I distinguish between the everyday experience of seeing the world and attentive noticing. Seeing can transform into attentive noticing when we begin to
label things in our environment. The act of labeling is normally linguisticit
could be an oral or symbolic representationbut in the Flickr environment,
this is achieved through written words or phrases. To suggest that the simple
act of attentive noticing leads automatically to knowing is of course oversimplifying complex issues. It might be better to cautiously suggest that
attentive noticing sets up the conditions for knowing. More importantly,

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though, I suggest that this cycle of events can transform our seeing into
informed seeing, as we begin to look more closely at objects.

Figure 4.6: Attentive noticing and the role of category-tagging (Merchant, 2007a, p. 252)

A final and important element in this process hinges on motivation and

purpose. It seems to me that the amount of energy and resources that one is
prepared to invest in a particular act of knowledge-building will determine
the level of social participation and the learning that takes place. In short, the
degree to which one identifies with the affinity space directly affects learning
outcomes.
This model shows how informal learning can take place through the
meanings that develop around visual images of specific objects and events. It
illustrates how a visually oriented affinity space can provide opportunities for
learning by encouraging participants to look closer and to exchange information that can facilitate that process.
As we have seen, an important feature that Flickr shares with other social
networking sites is the use of tags. Tags can be used to search items within
ones own photostream or in everyones photos. Clicking on a tag, such as
padlocks, will conjure all the images that have been tagged with that word.
In this way, a tag search will change the context of individual images, showing an image alongside others that are tagged in the same way, reflecting
something about the meaning of the term in this community.

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Category tagging is a process by which objects or ideas can be classified

by users. So in blogging, photo-sharing, and music-sharing sites, one can code
content with keywords or tags that can then be searched for and grouped in
a variety of ways. Of course, in some ways there is little difference between
this activity and the established academic practice of attaching keywords to
journal articles; however, there are some small but significant differences.
First, category-tags in online social networks are, as noted, primarily generated by user interest, rather than by pre-set norms and conventions. Second, category-tags can be changed, updated or added to as new relationships
to other objects are realised. And third, other people can add category-tags
to your objects. This allows objects to be pooled and grouped in diverse and
fluid ways in a process that is controlled by the community of users, rather
than by an elite group. Users values, interests, and priorities are the ones that
count in a folksonomy, and these will change over time as the nature of the
people and images continue to change.
A folksonomy is responsive to change in data and interactivity. Imagine a
library in which books and journals could be organized and reorganized at
the click of a finger by subject, by topic, by date or by size and colouror
whatever category readers applyand you begin to understand the magic of
a folksonomy.

Learning through reflection

Sequences of visual images can be particularly useful in developing what
Schn (1983) has described as reflection on action. Very often, when we are
immersed in educational activities, in practical or professional learning, it can
be quite challenging to untangle ourselves from the immediacy of specific
incidents and to reflect more deeply on something. Whether you want young
children to reflect on what they are learning through playful experimentation
in block play or in the sand tray or whether you want teachers to reflect on
aspects of their classroom practice, visual images can help by allowing us to
see things differently, to make the familiar strange, and to capture or frame
our experience in new ways. This sort of reflection can be approached in a
number of ways. Here I suggest two possibilities.
The first and most simple application involves using two tools already
available in the Flickr environment: the comments and the notes functions
(both described earlier). As an example of this, 10-year-old children involved
in a unit of work on river pollution took photographs of a waterway that runs
through a nearby urban area. In class they researched the ways in which flytipping, industrial effluent, and non-native plant growth were threatening
local wildlife habitats. Some of their photographs showed examples of these
forms of pollution. Using the teachers Flickr account, these images were
uploaded to her photostream. Children used the notes function to annotate

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the images, having been told to concentrate on the possible outcome(s) of

each pollutant. This helped to move them on from simple labeling to analysis and reflection. Other adults in the school were then encouraged to comment on the annotated images and the children in turn dialogued with these
comments. Through this work, children learned to use still images as stimulus for reflection and to engage in online discussion about environmental
issues.
A second example of using images to promote reflection involves the use
of Voicethread (http://www.voicethread.com). Voicethread allows you to
create a slideshow of still or moving images, which others can then view and
upon which they can comment. Comments can be either written in a text
box or recorded as a spoken comment. Flickr images can be imported into
Voicethread by following simple onscreen instructions. Student teachers in
my courses have been using this application to analyze and reflect on their
own teaching. They are able to take photographs that highlight resourcebased learning in their placement contexts and upload these to the site. The
slideshow feature encourages them to look at learning sequences, and they
begin by recording their own commentary on the activities they have initiated. This work can then be viewed by their peers, who add their own spoken
or written reflections. Voicethread promotes reflection through interaction,
with the added benefit that participants do not need to be co-present. When
students are working in different locations this is an extremely useful
approach.
These are just two illustrative examples. Of course there are many other
possibilities. For example, many educators use their blogs to display images
and to provide reflective commentary on them. Since it is now especially easy
to use images in blogsparticularly if you are using a photosharing site like
Flickrthe opportunity to post longer reflective pieces of writing based on
images is attractive.

Learning about image

In one sense, any educational use of photosharing involves some sort of
learning about the visual image. However, much of this learning can be quite
incidental. Learning about image is very much about developing an understanding of the meanings we make when viewing images and necessarily
places an explicit focus on how the selection and presentation of an image
influence viewers interpretations. This more technical approach to images is
sometimes referred to as visual literacy. Although I usually avoid the use of
this term in my own work (see Merchant, 2007b, for an account of why), it
usefully draws attention to the centrality of the visual in contemporary life
and to the processes of encoding and decoding meaning from images that
are important for full social participation (Averinou & Ericson, 1997). Advo-

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cates of media literacy regularly suggest that educational institutions should

be helping students to question, analyze, and evaluate material, including
visual images. Ofcom, the UKs independent regulator for the communications industry, takes a somewhat softer line and encourages an approach that
helps learners to access, understand, and create media (Ofcom, 2008). In
what follows I take the position that educators should encourage an approach
in which students become critical and analytical producers and consumers of
visual material.
Bamford (2003), in a helpful exploration of visual literacy, uses linguistic
terminology in distinguishing between the syntax and semantics of the visual
image. For Bamford, syntactical elements include things such as framing,
scale, tone and space, whereas semantic elements refer to form and structure,
cultural views and assumptions, and the relationship between producers and
consumers. Although she acknowledges that these elements can be studied
separately, Bamford (2003) suggests that an integrated analysis is a more useful approach. So, for example, a class of 14-year-olds explored how the use of
different syntactic elements in their digital images influenced interpretations
of their work. Using different kinds of framing, close-ups, and experiments
with color manipulation, they produced images of their school environment
which sometimes depicted it as a busy, exciting and attractive environment
and, at other times, as a gray, run-down and un-inspiring place. These were
then shared with a partner school using Flickr in order to collect comments
and to test the effect of different images. In this work, students were able to
learn how visual image choices were influential in the production of school
brochures, promotional material and, of course, in advertisements.
Classroom work that involves learning about image is appropriate at all
ages. Often it is planned as part of the literacy curriculum, as the examples of
work in the 511 years age range in More than Words (QCA, 2004) show.
Photosharing can add an extra dimension to this sort of work by making
images available to a wider audience and by exploiting the learning potential
of social networking.

Learning about multimodality

Over the last five years, following the groundbreaking work of Kress (1996,
2003), there has been a great deal of interest in promoting multimodality in
educational settings. Kress work not only illustrates the ways in which different modes communicate meaning, it also draws attention to the ways in
which meanings are made from the inter-relationship between modes. Music
videos that combine the verbal and gestural with moving image are a good
example of the ways in which different modes can work together to create
meanings (see also Chapter 9 in this volume). And in a similar way, Flickr

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images can be a useful resource in educational explorations of multimodality.

Perhaps it is worth noting at this point that even the most cursory explorations of the Flickr site will reveal how the social interaction that takes place
is equally dependent on visual and verbal exchanges.
It has been argued that visual images rarely function on their own; Duncum (2004, p. 252), for example, goes so far as to claim that [t]here are no
exclusively visual sites. All cultural sites that involve imagery include various
ratios of other communicative modes and many employ more than vision.
These ideas, like the perspectives on visual literacy in the previous section, touch on some larger debates, which cannot be fully explored in this
chapter. But it is important to underline that photosharing sites like Flickr
are inherently multimodal and, as such, offer many possibilities for exploring
the interplay between verbal and visual expression and interpretation.

Learning about Web 2.0

As I have repeatedly argued, Flickr incorporates many of the defining features
of Web 2.0. In a way, you could see Flickr as a case study of social networking and Web 2.0 design. This, in fact, is the line taken in Web 2.0 for Schools
(Davies & Merchant, 2009). Colleagues looking for a resource to use that
illustrates what Web 2.0 means could introduce their students to Flickr and
some of its features in much the same way as I have done in an earlier section
in this chapter titled, Getting started with Flickr. Below I list some features
that could be used to evaluate Web 2.0 sites and could be illustrated or
explored through the use of Flickr. These features draw on the work of
Harper (2007) but have been adapted and extended to incorporate my own
views and the particular emphasis on learning that underpins this chapter.
Attractiveness. What attracts users to this site? Once it has been found,
how does it encourage you to become more engaged?
Use value. How clear are the benefits of this site? Can you see how it could
be used for enjoyment, learning, or in conjunction with other online or
offline activity?
Signing up. How easy is the sign-up process? Are there any hidden
catches? Does it feel safe?
Clarity. Is the on-screen design helpful? Are the navigation tools intuitive?
How is exploration facilitated?
Trust. How can you gauge the trustworthiness of the provider and the
community? How are you and your material protected? How easy is it to
avoid or block inappropriate material or behavior? Does it seem fairly easy
to leave the community?

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Invitation and participation. Does the site encourage participation and

uploading of your own material? Is this relatively easy to do?
Interactivity. How is interaction and communication encouraged and
controlled?
Customization. Does the site allow you to personalize your own page? Is
this easy to do? How can you manage and update your own profile?
Updating. What sorts of updates are provided and to what extent do users
have control over updates?
User feedback. What are the different kinds of user feedback that can be
left on the site? What sorts of feedback from other users or the site operators can be expected?
Interoperability. How might the site, your profile identity, or material
from the site be incorporated into other online spaces?
These features and associated questions could be used as a starting point
for exploring Flickr as a Web 2.0 learning tool. Alternatively, however, educators may prefer to encourage their students to discover features for themselves and to generate their own criteria and perhaps to use these to compare
and contrast with other photosharing or social networking sites.

A final view
Photosharing sites like Flickr have contributed to new ways of looking at the
role of the visual image in our lives. It is as if our albums of photographs can
now be released from the shelves and cupboards of our domestic life and
thrown open for public viewing. As I have argued earlier, this has turned our
visual images into social objects that can focalize our online networking. As
user statistics on photosharing suggest, this has considerable attraction for
people who wish to develop and strengthen friendships and establish interest
groups around topics that they find attractive. In this way there is plenty of
evidence to suggest that online spaces like Flickr provide rich opportunities
for informal learning. Whether that learning is about photography itself,
whether [or not] it is considered worthy or frivolous, seems to me to be a
secondary consideration. The most important lessons to be learned from
photosharing are about the power of social participation and its relationship
to learning through interaction.
Two key features of Web 2.0 technology are significant in photosharing.
They are the centrality of user-generated content and the multiple opportunities afforded to distributed users to interact within any particular site. It has
been my intention in this chapter to draw attention to these features, through
illustrating how Flickr gets used, how those new to photosharing can investi-

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gate its potential, and how educators can explore new kinds of learning that
emerge. However, in acknowledging that photosharing suggests new kinds of
learning, I am also aware of the extent to which we urgently need more theoretical sophistication, more classroom research and more curriculum development in this area. The simple fact that your visual image can be generated
and stored in such a way that it can be viewed by others irrespective of geographical and time constraints, that it persists and can be accessed repeatedly
from multiple sites is a potent use of new technology. That the same image
can draw comment and stimulate interaction (potentially on a global scale)
brings an entirely new set of conditions into being. The ease in which we can
engage in this sort of interaction belies the complexity and the social reconfiguration that is implied. We are only just beginning to understand the
implications and opportunities that result from relatively accessible online
spaces such as those that focus on photosharing. From this point of view, the
ideas expressed in this chapter constitute some first steps in image-based DIY
media that will continue to grow in sophistication.

References
Averinou, M. & Ericson, J. (1997). A review of the concept of visual literacy. British Journal of Educational Technology, 28(4), 280291.
Bamford, A. (2003). The visual literacy white paper. Retrieved July 1, 2008, from
http://www.adobe.com/uk/education/pdf/adobe_visual_literacy_paper.pdf
Benkler, Y. (2006). The wealth of networks: How social production transforms markets and
freedom. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.
Davies, J. (2006). Affinities and beyond! Developing ways of seeing in online spaces. ELearning, 3(2), 217231.
Davies, J. & Merchant, G. (2007). Looking from the inside outacademic blogging as
new literacy. In M. Knobel & C. Lankshear (Eds.), A new literacies sampler (pp.
167197). New York: Peter Lang.
Davies, J. & Merchant, G. (2009). Web 2.0 for schools: Learning and social participation.
New York: Peter Lang.
Duncum, P. (2004). Visual culture isnt just visual: Multiliteracy, multimodality and meaning. Studies in Art Education. 45(3), 252264.
Engestrom, J. (2007). Microblogging: Tiny social objects. In On the Future of Participatory
Media. Retrieved May 31, 2008, from http://www.slideshare.net/jyri/microbloggin
g-tiny-social-objects-on-the-future-of-participatory-media
Gee, J. P. (2004a). What videogames have to teach us about learning and literacy. New
York: Palgrave Macmillan.
Gee, J. P. (2004b). Situated language and learning: A critique of traditional schooling.
London: Routledge.
Guinness Book of Flickr Statistics (2007). Fun, Achievements, News, Welcoming and Sharing. Retrieved May 31, 2008, from http://www.flickr.com/groups/stats/discuss/
72157594473501148/

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Harper, L. (2007). Heuristics analysis and redesign. Retrieved July 1, 2008, from
http://www.idesigntech.org/2008/03/30/heuristic-framework-for-evaluatingweb-20-applications/
Kress, G. (2003). Literacy in the new media age. London: Routledge.
Kress, G. & Leeuwen, T. (1996). Reading images: The grammar of visual design. London: Routledge.
Lankshear, C. & Knobel, M. (2006). New literacies: Everyday practices and classroom
learning. Buckingham: Open University Press.
Marlow, C., Naarman, M., boyd, d., & Davis, M. (2006). HT06, Tagging Paper, Taxonomy, Flickr, Academic Article, ToRead. In U. K. Wiil, P. J. Nrnberg & J. Rubart
(Eds.), Proceedings of the Seventeenth ACM Conference on Hypertext and Hypermedia
(pp. 3140). Odense, Denmark: ACM Press.
Merchant, G. (2007a). Mind the gap(s): Discourses and discontinuity in digital literacies.
E-Learning, 4(3), 241255.
Merchant, G. (2007b). Writing the future. Literacy, 41(3), 119.
OfCom (2008). Ofcoms Strategy and Priorities for the Promotion of Media LiteracyA
statement. Retrieved June3, 2008, from http://www.ofcom.org.uk/consult/condocs
/strategymedialit/ml_statement/
QCA (2004). More than words. Retrieved May 31, 2008, from http://orderline.qca.org.u
k/gempdf/1847212875.pdf
Schn, D. (1983). The reflective practitioner: How professionals think in action. London:
Temple Smith.
Wellman, B. (2002). Little boxes, glocalization, and networked individuals. In M. Tanabe,
P. Besselaar & T. Ishida (Eds.), Digital Cities II: Computational and Sociological
Approaches (pp.1025). Berlin: Springer.

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Chapter 5

Photoshopping/photosharing: New media,

digital literacies and curatorship
JOHN POTTER

SECTION ONE
Photoshopping / photosharing: Understanding digital literacies
and curatorship
The image in Figure 5.1 is taken from the photosharing site, Flickr (http://
www.flickr.com; see also Chapter 4 in this volume). It shows some paintings
on sale in bright sunlight, propped against a former colonial house in the oldest part of Monterrey in Nuevo Leon State, Mexico.
The picture was taken in March 2005, during a walk in a recess break at
a seminar being held in the city. It has been uploaded to the online photosharing service and has been tagged with three words: Monterrey, Mexico, and Nuevo_Leon. If you look closely you will see that you can learn
even more about this image. You can see what kind of camera it was taken
with (a Canon Powershot A95), and you can follow a link to locate where the
photo was taken on a map. As the owner of this space on Flickr you can also
edit the tags and any further description. In addition, you can see that this
image has generated some engagement with other users of the space. It has
been marked as a favorite by one user. A positive comment has also been
added, alongside a gentle correction of poor spelling by a user called

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Figure 5.1: An example from Flickr

Reproduced with permission of Yahoo! Inc. (c)2009 Yahoo! Inc. FLICKR and the FLICKR logo
are registered trademarks of Yahoo! Inc.

TeoSal. The Flickr software itself analyzed and presented the information
about the camera and the location of the photo. This same software also
recorded and posted the number of times people have viewed this image. You
can also see at the top of the picture that there are tools that the owner could
use which would post this very image directly into a blog, allow them to
resize and edit the picture, and even, should they wish to do so, order printed
copies of this image.
Of all the tools of production and sharing in new media that are capable
of fulfilling the promise of closing the gap between the polarities of consumption and production, digital image making is the single most widespread, most-used form. In developed and developing countries, devices
capable of taking images of varying degrees of resolution are carried, pointed
and clicked; images are captured, stored, sent, saved, organized, tagged,
uploaded, downloaded, shared. How many terabytes worth of pictures have
just been taken in the space of time it takes to read the opening sentences of
this paragraph? If there really is a global form of DIY media production that
touches almost all users of the internet, it is the photoshared image.

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We can make a case, of course, for the moving image, too; the
YouTube/video clip phenomenon is another of these ubiquitous media
forms. Yet, research shows the gap between those who consume and those
who produce is very wide. Even when we arrive at video hosting websites in
search of a tutorial, a clip of a band, a home video, or a holiday video, we are
drawn in by the still-image thumbnails, the opening frames on display. Without the play buttons we remain in the world of the still image and the organized and tagged photo album.
This chapter is concerned with aspects of DIY media as they relate to the
making, sharing and organizing of still images. Specifically, and with agentive
educators in mind (from parent/caregiver through to teacher, tutor, youth
worker, lecturer and others), it attempts to draw these strands into current
debates about digital literacy, one of a number of emergent new literacies. I
aim at working in three different ways in the chapter. In the first section, I
will say a little about what is different regarding our personal production and
organization of still images in the age of new media. In the second section, I
will focus on generic sets of skills: image editing, image sharing and image
curating, which could be developed further in a number of different directions. The premise in this second section is not just a degree of awareness of
some of the techniques and possibilities but also a desire on the readers part
to find out more about what she or he needs to know and from where that
information may be obtained. There will be links to places where users can be
found sharing ideas, information, and advice. The third and final section
comprises a series of thoughts on how all of this relates to the educational significance of this kind of activity, to the important skills and dispositions which
we may expect to develop in our learners as well as alongside them as we
endeavor to make meaning from not just images in isolation but images in
collections.
I would like to offer some relevant and hopefully resonant vignettes
throughout the chapterin a way, communicating via memes of experience
with the reader. Many of us will have been at a concert and found imageharvesting going on all around us, though perhaps not all of us will have
experienced the performer engaging in a philosophical debate about reality
(see below). Many of us will have received news of a family event via digital
images from around the world. Many of us will have been on holiday and felt
compelled to experience the places through a lens, lest we forget them or
why we went there (Susan Sontag has things to say about us doing this, as we
will see). Many of us will have been struck by something useful and usable on
the way to work and will have snapped it using whatever device was available.
All of these experiences and practicesand morewill be presented in italics,
just like this one:

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My brother-in-law excitedly announced the arrival of his and his partners first
child with some pictures in his web gallery. Within hours of the appearance of this
gallery the link was circulating amongst friends and relatives. I produced an edited
set which did not include the actual moments in the operating theatre. So two
albums were online in two spaces within minutes of one another (they actually
showed the caesarian itselfwell he is a doctor, she was a nurse and I guess thats
what medical folk do when they share such moments!). The point here is the speed
with which the event in Australia reached our side of the world in England and
was shared in two edited forms as online albums. And a word here too about the
moving image. There was a moving image clip included in the set. And, as it happened, this presented the only problem in terms of storage and software, viewing time
and viewing decisions. The still images were the most editable and sharable assets to
arrive from the other side of the world.

In some ways this all no longer seems miraculous, particularly to users of

photosharing spaces and social networking services (Bebo and Facebook, for
example, are enormous repositories of digital images). On the other hand, to
be in the situation and to have an affective relationship with events is to experience a connectedness and relatedness online, which was not possible in
times gone by.
The study of still images has long attracted scholarly writing and reflection, along with critical, technical and cultural theories to explain them. This
body of research pre-dates current theories of digital literacies and networked
affinity spaces. Two much-cited touchstones in scholarly writing about
images date from the end of the past century. They are Susan Sontags On
Photography (1979) and Roland Barthess Camera Lucida (1993). Both texts
are meditations on the meaning of meaning-making with still images. Each
was written prior to major changes in photo sharing and exhibition possibilities brought about by the widespread adoption of the internet and social
networking software as tools for photosharing. However, when Sontag wrote
about the multiplicity of images and the human need to record lived experience, she could have been anticipating an era of near-instant recording, editing, and exhibiting. Certainly, viewing online galleries in photosharing sites,
such as Flickr or Picasa, or on profile pages in Facebook and elsewhere, calls
to mind passages like the following:
It would not be wrong to speak of people having a compulsion to photograph:
to turn experience itself into a way of seeing. Ultimately, having an experience
becomes identical with taking a photograph of it, and participating in a public
event comes more and more to be equivalent to looking at it in photographed
form (Sontag, 1979, p. 24).

When was the last time you attended a concert and did not either take a
picture yourself or watch as others fiddled with their cameras to record videos
or take still pictures of it? At a concert in London last year, a performer

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debated with the audience the need to record the performance. I wrote
about it afterwards in my blog . . .
This was the question at Mark Kozeleks concert last night at the Union Chapel. A
number of notices were pinned up all over the venue requesting no taping, no photographs from phones, cameras, etc. About halfway through a typically quiet,
intense, tuneful performance, Kozelek picked out a guy taping the whole thing from
one of the seats down to his right, saying something like What is it with you with
your red light recording devices and your MySpace? Is it more real because you go
home and stick it on your computer? Isnt this enough? I remember a time before all
this MySpace, phones with cameras, iPods, Im forty years old, man, etc., etc. And
the guy in front of us was also obsessively trying to photograph on his little camera in
very low light, giving up and leaving about two thirds of the way through. He wasnt press, but he couldnt get it down and so he left. So where does this leave us with
live performance? And do you need a record of it for it to be real to you?
If you have no idea who Mark Kozelek is, have never heard of the Red House
Painters or Sun Kil Moon you can learn more at http://www.markkozelek.com

Kozeleks point seemed to be about paying attention to the moment as

being more real than capturing it with a device. Perhaps he was echoing
Barthes (1993, p. 15), and asserting his . . . political right to be a subject
. . . , not an object of someone elses making. The audience response would
undoubtedly be that they wished to somehow make the moment live again
elsewhere at another time for their own reasons (some of which could include
publication within their own social networks, thus reflecting their wish to be
identified with a particular sort of musical knowledge. This point is discussed
later in this chapter).

Networked images
At another concert a year later, another singer was photographed, not by me,
but with me in the frame from the balcony. Searching for reviews the next
day I found the picture on Flickr. The experience was reported visually and it
had been edited, either in-camera or using photo-editing software, into black
and white which gave it the look of an old, newspaper-reported, lived experience. I could have selected this image and added it to my blog with an
accompanying written description of the concert, or added it to one of my
online social network profiles. The relationship with image and text can be so
strong, with one validating the other perhaps.
Of course, many bloggers feel a compulsion to record as much of their
lived experiences as possible and posting a daily photograph online is a way of
saying something, even if no words accompany it. An example would be

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Heather Armstrongs Dooce blog (http://www.dooce.com), an early successful example of the form containing personal journal accounts of her life,
her family, and a daily photograph. Throughout the site the images go hand
in hand with the writing. The About page is dominated by an image and
the banner announces the existence of a daily photo (see Figure 5.2).

Figure 5.2: The About page of Heather Armstrongs blog at www.dooce.com

Seemingly limitless choices of where to go and what to do with an image

is the essential difference between hardcopy or analog images and new media
affordances and photosharing practices. At the very least, digital images can
become part of a collectionan exhibition of the self. Experiences are
recorded and added to an online gallerylike Flickr, Picasa, and Photobucketwhich becomes a repository for images of holidays, parties, concerts,
exhibitions, family events and on and on. And the accumulated images, when
exhibited, stand for that person when they are not there. They say to a
viewer: Look who I know. Look whose concerts I have seen. Look where
Ive been in the world. In the case of certain sites and certain ways of presenting images, they may also say: Look at the way Ive recorded this, how
Ive taken the picture. In a site of civic actionlike Witness.org, for examplethey may also claim: Look where I was when the police broke up the
demonstration. Or: Look at the state of this street. When is my local
authority going to do something?
Users of social networking sites are amongst the most numerous examples of this kind of online curatorship, endlessly shifting photographs around
to represent a moment or collection of moments that represents aspects of

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the self at a particular point in time. We could look to Goffman (1990) and
the notion of the performed self to see how different images are selected as
part of the whole presentation, how they are representative of the different
ways of playing at being you in the world: I am serious. I am playful. I am
cultured. I have friends. I am well traveled. I am all of these things. And for
ways of thinking about how this is entirely an aspect of living in late modernityto be fluid, hybrid and multi-purposefulGiddens provides an account
of the fractured, brittle, fragmented self (1991, p.169), which is readily
identified in some social networking sites. Facebook profiles provide good
examples of what Goffman is getting at: where the owners belong to professional and personal networks simultaneously and sometimes struggle to contain them both within the same space. But, at the same time, online images
can also represent attempts to fix these aspects of self at a particular moment
for a particular purposethe latest exhibitiondrawn from the collection,
shared and curated and announced. Examples of this include image assets
assembled in MobileMe galleries (http://www.apple.com/mobileme) following major life events, holidays, or professional travel of one sort or
another, and employed as a holistic, representative collection.
Shared image production or quotationand here I am referring to the
practice of quoting from other peoples collections by linking to, or appropriating, images which are integrated into that persons own sitesits alongside online gaming, social networking sites and the emerging semantic web
(which, among other things, uses tags that people add to their online texts
and images to organize information) at the leading edge of a new set of skills
and dispositions within media literacy. Indeed the explosion of interest in
what people do with images online, within all fields of cultural studies and
media studies, and the re-invigoration of semiotic theories, suggests that theories, as well as media, are converging on a range of phenomena that have
absorbed the connected, mainly (but not exclusively) technology-rich regions
of the world.

Souvenir images
Away from online spaces, our own use of images begins to resemble the
museum world in the production of artifacts around photographs. Our own
digital images can be the raw material for hardcopy versions printed on photographic quality paper, as well as on tea towels, calendars, mugs and more.
In art museums, we visit the museum shop for these sorts of souvenirs of the
paintings and other works weve just seen, and now we have a perfect corollary in our own DIY media: souvenir production.
At a basic level this can simply be achieved by printing hardcopy images
at home. Consider the rise of the home color printer and sales of photo-

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graphic paper. Consider also the implications of the following advertisement

for a color printer:
As the television advertisement opens, a small child is seen bouncing on a bed. From
the ceiling rain down hundreds of printed digital photographs. The child catches
them as they fall and announces to viewers, Ive had a wonderful life so far. The
implication is that the ownership of the images as well as the means of displaying
them is a way of holding on to the experience, of owning it.

At a more commercial level, this can include turning ones photographs

into souvenirs or commodities for others to buy. Commercial interfaces like
Zazzle.com (for selling t-shirts with your photos printed on them) or CafePress.com (for selling everything from mugs to knickers with your photos
printed on them) are just some of the services made possible by the transportability of images (and money) across the internet.

Daily life images

Practices and concepts from the physical world of printed photographs proliferate in digital image management software both online and offline. In
iPhoto (an offline image management application located on a Mac users
harddrive) or in Flickr (an online digital image management application
located entirely on the internet) the language refers to the album, set,
and batch. Our photographic practices dont always fit the assumptions
underlying these terms and program features, however. Sometimes, when
retrieving images from your camera phone, you realize what you have is a
series of isolated, orphaned images that nonetheless make it possible to trace
your experiences over the past few days. Or sometimes these isolated images
really are just that, random pictures on your phone that are difficult to
account for in any logical way. Here, for example, is a series of subjects I took
with my camera phone on a single day with every intention of blogging them
at some stage . . .
A mobile exhibition of extinct technology in a London market (later
used in a presentation)
A missing pet sign in a local park
An uprooted tree
The pattern of light on the window blind in the morning
None of these images is connected to the others in any logical way, and
neither are these images a reliable map of my past week. Thus, the very portability and ease of use of digital camerasin all their forms (e.g., camera,

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mobile phone camera, SLR digital camera) makes it possible to step outside
albums and sets, and record images as part of the daily act of moving
around and experiencing life wherever you are. This fluidity of recording and
documenting everyday life contrasts markedly with how things were in the
previous century . . .
The boy stands at about the same height as the small snowman. Aged about 18
months in the coldest winter in London in living memory at the time, in the second
half of the twentieth century. He is wearing a red all-in-one winter suit. He extends
an unsteady hand to the snowmans head and draws it back to his mouth. The ice is
melting on the mitten and he sticks it in his mouth to taste it. His mother calls to
him to look at the camera; his father has now adjusted the light according to the
meter he carries in a small leather bag with the camera. Smile, snap, its gone . . .

I dont know if this represents my earliest memory, or if Ive remembered

it because I have seen the picture my father took many times. It is a thing of
wonder and puzzlement, which possibly goes back to simultaneous strong
emotions alongside those notions of ownership of the original object and
its aura. And now, many years later, this image is an infinitesimally small
particle in a universe of visually sustained memories. I can hold the only copy
of this moment captured by my father, now torn at the edges, and think
about how to integrate it with the act of exhibiting and remembering and
perhaps tag it Archaeology once it is digitally scanned and added to the
photoshopped and the photoshared.

SECTION TWO
Photoshopping / photosharing: Tutorials and affinity spaces
The intention of this section is to provide some practical pointers in each of
the categories under exploration: photoshopping and photosharing. For photoshopping we will look at ways of working with individual images to change
them in simple ways, or in more complex operations to achieve certain effects
for an arts project or similar task. For photosharing, we will look at ways of
uploading the results of this work, how photos may work as groups of
images, and how they may be added to the sum of human images on a particular theme (as well as thinking about how you might access other peoples
work in the same field). We will also think about the next step, curatorship,
which is very close to sharing as an activity but subtly different, since it need
not involve sharing at all. There will also be sections on copyright and ownership within educational contexts, followed by a series of suggestions for
how all this fits with educational practice that involves new media.

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Photoshopping: Editing images, starting points and some places

to go
When I worked as an Information, Communication and Technology (ICT)
advisor and, later, when I worked in ICT in Education as a tutor for student
teachers, I sometimes had to produce guides which were known as Getting
started . . . guides. These offered guidelines for using the basics of common
Microsoft Office software applications, graphics programs and, later on,
video editing software. I quickly came to realize that Getting started . . .
almost always meant . . . and moving on . . . since mastery of the first few
steps in anything inevitably led to greater engagement and increased ambition. The guides, I felt, trod a very fine line between accessibility and patronization. The end result, with varying degrees of success, was to take nothing
for granted and to assume certain starting points for all.
Some years later, we find that the internet itself is teeming with such
guides. Some of them can be located within product sites, others within educational sites, or within other affinity spaces of like-minded individuals offering support for one another. Many of these guides offer a starting point and
a set of moving on ideas, including pointers to advanced features for users.
There is simply too much to know and too much to learn about most tools
now, especially in an era of continuous upgrades and newly invented feature
sets. The kinds of handing down of craft skills from experts to learners
that used to accompany mastery cannot take place in a definitive and comprehensive way in environments where the craft itself is changing moment to
moment. As a result, one of the prerequisites to learning successfully how to
edit images, or indeed work in any DIY media, is to know where to access
just-in-time learning and advice.
The photoshopping part of working with images begins long before
you get to the computer. An account of the technicalities of digital cameras
whether inside a phone or standaloneis beyond the space available to me
here. However, it is worth noting that the in-camera decisions and adjustments which you make amount to the earliest editing decisions: from deleting an unsuccessful image altogether, to adjusting exposure, filters, coloring,
or contrast at the point of image capture, and the like.
Advice at the point of pressing the cameras button to take the picture is
available in any number of self-help books and resources online and offline.
One beautifully illustrated offline example, by Tom Ang, is How to Photograph Absolutely Everything (2007). Ang addresses the reader as a colleague,
a co-conspirator, a willing-to-learn non-expert but also as one who does not
wish to be patronized. Some sample constructions used by Ang that are positive and affirm the potential for skill development include ones like the
following:

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To refine your exposure technique, use the centre weighted or spot metering
mode to determine exposure. These read only a limited part of the scene, and
you will learn by evaluating the results and making adjustments (Ang, 2007, p.
23).

Note the you will learn by evaluating the results: the encouragement,
the exhortation, to continue to experiment. In addition to texts like this, you
will find fellow users at all levels willing to post solutions to technical and
artistic problems or issues in many online forums. One site http://photo.ne
t/communitygathers these forums into one place, listing, at the time of
writing, some 33 forums across a wide range of abilities and interests in digital photography.
Your camera, whether a separate device or attached to a phone, takes digital images of varying sizes and types. Professional photographers work with
very large files containing the most amount of information possible about a
single image. Those of us who are not selling work but still wish to take good
quality images will work at the highest resolution our storage or sharing systemsonline or offlineallow. There are some compromises to be made
here, with compression being the key (see Table 5.1) to successfully moving
images around the internet, via email, or uploading them to photosharing
sites. Fully uncompressed files are very large and contain vast amounts of
information about the picture. These image files are known as lossless files.
Other, smaller sorts of filetypes are known as lossy, although the loss of
definition may not be visible to the eye at normal display sizes for photographs. So, if you are planning to use simple screen-viewable images, or small
printed photograph sizes, as opposed to making a poster from them, then
lossy files should suffice. Four very common image file types are shown in
Table 5.1.
You will also encounter various other formats, which are proprietary and
not easily shared due to size or lack of interoperability (e.g., file types that will
only be viewable inside a particular commercial photo editing application).
These are to be avoided as they are not especially portable. It is quite useful
to have a file conversion program that changes your images between the different file types. Preview, an application that ships free on Mac computers,
allows you to do this easily. The disk that came with your digital camera will
also almost certainly have a software title (in lite or full version), which also
will enable you to change file types. One way to work is to take images in the
highest resolution possible and then edit at this resolution before saving the
final image in a smaller, lighter format for sharing online.

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File type

Typical compression

Notes

TIFF or TIF

From uncompressed, completely

Very flexible format which is used

lossless, through to fairly

professionally in its highest, most

compressed.

uncompressed form.

Another large lossless file type

There are different kinds of RAW

which is output from some high-

files from different makes of

end digital cameras.

camera, so you may need

RAW

proprietary software to view them.

JPG

GIF

A compressed, lossy file type

Used by large numbers of digital

which nevertheless gives very

cameras because of its range and

good results due to the way its

versatility. Used extensively on the

compression works by discarding

internet because of its relatively

information invisible to the eye.

small size for such high quality.

Another common kind of

Less common than JPG but still

compressed file type which

used widely on the internet. More

analyzes images of 16 million

successfully used with diagrams

colors or more and produces a

and line art than photographs.

256-color image.

Table: 5.1: Four Common Image File Types

Photoshopping with and without Photoshop: Some common

image editing programs
To be hard and fast about specific software titles or even specific photosharing sites is to run the risk of being rapidly outdated. Things are changing all
the timesoftware is continually upgraded or developed into something distinctively new. It is even possible now to consider doing away with photo

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editing software on your own computer altogether and work with an online
editing service (see below).
The most ubiquitous image editing software is Adobes Photoshop. It is
so ubiquitous as to have passed into the language as a verb (as shown in the
title of this very chapter). To photoshop something is to change an image
in some way, to crop it, to resize it, to remove red-eye and blemishes, to
change lighting, to adjust color, lighting, or contrast, to apply finishing
effects to regions or to the whole image, to amplify details in pursuit of an
aesthetic effect, or to change its meaning-making properties.
Manovich (2001) discusses the ways in which the tools of new media
contain affordances within their screens, icons, and language from, or based
on, the worlds of old media. Thus, Photoshop, with its filters, retouching,
brushes and erasers, resembles a photo-retouching lab; although, of course,
Photoshop adds even more functionality than is typically available in labs.
Playing with the notion of photography as truthful and realistic (see Sontag, 1979, p. 24), Photoshop gives the editor power to play with juxtapositions which could not have occurred in reality, to add people to events
which took place before they were born, or to allow a politician to look like
she or he was at an event when they were not, as in the row which erupted in
the United Kingdom over the photoshopping of a government minister into
a picture of a meeting at a hospital for which he actually arrived too late to
attend (Pierce, 2007).
Tricks of light they have always been, but digital photographic images
are also tricks of information. Each image file contains multiple pieces of
information, and each of these pieces tells the computer how to display the
image and to what extent the picture can be manipulated and altered. Pictures can be changed in intensity, color, hue, and tone. They can have effects
added, too (e.g., watercolor or charcoal effects). At an even more simple
level, the user can engage with altering the framing of the picture to prioritize
elements in ways that alter the original pictures meaning (e.g., a family portrait originally incorporating a sunset is reframed by cropping closely to the
figures, giving the family unit salience over the time and the location; the
relation of the family members to each other becomes a more central part of
the meaning-making of the image). Kress and van Leeuwenboth social
semioticiansidentify framing as one of the key elements of composition
(Kress & Van Leeuwen, 2006, p. 206). Cropping tools allow for the exploration of parts of images, and for playing with the frame and the meaning
potentials of any image. In digital image editing, the frame itself and everything in it are malleable and adjustable. Editing processes thus become part
of each images final composition.
Vast numbers of image editing software tools are available to users. They
all have similar names and are easily confused: Serif Photo Plus, Ulead
Photo Editor, Arcsoft Photo Impression (some of these will be familiar to

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readers). There are others which are open source and completely free to
download and use (e.g., Gimp, Inkscape). Many of these low-cost or free
applications have interfaces that are very close in appearance and functionality to their high-cost, commercial equivalents. Some, like Irfan View, concentrate on image viewing and file-type converting with simple editing
facilities included as extras. These and many other such titles are available to
download through freeware sites, such as Sourceforge.net or TuCows.com.
Some image editing programs are serious high-end tools for graphicsfocused workplaces. These programs include functions designed for professional image editing and support private collaboration on large-scale
commercial image editing projects. Luckily, however, many of these high-end
editing programs have spawned less-complicated versions for amateurs and
hobbyists, which are much more affordable.
For example, if your school budget does not extend to multiple licenses
for Adobe Photoshop, then consider the cut-down alternative: Adobe Photoshop Elements (like its parent programAdobe Photoshopwhich is
available for PC or Mac). There are very significant savings to be made with
Photoshop Elements. It includes the majority of useful-to-amateurs-andhobbyists functions found in its parent program but at a fraction of the price.
Surprisingly, perhaps, there are common tasks that Photoshop Elements
allows you to perform that are not actually available in Photoshop (or else are
hidden under layer after layer of arcane professional tools in its vast and complex menus).
Also available online for you or your students to use free of charge (up to
a limitcheck the small print accompanying each service) are a growing
number of photo editing sites. Some of these are aligned directly with photosharing facilities (discussed later in this chapter). Here, for example, are
seven popular examples of online image editors with their accompanying
slogans:
http://www.picnik.com: Photo editing made fun
http://www.splashup.com: Jump right inimage editing made easy
http://fotoflexer.com: The worlds most advanced online image editor
http://snipshot.com: Edit pictures online
http://webresizer.com: Making photos faster
http://www.creatingonline.com: Creating onlineincluding online
image and photo editing
http://www.flauntr.com: Professional photo editing. Easy and free

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Typically images are uploaded to the site, and effects are applied remotely
with the results downloadable soon afterwards, if not immediately. How-to
guides for using these and other image editing programs can be found via
internet searches. For example:
nnPicnik
photo editing tutorial: http://www.brilliantprints.com.au/blog/2

008/01/15/picnik-photo-editing-tutorial-part-1-beginners-guide/
nnAnother
Picnik tutorial: http://anapronaday.blogspot.com/2008/06/tu

torial-super-duper-easy-photo-editing.html
nnSplashUp
video tutorial: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bh7_FQV

OL-4
If you are reading this as both a hobbyist and as someone seeking to use
image editing for and with students in an educational setting, some questions
worth asking are:
What kinds of editing will I be doing?
Will it be for print publication in a parents or caregivers newsletter?
Am I working entirely in new media, looking for images for a static website or for a more dynamic environment such as a blog or a wiki?
Am I working with art students looking for particular effects?
So, what should one look for in the basic toolkit? Assuming that you wish
to alter the basic properties of your image, such as its shape and size, then
some kind of cropping tool is the most straightforward to use. This tool is
sometimes available as part of an image viewer (such as Preview on Mac
computers). Figure 5.3 shows a basic set of icons for image editing applications provided for software developers by GoSquared.com. It is a useful illustration of the most basic set of operations on any single image that you or
your students would need to perform.

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Figure 5.3: 40 Image Editing icons (GoSquared, 2008; image used with permission)

The sorts of tools represented by such icons can be grouped according to

function.
The icons for rotation and straightening, for example, represent image
orientation. At the very least you would expect to be able to re-orient an
image you had taken in portrait mode to, say, landscape mode. Such tools
represent functions which would allow you to work on the image at a basic
level, either making corrections or additions, exploring and being playful with
color or tone, or altering meaning or mood by adding effects (e.g., a grainy
TV look for your image).
Image editing is often available as part of toolsets in applications not
devoted directly to image editing, too. For example, office software packages,
including Microsoft Office, often have image editing capabilities of increasing
range and sophistication. Many of the basic functions represented by the
GoSquareds basic icon set (see Figure 5.3), and more, are available simply by
clicking on an image inserted into a word-processed text. The most recent
Office toolset for image editing inside a document on Mac computers
includes common tasks, such as adjusting color, contrast, hue, and satura-

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tion. This same editing toolset also enables users to be playful with images by
digitally mimicking the effects of a range of non-photographic art media,
such as pastels, spray paints, and so on.

An example of image editing in Photoshop Elements

My own image editing software of choice is Photoshop Elements. Im not in
any way affiliated with the program or company that makes it; I just find the
software meets my image editing needs really effectively. It is also close to
impossible to really talk about the practicalities of image editing without
homing in on a specific application. Photoshop Elements has a vast toolset
and easy-to-use image management system (see later in this chapter for more
on this). There are many places on the internet where it is possible to discover support for getting to know the basic functions and concepts of how to
use Photoshop Elements or any image software for that matter. Some such
sites are official, company-affiliated sites, and others are support sites developed by schools, colleges or universities providing guidance for students or
staff. Examples include:
http://www.photoshopelementsuser.com (company-developed tutorials
and samples)
http://www.ischool.utexas.edu/technology/tutorials/index.php (a free
guide to using Photoshop Elements developed by a university)
What do students make of (and with) Photoshop Elements? As with
many people facing deadlines and working under pressure, there is not always
the time to learn the right way of using any piece of software. Having
someone demonstrate just the basic functions is often the best method for
learning or performing a series of simple edits on a practice image. Watching
a YouTube clip of this kind of demonstration (use the search function to find
introductory tutorials) and knowing where to go for additional online support are other ways of quickly learning how to edit an image. It could take
years to develop the knowledge necessary to use every part of the feature
set of Adobe Elements. However, beyond some basic starting points, the
concept of just in time learning applies well in this context, provided that
the user shows some persistence in the face of adversity and keeps backup
copies of everything they might need along the way. Photoshop Elements
was designed with this in mind and is generally supportive of fallibility in the
way it saves work as a project unfolds.

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Talking with my daughter about how she produced a set of images for a
school project revealed the intuitive way she was using Photoshop Elements
at home while working on a relatively low-resolution image taken on a camera phone on Londons South Bank near the Tate Modern Art Gallery.
Her photograph was the starting point, and, here, Alice explains how she
moved through a series of tools drawn from various menus to arrive at her
end result. In the first edit (Figure 5.4a) she has already blackened the legs of
Louise Bourgeois spider (Maman), an enormous sculpture positioned in
front of the gallery itself.

Figure 5.4a: Edit 1

Figure 5.4b: Edit 2

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Figure 5.4c: Edit 3

Figure 5.4d: Edit 4

Figures 5.4a5.4d: Four example edits for a series of pictures from a series featuring St
Pauls seen through Louise Bourgeoiss Spider (Maman) on the South Bank in London.
Alice Potter 2008 (used with permission)

Alice explains:
I opened it into Photoshop (edit 1), chose Photo Enhancer . . . then I just did filter,
then sketch, then photocopyI did black and whiteexcept thats a negative
and it had the white in the front and then I got this image (edit 2) . . . then I
decided I didnt like the dottiness in the background (edit 3) and I got the fill tool
and picked a color here and there . . . then literally did that and thats my favorite
one (edit 4) . . . and thats with the edited dottiness (back in). . . . occasionally you
would get a fill that would do something that you didnt want it to do then Id use
the drawing tool and make sure that all the lines were connected (by zooming in)
...

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The idea of filters in Photoshop Elements and similar software tools is

extended into layers, where images can be manipulated on top of one
another, producing montage and collage-like effects. This allows the addition or removal of sections of the image, people from within the frame, and
events from the storyline.

Photosharing
Having edited individual images and gathered them together, the next step is
to share them and connect with others (see also Chapter 4 in this volume).
We have seen in the first section in this chapter how photosharing is an example of the new paradigm in internet function and form. Since the earliest days
of graphic-interface internet browsers, it has been possible to place images
into webpages in the form of galleries. More recently, online social networking functions have enabled interactive connections to be made between
the images themselves and the people uploading or viewing them.
Perhaps the most famous example of socially-networked photosharing is
Flickr (http://www.flickr.com). Historically speaking, Flickrs origins lie in
an attempt to develop a multiplayer online game. The photo gallery feature
developed for this gamethe Flickr bitwas actually an offshoot of this
larger project. Its foundersKaterina Fake and Stewart Butterfieldsaw the
potential of this gallery feature and launched Flickr in 2004. In the space of
just a few years, Flickr became the largest photosharing site online. Flickr was
sold to Yahoo! a year later for approximately $35 million USDfurther
attesting to this photosharing sites rapid and large-scale success. Flickr was
designed from the very outset to exploit the Web 2.0 properties of the internet. As Fake and Butterfield explained in an interview with Ian Katz in a feature on social software in The Guardian (2006),
The photo-sharing sites that existed [prior to Flickr] had as their paradigm photo
albums. Flickr came along and had the idea you no longer had an album, you
had a photo stream. (Katz, 2006, p. 29)

This idea of a fluid, ever-changing stream of images is the essence of new

ways of being digitally literate with images. Flickrs founders predicted in
2006 that the mobility of the end-user would be the driving force behind
innovation in the field: users carrying cameras as phones and phones as cameras. The latest versions of these have high-resolution cameras, which compete successfully with the quality of purpose-built digital cameras of only a
few years ago. From the same interview:
Youre going to start seeing much more of the web off the web. Things that are
not intended to be consumed on the web but work on your mobile devices, on

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your PDAs [personal digital assistants], transportable with you everywhere. The
web will be something you return to do the heavy lifting of your computation,
but for the most part youre going to have very light devices. (Katz, 2006, p. 29)

By their own account, Flickr passed the milestone of their two-billionth

user-uploaded image in November 2007.
Flickr is not the only photo-hosting site online. Other popular services
include:
Snapfish: http://www.snapfish.com
Webshots: http://www.webshots.com
Imeem: http://www.imeem.com
Piczo: http://www.piczo.com
Shutterfly: http://www.shutterfly.com
Zooomr: http://www.zooomr.com
Ovi: http://share.ovi.com or http://www.twango.com
Picasa: http://www.picasa.com
Photobucket: http://www.photobucket.com
Not all of these are free to use. Some will expect you to pay for additional facilities and storage. Some, like Imeem and Piczo, are built around
more than just images and provide music and video sharing options. They
explicitly provide social networking services for users, too. Again, because
information changes so rapidly I am not going to attempt to cost any of these
or to recommend one over another. By the time this appears in print, the
terms, ownership and, possibly, existence of these services will have changed.
The best way to learn more is to log in and see if the tools are intuitive, noninvasive, powerful, low cost and whether they open up the possibilities inherent in Web 2.0 applications for participation, sharing, and discovery.
Conversely, the largest social networking siteslike Bebo, MySpace,
Facebookall offer varying services having to do with organizing and displaying images alongside their social interaction tools and resources. This is,
in fact, now where the majority of shared images on the internet reside: in
peoples personalized web pages and spaces. Facebook, for example, currently
hosts more photographs than does Flickr. Here, social networking is the primary function for peoples photosharing, and photographs are simply one
way among many for sharing experiences and marking out identity. In short,
you have decisions to make about the sorts of activity you are engaging in
and if organizing, sharing and cataloguing images is your starting point,
rather than music or social networks, then a bespoke photosharing space
might be the best place to start.

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Some photosharing sites are the photo-arm of much bigger concerns.

Picasa, for example, makes available a tool for tagging and organizing your
pictures, which is, in turn, a subset of a whole series of applications from
Google. For example, the geo-tagging function available in Google Maps
syncs with Picasa to enable users to display maps of where their photos were
taken. Likewise, if you are a Mac user with a MobileMe account, you also
have automatic access to a set of free online services that include photo album
spaces, photo sharing functions, image publication features, and the like.
Finally, Ovi is an example of a photosharing site which has been built by a
mobile phone companyin this case, Nokiaas the main way of rapidly
archiving and easily displaying photos taken on-the-go using Nokias very
powerful phone cameras.
As an educator and as a co-learner with your students, you will, perhaps,
need to apply the principle of affinity spacesderived from Gee (2004)
to your selection of photosharing sites or forums to use for your own learning, or for that of the students with whom you work. James Paul Gee defines
such spaces as specially designed spaces (physical and virtual) constructed to
resource people who are tied together . . . by a shared interest or endeavor
(2004, p. 4). Michele Knobel and Colin Lankshear add to this account that
affinity spaces instantiate participation, collaboration, distribution and dispersion of expertise, and relatedness (2007, p. 207). A key question to ask
yourself, then, is whether or not the photosharing site you choose has the
qualities of an affinity space. Do you need also to consider working with
people online who are in the same space as you are, who are working in
education or who are in the early stages of using digital photography in their
work? Is the site purely for photo display and comments of a technical nature,
or are one or more areas of affinity engendered? (See also Merchants discussion of Flickr Groups in Chapter 4 in this volume.) In addition, Photo.net
was mentioned earlier as a source of useful photography-focused discussion
forums. Any number of these forums may represent affinity spaces for you or
for your students and colleagues. Yet another useful space for amateur and
professional photographers to exchange information about photography and
image editing and to support each others work is Open Photography
Forums (http://openphotographyforums.com).

Curating your images online

You will see as soon as you have uploaded a set of photographs to your chosen photosharing service that labeling and curating your collection is a key
aspect of these sites. The incalculable number of sources from which images
can be drawn by you, or any students with whom you work, demands some
way of organizing and cataloguing them in order to retrieve and view them

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readily. Your digital images could have any number of destinations and serve
a range of purposes online, and so the choice of how to organize them goes
beyond the simple hierarchical arrangement of folders and file names on your
computers harddrive. Flickr, for example, makes it possible to add your own
descriptors to each photograph once it is uploaded. Here we are immersed in
the world of folksonomies or non-hierarchically organized labeling. You
may reveal as little or as much as you like about each photo or yourself when
adding tags, but the most effective tags are those that enable you to find your
image again and to find other images uploaded by other users who applied
the same tags (this also means that they will be able to find your images, too).
A quote from an example of an album used in this way demonstrates the
consequences of same (see also Figure 5.5):
We drove a really long way from the coastal area where we were staying over the Tuscan hills inland from the coast, round hairpin bends and through the alabaster city
of Volterra and out the other side in to the great medieval centre of Siena. With two
cameras snapping away, a great many terracotta rooftops, misty hills and pale English tourist faces were encoded that day. In keeping with a habit that frustrates my
family I spent some time also snapping away at pavements and details such as lampposts and walls. Once home I edited them into a set for Flickr and spent some time
uploading the images. I left the settings on public and my images just happened to
include a street lamp which featured a porcupine. There is a race every year on
horseback through Siena which draws in huge crowds from all over the surrounding
areas and much further afield. The families which take part are each represented by
an animal and their animal appears on street furniture in their specific districts.
That year the winning family was the Porcupine and I was contacted through Flickr
by more than one person with connections to Siena for permission to use the picture
...

In the example shown on page 126, the tags included Siena and
Italy. Other users clearly were able to make use of these tags in searching
out photographs of interest or relevance to them. Users with similar images
thus can experience connectedness and relatedness by using the same tags,
making use of the full functionality of the online galleries and albums. It
allows you to search for and visit the work of other users who have tagged
their images with some or all of the same tags you yourself have used, or for
which you go searching. My advice is to explore as many of the interconnective functions of photosharing sites as you can, and decide how these
functions might be applied to your own teaching contexts.

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Figure 5.5: Flickr and connection to cultures outside of your own experience. Reproduced with
permission of
of Yahoo!
Yahoo! Inc.
Inc. (c)2009
(c)2009 Yahoo!
Yahoo! Inc.
Inc. FLICKR
FLICKR and
and the
the FLICKR
FLICKR logo
logo are
are registered
registered
permission
trademarks of
of Yahoo!
Yahoo! Inc.
Inc.
trademarks

Sharing and working with other peoples images: Attribution,

safety and copyright issues
It is possible to locate images for educational purposes all over Flickr and
other photosharing sites. However, despite this proliferation of images and
the ease of downloading them, it is sensible to be aware of safety issues and
ethical considerations. Sharing photographs in such spaces with tags that
name your own educational institution means that children and young people, some of whom could be vulnerable, are more easily identifiable. If you
do not have permission to publish their images, then you need to obtain it.
Many schools ask caregivers for permission to use digital images (and video)
alongside other official agreements at the point of entry to the institution. It
is important for you to be familiar with the reach of such agreements.
Likewise, finding the perfect image for use in a resource or publication
for school on a photosharing site does not always imply permission to use it.
The principle of fair dealing is often invoked for education, in the sense
that the owner of the image will grant a not for profit use of their images.
Attribution and credit are usually all that is required in return and should
always be given. Further information about these issues is usually given by
the photosharing sites themselves, with the terms of the copyright license

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typically stated next to the image. Other sources of images that are free to use
for non-profit purposes (with attribution to the creator of the image) can be
found here:
http://creativecommons.org/image/
http://wiki.creativecommons.org/Image

Photoshopping / sharing, education and new literacies

The editing, organizing, and curating of exhibitions of photographed assets
in new media forms, and within Web 2.0 environments in particular, represent a key set of skills and dispositions in learning to work with new literacies.
From their early years children are aware that their experiences often are documented for displays on walls, in books, and online (with the necessary permissions obtained and posted as well). At the same time, they easily can make
choices themselves about which images to capture and to use to stand in for
themselves when they are not there and which to use to make meaning from
their experiences.
Skills and dispositions for a new century, for a new way of being literate,
will need to take learnersyoung and oldbeyond simply capturing images
to engage them actively in decision-making about editing an image and in
managing collections of images. The practice of creating cataloging systems
by using tagssome self-generated, others suggested by existing contentis
a potential key skill for becoming proficient users of new media and digital literacies. The distinction between folksonomy (user-generated words that
organize content) and taxonomy (specialist resource-manager generated
indices) is an important one; how to create and curate collections from usergenerated tags and how to use them to navigate and locate information and
resources is fast becoming a central dimension of photosharing. The potential
in opening up searches to include experiences and resources discovered by
others in a folksonomic system is too great an opportunity to miss with
respect to learning about ones world, and an important skill to develop in
learners.
The situation in schools is, of course, complicated by the fact that access
to photosharing sites is frequently made difficult and sometimes actually
blocked by internet filters. Social networking sites like MySpace and Facebook are widely assumed by many adults to be places of great moral danger,
rife with all kinds of inappropriate activity. Photosharing sites tend to be
included in bans that seek to protect children from danger. Unfortunately,
however, the end result is more often than not an impoverishment of experience and missed opportunities for learning. Approved search engines may
find usable images in the classroom, but these stand-alone, decontexualized

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images will not enable children to become productive end-users and sharers
of images in the twenty-first century.
Children are often engaged in school settings in making their own photographic images. In preschool settings, photography has long been used to
document daily events, to retell stories, and to develop an awareness of history. Baby photographs, for example, often are used in school to help develop
a meta-awareness of a past and the sense of a life story being told across time.
Digital photography has simply multiplied by a huge factor the possible number of images that can be produced cheaply by students themselves. A key
consideration is the management of digital photography in meeting educational goals. Digital photography and online photosharing can be used to:
leverage the immediacy and ubiquity of digital photography in order to
learn more generally about folksonomies, affinity spaces and memes; that
is, the terminology, skills and dispositions arising from the uses of new
media
participate in collective visual story telling projects. A good example of
this kind of project is the Tell a Story in Five Frames group on Flickr:
http://www.flickr.com/groups/visualstory/
develop imaginative visual stories about non-human objects. For example,
the Secret Life of Toys group on Flickr: http://www.flickr.com/groups
/secretlifeoftoys/
connect home and school in shared, secure areas with younger children
during literacy activities that involve photosharing (as in the work of
Lynn Roberts [2008] in her digital shoeboxes project)
develop interactive history or social studies projects using Picasa.com and
geotags
document and publicize local issues
generate work around identity in new media spaces which explores the
issues of self-representation and self-preservation from the earliest ages
to the oldest students, using, for example, scans and digital camera
images of the self over time
work offline in projects which involve communities in developing countries not connected in the same way as those in the developed world,
such as photosharing using physical media and postal services.
Many writers have identified some of these new skill sets and dispositions
as directly pertinent to new literacies generally, from the familiarity with and
manipulation of memes or contagious patterns of thought (Lankshear &
Knobel, 2006), to school-based digital and media literacy debates (Buckingham, 2003; Marsh, 2004; Burn & Durran, 2007), and wider engagement
with visual literacies and multimodal meaning-making as part of a subset of

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new literacies (Cope & Kalantzis, 2000; Kress, 2003; Kress & Van Leeuwen,
2006). Connections can also be made with the consumption and production
continuum described by Jenkins as arising out of popular culture and fandom
as well as the convergence of devices, spaces and cultures (Jenkins, 1992).
The vast numbers of easily edited, collected and exhibited images made
for, by, and with children in settings of formal and informal education represent a sizable repository of meaning-making about experience. Integrating
childrens experiences of the world around them, their inner worlds, and
these experiences relationship to the curriculum and to their learning creates new challenges to educators today. For example, those issues that arise
concerning learners and those who work with them, such as access, safety,
ownership of digital images, human rights, potential abuses of trust and
more. The benefits are often claimed to far outweigh the risks, but learning
how to deal with safety and ownership of images is arguably one of the skills
of new media literacy and should be of serious concern to those involved in
making decisions about pedagogy in photosharing. Rather than being closed
off from both the curricular potential and the lived culture of photosharing,
students of all ages can learn and share their own learned strategies, ways of
living and being safe in such spaces.
The relationship between digital photography and photosharing sites is
more complex than that of hardcopy photographs displayed in paper-based
albums. The concept of audience, for example, no longer holds for photosharing sites, where more active concepts like user hold sway and where
photographs themselves are no longer static objects. Digital image media are
not done to or performed at an audience. Image viewers can actively
comment on the content or quality of an image posted to a photosharing site
and can even participate in producing their own images by editing, remixing, and reassembling other peoples work (with permission, of course).
Visual memes are a good example of this kind of phenomenon (see, for
example, Lostfrog.org). Photosharing sites are important spaces for learning
about curatorship and exhibition. How many times in their lives and for how
many different purposes will young people have to learn the skills of assembling both media that they have discovered and media that they have produced? These texts and assets will sit side by side in a variety of spaces: in
their e-portfolios for school and college, in their personal social networking
spaces, in online storage environments such as Flickr, and so forth.
Indeed, this notion of curatorship posits a new skill set that is beyond the
duality of the consumer-producer model. Assembling collections that locate
users in time and space and make it possible to create a narrative which suggests that childhood was happy and varied in its pursuits, that life in college is
good, with work and social activity playing a big part in it, is just one such
approach to using curating as an expressive tool. Similarly, students can tinker
with these same images to tell not such a rosy story as they explore the mean-

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ing potential or affordances of different sequences of images, cropping and

resizing, and visual effects. I am suggesting that curatorship in this sense is a
hybrid skill which merges the ability to make meaning from resources which
have been collected at a particular point in time and assembling them for
exhibition at any given moment for any given purpose. It is the interrelationship between and across the images that creates overall meaning. This is just
as true of a collection of photographs juxtaposed and assembled for an online
space as it is for anything else that gets made and presented to others.
It has been suggested that new media presuppose new relationships
between artifacts, social practices, and the arrangements which shape them
(Lievrouw & Livingstone, 2006). Engaging in practices which shape meaning in this way is to take part inand advantage ofthe representational
aspects of popular culture at a ubiquitous level. We could be involving our
students in becoming aware of these practices and what they mean to others
who visit their exhibition spaces and make meaning from them.
Whether the perspective is of performance through the image, the idea
that there is a backstage self somewhere behind the curtain and these
images are part of the performed self (Goffman, 1990), or whether these collections of images represent the hybrid and multiple aspects of identity in
late modernity (Giddens, 1991), the assemblages and juxtapositions of the
images in photosharing spaces also contribute to the representation of self
online, too. This is a key aspect of photosharing that is overlooked in educational applications of digital image-making and sharing in classroom contexts (all too often, images posted to online school sites, or school-sanctioned
photosharing sites, have been taken by teachers or other adults and not by
students themselves, for example).
Why should editing, collecting, organizing and displaying digital images
be a part of educational experiences for young people? It is not simply the
reductive argument about relevance that is important here; the suggestion
that simply by engaging with a contemporary cultural phenomenon you are
engaging children with something that is directly relevant to them. Relevance
is not a given that is conferred by the educator in any setting. The learner has
to agree to that proposition. The fact is that the digital image is simply a part
of daily, lived culture for so many young learners. If the moving image is the
thing that grabs them the mostthe popularity of YouTube suggests moving images are an attractive mediumthe still image represents the cornerstone, the foundation of how they are seen online by their peers: their profile
picture on their social networking space, their discussion board icon, their
marker of identity on an educational Virtual Learning Environment (possibly).
That being said, it is the combination of the images on the page, the
visual statements they make, and the overall effect of the exhibition of images
that need to be taken into account by viewers in photosharing spaces. This

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presupposes an awareness of how a folksonomy operates, as well as the reusability and re-mixability of images. Learning to see images as arrange-able
and re-purpose-able assets in different contexts means that students can use
an image in a presentation, a piece of writing, a journal, a blog, a photo
albumevery destination is possible. A shift in purpose and destination
establishes a new meaning for the image because the context in which the
picture is viewed alters the reading of it. Being able to use, read, and (re)present images in such ways is an important life skill, one that is applicable across
all contexts of media production, consumption, and curatorship.

References
Ang, T. (2007). How to photograph absolutely everything: Successful pictures from your digital camera. London: Dorling Kindersley.
Barthes, R. (1993). Camera lucida. London: Vintage Classics.
Buckingham, D. (2003). Media education: Literacy, learning and contemporary culture.
Cambridge: Polity.
Burn, A. & Durran, J. (2007). Media literacy in schools. London: Paul Chapman.
Cope, B. & Kalantzis, M. (Eds.). (2000). Multiliteracies: Literacy learning and the design
of social futures. New York: Routledge.
Gee, J. P. (2004). Situated language and learning: A critique of traditional schooling. New
York: Routledge.
Giddens, A. (1991). Modernity and self-identity: Self and society in the late modern age.
Cambridge: Polity.
Goffman, E. (1990). The presentation of self in everyday life (New edition). London:
Penguin.
GoSquared. (2008). 40 image editing icons. Retrieved July 1, 2008, from http://www.go
squared.com/liquidicity/archives/384
Jenkins, H. (1992). Textual poachers: Television fans and participatory culture. New York:
Routledge.
Katz, I. (2006, November 4). Flickr, Caterina Fake and Stewart Butterfield. The Guardian
Weekend Magazine. Nov. 1, 2009, at: http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2006
/nov/04/news.weekendmagazine8
Knobel, M. & Lankshear, C. (Eds.). (2007). A new literacies sampler. New York: Peter
Lang.
Kress, G. (2003). Literacy in the new media age. London: Routledge.
Kress, G. & Van Leeuwen, T. (2006). Reading images: The grammar of visual design (2nd
ed.). London: Routledge.
Lankshear, C. & Knobel, M. (2006). New literacies: Everyday practices and classroom
learning. Maidenhead, UK: McGraw-Hill Education/Open University Press.
Lievrouw, L. H. & Livingstone, S. (Eds.). (2006). The handbook of new media (Updated
student edition). London: Sage.
Manovich, L. (2001). The language of new media. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
Marsh, J. (Ed.). (2004). Popular culture, new media and digital literacy in early childhood.
London: Routledge.

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Pierce, A. (2007, January 10). James Purnell in fake photo row. Daily Telegraph. Available
Nov. 1, 2009, at: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/1564465/James-Purnell-in-fake-photo-row.html
Roberts, L. (2008). Digital shoeboxes: Online photosharing in a cross-contextual literacy
project. Unpublished Masters Dissertation, Institute of Education, University of London, London.
Sontag, S. (1979). On photography. London: Penguin Classics.

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Part 3: Moving Media

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Chapter 6

Machinima: Why think games

when thinking film?
SUSAN LUCKMAN AND ROBIN POTANIN

While to non-games players the world of video gameplay may seem a weird
and irrelevant one (something best left to children at leisure), the rapid and
global growth of the games industry clearly speaks of a more complex story.
So, too, does the emergence of games studies as a serious area of university
study, alongside literary, film and television studies. Ultimately what we can
see going on here is the emergence of digital games as a key communications
and entertainment medium in the twenty-first century. Many peopleat
least, within developed countries that iswho are themselves now parents
grew up with platform video games. Given the powerful capacities of video
games to enthrall an audience (a quality frequently giving rise to moral panics about addiction and other health issues, especially in children) and as a
technology already ahead of the curve in terms of a narrative experience
based on interactivity and immersion (a clear hallmark of the future of filmic
storytelling in a post-Web 2.0 age), its hardly surprising that games technology is now being used to do everything from:
leading us through a yoga routine (e.g., WiiFit yoga games)
helping us cook a meal (e.g., Nintendo DS Personal Trainer: Cooking)
training emergency services workers (e.g., NFPAs Virtual Terrorism
Response Academy: Ops Plus for WMD Hazmat.)

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and, more controversially, recruiting and training military soldiers (e.g.,

the U.S. Armys Americas Army series of games).
Significantly too, especially for this chapter, games offer a cheap, entrylevel tool for creating animated films known as machinima.

SECTION ONE
First, what is machinima?
Machinima was initially referred to as Quake movies because Quake (the
enormously successful and groundbreaking massively multiplayer online
game from the second half of the 1990s) was the first game players hacked in
order to create and edit recordings of game play (Hancock & Ingram, 2007,
p. 12). In simple terms, machinima is animated filmmaking which uses 3D
game engines as the source of the video material to be edited together.
Three-dimensional games are those games that have characters which can be
moved somewhat like puppets (e.g., Tetris is not a 3D game, and neither is
Solitaire or Minesweeper). The term machinima (pronounced muh-shini-mah) is an amalgam of: machine + cinema. As intimated earlier,
todays machinima scene grew out of the demos created by online game playing communities which were circulated to show off an individual players
prowess or to brag about a game clans superiority. It is also in many ways an
extension of practices implicitly embedded within the games production and
marketing process itself; namely, the creation of in-game cut scenes, along
with promotional video clips featuring characters and gameplay (cut scenes
are filmic stretches within a gametypically occurring between an old level
and a new onethat carry important narrative information about the next set
of quests or problems to be solved in the game). Machinima utilizes the
inbuilt capacity within some games programssingle player and massively
multiplayer online role-playing games, or MMORPGs, alikewhich allows
you to record game play action for sharing with others or for privately reliving game glory. For example, a game-play video that took the internet by
storm in 2005 was recorded using the in-game video recording functions
built into World of Warcraft. A guilda group of players who agree to play
collaboratively in order to complete questswas about to storm a formidable
bunch of enemies, and the videoclearly meant to be a trophy video recording the guilds resounding victorybegins with the group meticulously planning their attack and choreographing themselves for full-on battle. But
before they can complete their planning, one of the players suddenly screams
out his onscreen nameLeerooooooy Jenkins!and dashes into the room
where the enemies are waiting for them; the rest of the guild can only follow

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suit as they rush to try and stop him, and the video records the utter carnage
that takes place and the guilds humiliating defeat. This video clip also
records Leeroy Jenkins explanation that hed missed the planning bit
because hed been in the kitchen eating some chicken his mother had prepared and had only just returned to the computer before launching into
attack mode. Leeroy is, of course, roundly berated for his actions in very
strong language by all of his guild members. This video clip became enormously popular within World of Warcraft discussion forums, and in wider
online circles, not least because it was often read as an inadvertent spoof of
nerd guilds that meticulously and statistically plan out raids with all the seriousness of actual military tactics (Wikipedia, 2009, p. 1).
From here, its a relatively small step to thinking about the gameworld as
a stage upon which other narratives beyond the expectations of the preprogrammed game structure can be played out and recorded. As Paul Marino
(2004) explains in his extended discussion of machinima production, looking
at a role-play video game this way meant that the viewpoint of the player
became the viewpoint of a director (p. 4). Machinima, like remixes and
mash-ups, is about creating derivative new works, which use existing material
in new ways. Machinima also relies on online distribution networks for its
growth and development as a medium of expression. As well see shortly in
the case of the famous machinima series Red vs. Blue, the ironic juxtaposition
of pre-defined game characters in new and unfamiliar narrative structures is a
significant source of the pleasure to be derived from creating and viewing
machinima texts.

Machinima: A short history

Machinimists are evolving into a dedicated creative community of their own,
but in the early days of the medium, machinima-making was associated
largely with fan communities that grew up around particular video games.
Even now, many machinima sites remain tied to particular games (e.g.,
http://halomovies.org, http://sim-movies.com, http://warcraftmovies.com)
This phenomenon is due both to love of the game, and to people coming
together with a shared interest in discussing and experimenting with the possibilities of the particular scene-capturing environment afforded by a given
game. Machinima is best produced in a team in order to allowamong other
thingsfor manipulation (acting) of multiple characters within the gamespace. Interestingly, the machinima community today is less self-contained
and intersects increasingly with other online digital film production communities, especially via sites like YouTube.
The development of machinima as a DIY medium is an interesting one,
and is best discussed by means of key machinima texts. Most of these are

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available online for viewing, and we recommend reading the remainder of

this section in tandem with viewing these machinima.
Coming as it did out of a fan demo background, by todays standards
early machinima was relatively unsophisticated and relied heavily upon simply
recording gameplay as it unfolded with minimal scripting and editing. This is
clear in the early pioneering machinima: Diary of a Camper (1996, United
Rangers Films, http://www.machinima.com/film/view&id=15043). This
machinima plays on the dismissive name given to players who camp their
characters at key points in the story-world rather than moving around the
gamespace (which means being more actively engaged in the game, but by
doing so, taking greater risks). Diary of a Camper may look simple but is an
object lesson for the beginner in terms of how much thought and planning
needs to go into even the most basic of machinima, especially if its a joint
project with multiple characters. In 1996, Diary of a Camper broke ground
as the first machinima to include an explicit storyline. Filmed within the
gameworld of Quake I, members of the Rangers clan added a story element
to one of their demos. The complexity here lay in the choreographing of
their player characters movements, while yet another player acted as the
camera and initially recorded the actionfrom their own characters point
of viewas a program script that could be replayed within the game. But
ultimately, in retrospect, it still pretty much looks like a straight recording of
gameplay, rather than a film as we typically recognize them. As we will see
shortly, however, later machinimas have added further narrative and better
production values, turning machinima into a sophisticated filmmaking
medium.
After Diary of a Camper, machinimists started to develop richer narratives that engaged stories from worlds beyond that of the game, and to draw
on genres not typically found in role-playing games at the time, such as comedy. In the late 1990s, you still got a strong dose of characters walking
around game space on the screen, but the story told began to offer new
takes on the game world, and, as we will see shortly with the famous Red vs.
Blue machinima series, this storytelling strategy became a source of much of
the humor in machinima comedy pieces. This is evident in the ILL Clans
Apartment Huntin (1998, http://www.illclan.com/video/apthunt-qt.mov)
made using Quake I. In it, Larry and Henrywho are lumberjacksare
looking for a new home, and much of the humor lies in the banality of the
task, a disco dancing scene, Larrys habit of smashing things, and the dramatic, industrial Quake settings. The machinima utilizes the basic modus
operandi of many first-person shooter, role-play computer gamesthat is,
running around exploring spaceto support this alternative narrative. Early
in the piece, one of the key limitations of much machinimathe difficulty in
controlling the films mise-en-scne (the staging and design aspects) when

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youre confined to the character models and limitations offered by the

gameemerges. For example, while looking for their apartment our fearless
heroes are holding giant axes, all the while trying to hide their lumberjack
day job behind their trademark jeans and plaid shirts. Meanwhile the erstwhile landlord appears with a giant gun, which is accounted for within the
narrative as he leaves Larry and Henry to look around while he goes hunting. The makers deal head-on with not being able to remove weapons from
the characters hands by making it the source of humor, which is an excellent
tactic but one which probably wouldnt work if you were making a more serious dramatic piece.
Hot on the award winning heels of their success with Apartment
Huntin, the ILL Clan continued the adventures of Larry and Henry in
hw-grindomatic.mov)
Hardly Workin (2000, http://www.illclan.com/video/hwgrindomatic.mov)
and have since gone on to make a number of machinima that further develop
these two characters. The ILL Clan, through their ILL Clan Animation Studios, have gone on to significantly develop the sophistication of machinima as
a communication medium, as demonstrated by the corporate machinima
shorts showcased on their website portfolio (see: http://www.illclan.com/our
-videos).
Returning to the early days of machinima as an evolving animation
medium, its impossible to overlook the impact the success of Rooster
Teeths increasingly sophisticated Red vs. Blue: The Blood Gulch Chronicles
and now Red vs. Blue: Relocated (beginning in 2003, and now into its sixth
season; http://redvsblue.com) has had on the world of machinima. A parody of first-person shooter games, Red vs. Blue is a comedy series, featuring
two squads of hapless Halo heroes locked in an endless civil war prolonged
mostly by their own ineptitude (Kohler, 2007, p. 1), or, if you prefer, sensitive New Age soldiers having existential crises. Therefore, in this instance, the
humor comes from placing the overall storyline in an unexpected context
into the wrong genre. Its a classic example of using the limited characterizations offered by the game environment to play against type to generate
ironic comedy. As such, Red vs. Blue offers a model of how to circumvent the
limits of characterization and casting in machinima (especially in firstperson shooter games) for a range of genres by showing how such limitations
can be a real source of humor. Rooster Teeth, the team that produces the
series, film their scenes inside Halo using four Xbox consoles rigged
together to allow up to 12 players to interact together, with one of them
working the inbuilt camera controls to record the action (Cefrey, 2008). The
team then edits the video footage using Adobe Premiere (Cefrey, 2008).
Today, the quality of these episodes and the ongoing, self-contained soapopera-like narrative make them enjoyable in and of themselves. However,
familiarity with playing Halo itself allows for a whole new level of appreciation of the story.

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Other key texts to emerge out of the early years of the machinima
community include:
Rebel vs. Thug (Dir. Ken Thain, 2002), made using Quake 2, is an early
example of machinima being used to produce music video visuals (see:
http://www.machinima.com:80/film/view&id=232)
Eschaton (Strange Company, 2002), this series, inspired by the work of H.
P. Lovecraft, was Strange Companys first machinima project (see: http://
www.strangecompany.org/strangeco/eschaton). Among their other work
is Tum Raider (2001, http://www.strangecompany.org/strangeco/tum
raider).Commissioned by the BBC, this (surprise, surprise) parody of the
Tomb Raider game features not the svelte, yet strangely buxom Lara
Croft but rather her less athletic brother, Larry.
The Cantina Crawl Series, is an exemplar of the machinima as music
video clip genre. It has been an innovator in getting large numbers of
players to come together and act out a rehearsed script (or in this case,
choreographed dance sequences) en masse for a shoot. Cantina Crawl
is filmed in the Star Wars Galaxies gameworld, which allows for some
fanciful characters and (especially) bar scenes (see for example Cantina
Crawl VII, set to Chumbawumbas song Tubthumping, (http//www.
machinima.com/film/view&id=722#). In addition to the music video
mode, the Cantina Crawl machinima also explore other genres such as
parodyas in the form of movie opening sequences Cantina Crawl XVI
http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.individual&Vide
culture.
oID=1798126)which clearly parallels non-machinima mash-upculture.
The Strangerhood (Rooster Teeth, 20042006) sees the blokes behind
Red vs. Blue expanding beyond the world of first-person shooter games
and into more domestic drama settings, using The Sims to reveal the dark
side of suburbia in a parody of sitcoms and reality TV (see, for example,
http://sh.roosterteeth.com/archive/).
Paul Marino is a key figure in the machinima world (his credits include
being co-founder of the ILL Clan and Executive Director, Academy of
Machinima Arts and Sciences, as well as being on the production team
for many of the films listed above). His machinima music video, Still Seeing Breen (2005), showcases his skill in synching audio and visual tracks
(for example, this music video has highly accomplished lip-synching).
Indeed, this is the first truly successful lip-synched machinima music
video. Its online success prompted MTV to host a machinima music
video competition in 2007. To really get the sophistication of this particular machinima music video, however, it helps to be familiar with the
character, G-Man, who features in the clip and whose day job in the
game Half Life doesnt usually involve singing!

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More recent machinima engages with developments in games platforms,

and mirrors wider shifts in game genres and away from violent gaming (especially as gender levels among players balance out with the introduction of
more girl-friendly platforms such as the Wii with its cute Japanese-inspired
graphic mode). Were also seeing in more recent machinima, evidence of
greater crossover with remix culture in general and its predilection for using
digital media tools to offer social commentary. For example, An Exercise in
Futilitii (2008, USCmachinima) blends live-action action footage and
machinima clips from the Wii Fit game. The main character is a Wii Fit character (and the lad who controls him), and the machinima is told from his
point-of-view (see: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jj_Y3UPoR6Q&feature=channel). For examples of machinima as political commentary, check
out offerings that drew on the 2008 U.S. election campaign, including John
Brennans McCain and Obama: A Half Life 2 modification you can believe in
(2008, http://www.gamepolitics.com/category/topics/machinima); along
with Palin Dances (2008, http://www.machinima.com/film/view&id=3073
6), and the response to it: McCain Loses (2008, http://www.youtube.com/w
atch?v=RTFZSwOrW7I)

Serious machinima
Well, this might all sound well and good as a fan activity, but why might you
wish to pursue machinima as a creative option if your students are serious
about a career in filmmaking? At a basic level, as a cheap filmmaking tool,
machinima can be used to quickly develop portfolio items that showcase your
filmmaking and story-telling capacities. Knowing how to make a film using
basic filmmaking techniquesmise-en-scne considerations, camera angles,
shot/reverse-shot, the power of lighting and music to convey information to
the audience, and moreare present in machinima production, and underscore how quickly machinima is fast emerging as a serious format, especially
when compared to the early days where game players simply cobbled
together brag videos. There are a range of machinima festivals held around
the world each year, and it even has a formal place at the table at prestigious
indie film events such as the Sundance Film Festival. Machinima is being used
to make commercial films, as already seen in relation to the ILL Clans portfolio of films. Award-winning serious films have also followed in the wake
of success stories such as Anna (Fountainhead, 2003, http://www.youtube.c
om/watch?v=bKEr5RRKoO4), which used Quake 3 to create a wordless
fairytale about
about the
the life
life and
and death
death of
of aa single
single flower
flower (Krotoski,
(Krotoski, 2006,
2006, p.
p. 1).
1).
fairytale
Critically
acclaimed,
this
seemingly
simple
story
deftly
employs
pathos
to
Critically acclaimed, this seemingly simple story deftly employs pathos to
engender
an
emotional
relationship
between
the
viewer
and
the
life
and
death
engender an emotional relationship between the viewer and the life and death
of a single flower. Short, not-your-average films such as this are finding new

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and wider audiences than might otherwise be possible through online distribution networks. Indeed, serious machinima film-makers can leverage such
networks to obtain monetary returns on their work. Peter Rasmussen and
Jackie Turnures full-length feature machinima feature Stolen Life
(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wU5DXScNJHo), for example, cost
$25,000 to make, and was distributed initially through the internet. This
movie has now been sold to the HBO television channel for distribution as
well as being available for purchase on DVD. The traditional model of distribution, based on pre-selling distribution rights to broadcast companies
and/or cinema distributors in order to finance a film or television program
gives the gatekeepers (i.e., television programmers, commissioning editors,
film distributors, financiers) ultimate power over determining which stories
will be made available to the public and which will not. In marketing, new
media and creative industries circles, much has been made of the potential
for new models of digital distribution to bypass these traditional gatekeepers
altogether (Anderson, 2006; Bruns, 2006, 2007; Jenkins, 2006). These
modelssuch as online distributionenable producers to immediately and
cost-effectively distribute their product to targeted niche audiences. At the
forefront of new thinking around online distribution is Chris Anderson
(Anderson, 2007). Building on Clay Shirkys (2003) analysis of internet
power laws and Andersons concept of the long tail of internet practices,
Anderson (2007, p. 52) explains:
The theory of the long tail can be boiled down to this: Our culture and economy
are increasingly shifting away from a focus on a relatively small number of hits
(mainstream products and markets) at the head of the demand curve, and moving toward a huge number of niches in the tail [of the demand curve]. In an era
without the constraints of limited shelf space and other bottlenecks of distribution, narrowly targeted goods and services can be as economically viable as mainstream fare.

Narrowly targeted films, for example, are now potentially economically

viable because the online world can operate as a low-cost shopfront for any
film title. As the theory goes, a mix of peer and word-of-mouth networks, the
sophisticated user-preference tracking system behind commercial websites
like Amazon and iTunes, and savvy niche marketing legwork collide in this
moment to provide, for some, a perfect storm of possibility for bypassing traditional gatekeepers.

Machinima: Strengths as a DIY filmmaking and storytelling

medium
In summary, then, the strengths of do-it-yourself machinima include:

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The opportunity to build on a ready-made framework (characters, sets,

props, etc.). In short, filming inside video games accesses a ready-made
animation environment/stage
Game platforms that enable you to re-camthat is, change your camera angle, even after the action has been recordedwhich creates even
more choices when editing the final video
Real-time animation. That is, you dont need to build animated action
polygon by polygon, frame by frame, motion by (stop) motionit simply unfolds and you film it
The option to make use of a world and world-style familiar to emerging
generations of people accustomed to games aesthetics
Cheaper costs than would be incurred otherwise if employing actors and
a crew to create a film (and definitely cheaper and easier to cater for!)
Machinima videos roughness as part of their charm
Providing a cheap space within which to storyboard and/or beta test ideas
and prepare a demo as part of a pitch for a larger-scaled, different kind of
video or film project.

Machinima: Weaknesses as a DIY filmmaking and storytelling

medium
There are a number of weaknesses associated with machinima that also need
to be considered. These include:
The medium being bound by the limits of the platform youre using (e.g.,
avatars, movement, camera angles if no re-camming options are available, lighting, etc.)
A general absence of romance in many of the current role-playing games.
This absence is comment-worthy because romance is a staple of the commercial film industry. That being said, role-playing games like The Sims
and virtual communities like Second Life are starting to provide us with
real people to work with. These kinds of editable, 3D environments
increase opportunities for using machinima to create romance and drama
machinima, and not just comedy and action films
The danger of inadvertent irony (e.g., characters saying something serious while doing something really weird on-screen) or unintentional comedy (e.g., characters saying something strange which doesnt fit the
serious actions of the characters) due to the game in which youre filming and the in-game characters, props and other resources available to
you

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Copyright issues. Machinima currently exists in a legal gray zone. Technically you are breaking user agreements by using the game companys
soundtracks and images, but mercifullyand assuming youre not out
there making mega-bucks from your machinimamost of the companies
whose games are used regularly to create machinima are willing to turn a
blind eye, appreciating the whole thing as a bit of free advertising for
their product. Why piss off the people who love your games when you
dont really need to? That said, do be attentive to issues of copyright,
especially with commercial music. Music companies are far, far less forgiving than the games companies to which they license their music
Achieving naturalistic lip-synching when producing machinima. This lack
of synchrony is fine if youre creating a comedy machinima (or your characters are wearing full-face helmets as in Red vs. Blue), but its not so
good if youre trying to render an extreme close-up of, say, a tender or
profound moment.

Game and machinima genres

Those of you who play video and computer games will know they come in a
variety of flavors. Players tend to stick with the type of game they most enjoy,
whether it is role-playing (RPG), strategy, action-adventure, first-person
shooter, simulation or puzzle games, just to name a few. Machinima itself can
be classified into different genres and modes: music video, social/political
commentary, advertisements, drama and comedy are some of the more common ones. The promotional video clips that game developers make to advertise their games are referred to as official machinima. Every genre of game
can be showcased in this category; however, advertising can use game engines
to promote more than just the game itself. Lets take a brief look at the most
popular game genres used in machinima.
First-person and third-person shooter gamesor shooters for short
have proven to be the most popular genre from which to capture gameplay in
machinima. Games such as Quake and Halo offer machinima makers the
opportunity to film action . . . with guns. Engaging fellow players to enact
scenes online puts a wider cast of characters under the directors control.
Typically, shooter games are (obviously) combat-based with military, special
ops, detective, action-thriller, or science fiction settings. They have pre-set
storylines, plots, characters/avatars, and missions. Suspenseful and unpredictable in terms of what enemies will do and what the environment will
reveal, physically and emotionally visceral, the shooter genre demands skill
and fast reactions on the part of the player. The gameplay, once mastered, is
highly repetitive and goal-oriented. The game characters are often funneled
down a path or through labyrinth-like spaces. Shooters best suit dramatic

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machinima storylines, although Rooster Teeth Productions have used irony

to good effect with Halo characters in Red vs. Blue.
Racing arcade/simulation games such as Forza and driving actionadventures such as Grand Theft Auto focus the camera (and rendered polygons) on the vehicle rather than the characters. Fast-paced racing games put
the player in the drivers seat, and the camera faces out the front windshield
or tracks from behind the players vehicle. Cameras are also positioned
around the racetrack or city streets. Gameplay is funneled, with challenges
and in-game goals unfolding as play progresses. Replays or playbacks of track
action occur automatically, and the movie-maker can use these as a source of
raw material for machinima videos. Free-roaming, mission-based driving
games feature characters as well as the cars and play up the role of enemy
non-player characters and environmental obstacles. These games lend themselves to filming dramatic vehicle chases in the spirit of The Transporter or
James Bond movies. Players can be either highly skilled to orchestrate long
stunt-packed races or be mediocre players to quickly create and film a spectacular crash.
Life simulation games such as The Sims franchise and 3D environments
like Second Life are fast gaining popularity in the machinima world, especially among female DIY directors. They feature a host of player-adapted
characters and environments that are manipulated as a group in single-player
mode or individually online in multiplayer mode. Settings are familiar: shopping malls, parks, and suburban homes (although Second Life offers a rich
range of fictional spaces as well). Re-enactments of (or newly written) political speeches by, for instance, Senator McCain or President Obama (who both
feature in Sims 3) are possible. Creating advertisements for household products or shops and services are within the realm of the machinima-maker who
plays life simulation games. These kinds of games and 3D worlds are often
used to re-enact favorite music videos, although still with mixed success in
terms of lip-synch, dance-synch and character and scene likeness to the original piece. New music videos are easier to develop using scenes from dancing
gamessuch as High Street 5, a free-to-play online gamethat plays the
song you want to feature with characters that by default dance in time with
the music. The Movies is a computer game that is ideal for those who want to
develop and stage a new script. The game entails hiring and firing actors,
keeping actors happy, earning money to buy sets and props, and the like.
These resources can then be used to make directed machinima, with the
recording software built directly into the game. Movie Storm (http://www.m
oviestorm.co.uk) while technically not a game is an animation engine that
can be used to create machinima. Drama, comedy, social commentary, and
fantasy films, along with dance clips, are all possible machinima to create
using life simulations.

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Role-playing games, especially massively multiplayer online role-playing

games (MMORPGs), such as World of Warcraft and the Final Fantasy series,
offer exotic characters in fantasy locations. The machinima-maker will have
plenty of opportunity to explore scenarios in the free-roaming character-rich
environments of RPGs. Activities range across run-of-the-mill foe slaying,
magic spell-casting, epic battles, object searching and/or procurement, and
simple conversations between different classes of characters. The objective
is to level up your character or avatar to access new environments and more
valuable objects/weapons while at the same time engaging in more challenging quests. MMORPGs allow the machinima maker to film many players
avatars (who often fight in groups called guilds) in action. Animated TV
series South Parks Make Love, Not Warcraft episode is a classic example of
art imitating life imitating art, as well as a superb use of machinima in a commercial context. Machinima makers will need to clock up many playing hours
(or use an experienced player) to best take advantage of all that role-playing
games have to offer.
SECTION TWO

Machinima: Before you start

Hopefully by now youre chomping at the bit to get started on a project that
sets you up as the logical successor to Pixars dominance of the animation
market. But before you jump into it, remember that in machinimaas in any
form of narrativeultimately what matters isnt the whizzbang technology,
but the quality of the story being told.
Before seriously sitting down to make a piece of machinima, its important to plan out what it is youre going to do. Think about the game platform
youre going to use and how you are going to record raw footage. Different
platforms require different methods for capturing onscreen gameplay. Make
a short list of games that are suitable for your purposes. What sets, characters and camera angles does a specific game offer you? How do these fit with
the storyworld of your proposed creative piece?
If you havent already done so, check out the competition. What do
other machinima clips look like in your chosen genre? What features appeal?
What works and what doesnt?
Be realistic. Set short, achievable targets for your first pieces so that you
can see the final result quickly, and start sharing your work with the machinima world as soon as you can. Other machinima makers feedback on your
workwhether sobering or rewardingwill be invaluable to you. Music
videos (see the activities at end of this chapter) are a popular option to start
with, but keep in mind music copyright laws; you dont want to have to pull

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your piece from public display because the artists label is bombarding you
with cease and desist or else letters from their lawyers.

Machinima: A basic how to

Step 1: Play
To make a machinima movie, you need to play a game. For avid gamers, this
wont be a problem. For people who have not touched a console or computer game in the last few years, be prepared to put in some time playing a
game before you start recording, or persuade an expert gamer to play the
game for you. Either way, its important to be as familiar as you can be with
a game before you start capturing gameplay. You may have to try out several
games before you find one that best suits your purposes. Consider it research
and spend 5 to 50 hours doing it. Why play a game before recording?
Gain expertise, points or money to access areas, items and characters in
the gameworld that are useful to you as actors, props and filming
locations.
Find optimal paths that best show off an action sequence or a subject,
especially if the camera will be fixed in certain positions.
Become familiar with the complete range of movement under your
control.
Say, for example, you want to record footage of a racing game for a music
clip. Youll need to test out different racetracks and a range of vehicles within
the game before you find the right combination. What camera views show off
the cars and the setting? What time of day, weather or lighting is appropriate
for the mood of your piece? How should you take a corner to best show off
drift? At what point should you try a 360o spin or spectacular roll?
There comes a point when your playing is no longer research. Its a
rehearsal, and you are ready for the next step.

Step 2: Storyboard
Movie-making buffs know the importance of storyboarding, but gamers
often bypass it to record. Or they might record, then storyboard the footage
they know they have to hand. Our preference is to storyboard first and, if
necessary, adapt the storyboard after recording footage. This is the process
game developers use to make in-game cut scenes and promotional videos or
official machinima.

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Think of a storyboard as a visual plan where you set out key scenes, POV
(point of view), camera angles, shot type (distant, mid, close) and timing (see
Figure 6.1).

Figure 6.1: An example of a machinima storyboard (used with permission

from Alexandro Nuez, 2009)

Storyboards can take any form, from the hastily sketched to the carefully
drawn-and-dialogued plan. Some machinima makers suggest using comics
softwarelike Comic Life (Mac) or Comic Book Creator (PC)and stills
from your game footage to storyboard your machinima clip or movie.
Storyboarding can be an efficient approach to machinima making, especially if you have a time limit on your piece as well as your production, or are
working with a multi-player cast. Take the music racing clip, for example. If
you have a soundtrack that runs for two minutes, you need to plan for two
minutes of edited visuals. Listen to the music while you sketch the key scenes.
Will you cut fast-paced beats to speeding vehicles vying for the lead position
on the track, the crescendo to a spectacular crash, and the denouement to
crossing the winning line?
Storyboarding key scenes is like writing the visual story for your machinima clip, even if there are no words or clear-cut narrative. It allows you to put
time and effort into recording the gameplay that means the most to your creative piece. This is particularly important if you have a deadline, because you
focus on recording gameplay that is relevant to the storyboard, and ultimately, to the overall story itself. If, for some reason, you cant get all the
shots, revisit the storyboard. It will come in handy when you edit your clip,
too.

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Step 3: Record
Capturing gameplay can be easy or complicated, depending on the game, the
platform, the recording device and your expectations. There are a range of
parameters that can steer it in either direction:
1. Scripted or non-scripted action: Scripted action is when players can
manipulate the game engine to create certain actions at unique times. This,
then, isnt referring to script as movie dialogue for actors to speak but
rather to script as actual programming commands that tell actors where to
go and what to do. This script is then run inside the game and the action
recorded. The good thing about this kind of scripting is that tinkering with
and re-playing scenes is a snap and avoids having to start each scene from
scratch when a retake is required (for more on this, see, for example, Galder,
no date). Game developers use scripted action and character interaction to
create cut scenes. Moddersplayers who tinker with the game program itself
to make changes or additions to the game based on their own preferences
do this to have more control over their game environment. Some games
make it easy for players to manipulate the game environment (e.g., World of
Warcraft, Neverwinter Nights). Other games dont (e.g., the Harry Potter
video games). Non-scripted action utilizes whatever action is available to the
player during the normal course of the game. (It is still scripted of course,
but by the programmers in the process of actually making the game.) If you
are not an experienced gamer, chances are you will be recording action that is
not player-scripted. You need to make do with the in-game action and cameras available to you.
2. Camera positions: Depending on the genre of the game, there will be
a limited range of camera positions at the machinima makers disposal. A
player can maintain one camera position or point of view (POV) during a
recording session (e.g., through the eyes of the character they are playing,
from above the action), then re-play (if its a scripted movie) and record in
another to capture the same sequence from multiple viewpoints, or switch
between POVs throughout the sequence. The storyboard comes in handy
for knowing which shots require which POV. Another trick is to get other
players to join in, if the game allows them to do so (e.g., online), and have
each of them record the sequence from their own POV. That way, each player
can concentrate on their own progress and the shots are edited for continuity in post-production. If you are lucky (or particularly motivated to find an
add-on application to do this) you can script camera positions to automatically occur at certain locations in an action sequence.
3. Lip-synchronization: The bane of machinima makers is to convincingly
synch the movement of characters mouths and facial expressions with the

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words they speak. Unless you are using in-game dialogue (in which case the
dialogue lines and lip movements should already be synched), do not attempt
to achieve lip-sync in your first efforts at machinima-making. Fudge it. Draw
attention away from it. Find creative ways to overcome it, such as the previously mentioned use of full-face helmets in Red vs. Blue). Few characterbased games support easy synchronization with player-originated dialogue.
Some of you will have high expectations, however, and will aim for something that at least comes close. In the case of the latter, study the range of ingame dialogue available to your character and record voiceover that uses
similar mouth movements.
4. Sound: Recording dialogue, whether it is a straightforward narration or
character voices, can make or break the entertainment value of a machinima
clip. Professionally animated scenes use the professional voiceover of hired
actors. If you (and a friend) are recording the voiceover yourself, put emotion
and projection into your voice. Try recording the same line spoken in several
different ways so that you can pick the most suitable one in post-production.
Most machinima use in-game sound effects but you may want to record a
few of your own for emphasis or download sound effects from online archives
(see Chapter 3 in this volume for more on this). Soundtracks, particularly for
music clips, should be considered before recording gameplay to create the
best match between visual and audio. Otherwise a professional sound engineer and composer can create original scores, or you can do-it-yourself using
Garageband (ships free with Macs) or software like Cakewalk (PCs).
5. HUD icons and interface: Depending on the method of recording and
the flexibility of the game interface in terms of turning off on-screen gameplay information, elements of the heads-up-display (HUD) may appear in the
captured footage. This display can include player statistics regarding health,
wealth, location, and the like (if you found the Leeroy Jenkins video
described earlier, youll have seen the players HUD clearly). If you cannot
remove this information from the screen, you may be able to move them out
of the recording frame if you are using an external screen capture application.
If not, include them in the design of your piece.
6. Recording software: Depending on the games platform, there are
numerous methods for capturing gameplay. PC- or Mac-based games require
screen-recording software if they dont already have an in-built recording system (e.g., for replays) to which the player has access. Some recorders are free,
such as CamStudio (http://www.camstudio.org), and trial versions of Fraps
(http://www.fraps.com) and Debut (http://www.nchsoftware.com) all for
PCs, and free trial versions of IShowU (http://www.apple.com) and Snapz
Pro X (http://www.ambrosiasw.com) for Macs. However, trial versions set
limitations on recording and often watermark the footage. Players of console

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games can use a USB video capture card (which plugs into the console itself)
to record game footage which they can then transfer from the console to
their computer. Players also can make use of the more traditional method of
connecting their TV to a DVD recorder or digital camcorder. Online games
and environments like The Sims and Second Life have built-in screen recording software that saves footage directly to your computer. It is also possible to
connect the video output from a console (or multiple consoles) to a computer instead of a television and record gameplay using the computers screen
capture software. Experimenting with what suits you and your technical skills
best is the key to successful recording. Determine what method you use to
record gameplay before, even, you decide on which game you source your
machinima from.
In what follows we describe step-by-step how to create a simple machinima. This overview tutorial uses Mac software, making machinima with PCs
follows very similar principles.

Sample gameplay capturing session

1. Launch your game of choice on your computer.
2. Open iShowU (see Figure 6.2).
3. Adjust recording parameters (e.g., presets, which govern size and resolution) if required, and if you want external sound as well as game sound to be
recorded (see Input selection options). It could be useful to record your
voiceover while manipulating the characters onscreen.
4. Click on Edit Recording Area to adjust the screen capture frame (a
lightly-outlined box that by default will follow your cursor movements) to
match desired field of gameplay area. Follow the instructions, or click on the
corners and on the highlighted box itself to move your screen capture frame
to where you want it. Press Enter to save your changes. Deselect Follow
mouse cursor at the bottom of this window, unless you want to move the
video recording frame during gameplay. We suggest you ensure the recording
frame excludes the game control and HUD information, as well as the
iShowU recording controls themselves, so that you can manipulate the game
and recording session off screen. Click on the Record button at the bottom of the window to start recording and start the gameplay.
5. Click on Finish button to stop recording. The movie file will save, by
default, to your desktop (or wherever you have set your computer to save
downloaded and other files automatically). If you cant find it, the file is automatically titled iShowU_Capture.mov and you can search for it.

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6. Click on your freshly captured movie clip and it will open and play in
Quicktime. Decide whether youre happy with the clip, or would like to
record it again.

Figure 6.2: The opening screen of iShowU. (Image used with permission from
Shinywhitebox.com, 2009).

Record about ten times more than what your final machinima requires.
Make numerous movies of raw gameplay footage; this is definitely a case of
more is better. Again, this is where the storyboard (or shot list; see the following section) proves useful. You know which key shots are required, so you
can create multiple recordings of each in order to be able to choose the best
among them for your final machinima. Be flexible during the recording sessions. If the unexpected happensand it looks great, or moves the story in a
different directionadapt the storyboard to accommodate the shot.

Step 4: Edit
The art of video editing is a process which can be learnt through training and
study, but it takes skill to do it well. Teaching that skill is well beyond the
scope of this chapter; however, we can provide a few pointers (see also Chapters 7 and 9 in this volume).
Make sure that the editing software you usesuch as iMovie (Macs) or
Windows Movie Maker (PCs)can import and export the video file format
you are using. This refers to the file format of the raw and edited game

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footage. Popular formats are *.avi, *.mpg and *.mov. iShowU, for example,
saves onscreen video recordings as *.mov files, which play in Quicktime.
Some formats are incompatible with certain software (both in terms of editing and playing), so consider your own software requirements as well as your
audiences. There are also different rates of compression. Higher rates of
compression result in a lower standard of visual and audio quality; however
they upload and download faster (e.g., YouTube videos are highly compressed). Aspect ratio is another consideration. A width-height ratio of 4:3 is
a typical landscape format. Recording in one aspect ratio and exporting in
another may distort the final image. Make sure they are the same or are converted appropriately.
Choice of editing software also influences the creative direction of the
edited piece. Some simple video editors have two tracks: one for audio and
one for video. This means that you need to supply a complete soundtrack
(including dialogue, sound effects and music) and edit visuals to it from one
video source. This type of editing software is okay if all you have is, say, a
piece of music and you are making a machinima music clip from one gameplay recording session. Professional editing suiteslike Adobe Premier Pro
or Avid Express Prohave multiple tracks which allow you to combine ingame sound, voiceover, music and multiple gameplay recordings.
Transition effects between shots can carry or interrupt the flow of the
piece. You can make direct cuts from one shot to another, either from
game footage to another sequence of game footage, or cuts to black followed
by game footage. Fades and other transitions are creative decisions. Use them
if they are effective. Music clips are often edited to the beat of the soundtrack. This means timing transitions to synch them with the music. Music
clips are a good way for a beginner to hone his or her machinima editing
skills.
Okay, you are familiar with your editing software (for more how-to
advice, see Chapters 7 and 9 in this volume) and now face the prospect of
picking the best shots out of twenty minutes (or twenty hours!) of raw game
footage to create two minutes of machinima.
1. Using your storyboard as a guide, review the raw footage and note at
which times an appropriate shot appears. It may help to organize a 5-column shot list (either at this point or earlier in the process). Number and
describe each shot in order of their appearance in the first two columns of
your shot list. Note the start and finish of the raw footage time codes in the
next two columns for each shot, followed by the expected duration for each
shot in the edited piece.
2. Start selecting the desired footage, concentrating on the most important
scenes first (if you run out of time, you can cut or adapt the minor scenes). It

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would be a shame to spend all your time on the first part of the clip and rush
the finale.
3. Do a rough edit first without transitions or special effects or perfect timing. Use placeholders for any on-screen text (this could even be blank
slides that will later become the movie title or credits list). Are you happy
with the transition from storyboard to screen?
4. Its time to put the storyboard aside and polish the piece on its own merits. Place any on-screen text thats needed (e.g., movie title, credits). Insert
the transitional effects. Fine-tune the timing of your edits.

Step 5: Disseminate
Build your portfolio online. Post your machinima clip to YouTube if you
want to make it public or share it with your friends via a social networking
site such as Facebook. Be aware of the technical conditions or social restrictions of certain avenues of distribution. There might be a size (megabyte)
limit, a preferred file format, and audience ratings and feedback to consider.
The important thing is to ensure your machinimas accessibility. Do your
homework on your distribution channels before putting it out there.
The Machinima Filmfest (http://festival.machinima.org/) held every
year in New York hosts the Mackie Awards, which are given to outstanding
machinima productions in numerous categories, including best long format
(over 20 minutes), short format (under 20 minutes), independent producer,
student work, game studio machinima produced by a developer, direction,
virtual performance, voice-acting, visual design, cinematography, original
music, sound design, writing, editing and machinima series. The award categories show just how professional machinima has become as an entertainment form. Europe followed suit with its own machinima festival, beginning
in 2007. The Australian Centre for the Moving Image ran a two-day machinima festival program and series of workshops in 2008. Some film and animation festivals around the world, such as BitFilm (http://www.bitfilm.com/fes
tival/) in Germany, now have a machinima category. The Sundance Film Fe
stival has hosted machinima panel sessions since 2005. Some games companieslike Blizzardhost machinima competitions and screenings. There are
growing opportunities for talented machinima makersincluding machinima makers still in schoolto be officially recognized for their work.

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SECTION THREE
Suggested machinima activities
Even if youre not feeling especially skilled at or familiar with gaming, or with
recording and editing software, we suggest you try your hand at the following activities to help build your students machinima portfolio. Have them
aim at making several short clips (90120 seconds each in duration) so that
their work can be created and viewed quickly. As mentioned in the first pages
of this chapter, there are numerous categories that machinima falls into.
Machinima has developed far beyond the boasts of gamers about their
exploits to include social commentary, comedy, drama, advertisements and
music videos, just to name a few. We encourage you and your students to
contribute to these increasingly popular forms of entertainment.
1. The music video: Regarded as the easiest type of machinima to make,
the music video requiresin its most basic formthat you select a soundtrack, play any game, and edit shots in sync with the music. More sophisticated efforts include dancers and singers. Character-based games are
best for the latter. We have seen High Street 5, an online multiplayer dancing
game, used with great results.
2. Social commentary: Using either previously recorded dialogue or wellwritten original dialogue, record and edit gameplay footage to make a powerful social comment. Encourage your students to draw on the elements of
irony, for example, to promote peace using footage from a first-person
shooter game. Recreate a famous persuasive speech in front of a virtual audience of avatars in Second Life.
3. Advertisements: Whether you are promoting your own product, someone elses (beware of libel), or a fictional one, advertisements can be as spectacular as a movie trailer or as ubiquitous as a web banner animation. Search
online for Volvos Game On television ad, or Coca-Colas Grand Theft
Auto-style Coke side of life commercial, to use as models to show your students how machinima has been used for real-world marketing purposes. As
with any marketing endeavor, be aware of your audience. Use an existing jingle or make up one of your own. Write and design on-screen text. Choose
your game wisely. Do you want to shock or lure? How much of a story can
you tell? How can you sell it without revealing too much? We have seen
convincing fictional advertisements using Sims characters and sets.
4. Drama: Have students think of a scene from a favorite movie or television drama and recreate it using either the original soundtrack or by recording their own. Better still, showcase your own scriptwriting talent and make

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a scene, literally. The Movies is a game where you can write and direct your
own shoots. Its also an excellent way of side-stepping copyright issues and
enables students to explore and experiment with script writing, staging, lighting, music soundtrack effects, and other filmic elements in a highly accessible
(and affordable) way.
5. Comedy: Despite being the most difficult to do and the most fun to
watch, irony seems to work best in machinima comedy. Have your students
record an original voiceover audio file and play it over simple exchanges
between game characters. Red vs. Blue does this to hilarious effect using Halo
characters that do little more than stand beside each other. The challenging
part is not the gameplay; its the storyline and the script.
To sum up, machinima-making in school encourages students to produce
their own animated movies, rather than merely consume animations made by
others (McClay, Mackey, Carbonaro, Szafron, & Schaeffer, 2007). It also
engages students in thinking closely about narrative structure and writing
with moving images. Indeed, as Lawrence Lessig, a renowned advocate for
DIY remix culture, reminds us during an interview with Richard Koman
(2005, no page):
When you say the word writing, for those of us over the age of 15, our conception of writing is writing with text . . . But if you think about the ways kids under
15 using digital technology think about writingyou know, writing with text is
just one way to write, and not even the most interesting way to write. The more
interesting ways are increasingly to use images and sound and video to express
ideas.

Thus, even if teachers themselves are not interested in creating their own
machinima, knowing that it can be done is important.
Machinima-making also pushes teachers and students alike to move
beyond digital story-telling practices and into the realm of authentic, prototypical movie making. This is not to diminish the value of digital story-telling
practices in any waystudies and projects have shown time and time again
how much students enjoy and learn from being able to insert still images into
video editing software to create a video and then adding a voiceover track to
complete the narrative (cf., Hull, 2004; Tarasiuk, 2009). What machinima
offers you and your students is somewhere to go once youve explored the
possibilities of digital storytelling. And, of course, a key advantage of machinima is the way in which it leverages game playing proficiencies in meaningful
ways inside the classroom. Avid gamers can focus their energies on developing innovative storylines because they are familiar with what can be done in
multiple game worlds. Not-so-avid gamers are provided with opportunities
for looking at games in a different waythrough the eyes of a movie-maker.

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At the same time, teachers can work to hone students understanding of film
narrative structures and engage them in developing cinematic skills and techniques that will serve them well beyond school. DIY machinima reminds
educators that narrative fiction itself is not a static form and that it is important to remain open to new ways of telling tales. As Jill McClay and her colleagues point out to teachers, in their study of Grade 10 students writing
machinima scripts using the Neverwinter Nights game engine,
[a]s young people increasingly become able to produce fiction in game and
other digital formats, their consumption, production and understanding of fiction in such formats will likely develop in ways that we cannot now predict
(McClay et al., 2007, p. 273).

We conclude this chapter with a list of resources you might find useful as
you begin exploringand creatingyour own machinima, or machinima
with your students.

Key websites and online archives

These websites are useful starting places, not least because they host excellent
examples of the rich range of machinima that can be produced.
Machinima.com (http://www.machinima.com)
ILL Clan Animation Studios (http://www.illclan.com)
The Overcast: A Machinima Podcast series (http://theovercast.com)
Machinimag (http://www.machinimag.com)

Machinima capture and editing software

Before committing to buying a software program, explore the free and demo
programs available to test on various platforms in order to obtain a better
idea of the strengths and weakness of each for the kind of storytelling you
want to do.
Fraps (http://www.fraps.com)
iShowU (http://www.apple.com)
Gamecam (http://www.planetgamecam.com)
ScriptEase (http://www.cs.ualberta.ca/~script/), a program that runs
inside the game, Neverwinter Nights and enables you to script scenes
without necessarily having played the game itself much
Debut (http://www.nchsoftware.com/capture/)

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CamStudio (http://www.camstudio.org)
FastCap (http://www.ejoystudio.com/)

Adobe Premiere (http://www.adobe.com/products/premiere/)

Final Cut Pro (http://www.apple.com/finalcutstudio/finalcutpro/)

Sound and music recording and editing software

Audacity (http://audacity.sourceforge.net; see also Chapters 2 and 3 in
this volume)
Garageband (http://www.apple.com/ilife/garageband)
Cakewalk (http://www.cakewalk.com)

Popular game engines used to create machinima

Battlefield 1942

Quake I, II & III

Grand Theft Auto

Second Life

Halo

Neverwinter Nights

High Street 5

The Sims

The Movies

Unreal Tournament

Half Life I & II

World of Warcraft

Machinima: Key How to Guides (books)

Hancock, H. & Ingram, J. (2007). Machinima for dummies. Hoboken, NJ:
Wiley Publishing.
Kelland, M., Morris, D. & Lloyd, D. (2005). Machinima: Making movies in
3D virtual environments. Boston, MA: Thomson.
Marino, P. (2004). 3D Game-based filmmaking: The art of machinima.
Scottsdale, AZ: Paraglyph Press.
Weber, A., Rufer-Bach, K., & Platel, R. (2008). Creating your world: The official guide to advanced content creation for Second Life. Indianapolis, IN:
Wiley Publishing (especially Chapter 13).

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Machinima: Key How To Guides (online)

Machinimag (http://www.machinimag.com)
Machinima.coms Machinima 101 tutorials (http://machinima.com/machi
nima101/index)

References
Anderson, C. (2007). The long tail: How endless choice is creating unlimited demand.
London: Random House.
Bruns, A. (2006). Wikinews: The next generation of alternative online news? Scan Journal, 3 (1). Retrieved on February 12, 2009, from http://scan.net.au/scan/journal/di
splay.php?journal_id=69
Bruns, A. (2007, June). Produsage: Towards a broader framework for user-led content
creation. Paper presented at the: Creativity & Cognition 6 Conference, Washington,
DC.
Cefrey, H. (2008). Career building through machinima: Using video games to make movies.
New York: Rosen Publishing Group.
Galder, D. (no date). Scripting tutorials. Bioware. Retrieved on February 20, 2009, from
http://nwn.bioware.com/builders/sctutorial.html
Hancock, H. & Ingram, J. (2007). Machinima for dummies. Hoboken, NJ: Wiley Publishing.
Hull, G. (2004). Youth culture and digital media: New literacies for new times. Research
in the Teaching of English, 38(2), 229233.
Isbister, K. (2005). Better game characters by design: A psychological approach. San
Francisco: Morgan Kaufmann Publishers.
Jenkins, H. (2006). Convergence culture: Where old and new media collide. New York:
New York University Press.
Juul, J. (2001). Games telling stories? A brief note on games and narratives. The
International Journal of Computer Game Studies, 1(1). Retrieved on February 12,
2009, from http://www.gamestudies.org/0101/juul-gts/
Kohler, C. (2007). Machinima series Red vs. Blue ends tour of duty. Wired. June 26.
Retrieved February 21, 2009 from http://www.wired.com/entertainment/theweb/
news/2007/06/redversusblue
Koman, R. (2005). Remixing culture: An interview with Lawrence Lessig. Retrieved April
22, 2006,from http://www.oreillynet.com/pub/a/policy/2005/02/24/lessig.html
Krotoski, A. (2006). Lights, camera, joystick. The Age. Retrieved on February 12, 2009,
from http://www.theage.com.au/news/film/lights-camera-joystick/2006/01/26/
1138066913864.html?page=fullpage#contentSwap2
Lowood, H. (2006). Storyline, dance/music, or PvP?: Game movies and community
players in World of Warcraft. Games and Culture, 1(4), 362382.
McClay, J., Mackey, M., Carbonaro, M., Szafron, D., & Schaeffer, J. (2007). Adolescents
composing fiction in digital game and written formats: Tacit, explicit and metacognitive strategies.E-learning. 4(3): 273284. Retrieved February 12, 2009, from
http://www.wwwords.co.uk/elea/
Neitzel, B. (2005). Narrativity in computer games. In J. Raessens and J. Goldstein (Eds.),
Handbook of Computer Game Studies, (pp. 227245), Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.

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Shirky, C. (2003). Power laws, weblogs, and inequality. Clay Shirkys Writings About the
Internet: Economics & Culture, Media & Community, Open Source. Retrieved February 21, 2009, from http://www.shirky.com/writings/powerlaw_weblog.html
Tarasiuk, T. (2009). Extreme reading in the middle grades. NewLits.org Wiki. Retrieved
February 21, 2009, from http://capricorn.montclair.edu/newlits/index.php/Extre
me_Reading_in_the_Middle_Grades
Wikipedia (2009). Leeroy Jenkins. Retrieved February 21, 2009, from http://en.wikiped i
a.org/wiki/Leeroy_Jenkins

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Chapter 7

Stop Motion Animation

ANGELA THOMAS AND NICOLE TUFANO

This chapter contains a mix of voices of, and input from, a range of people.
Writing this text was a collaborative process that spanned three countries
(Australia, the U.S. and the U.K.). Given the distributed nature of this writing, weAngela and Nicoleeach took principal responsibility for particular
sections in order to simplify things. Thus, in what follows, the I referenced
in sections 1 and 3 refers to Angela, and the I in section 2 refers to Nicole.

SECTION ONE
An overview of stop motion animation and current DIY trends
Animation has been a significant form throughout the history of cinema,
prompting, informing and responding to each of the technical innovations
in production (Chong, 2008, p. 15). Chong labels animation as a modernist
art form, a form which engages with, underpins, and changes culture and
society. Animation is, according to Chong (2008, p. 1), the technique of
filming successive drawings or positions of models to create an illusion of
movement when the film is shown as a sequence. Stop motion is the branch
of digital animation where some form of model is used; these models can be
as wide-ranging as paper doll cutouts, Legotm blocks, clay figures, toys, and
even people.

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Stop motion animation is a form of filmmaking which has a long history.

In fact, the first such film was recorded in 1889 and was titled The Humpty
Dumpty Circus. This movie consisted of two filmmakers using a childs
wooden circus toy set to make a silent film (The Big Cartoon Database,
2007). Now, some 120 years later, stop motion animation is highly popular
with modern film makers, and has become well known through television
and films such as Aardman Studios Wallace and Grommit, Tim Burtons The
Nightmare Before Christmas (directed by Henry Selick), Oscar-winning
Adam Elliots Harvie Krumpet, and two recently released movies, Coraline
and Mary and Max.
Stop motion, like all genres of animation, is based on several important
principles: (1) it uses the technique of producing a series of still imageseach
capturing incremental changes in the scenebefore converting this series of
images into a film sequence; (2) it plays on the viewers persistence of
vision (Webster, 2005, p. 4). That is, it creates an optical illusion whereby
the viewer experiences a slight delay in vision, and the eyes naturally fill in
the gaps between the still images and actually interpret them as moving
images; and (3) it requires an excellent observation of reality to analyze
movements and sequences of movements for any particular motion to be
converted into hundreds of tiny minute steps. In short, it requires a finehoned understanding of timing.
In his introduction to digital animation, Chong (2008) makes three
highly significant observations about the use of technology to create any
form of animation which in summary include: (1) new technologies come
and go, but animation is more about the creativity of the animator (i.e., story
and creativity before form); (2) its not about technical dexterity with technology; and (3) [e]mbracing new technology and its potential does not
mean abandoning previous core skills and knowledge. The old and the new
must always be brought together to achieve the most persuasive and original
developments in the form (Chong, 2008, p. 6). These core values, skills and
knowledge all relate to one concept: telling a story. Creating a narrative,
developing characters, and finding a visual aesthetic in which to place them
are essential and central values at the heart of all filmmaking.
Chongs observations are significant because animation as a whole is considered an art form, a means of expression, and a form where photo-realism
is not necessarily the ultimate goal. Although some studios specializing in
three-dimensional computer-generated image (CGI) animation do try to
achieve a level of photo-realism, there are many animators who are not interested in this at all. These animators prefer to focus on creating a whole new
aesthetic and an individual voice which is both recognizable and loved by
audiences as animation in its own right and for its own value. In fact, it has
often been the limitations of computer graphics and technology that have

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forced filmmakers of animation to think beyond traditional techniques and

create new ones. Certainly, the makers of the movie Coraline concur, with
head story artist Chris Butler revealing:
Every time Ive worked on a stop motion project it pushes the technique so
much furtherto the point where sometimes, you cant believe theyre puppets
. . . there were a lot of things that were innovative that came out of the need to
make this movie better, to really put us on the map. (Butler, as cited in Jones,
2009, p. 210)

and lead animator on this same movie, Travis Knight, explaining:

Im particularly interested in finding ways to do really avant-garde animation.
Animation that is really unique and pushes the senses of what people think animation can and should be. (Knight, as cited in Jones, 2009, p. 210)

Coraline also raised a much higher level of consciousness about the production processes of a full-feature-length stop motion animation film with its
clever marketing campaign. First of all, the production team released hundreds of behind-the-scene images to various mainstream media outlets (see,
for example, http://photos.latimes.com/backlot/gallery/coraline/2008/9/
15/Coraline_teresa_drilling).Then they made their own YouTube video
channel and released 13 short video clips, mostly sharing more behind-thescenes footage but also including audience reactions and a focus on the voice
actor cast. These videos revealed such things as the painstaking work behind
creating hair textures, the process of creating miniature knitted costumes,
and the drawer full of tiny faces used to create a scene of dialogue for Coraline (seen at: http://photos.latimes.com/backlot/gallery/coraline/2008/9/
15/Coraline_replacements_face).But one of the most unique pieces of marketing the production team did was to send out 50 individualized Coraline
mystery boxesboxes or suitcases that contained pieces of the set, stills
and even some of the puppets inside themto 50 very lucky, reasonably
high-profile, but everyday, bloggers. This caused a sensation across the blogosphere, with bits and pieces of the movie now spread out across the world,
blogged about, photographed, sent to Flickr and elsewhere. Each blogger
had their own story to tell and each received a personalized letter from the
film company revealing why they were chosen as a recipient of the mystery
box. Some people even filmed the big reveal as they opened the boxes (seen
at: http://www.animationarchive.org/2008/11/more-on-our-coraline-suit
case.html). These marketing and publicity approaches raised a significant,
broad-based awareness and appreciation of stop motion animation techniques as an art form.

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DIY stop motion

With the mushrooming of participatory culture and DIY media, stop motion
animation has quickly become a means of expression for a much younger
generation of amateur and budding filmmakers. Stop motion animation
tends to be a form of choice by many animation fans because of the minimal
financial outlay required. With simple tools like iStopMotion (for Macs; a free
demo version is available, and the cost of basic software is only $49) and Stop
Motion Pro (for PCs; for $70), and a webcam or digital camera and a tripod,
the costs to make a stop motion movie are really quite affordable. Apple markets iStopMotion as a family product, using children and their toys as the
hero images in their publicity campaigns. They claim that their casual user in
fact is the typical family where the parents want to have fun with the kids
while providing them with a productive, creative and educational experience
(Boinx Software Ltd. 2009, no page). Stop Motion Pro (2009) for PC users
also claims that young children can learn to use their software in just minutes.
They offer a Stop Motion Pro Junior edition with a simplified interface for
younger users and include a school showcase section on their website sidebar.
There are also two free PC programs that are recommended for PC users:
Monkey Jam and Stop Motion Animator.
But even if you cannot afford or do not have access to the stop motion
software, the minimal requirements are a computer and a camera, as most
computers come packaged with simple video editing software which can
import still images and lace them together into movie format (as we describe
later in this chapter). So the message is quite clear: stop motion is affordable
and easy to learn. In fact, Chong claims:
Tools such as iStopMotion represent the democratisation of computer technology and the benefits of digitisation for amateur and professional animators. The
simplicity of the interface allows the user to ignore the technology and concentrate on the animation (Chong, 2008, p. 107).

This echoes the work of David Buckingham, who speaks to the development of media education as a move towards democratization and the valuing
of childrens out-of-school DIY experiences and practices (Buckingham,
2003). This also harks back to the core values of digital animation I highlighted earlierthe narrative and artistry of animation are more important
than the technical software used to capture it. Of course, stop motion animation software does have its own unique affordances, and people are using
these along with video editing programs to create magical, stunning pieces of
work.
The simplicity of stop motion animation can be exemplified best by viewing the videos of Keegan, who created her first stop animation at 3 years of

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age, and has recently added a new animation at age four. Keegan is helped by
her father, Greg, but clearly does all the animating herself while Greg does
the editing and final video uploading to YouTube. This is evident because
Greg included a making of excerpt on one video and we see Keegan moving her toys bit by bit and running back and forth to the computer to take a
shot in between each movement (see Figure 7.1).

Figure 7.1: Animal Hospital (Keegan, at age 3) Image used with permission, 2009
(Source: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zKhW-Slwdr8)

By four, Keegan had developed much more sophisticated filming and

storytelling techniques, using high angles and long shots to create different
scenes, moods, and power relations between the audience and the text (see
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ET4d2qeB6r8). Keegan is learning
these techniques at four years old, and is also being encouraged to use broadcasting media such as YouTube to share her work with the world to elicit
views, feedback and ratings on her work. As one of her commenters stated:
just think what shell be capable of when she is five! (twiggarts, 2008, no
page).
The best sources of information about stop motion video are found on
any number of fan and animator sites, and of course the most popular broadcast medium for DIY film makers: YouTube. Typically, an animation fan site
will offer information, how-to demonstration video tutorials, a discussion
forum or message board, detailed notes about stop motion techniques and a
gallery or showcase of members work. Some sites, like the Anim8 Stop
Motion site (http://www.anim8stopmotion.com), also contain interviews

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with emerging animators who have had their work showcased or featured or
popularized on YouTube. I was fortunate to meet up with Micky, the creator
of the Anim8 Stop Motion site, and I asked him a few questions via email
about his site and about his observations of current stop motion hits and
trends. Heres what he had to say.
ANGELA: Why are you a fan of stop motion and what made you start the
Anim8 Stop Motion site?
MICKY: I have always loved cartoons from being a young child to now, this
included all types of animation. When I was younger I wanted to be an animator
but as time passed I found myself being drawn in a different direction, namely
web design.
In my final year of university I had to develop a major project around any subject
matter I wanted, and having researched lots of different possibilities I was sitting
on YouTube one night watching some really crude stop motion animation but
enjoying it all the same while thinking, I would like to make something like this.
Then I came up with this idea to do something with stop motion animation and
again after a lot of research I decided to go with what is now Anim8 Stop Motion.
I think the reason I am a fan of stop motion is the whole hands on approach to
it (possibly because I spend so much time on a computer), and the time and
dedication many great animators devote to it, creating something, that can be
moving, funny, abstract etc. It is also a really cheap and fun way to learn
about animation these days.
ANGELA: What are some of your favourite stop motion videos and why?
MICKY: Well as I mentioned I was watching YouTube when I decided to do
something with stop motion animation, but there was one particular video I
kept watching which has now had a lot of attention over the web which is Tony
vs. Paul: http://www.anim8stopmotion.com/play.php?vid=95; it is really well
put together and fun to watch, but more than that for me it opened my eyes to
a whole new perception of stop motion and how it didnt have to be clay but,
could be anything you could get your hands on including yourself. Of course I
have given this technique a go myself although it is not as good as Tony vs. Paul
I still enjoyed making it. As well as me, others have also given it a go:
http://www.anim8stopmotion.com/play.php?vid=346 and http://www.anim8s
topmotion.com/play.php?vid=143
Another young but brilliantly talented stop motion animator and inspiration for
the site goes by the name mamshmam on YouTube. He has created some great
stuff with really simple clay characters. You can see all of his videos
at: http://www.youtube.com/user/mamshmam. He has inspired a lot of
younger people to try it and also has his own web site with a forum for people
to meet and chat: http://www.mamshmam.com.

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One of my favourite videos on Anim8 has to be: http://www.anim8stopm

otion.com/play.php?vid=303 by James Mullins, whom I also interviewed after
seeing his videos on the site. The reason I enjoyed it so much was the life he
managed to give such a simple character in such a short space of time and along
with that the gritty hands-on feel that I believe you only get with stop motion
and which really allows the watcher to appreciate the work and life going into
creating something for our enjoyment. You can see his interview at: http://www.an
im8stopmotion.com/interview.php?id=10

The insight into the world of amateur stop motion animation fans and
current trends provided by Micky highlights the kind of support networks
and communities that are available for sharing and improving ones animation work. As I viewed all of Mickys recommendations, I was impressed by
the genuine sense of learning and the level of positive critique offered by
community members as feedback on each video. Just as FanFiction.net is a
training ground for writers, sites like Anim8 Stop Motion provide a wonderful training ground and showcase for participants work.

SECTION TWO
How to make your own stop motion animation: A tutorial
As we mentioned earlier, there is a wide range of software available for making your own stop motion animations, but creating stop motion movies with
free software like Windows Movie Maker is not only easy but is extremely
inexpensive as well once you have access to a digital camera and a computer
in place. Most PCs come with the Windows Movie Maker program preinstalled, or it can be downloaded for free via any number of sites (e.g.,
http://tinyurl.com/cjubwb). Although we focus on PC users in this section,
the general principles of stop motion animation apply equally to Mac users as
well (who can use free iMovie software instead to create their animations).
Aside from the materials you will use in creating your stop motion movie,
the only equipment you will need is a camera and a computer. This tutorial
assumes that you are familiar with the camera you will be using, that your
camera is compatible with your computer, and that you know how to transfer pictures from your camera to your computer. In addition, we strongly recommend spending time watching many different stop motion videos to be
found on websites such as YouTube.com, Blip.tv, and Anim8stopmotion.com.
Mickys recommendations described earlier in this chapter are a good place to
start. For true newbies to digital video making, it might be helpful to explore
Windows Movie Maker itself and make a sample movie using still photos (see
also Chapter 9 in this volume for a video-editing how-to).

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Preparation tips
I like to think of a stop motion video as an old fashioned flipbook. In these
flipbooks, pictures were drawn on separate pieces of paper, and on each page
a subtle change was made to the picture so that when the pages were flipped
or fanned quickly, it looked as though the picture was animated. These
changes needed to be incremental so that the motion was smooth and believable. This holds true for photography-based stop motion, too. Its important
to keep in mind that too drastic a change between photos causes the animation to look jumpy instead of transitioning smoothly from photo to photo.
Therefore, it is important to keep a few things in mind before you begin your
movie making.
The first thing to keep in mind is that you do not want your camera to
move. A tripod can be very handy for stabilizing your camera. If you dont
have a tripod or need to shoot a series of photos where a tripod will not
work, use a table, stack some books, etc., to get the camera to the correct
height. This solid, steady base will keep the camera from shifting up and
down. However, it will not prevent the camera from moving forwards or
backwards, or side to side. So be careful. If your camera does shift, bring up
the last photo taken and try to line up the last shot with what you see on the
screen in shooting mode before moving your movie subjects to the next
position. When setting up your scenery and planning your action sequence
you will also want to make sure that your background remains stable, too;
otherwise it will create some unexpected and distracting effects in your final
movie.
Lighting is another important aspect of movie making to keep in mind. If
you will be taking all the photos with regular overhead classroom lighting,
shadows should not be an issue. However, you may need to use a flash. When
shooting outdoors, you will want to try to position yourself and your subjects
in a manner that will avoid shadows being cast on your shots. Shadows can be
a problem because your photos can be too dark. If only some of your photos
have shadows and others do not, your video will not flow. If you will be taking pictures in a room with limited lighting and your photos are coming out
too dark, use a small lamp with the lamp shade removed to help with the
lighting. If your lamp is small enough, you easily can maneuver the lamp so
that no shadows will be cast on your shot.
Finally, it is important to check the quality of the photos you are taking
to be sure the lighting is the same in each photo and each photo is clearly
focused. Although this process can be a little time consuming, its important
to check each photo after it has been taken, so that if a photo does not come
out well you can just reshoot the photo rather than later going back and trying to adjust your scenery and subjects to match how they were originally

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placed in that particular sequence. An excellent way to check that your photos are transitioning smoothly is to go back to your start photo on your camera and scroll through the pictures quickly.

Photo taking process

To begin, set up your staging area or scenery (e.g., a cardboard or fabric
ground and backcloth). Next, position your subjects (e.g., dolls, lumps of
clay, Legotm minifigs) according to how youd like your movie or scene to
open and take your first photo. You will then want to move your subject(s)
with the slightest of changes. For example, if youd like your subject to move
its head from side to side, turn the head slightly and shoot the next photo
(see Figures 7.2 and 7.3, for example). Remember that too drastic a change
means your movie will not transition smoothly when it plays. Continue this
process until you have moved the head completely from right to left. Then,
repeat moving back in the reverse direction. Once youve returned to your
starting position, you can reuse this particular sequence of photos again if
youd like the subject to move its head side-to-side more than once rather
than reshooting the same scene over again. This will help save time and make
the movie-making process much simpler for you. Knowing this can be done
can help you plan out the action sequences in your movie.

Figures 7.2 and 7.3: Animating a doll shaking its head

In this example of the doll moving her head from right to left, and then
left to right, I needed to take 8 photos to make the head move completely
from right to left. These 8 photos were 2 seconds of final footage. I then
reused the same 8 photos in the opposite order to move the head from left to
right. So, moving the dolls head from side to side is only 4 seconds of final
footage. A song-length, doll-based stop motion animation I made required
more than 200 individual photos for 3:46 minutes of final footage. It is also
important to note that I reused many photos, included video footage and
used still photos. A line-based stop motion animation I made required 100

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photos for 1:13 minutes of final footage. These numbers give a sense of
whats required in a stop motion animation and can help with planning the
final video as well as with managing time. I strongly recommend a few practice runs at making very short stop motion animations before launching into
your main project. This will help you fine-tune your techniques and sense of
the incremental changes needed for creating a polished stop motion
animation.
Once you have finished shooting your scene, I recommend transferring
the photos to the computer and saving them in a designated folder as
opposed to uploading them directly from the camera to Windows Movie
Maker. This way you have a set of photos on the computer and a set on your
camera so if you accidentally delete one set you have back-up copies.

Using Windows Movie Maker to create your movie

This tutorial focuses on using 3D subjects and scenery as the source materials. That being said, this same process applies to 2D stop motion animation
(e.g., lines drawn on a whiteboard) and claymation, too. It is also important
to mention here that I am working with Vista but that the same information
applies to Windows XP, etc. (See advice for Mac users editing video in chapter 9 of this volume.)

1. Importing your photos

Once your photos have been taken and uploaded to your computer, open
Windows Movie Maker, select File and then New Project. Once you
have your Project File open you will want to import all of your pictures.
Under Tasks/Import on the menu bar, select Pictures. You can do this
in one of two ways. You can either import each photo individually or several
at once. To import individual photos, click on the photo you would like and
you will see its file name in the File Name box. Then click Import. You
can import several photos at once by holding the control button and clicking
on each photo you will be using. You will also see a list of the file names
appear in the File Name Box. Then click Import (see Figure 7.4).
In Windows Movie Maker, you can import photos that have the following file extensions: *.bmp, *.dib, *.emf, *.gif, *.jfif, *.jpe, *.jpeg, *.jpg,
*.png, *.tif, *.tiff, and *.wmf. If your photo does not have one of these file
extensions, I recommend using Zamzar.com to convert it. With Zamzar, you
can convert files under 100 MB for free or pay a monthly fee to open an
account and convert larger files.

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Figure 7.4: A screen grab of Windows Movie Maker in the early stages of creating a
stop motion video.

It is important to mention here that you will want to save your project
frequently. To save your project, click on File and then Save Project As
. . .. Type your projects file name in the File Name box and click save. If
you stop working on your movie and close the program, to reopen your project, simply open Windows Movie Maker again. Your project should automatically open. If it does not, click on File, then select Open Project.
Find your project file in the Open Project box, click on it and then click
Open. Your project will open and everything you have saved should
appear. Once you have saved your project with a file name, to continue to
save it, simply click File and then Save Project.

2. Placing your photos in the storyboard

Once you import your photos into Windows Movie Maker, they will be displayed in the section under Imported Media. If youre making a short film
you will want to import all your photos at once. A longer video can use over
100 photos. In this case, you may want to break it down and import the pictures in parts or scenes. Once your photos or groups of photos are imported,
drag your pictures into the storyboard at the bottom of the screen. At this
point, you need to be in Storyboard mode. Storyboard is the default view
in Windows Movie Maker. If you see the word Timeline in the bottom
left-hand corner of the window, click on the down arrow next to it and then
click Storyboard (see Figure 7.4 above, which shows the Timeline view).
Storyboard mode allows you to drop your photos into your desired
sequence. This is done by dragging your photos into the initial box or
space on the storyboard where it says Drag Media Here (see Figure 7.5).

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Figure 7.5: Beginning to construct stop motion animation storyboard in Windows Movie Maker

After you drop a photo into the storyboard, that photo will appear in the
Preview Monitor. This lets you check youve selected the correct photo. If
you miss or forget to add a photo in a given sequence, simply drop it into the
box youd like it to be in on the storyboard and the program automatically
will shift the other photos over for you to make space for the one youre
adding. If youre importing your photos in scenes, repeat the previous steps
until you have all your photos imported and placed on your storyboard in
the sequence you want.
Storyboard mode also allows you to see and edit photo effects and transitions between photos, along with your movies titles and credits slides. In
photo effects, you can rotate your photo, adjust it to look like a watercolor
painting, sharpen your photo, etc. To do this, under Edit click on
Effects. Select the effect you would like your photo to have and drag it to
the small box with the star in it within each storyboard box. With transitions
between photos, or sequences of photos, you can control whether the photo
rolls in, shatters up, reveals down, etc. To select a transition, under Edit
click Transitions. Select the transition for your photo and then drag it to
the smaller box just before your photo (see Figure 7.5). Transitions and
effects are rarely used within a stop motion video, though, because theyll
interfere with the overall animation, but you might want to use them for your
titles and credits.

3. Timing
At this stage, you now really start to pay attention to the timing of your stop
motion animation. Timing here refers to the duration each photo is displayed before moving on to the next. As previously mentioned, a stop
motion movie is similar to that of a flip-book, which means the photos must
move fast enough to make it appear as though your subjects are moving
themselves. In the case of the doll moving its head from side to side described
earlier, you would need to set the duration that each photo is displayed to
approximately 0:00:00.13 seconds to make the sequence of photos move
quickly enough for the doll to look as though shes shaking her head. To edit

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the timing of your photos, you need to switch back to Timeline mode (see
Figure 7.4 earlier). Timeline mode allows you to trim your photo display
times, adjust the duration of your transitions, and edit your soundtrack (the
latter will be discussed later in this section).
Click on the photo you would like to edit. Once the photo is surrounded
by a bold black box, position the cursor so that it becomes a red arrow. Next,
click and drag to trim the clip and adjust the time. The time will be shown in
a small box with the name of the photo and display duration. Repeat with the
rest of the photos. If you accidentally change the timing on a photo that was
set correctly, immediately click on Edit and then click on Undo Trim
Clip.

4. Previewing your movie

Once you have placed your photos into your storyboard and edited the timing to what you think will work, you will want to preview your movie.
Although I find it easier to preview my movie in scenes, you do not have to.
To preview your movie, begin by clicking on your first photo in your timeline
or storyboard. You can also click either of the rewind buttons which can be
found below the monitor or above your timeline/storyboard. You can preview your movie in either mode. Once you see the first photo on the monitor, click Play in one of at least three possible places: at the top of your
screen, below the monitor, or above the timeline/storyboard. Once you
click Play you can also stop, pause, rewind, move back, move forward,
move to the previous frame or move to the next frame by clicking below the
monitor, above the timeline/storyboard or under Play at the top of your
screen. You can view your movie either on the monitor or in full screen
mode. To preview your movie in full screen mode, click on View and then
Full Screen. To exit full screen at any time, right click on your mouse or
touch pad. After previewing your movie, you may need to go back and edit
display times further to make the photo sequence move more quickly or
more slowly.

5. Adding music or sound

To add narration to your stop motion movie, you must be in Timeline mode.
When you are in Timeline mode you will see a square with a vertical line
underneath it in the area of the timeline where the time is shown. This is
known as the Playback Indicator. Move the playback indicator to a point
on the timeline where the Audio/Music track is empty (see also Chapters
2 and 3 in this volume). Your Audio/Music track is located in the Timeline section of your screen. Click Tools and then Narrate Timeline. If

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Show Options is visible, click it. Click on the box next to mute speakers.
This will prevent any noise or sound from playing over your computers
speakers while you record. Under Audio Device select the audio capture
device you will be using (e.g., external microphone). Next, you will want to
adjust the recording level by speaking into the audio capture device (e.g., a
microphone plugged into your computer) and moving the Input Level
slider to the place that records your voice at the volume you desire (recording with a blanket over your head and the microphone to create a sound
booth can minimize the tinniness that occurs when recording in a large
room). When you are ready to narrate, click on Start Narration. Once you
have completed your narration, click on Stop Narration. When you click
Stop Narration, a Save Windows Media File box will pop up. Type a file
name for your narration and then click Save. You can repeat this process
for another scene in your timeline if you wish. Once you have finished narrating your movie, click on Close to return to the main screen.
You can also set music to your movie. You import your music soundtrack
the same way you imported your photos. Begin by clicking on File, then
Import Media Files. Find the music file you would like to import and then
click Import. Your music files must have one of the following extensions to
play in Windows Movie Maker: *.aif, *.aifc, *.aiff, *.asf, *.au, *.mp2, *.mp3,
*.mpa, *.snd, *.wav, or *.wma. Again, if your music file does not have one of
the following file names, I recommend using Zamzar.com to convert your
file. Once you have imported your music, drag it to the Audio/Music section
of the timeline. You can then drag it to the left or right to synchronize it with
your movie. In addition, you can add narration along with a music file and
have the two play at the same time.

6. Titles and credits

You can finish your stop motion movie by adding titles and credits. You can
add titles at the beginning of your movie to introduce it, in the middle of
your movie (before or after a clip) to introduce a character or a scene, or to
create text overlays on a photo or series of photos. To add a title or credits,
begin by clicking on the timeline where you would like it to be placed. Next,
under Tasks and Edit, click on Titles and Credits. It will ask where
you want to place the title. At this point click on either Title at the Beginning, Title Before the Selected Clip, Title on the Selected Clip or
Credits at the End. Once you have chosen where you would like the title
to be, a box will pop up that asks you to enter the desired text. After you
have entered the text, you can either change the title animation or change
the text and font color by clicking on one of these choices below the text
box. The title animation refers to whether your title Flys in or has an

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Exploding Outline, etc. You can change the text and font color, size and
position, as well as the background. For credits, select Credits at the End.
Enter your text in the same manner as done for the title. You can also change
the animation or the font and text color here, too. There are separate options
for credit slide animation which include Scroll up stacked or Fade in and
out, to name but a few.

7. Publishing your movie

Once you have put all the finishing touches on your movie you will want to
finalize your movie or publish it so that it will play outside the Windows
Movie Maker software. You can publish your movie to your computer, a
DVD, a recordable CD, email or to a digital video camera. To publish your
movie to your computer, under Publish to select This Computer and a
Publish Movie box will pop up. You must enter a file name and then select
the location where you would like to save it. Once you have done so, click
Next. Then you must select the setting for your movie which will determine the quality and file size. After you choose the setting, click on the Publish button. The box will say your movie has been published and you can
view your movie once you click Finish, although you do not have to. To
burn your movie to a DVD you must have a DVD burner on your computer
(this is not standard on all computers). Under Publish to if you select
DVD and you have a DVD burner a box will pop up telling you that Windows Movie Maker will close and save your project and then open Windows
DVD Maker. A Windows DVD Maker screen will pop-up with your movie
inside. Click Next. Make sure you have inserted a blank, writable DVD
disc into your computer, then click Burn. The program will prompt and
guide you through these processes, just as it will for publishing your animated movie to a CD, email or a video camera.

8. Additional online resources

Stop Motion Animation: http://www.stopmotionanimation.com/
n Wikipedia Entry on Stop Motion: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stop_mot
ion
Clay Animation: http://www.animateclay.com
n The Art of Stop Motion Animation: http://pharosproductions.com/aosm
a/smhome.html
Brickfilms: Stop Motion Legotm: http://www.brickfilms.com/

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n Clay Animation Station: http://library.thinkquest.org/22316/home.html

Davey and Goliath: http://www.daveyandgoliath.org/
n The short films of the Quay Brothers: http://www.zeitgeistfilms.com/fil
m.php?directoryname=quayretrospective&mode=filmmaker
Gumby World: http://www.gumbyworld.com/
King Kong Lost and Found: http://www.fullyarticulated.com/Kon
gBoomer.html
Boomer.html
Next: The Barry Purves Film: http://www.guisarme.net/~andie
Stop Motion Central: http://www.stopmotioncentral.com/
Stop Motion Works: http://www.stopmotionworks.com/

SECTION THREE
Stop motion: Theory and practice
When amateurs, fans and professionals meet
One interesting trend in advertising over the past few years has been to incorporate the work of famous YouTube userssupposedly to appeal to the
YouTube generation. This happened for the animators of Tony vs. Paul who
achieved fame for their stop motion videos and were then commissioned by
various advertising companies to make stop motion ads, such as their RedVines commercial (where they used over 10,000 pieces of red vine licorice to
create a stop motion video of the red vines creating a fairytale ivy-covered
balcony) seen at http://www.YouTube.com/watch?v=AUN1CfMV0PQ.
Most interesting though is that Tony and Paul created a recent ad for a Belgian mobile phone company (Proximus) and called out to all of their fans to
participate in the ad via the company website Proximus Generation Movie
Project (http://www.generationmovieproject.be). They produced an empty
shell of the ad in pencil drawings to outline each scene and invited fans to
select their favorite frame from the ad and to take a photograph to fill in that
frame. The final ad featured 472 fan photographs laced together within the
animation (see Proximus Commercial directed by Tony and Paul http://ww
w.YouTube.com/watch?v=z0mzG06K3fw). This clip signals just some of the
creative potential to be found in large-scale collaborative stop motion animation projects.

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Another interesting web trend is that of the mashup or remix. This usually consists of taking a known series of data sources (and in this chapter I am
using it to particularly refer to stories, film, and other users videos) and combining, appropriating and/or refashioning them in some way. When searching YouTube for Shakespeare remixes for another project, for example, I
came across numerous examples of machinima and stop motion animation
using Shakespeare, such as Jonathan Williams Soliloquy, a Legotm remix of a
speech from Hamlet. I also came across a remix of multiple versions of this
same soliloquy re-formed into a single video which combined high end commercial film productions of Hamlet with real actors and amateur versions
using Legotm characters. There are many examples of amateur animators creating fan videos or using existing texts and films as a starting point for their
own storytelling. But the ease of copying any films and remixing them
together allows the new and the old to be blended together visibly, and yet
often times surprisingly, creating interesting juxtapositions that are both
poetic and metaphoric, and for the most part, highly entertaining.

Media theory and stop motion

Stop motion animation could be argued to represent one form of the process
of remediation (Bolter & Grusin, 1999), where the old is honored, rivaled,
and transformed with the new. Stop motion videos are primary examples of
remediationwhere time-honored traditions and techniques are taken, used,
and exploited by means of new technologies and new social practices (such as
the remix) to find new expressions of meaning and identity. Many amateur
stop motion animators focus on one or two elements as they learn their
craftsuch as focusing on making expressive characters like mamshmam
does. Others use known stories or movies but focus on creating interactive
stories like Patrick Boivins Bboy Joker.
Two key elements are common between amateurs and professionals
alikethey like to see the animators personality come through in the final
movie, and they like to see the art form showcased rather than the technology. Neda Ulaby reports in her interview with Coraline director Henry
Selick:
. . . Selick says he works to leave in imperfections. Stop motion is sort of
twitchy; you can feel the life in it, he says. If we were to remove that completely, thered be no point in it. After all, he points out, the beauty and mystery of stop motion are in those traces of the animators hand. (Ulaby, 2009, no
page)

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This too supports one principle of Bolter and Grusins (1999) theories of
remediationthat of making viewers hyperaware of the media, however, not
so much the technological media of the video editing or stop motion software, but the hands-on process of creating the movie one frame at a time.
Viewers are at the same time enchanted by the magic of seeing clay or Legotm
or toys come to life, yet fully appreciative of the hours and hours of work that
clearly were part of the production. It is the physical process of moving a
model one tiny fragment of space and taking a shotsometimes up to 26 to
30 shots or frames for every second of footage, and adding up to over 4000
shots for just five minutes of footagethat is awe inspiring. In fact, amateur
animations are often more awe inspiring than anything a large production
studio can turn out, precisely because we get to see more rough edges,
home-made sets, and the sheer dedication of months and months of work by
young creative people who create with pure passion and limited or no
budget. The audience gets to glimpse into somebody elses world and indeed
into somebody elses brain in a very immediate sense.
Bolter and Grusin (1999) further discuss animation in general as a perfect example of retrograde remediation in which a newer medium is imitated and even absorbed by an older one (Bolter & Grusin, 1999, p. 147).
They claim that animation refashions Hollywood action films using traditional film conventions to present live action (i.e., panning, close-up shots,
and so on) that are actually not possible in real live action (say a theatre with
actors on a stage). Yet stop motion animation is even one step beyond this by
being unashamedly and blatantly retrograde at some levels while at the same
time trying to be transparent in the way it uses the new. In one way, stop
motion is retrograde because it draws on techniques and conventions from
live action films (using the range of known film techniques), from traditional
hand-drawn animation (requiring the audiences persistence of vision to
see the animation), puppetry performance (requiring the audience to recognize dolls or Legotm pieces or abstract 3D objects as characters). These retrograde aspects are valued by animators. This seems to be echoed by Bolter and
Grusin who state:
The latest animated films have found new ways to pursue both the desire for
transparent immediacy and the fascination with media. In being able to finally
compete with the realism of the Hollywood style, the animated film has also
become increasingly aware of and confident of its own status as mediation.
(Bolter & Grusin, 1999, p. 150).

Yet these same animators strive to make the technological side of their
work invisible. They dont necessarily want the audience to care or notice
where you might have placed the cursor or clipped a shot. Animators would
rather the audience see them as the mediator of the imagenot the
computer.

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In a pure media sense, a stop motion animation can be seen within all of
these media forms that came before it. But as with any text, it should also be
seen within all of the cultural practices that came before it. This resonates
with the Bakhtinian notion that all texts are read or understood in the context of a cultural history of textuality and the social practices in which they are
embedded. In discussing the novel, Bakhtin comments:
For the prose writer, the object [the text] is a focal point for heteroglot voices
among which his own voice must also sound; these voices create the background
necessary for his own voice, outside which his prose nuances cannot be perceived, and without which they do not sound. (Bakhtin, 1981, p. 278).

This speaks to the heteroglossia or multiple voices that exist within a text.
With stop motion animation and in particular the DIY stop motion that figured in section one of this chapter, the voices span multiple cultures, time,
space, and generations. We are in a particular cultural moment right now
where multimedia texts like stop motion animations are on the one hand
magical and wondrous, but on the other hand are deconstructed and appreciated for each element and voice embedded within it almost automatically,
because the boundary between spectator and creator has close to dissolved.
We can all see behind the scenes of a text without really needing to see the
how we did this extras any more.

Stop motion in the classroom

I first noticed schools becoming involved in stop motion animation creation
at a digital literacies conference in 2007. One of the workshops I attended
was about using claymation to enhance English and literacy in the classroom.
The presenter was reporting on the work done by a group of teachers from
the same school district who participated in a two-day intensive workshop
with their respective classes on claymation (stop motion animation using clay
models). The children were photographed as they made their claymations
and then interviewed afterwards about their participation in the workshop.
The childrens comments in their interviews included:
you felt proud because it was yours teachers didnt do anything except walk
around taking photos, we taught ourselves how to do it allit was the power of
the children! you felt like a professional we made ourselves do homework to
make it better you have more respect for people who do this work all day
long(childrens comments as reported by Camilleri, 2007, no page)

Any teacher would be thrilled with this kind of response by students to

their classes. What rings through clearly from these comments is the sense of
engagement and passion for learning, and the value of collaborating with
both peers and expert advisors. Edson (2006) remarks that one of the values

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of doing stop motion animation in the classroom is the range of roles that are
required for students to adopt in order to create a completed piece of work
and the inherent literacy knowledge, skills and attitudes that this entails:
The focus can also be on group collaboration. It is difficult to create an animation on your own and much easier to work in a team with various roles agreed
upon. The range of team collaboration is wide and includes agreeing on a storyboard for an intended audience, understanding the underlying messages of the
story, creating art works for the stage, writing a narrative, recording and editing
a sound and music track. The animation process exposes students to the visual
literacies inherent in multimedia and film development. For example, students
can explore and experience the impact that camera angles, lighting and special
effects can have in getting a message across. Understanding how to portray an
emotion or evoke an audience response is part of the learning process for students. Investigating the role of music in evoking an emotion can also be part of
developing an animation (Edson, 2006, p. 2).

It seems almost self-evident that having children work on creating stop

motion animation would provide opportunities for them to be apprenticed in
the kind of high-end digital multimedia authoring skills which would serve
them well for the future. What is needed are teachers who recognize that
such classroom work is not about meeting the ICT objectives of the curriculum. Rather, it is about developing in children a passion for being imaginative, creative, and expressing their identitieseven changing their
identitiesthrough finding new ways to create and share their artwork and
stories within supportive communities of learners.
One such teacher I spoke with is Martin Waller, a Grade 2 teacher from
the UK. I asked him in an email exchange if hed explain what attracted him
to using stop motion animation in his classroom:
I use stop motion animation at the end of Year [Grade] 2 because it offers different opportunities and processes for the children to engage with in comparison
to our earlier work on live action film. Over the course of their time in Year 2 the
children experience animated film throughout our curriculum and, in particular,
the work of Studio Ghibli in Japan (who still use hand-drawn animations). In
January, the children make their own live action film, with the process always
being relatively short. They act in real-time and the camera records it. Since the
children have only experienced the creation of live action film they do not understand the process of hand drawn and stop motion animation and, in particular,
the length of time needed to achieve a quality product.
Part of the reasoning behind the use of stop motion is the fact that it does take
a long time to achieve a good quality product. Children need to understand that
in the real world these things do not magically appear. As the project progresses
they develop an understanding that the creative process needs to be planned,
well thought out and organised effectively. It requires dedication, commitment
and team work. The process they go through is a good work ethic for them to

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adopt across the curriculum as they must review, adapt and finalise their work. In
this sense the process is as important (if not more so) as the finished product.
Obviously another important factor is that animation allows the children to create multimodal narratives and consider how gesture, sound, language, visual and
space can be brought together to create a shared meaning. We do a lot of analysis of existing texts and look at how they create meaning. The children can then
use the technology to create their own world and meaning through multiple
modes. Video editing also shows the children that the writing process is fluid
and that texts can be changed and adapted throughout the process.
This year we are incorporating aspects of critical literacy into the project and
looking at reinventing existing texts for real world use (Comber, 2001). We
will be looking at the Brer Rabbit stories from America and their origins as
well as reinventing them for real world use and a new audience. Each child in
the class will have an opportunity to create and shape new Brer Rabbit stories
using 2D stop motion animation [see an example of students work in Figure
7.6]

Figure 7.6: A Walk in the Forest A still from a stop motion animation created in Martin Wallers
Year 2 Class

Martins comments reflect a convergence of all the qualities and attitudes

central to how an exemplary teacher might think about using any new media
in the classroomfinding ways to integrate it naturally into a critical literacy
program where texts are analyzed, produced, disrupted, challenged, and discussed from alternative perspectives, yet at the same time valuing and reinforcing the creativity of the process as well as the affordances of a range of
technological tools through which this creativity is shaped.

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Conclusion
Throughout this chapter some of the core values developed by stop motion
animators, amateurs and professionals alike, have been foregrounded: namely,
that animation is an art form and that perfect technical dexterity is not necessary. The strongest message was to ignore the technology and concentrate
on the animation. The DIY animators featured in this chapter all see themselves as artists, and their work as a means of expressing their ideas and identities. At a theoretical level this is a really interesting characteristic that marks
it differently to some of the other DIY media forms found in this book where
artistry is exemplified much more visibly through the medium and what is
possible because of the technology. The ideas expressed about stop motion
provide a kind of disjunction whereby animators are trying to both deemphasize and yet re-humanize technology at the same time. This either
makes the human element of the text visible and privileged over the technological or constructs the human as blended with the technology in such a way
that all that is seen is the human.
At a practical level of use in a learning context, the art of stop motion resonates closely with philosophies of arts-based education, which values imagination, creativity, story telling, performance, active participation, collaboration, and self-expression. In addition, teachers like Nicole Tufano (my coauthor) and Martin Waller are also using stop motion within both a multiliteracies and critical literacy perspective and finding ways in which such an art
form is valued for its capacity to teach young people not just skills but ethics
and values and understandings about the world. And parents like Keegans
father, Greg, are spending time finding new ways to play with their childrenintegrating new media into their everyday imaginative play from age
3. In their book A Century of Stop Motion Animation, Ray Harryhausen and
Tony Dalton state a number of beliefs about stop motion animation: animation is to evoke life, stop motion requires imagination, dedication and
patience, and stop motion enjoys being different (Harryhausen & Dalton, 2008, pp. 13, 34 & 226). DIY animatorschildren and adults alike
featured in this chapter found stop motion animation a unique means of
expression, empowerment, and enrichment in their lives.

References
Bakhtin, M. M. (1981). The dialogic imagination: Four essays. Trans. C. Emerson and M.
Holquist. Austin: University of Texas Press.
Big Cartoon Database (2007). The Humpty Dumpty Circus. http://www.bcdb.com/ca
rtoon_information/50441-Humpty_Dumpty_Circus.html
Boinx Software Ltd. (2009). Overview: Flavors. Boinx.com Retrieved Nov. 1, 2009, at
http://www.boinx.com/istopmotion/overview/flavors/

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Bolter, J. D. & Grusin, R. (1999). Remediation: Understanding new media. Cambridge,

MA: MIT Press.
Buckingham, D. (2003). Media education: Literacy, learning and contemporary culture.
Cambridge: Polity Press.
Camilleri, G. (2007). Claymation. Presented to the: Middle years literacy project symposium. Melbourne, November 2007.
Chong, A. (2008). Digital animation. London: AVA Academia Publishing.
Comber, B. (2001). Critical literacies and local action: Teacher knowledge and a new
research agenda. In B. Comber & A. Simpson (Eds.) Negotiating critical literacies in
classrooms. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.
Edson, J. (2006). Clay Animation New Approaches to Literacy. Professional learning
programme: Success for boys. Brisbane, QLD: Curriculum Corporation of Australia.
Harryhausen, A. & Dalton, T. (2008). A century of stop motion animation. London:
Aurum Press.
Jones, S. (2009). Coraline: A visual companion. New York: HarperCollins Publishers.
Twiggarts (2008). Post by gristmagazine.YouTube. Available at: http://www.YouTube.co
m/watch?v=zKhW-Slwdr8.
Ulaby, N. (2009). Henry Selick, Keeping Stop Motion Moving Ahead. In: NPR (National Public Radio). Available: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?story
Id=100156290
Webster, C. (2005). Animation: The mechanics of motion. Oxford: Elsevier.

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Chapter 8

Flash fundamentals: DIY animation and

interactive
design
interactive
design
REBECCA ORLOWICZ

Sometimes breathtaking and beautiful, sometimes simple and rough, animation entertains the impossible, delights with the fantastic, and inspires
through technique. Animation is defined as the rapid display of still images or
graphics that creates the illusion of motion. From the early days of its history
until now, animation has amazed and impressed audiences around the world.
The collaborative art of bringing still images into life and movement has
remained a captivating medium since the first animation was seen in 1832.
The introduction of computers has continued to push the boundaries of possibility for this medium.

SECTION ONE
A brief history of flash animation
It once took a small army of artists and technicians to create a feature length
animated film or television spot. With the technology available today, it may
still require much human creativity and ingenuity, but computer microprocessors can now handle much of the drudge work that characterizes the
production of animation. For professional animators, this means a lot less
repetition and exacting mechanics. For average consumers this means access
to the once-illusive process of animation as well as to its enormous creative
potential in this increasingly digital world.

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Animation began as a very simple system. An artist would draw a character in various states of motion. Those images would be photographed and
then projected at a constant rate in order to create the illusion of movement.
A flip book, made up of pages of still images that are quickly thumbed
through to create a moving image, offers a glimpse into how this illusion
works. By merely flipping the pages quickly from start to finish, one can easily see the animation. If each page is viewed individually, the necessary and
incremental changes in each of the images are revealed.
Not all early animation was created in this crude style. Innovations pursued by Walt Disney and other animators in the 1920s and 1930s involved
whole systems of sketching, inking, and coloring (Giannetti, 1999). The
efforts of these early animators turned run of the mill animation into the
expression of whole artistic worlds, inhabited solely by artists creations. This
process began with multiple pencil sketches that were transferred to translucent celluloid material using ink and paint. These cels would then be
placed on top of full color painted backgrounds and pegged in place for
proper alignment. Each layered image was photographed individually, using
a special fixed camera. In these early years, more progressive styles of animation required significantly more in-between steps. For example, the film Fantasia (Disney, 1940) was filmed using several different images painted
directly on a series of glass plates that were layered and manipulated as the
stills were photographed (this process was time-consuming to say the least;
only 16 stills per hour could be completed). The work of many men and
women was required for such a feat (Thomas & Johnston, 1981).
One modern example of innovation in animation is the use of the Imagemotioncreated by Sony Imageworkswhich uses motion capture technology in an effort to record the emotion and intention of live actors. Sensors
are used to detect all the movement of the body and face and this digital
information is then translated into the movement of a digital character in a
computer. This technology was used in the film The Polar Express (Goetzman, Starkey, Teitler, & Zemeckis, 2004), and similar processes were used to
create the highly effective facial animations of the man-beast, Gollum, in The
Lord of the Rings film trilogy (Jackson, Osborne, Sanders, & Walsh, 2001,
2002, 2003).
Having become more and more filmic, interactive game design also now
relies on much of the same digital technology as modern animation and has
therefore been influenced in similar ways. Game designers can now create
complex visuals as well as intricate worlds within which players navigate and
interact. Interesting and unique ways are being developed to interact with
the screen as more people become involved in the design and implementation
of interactive features. Similar to the Imagemotion technology mentioned
above, Nintendos Wii has revolutionized the gaming world with its focus on

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kinetic gaming. The user-sensitive technology that this system employs may
very well have changed the way gaming interactivity is defined. No longer
are players merely clicking and scrolling their way to success within a game,
but, rather, experiencing and interacting with the game as a whole-body
experience.
Adobes Flash software offers one point of entry into the practice of digital animation production, and its use is proliferating in a range of fields (animation, gaming, advertising, films, etc.) (Vander Veer & Grover, 2007).
Flash animation is the creation of digitally animated material using Adobes
Flash animation software. If you have ever explored the internet for more
than an hour or so, you have seen examples of work created using Flash software. It is becoming increasingly difficult to find a website thatfor better or
for worsedoesnt use Flash animation in some way. Whether it is in the use
of a dynamic menu system or the playback of a short video clip, Flash is
online everywhere (MacGregor et al., 2002).
The versatility and accessibility of this software are what makes Flash such
an exciting and engaging resource. Flash animation does not look much different than other types of more time-and-labor intensive animations. Indeed,
the more skilled the producer, the less the animation can be identified as
being created using Flash. When viewing Flash files online, one can identify
them by simply right clicking on the object in question. All Flash elements
will display the option About Flash Player.
Creating original digital animations and interactive texts (e.g., games,
narratives) is something that previously could be done only by the serious
programmer with extensive technical knowledge and skills. Flash provides
that same level of creative power for amateurs through its well-designed and
carefully structured software interface. Users can see clearly the breakdown of
an animation project into its component features and, through practice,
develop a broader understanding of how animation in general works, and
how it can be innovated upon. This software provides a means to engaging in
better art, better work, and better play.
It all started in 1994 when a small company called FutureWave Software
created a product called SmartSketch (Gay, 2009). Seeing the potential for
computer graphics applications, this small six-man team of programmers set
out to make drawing on a computer easier than drawing with a pen and
paper. Facing stiff competition from other software developers, FutureWave
never quite got SmartSketch off the ground, but it nonetheless became the
seed for the creation of Flash. Once it became evident that animated internet
content was the wave of the future, the SmartSketch programmers focused
their energies on adapting the drawing software they had developed to allow
for the creation of animated graphics. The result, FutureSplash, was released
in 1996 and the first two high-powered clients to use this software were
Microsoft Network (MSN) and Disney Online. Shortly thereafter, Macro-

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media, a large and successful graphics and web development company,

bought FutureWave and the first iteration of Flash was released (Gay, 2009).
This first iteration enabled basic editing techniques and the use of a timeline
to organize graphics as the animation grew and developed. In April 2007,
Adobe Systems Incorporated, after buying out Macromedia, released Flash
CS3 with improvements that allowed for the integration of other Adobe
graphics products like Photoshop, Illustrator, and Dreamweaver. This meant
users could more easily share artworks between these various specialized software programs and, as a result, create more dynamic media projects.
The latest version of Flash serves a wide variety of functions. The first of
these functions is the creation of animation. Using the drawing tools, users
can create graphics and then bring them to life using the animation tools.
This may involve text manipulated to look like it is spinning or a character
that is animated to walk across the screen. There are many ways Flash can be
used to bring movement to different types of original art and many useful
applications for the resulting animations as well.
At the most basic level, animation can be defined as a collection of still
images or frames viewed at a rapid speed in order to create the illusion of
movement. While this definition applied originally to cel-based animation, it
still holds for digital animation, too. With Flash, a user can manipulate still
images on his or her computer screen to create various effects and movement
(e.g., expanding and shrinking, rotation, circular or to-and-fro movement).
To a certain degree, Flash is designed to take full advantage of digital technology to help automatically fill in the appropriate images needed for creating a smooth-running animation and thus to eliminate the otherwise
painstaking process of creating each individual frame that comprises the animation. In order to best understand the impact of this type of technology on
the world of animation, its useful to understand some of the basics of Flash
animation. The lowest frame rate that will effectively create the illusion of
animation is 12 frames per second (this is the default frame rate in Flash). A
frame is defined as one still image on a strip of film. Therefore, a one minute
long animation would involve 720 frames and a ten minute long animation
would require 7, 200 frames, and so on. Before computer animation, an
artist would have been responsible for the creation of each individual frame.
Now Flash can be used to make this process easier through automating certain processes or by enabling other shortcuts with respect to reproducing and
tweaking artists graphics quickly and efficiently.
Professionally speaking, Flash animation features are used to create advertisements or promotional shorts, as well as material for online and television
broadcast programming. Integrating Flash animation with live action video is
also a popular option. For example, Flash can be used to show an animated
character interacting with a real person during a live action scene. To the

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average consumer, the same Flash software offers a user-friendly workspace

for do-it-yourself creations of short animations for presentations, and visual
demonstrations, and can be a marvelous storytelling medium.
Flash is used to create many of the animated television series that air
today; including, for example, the popular Little Einstein series (Weiner,
2005), Wordgirl (Gillis, 2007) and Fosters Home for Imaginary Friends
(McCracken, 2004). For more examples of television programs created using
Flash visit: http://coldhardflash.com/series. Links to profiles of and the work
of some of the most knowledgeable and well-known professional Flash animators can also be found at ColdHardFlash.com (see: http://coldhar
dflash.com/animators). Visit their websites and see a multitude of really
good examples of the kinds of high quality animation that can be created
using Flash.
For some excellent examples of DIY Flash animations created mostly by
amateurs, visit: http://www.guzer.com/category/flashanimations.php. This
section of the popular video hosting siteGuzer.comarchives a large variety of short animations submitted by users. In the center of the page, there is
a box containing a list of the latest Flash animation shorts that have been
posted to the site. Click on the film title to view or interact with each animation. Updated often, this is an excellent site for newcomers to Flash animation to visit in order to become more familiar with the variety of ways in
which Flash can be used to create animation.
Flash can also be used to create video files that are formatted in a way
that enables better accessibility by a wider array of potential viewers than was
previously possible. In fact, all types of video (e.g., *.mov, *.avi, *.wmv) can
be converted to a Flash file type. This file format is not strictly reserved for
animation. Video sites like YouTube and MySpace all use the *.swf files that
are created in Flash. These files allow for higher quality image resolution,
more fluid online playback, and easier viewing across computer platforms
than do most other video file types.
One very popular dimension of Flash software is the possibility of user
interactivity. Interactivity, in a Flash sense, describes materials/resources with
which the user interacts in order to make certain actions occur. One very
basic example of this is a Flash menu system. This can include a simple pulldown menu system that appears when the user rolls the mouse over it (i.e.,
the rollover effect), or more elaborate menus that respond to user input in
more customized and unique wayssuch as miniature animations with
sound effects embedded into a webpage. Examples of Flash menu systems
can be found at http://www.flashmenus.net. This site provides the user with
the opportunity to see and to interact with different Flash menu styles. Click
on the tab Button Themes in the top left corner and choose a theme. A
preview of the menu you are creating will be generated and is enabled for
testing the interaction afforded by this menu.

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The interactive possibilities of Flash mean that online games can also be
created in Flash. This requires a somewhat more complex design process than
does Flash animation, but it is still relatively user friendly. Examples of this
type of interactivity include online multiple-choice quizzes in a multitude of
subject areas, puzzles such as Tetris or Peg Solitaire, and all types of other
games (i.e., action games such as Fancy Pants Adventures, arcade games such
as Bloons or Bubble Struggle, sport games like Stunt Dirt Bike, to name but
a few. For more, see Au, 2008).
Guzer.com also hosts a wide range of good quality Flash games submitted by members (see: http://www.guzer.com/category/flashgames.php). In
the text box in the center of the Flash games page, the latest games uploaded
to the site are listed. This is a good place from which to start exploring (as
with Flash animation on this site, simply click on the game title to play the
game). FlashArcade.com is another user-generated Flash game hosting site.
The site is organized according to game categories. Choose a category and
the top-rated games in that category will appear in the first box on the page.
For examples of student-created Flash games, visit the gallery section of
FlashClassroom.com (see: http://www.flashclassroom.com/cms/flashclas
sroom/index.php).
All this is made possible by the programming language used within Flash
called ActionScript. The more the user understands about ActionScript the
more intricate the interactivity can be, but Flash in many ways simplifies this
element for the average user. Certain templates and pre-set elements within
Flash allow even the most casual user to create elaborate interactives. (For
examples of what ActionScript programming language looks like, visit:
http://www.actionscript.org/actionscripts_library/Misc_Scripts). For the
more technically adventurous, ActionScript.org provides a forum where
ActionScript programmers can share information and templates, post questions for each other, and read the latest industry news and job postings.
There is a wealth of information here for do-it-yourselfers interested in honing their Flash skills and insider knowledge.
Flash can also be used to create media for hand-held portable devices
such as phones and PDAs. Flash content created with these delivery devices
in mind requires a greater flexibility of design and the elimination of the large
file size of a standard Flash file. Hence, the name Flash Lite given to the
software used to develop portable Flash files. Using Flash Lite, users can
create all the same content as described previously but with a much more
simple interface and presentation. A good online resourcealbeit one targeting the industryfor this type of Flash product can be found at
http://flashmobilegroup.org.
The versatility and applicability of what is now Flash CS4 are close to
impossible to dispute. The next section demonstrates the very real accessibil-

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ity of Flash animation for even beginners by presenting a step-by-step guide

for creating a simple, but nonetheless satisfying, animation.

SECTION TWO
Flash fundamentals: A quick introductory tutorial
This tutorial offers a walk through of some of the basics involved in creating
a simple animation using Flash CS3 (the same principles apply to Flash CS4).
Users will create a smiley face graphic and make it move back and forth.
Learning points include:
Creating a new Flash file
Using the drawing tools to create simple shapes and change properties
Using the pen tool to draw simple shapes
Building an understanding of object grouping
Building an understanding of basic timeline function
Defining keyframes
Using shape tweening to create movement
Saving and sharing a Flash project
Flash software is available for purchase and can run on both PC and Mac
computers. You can download a free trial version from Adobe.com (visit:
http://www.adobe.com/downloads/ and click on the try option for Flash
CS4).
The Flash CS3 software window is made up of many important elements.
It is important to understand the basic function of each element, as well as its
location (se Figure 8.1). A timeline (1) appears across the top of the screen as
a row of small, numbered boxes. The purpose of the timeline is to lay out
each frame of an animation so that users can visually and sequentially see each
still image that will be displayed in a frame-by-frame manner (this is similar in
function to the timeline in movie editing software; see Chapters 7 and 9 in
this volume). The toolbox (2) appears down the left-hand side of the screen,
and contains a column of different buttons that activate the many drawing
and effects tools available to the user. In the center of the window is the stage
area (3). This is where the content of the timeline is displayed. Directly below
the stage is the properties panel (4), which contains the controls and editing
options for the objects contained in the stage above. The panels along the

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right-hand side of the window can be customized to display whatever options

the user wants to access quickly (Gunter, 2007). A video tutorial created by
Greg Rewis (no date) also provides an excellent introduction to these same
key components.

Figure 8.1: The Flash CS3 workspace window

Now that you are familiar with some of the central elements of the Flash
workspace window, lets begin to build a short animation of a bouncing,
smiley face.

1. Open a new file

Click on File in the menu bar along the top of the workspace.
Click New.
Choose the first file type listed: Flash File (ActionScript 3.0).

2. Create an oval
In the toolbox, look for the icon that appears as a small rectangle.
Click and hold the left mouse button above this tool and several more
tools will appear in a drop down menu.
Highlight the Oval tool, and then let go of the mouse button. (The Oval
tool should now be your active tool.)

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Look further down the toolbox and you will see a small paint bucket icon
with a black box below it.
In order to change the color of the fill for the oval, click on the black box
and choose another color from the menu that pops up. This will be the
face color of your smiley-face circle so choose accordingly (e.g., yellow is
a popular choice). Please note: directly above this tool is another black
box with a pencil above it. This tool can be used to change the color of
the outline of the oval (by default, the outline is black).
Using your newly defined oval tool, click in the center of the stage area
and drag out an oval of a large enough size to contain two eyes and a
mouth. Release the mouse when the oval is the desired size and shape
(you can click Edit in the menu bar across the top of the workspace
and then Undo if youre not happy with your initial oval, and then try
it again).

3. Create two eyes

Click on any other tool in the toolbox and then return to the Oval tool.
This allows for the creation of a new oval with new properties separate
from the large one just created.
Change the fill color back to black by clicking on the colored box below
the paint bucket icon and choosing black.
Click on the existing circle in the spot where an eye should be and drag
out the shape and size of the first eye.
Repeat this step to create a second eye.
If you would like to arrange the newly created eyes in a different place on
the face, click on the first tool in the toolbox that appears as a dark arrow.
This will allow you to directly select the eyes separately in order to drag
and drop them to a different location.

4. Create the mouth

Click on the pen tool, the fifth tool from the top of the toolbox that
appears as a pen tip.
Roll the point of this pen tip over the area on the face in which you would
like the left corner of the mouth to begin and click once.
Roll over to the point where the right corner of the mouth should be, and
click and hold the mouse button. Still holding the left mouse button
down, move the mouse until the mouth line you have just created is in
the appropriate shape for your smiley face. Release the mouse button.

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Since each of these shapes has been created separately, before moving forward to animate your smiley face you must combine all the elements into one
graphic image. Otherwise, youll run into trouble with only some parts
becoming animated and bouncing right off your smiley face.

5. Combine the separate elements

Click on the selection tool (the black angled arrow) from the top of the
toolbox.
Click-and-hold on the stage in an area above and to the left of the smiley
face and drag out to the right so that a selection box appears around your
entire smiley face image. This large selection box should fully contain all
of the previously created elements of your smiley face. The smiley face
should now appear with selection boxes around each of the separate elements as well.
Click on the Modify button in the top menu bar.
Click Combine Objects.
Click Union. This combines all the elements of the smiley face into one
object.
Now its time to use the timeline. You have created the object that will be
animated and it resides in the first frame of the timeline. In order to animate
it, the object must appear in consecutive frames, in strategically different locations in order to create the illusion of movement of the smiley face across the
screen. Keep in mind that the default frame rate in Flash is 12 frames per second (for every 12 frames you create there will be one second of animated
footage).

6. Animating the smiley face, Part One

In the timeline, highlight frame number 24 by clicking on it.
Click on Insert in the main menu at the top of the window.
Click on Timeline.
Click on Keyframe (a keyframe is a frame that indicates a change in animation, be it movement or appearance). This adds a duplicate of frame 1
at frame 24.
With frame 24 still highlighted, move the smiley face to the upper right
corner of the screen so that the edge of the oval just touches the edge of
the stage area.
Click on any frame in between numbers 1 and 24.

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Look below the stage, in the properties window and find the scroll menu
labeled Tween.
Click-and-hold on the blue scroll menu indicator and release the mouse
button when the Motion Selection option appears. This property indicates that Flash is to create frames in between the two existing keyframes
(1 and 24) in the timeline. These added frames will generate movement
of the object from one position to another.
Test your animation by clicking on the orange box above the timeline and
rolling it back and forth. The animation you created will preview in the
stage area. If you click through each frame, you can see how Flash filled
in the frames to create the movement.
Repeat this process in order to make the smiley face bounce off the edges
of the screen.

7. Animating the smiley face, Part Two

In the timeline, click on frame number 48 to highlight it.
Click on Insert in the menu bar along the top of the window.
Click on Timeline.
Click on Keyframe.
With frame 48 still highlighted, move the smiley face to the next place
where you think it should bounce off of. Be sure the edge of the object
touches the edge of the stage.
Click on any frame in between numbers 24 and 48.
Look below in the properties window and find the scroll menu labeled
Tween.
Click-and-hold on the blue scroll menu indicator, and release the mouse
button when the Motion Selection option appears.
Repeat this process a few more times, skipping 24 frames each time, in
order to continue the animation of the smiley face bouncing off multiple
(implied) walls.

8. Viewing the animation

Click on Control in the menu bar along the top of the window.
Click on Test Movie. A new window will open and playback your
animation.

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9. Saving your Flash file

Click on File in the top menu.
Click on Save.
Type in a name for the file and choose its location.
Click Save.
Users may come back to this saved file in order to keep working on this
project at a later date.

10. Sharing your animation (that is, sending or publishing

Flash files online)
Click on File in the top menu.
Roll the mouse cursor over Export.
Click on Export Movie . . .
Type in a name for the file and choose its location (if you would like to
save your animation as a file type other than *.swfthe Flash default
you must change the format at this point using the drop down menu
found at the bottom of the export window).
Click Save.
The movie file created in this last step can be viewed easily by others
using the free Flash player provided with most web browsers, or by means of
the free download available here: http://www.adobe.com/products/flash
player/. For additional tutorials on basic Flash production, visit: http://www.a
dobe.com/designcenter/tutorials/.

SECTION THREE
Flash as an educational tool
It is undeniable. Media and digital technology have become so much a part
of the world that one can no longer afford to minimize the impact they have
on our daily lives. The insatiable appetite of modern culture for media and
the momentous speed of technological growth have led to increasingly
media-saturated workplaces and lifestyles within most developed countries.
It is understanding the significance of the ubiquity of media and digital technology that fully justifies a major shift in the way that the education system in
developedand increasingly in developingcountries approaches media and
technology studies. It is no longer acceptable to merely instruct students in
traditional discipline-bounded subjects or to have them master, say, the

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business-oriented Microsoft Office suite of software programs. As the world

becomes more and more digitally mediated, it is the exceptionally media literate students who will be the most successful (and not those who can only
create PowerPoint presentations or fill in spreadsheets).
In a very real sense, technological evolution can be directly linked to the
demands of the users or viewers. Steven Johnson, in his book Everything Bad
Is Good for You (2006), suggests that it is the consumers who are demanding
more and more from the source material as time goes by. The momentum of
progress is actually creating a voracious need for new and more challenging
media and applications. This has led, for example, to the morphing and
expansion of the variety and scope of television and internet media (e.g.,
open-ended television narratives like Lost, which spill over onto the internet
where viewers revel in making logical connections between seemingly disparate events and pieces of information). Hand-in-hand with such demands,
of course, comes the need for people who can further the development and
creation of new digital technologies, programming, and applications.
With respect to education, it is important not to think only about those
few students who will become software programmers and hardware specialists
but, rather, to recognize that there is no part of the professional world that
does not in some way require the use ofor at least the understanding of
different forms of media and technology. No business, organization, community group or school can subsist today without some sort of connection to
the technological community. From the creation of interactive promotional
materials to online forums for parents and teachers, digital technologies and
networks are relied upon to a large degree for mass communication purposes,
for maintaining a range of social relationships, for accessing distributed
expertise, and for disseminating information.
Henry Jenkins suggests in his book, Convergence Culture (2006a), that
as digital technology becomes more widely accessible, more people will
become more directly involved in media production. The role of producer
will no longer be specialized. Indeed, the creation and distribution of
consumer-generated multimedia, such as the do-it-yourself Flash media that
are already proliferating online, mean a greater variety of voices will be influencing and affecting change in media industries and wider societies (e.g.,
Flash animation is a popular medium of choice for many political commentators, such as JibJab. See, for example: http://sendables.jibjab.com/originals).
The accessibility and versatility of Flash can only further these trends.
Flash offers users an important and unique way to break down the steps
involved in creating animated and online media. Understanding the production process and having the wherewithal to produce ones own media is fast
becoming an essential asset for students and the world at large. Imagine what
would happen if students tried to study literature without ever having written
their own material: Would they be able to fully understand and appreciate

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the skill it takes to construct dynamic written works? Would they be able to
fully comprehend the content and structure? Would they understand, without lots of practice and guidance, how to best compose their own texts? Students are constrained by limited experience with the written word and it is
the same for digital production. Experience with Flash does not merely
enhance the educational experience of students, it is fast becoming essential
for the development of a firm understanding of the backbone of a wide range
of digital media production processes.
One very important factor in this discussion is the understanding that
many youth are already engaging in a variety of different forms of media production. Acknowledgment of these existing interests and skills is unavoidable
for the modern educator. A visit to http://www.youtube.com offers myriad
examples of the types of do-it-yourself media productions being created by
young people (i.e. school projects, music videos, personal reflections,
response videos, activist media). In their everyday lives, many people workplay as animators, video editors, creative producers and equipment technicians (Lankshear & Knobel, 2006). Harnessing, encouraging and celebrating
this existing knowledge and skills are the keys to creating the most dynamic
and effective media education program possible.
In one sense, it takes less effort to see how animation and interactives can
offer opportunities for learning when they are produced by professionals and
educators with specific curricular intentions. Some excellent educational
Flash interactives can be found at:
http://nobelprize.org/educational_games/
http://www.bestflashanimationsite.com/archive/educational/
These games cover a wide variety of topics across a rich array of subjects
including literature, biology and economics. Users can test their knowledge
of Lord of the Flies, learn how to defeat a bacterial infection, and explore
international economics. These games are thorough, engaging and offer
unique ways to explore different subjects.
The process of developing these types of resources is also very important
in terms of how functional and valuable the final product will be (Kerlow,
2004). User-created videos in general have already impacted the world of television and film, changing the way professionals view licensing and marketing
as well as affecting production styles and even movie scripts. A good example
of this is the film, Cloverfield (Bad Robot, 2008). The cinematic style of this
Hollywood film deliberately mimics the filming style of the handheld camera
used by the main characters to record the monsters attack on New York City.
Additionally, most of the marketing for this film used viral videos, tapping
into video meme practices and networks to help advertise the movie. Similarly, developing Flash skills during early schooling could have a significant

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effect on future productions. As it becomes easier for the average user to create his or her own interactive Flash games, for example, the world of game
design will be affected in a similar fashion. Certainly, it can be argued that the
portability, interactivity and small file sizes made possible by flash animations
have significantly impacted the kinds of applications people are everywhere
developing for Apples iPhone and iPod Touch.
In this era of media immersion, the need for media literacy programs is
becoming stronger and stronger (Semali, 2000; Jenkins, 2006b). What must
not be forgotten is the fact that media literacy involves the understanding of
how media is produced and constructed and not something that should focus
only on audience reception and reading/viewing media. Students who
have the opportunity to develop this understanding and build their own production skills will have a much easier time seeing beyond the surface of the
multi-media world around them.
When using Flash to create media, each frame must be thought about
individually and at the same time in relation to other frames in this animation. This therefore induces a creative process that implicitly addresses a lot of
the questions raised earlier, and engages even the uninformed user in a
process of discovery with respect to the building blocks of media production.
Learning how to make even simple Flash animations builds a skill and knowledge set that carries over into other applications, including all sorts of image,
video and audio editing which operate on simple principles (e.g., using timelines, palettes of different features, selecting and cropping and clicking and
dragging items, etc.)
All moving imagesbe they film, television or animationare composed
of several sequences of still images. This is immediately clear within Flash,
since all work is broken down into individual still images or frames in the
timeline. Users can draw images for each frame, slightly altering the image
from the previous frame in the sequence, in order to create animations using
a method similar to traditional, sequential, non-digital animation. The same
animation can be built using the special tweening function found in Flash,
which allows the program to guess at the content of several frames in between
two frames that have been selected by the user. In either case it is easy
enough to click anywhere on the timeline and see the individual still images
that make up the final animation. With the understanding that all moving
image media are made up of thousands of unique frames, students can begin
to understand the core of media production as well as develop their ability to
construct and deconstruct it.
Flash also clearly distinguishes between the different elements that make
up any or all of the frames within a project. Each frame can be made up of
one or more layers of objects that can each be manipulated separately
throughout a sequence. These layers might include the background image
(location, scenery), a foreground image (foliage, props), and any number of

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characters. This allows for the careful evaluation of the appropriate placement
and arrangement of the various layers throughout a sequence and therefore
forces experimentation with different layouts. The important learning here
lies in the exploration of the changes in meaning that occur when these elements are manipulated: How are the elements arranged? What is the most
prominent feature? Is there movement of the layers throughout the
sequence? What impact does the movement have on the meaning or the
intention? Moreover, once exposed to this frame-by-frame breakdown of
production, students will not be able to read media the same way they did
before.
Analyzing media involves breaking down a final piece into its smaller
parts and determining their individual meaning as connected to the meaning
of the whole. The following is a list of questions that can help this process:
How does the frame separate the real world from that on the screen?
(This can apply to videos and interactives alike. Is it immersive or a more
removed experience?)
How do the composition and design of the elements within the frame
alter its meaning/context? (Are things laid out as expected or do they
distort conventions? What is in the foreground and background? What
are the important elements?)
Is it more stylized or more realistic?
What types of shots and angles are used? (Are the images used close up or
far away? Is the viewer looking up at or down at the images?)
Is it dark or light? (How bright are the images?)
What colors are used and what meaning do they bring? (What do different colors evoke in viewers/users?)
What type of movement is being used? Is it strong or subtle?
How quick are the transitions and cuts? (Is it hard to keep up with or does
it drag along?)
Is there sound? Is it loud or quiet?
What is the overall purpose of the production?
This same type of deconstructive analysis is important to think about
when building interactives. The process still includes many of the same
important elements that generate meaning, but there may be a stronger
emphasis on designing for function. Designing and programming interactives
require the evaluation of the relative function of all the elements of a project.
This process must also take into account the existing knowledge of the
intended users and the degree of technological literacy that they may or may

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not already have. On a very basic level, all this really means is that certain
types of actions will be located in certain places and appear in certain ways
that will help to solidify their meaning for the user who has certain expectations of the way these types of projects behave. A user with previous experience with gaming may look for certain conventions in order to best know
how to proceed (Gee, 2003). For example, a change in the design of a certain
section of a virtual wall may indicate a secret lies behind it. Only a practiced
gamer would know to investigate this abnormality. It may also be important,
then, to think about the way users unfamiliar with gaming might interact
with the projects. This might entail designing an interactive that scaffolds
learning in such a way that users develop a stronger understanding of how to
engage as they move forward through the game.
Game design in Flash also forces students to think both critically and logically about the meaning of all the elements of a game. FableForge.org, for
example, offers a free tool for constructing games that use Flash animation.
Some important questions to ask when building interactive games include:
What is the purpose of the game?
How does the user win?
What type of game is this: a memory game, drag and drop game, a target
game, a maze, etc.?
How will the instructions be delivered to the user?
How does the game itself teach the user to play the game?
How should the different elements interact with each other?
How should the different elements appear?
What is the best tool for controlling moving elements or interacting
within the game; the keyboard or the mouse?
Will there be music or sound effects?
Thinking about the end user/viewer during the design and production
of interactives and animations is a very important skill for students to
develop. The practicality of this skill is limitless on both professional and amateur levels. Without carefully considering the various elements discussed
above, the impact and functionality of any project can easily be lost. It is this
most important process that exposes students to the dynamic efforts that are
necessary for building effective and entertaining interactive games.
Research conducted by the Lifelong Kindergarten group at the MIT
Media Lab indicates that children who are exposed to basic programming
and design techniques develop a broad array of skills relevant for their success
in the future (Rusk, Resnick, & Maloney, no date). These skills include:

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Media literacystudents understand the process of selecting, creating

and managing multiple forms of media
Communicationstudents understand how to choose, manipulate and
integrate media in order to express themselves
Critical thinking and systems thinkingstudents directly experience sensing, feedback, and other fundamental system concepts
Problem identification, formulation and solutionstudents can immediately experience the effects that various changes have on a problem
Creativity and intellectual curiosity
Interpersonal and collaborative skills
Self-direction
Accountability and adaptability
Social responsibility
The less tangible facet of the argument for the use of Flash in education
involves the use of the software as a means of personal expression. In a world
that still struggles to ensure funding for the arts in schools and often ignores
the value of understanding the basics of musical and visual art, this argument
may seem far fetched. In actuality, it is these unfortunate and widespread limitations that further reinforce the need for more diverse and widespread art
programs.
Humans, at all ages and in all socio-economic situations, need to be able
to express themselves through art. This does not mean that everyone should
go out and start painting or sculpting. While an artist is traditionally thought
of as someone who creates fine art, all things made through the process of
creative expression is art. For some people this may be writing, dancing, composing, knitting, or even driving. Whatever the medium, everyone needs a
way to access their own creative energy and develop a way to communicate
that energy to the world around them. It is the job of the education system
to engage students in trying out as many different forms of creative expression as possible in order to ensure a well-rounded, functional, and healthy
future for our society (Florida, 2002).
Flash can be a simple way for students to experiment with using digital
technology as a medium for personal expression. Animating shorts and programming interactives can be a great way to explore different styles of conveying meaning and sharing experiences. As a medium of personal
communication and a means for developing and exploring well-rounded
characters, Flash can offer a forum for the digital manifestation of the internal passions or curiosities of the creators. As such, it should not be ignored as
an important artistic tool.

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Flash animation offers easy access to the building blocks of digital production, gaming technology, and web design that comprise essential knowledge for our media-centric future. No matter what the final product,
developing skills that enable the use of Flash as a tool to communicate and
engage with others in some way is an invaluable process and challenges students to think about their own education and their future place in the world
from a unique and creative perspective.

References
Au, J. (2008). 10 most popular flash games of 2008Mochi Network. Gigaom. Dec. 15.
Retrieved February 15, 2008, from http://gigaom.com/2008/12/15/10-mostpopular-mochi-network-flash-games-of-2008/
Florida, R. (2002). The rise of the creative class. New York: Basic Books.
Gay, J. (2009). The history of Flash. Retrieved February 15, 2009, from http://www.adob
e.com/macromedia/events/john_gay/
Gee, J. P. (2003). What video games have to teach us about learning and literacy. New York:
Palgrave Macmillan.
Giannetti, L. (1999). Understanding movies. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall.
Gillis, D. (Executive Producer). (2007). WordGirl. [Television series]. Watertown, MA:
Soup2Nuts.
Goetzman, G., Starkey, S., Teitler, W., & Zemeckis, R. (Producers), & Zemeckis, R.
(Director). (2004).The Polar Express [Motion picture]. USA: Warner Bros.
Gunter, S. K. (2007). Teach yourself visually: Flash CS3 Professional. Hoboken, NJ: Wiley
Publishing, Inc.
Jackson, P., Osborne, B. M., Sanders, T., & Walsh, F. (Producers), & Jackson, P. (Director).(2001, 2002, 2003) The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring, The Lord of
the Rings: The Two Towers, and The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King.
[Motion picture]. USA: New Line Cinema.
Jenkins, H. (2006a). Convergence culture. New York: New York University Press.
Jenkins, H. (2006b). Confronting the challenges of participatory culture: Media education for the 21st century. A MacArthur Foundation Occasional Paper. Retrieved
November 25, 2008, from http://digitallearning.macfound.org/atf/cf/%7B7E45C7
E0-A3E04B89-AC9C-E807E1B0AE4E%7D/JENKINS_WHITE_PAPER.PDF
Johnson, S. (2006). Everything bad is good for you. New York: Riverhead Books.
Kerlow, I. (2004). Creative human character animation: The Incredibles vs. The Polar
Express. Retrieved November 25, 2008, from http://vfxworld.com/?sa=adv&code=3
19b255d&atype=articles&id=2306&page=1
Lankshear, C., & Knobel, M. (2006). New literacies: Everyday practices and classroom
learning (2nd ed.). New York: Open University Press.
MacGregor, C., Waters, C., Doull, D., Regan, B., Kirkpatrick, A., & Pinch, P. (2002).
The Flash usability guide. Birmingham, UK: Friends of ED.
McCracken, C. (Executive Producer). (2004). Fosters Home for Imaginary Friends. [Television series]. Atlanta, GA: Cartoon Network.
Rewis, G. (no date). Using the drawing tools. Adobe Video Workshop. http://www.adobe.com/designcenter/video_workshop/?id=vid0119

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Rusk, N., Resnick, M. & Maloney, J. (no date). Learning with scratch: 21st century learning skills. From the Lifelong Kindergarten Group, MIT Media Lab. Retrieved
November 25, 2008, from http://info.scratch.mit.edu/@api/deki/files/637/=Scrat
ch-21stCenturySkills.pdf
Semali, L. M. (2000). Literacy in multimedia America. New York: Falmer Press.
Thomas, F., & Johnston, O. (1981). The illusion of life: Disney animation. New York: Walt
Disney Productions.
Vander Veer, E. A., & Grover, C. (2007). Flash CS3: The missing manual. Sebastopol, CA:
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Disney Channel.

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Chapter 9

AMV Remix: Do-it-yourself anime music

videos
videos
MICHELE KNOBEL, COLIN LANKSHEAR AND MATTHEW LEWIS

SECTION ONE
Background to AMV as a cultural practice:
Setting the context with Konoha Memory Book
The catalyst for this chapter is a 4.25 minute fan-made anime music video
called Konoha Memory Book (DynamiteBreakdown, 2008a). This was
created over 4 months during 2005 by one of the present authors, Matt
Lewisalso known online as Dynamite Breakdown, Maguma, and/or Tsugasawhen he was 15 years old. It was sourced by Michele Knobel and Colin
Lankshear in 2006 while doing work on remix in relation to the theory
and practice of new literacies. Artifact led to creator and ongoing email
communications, resulting in this chapter.
Konoha Memory Book is set to Nicklebacks song, Photograph, and
contains hundreds of video clips taken from across the first series of the
Japanese anime Naruto (DynamiteBreakdown 2008b). The lyrics speak of
someone looking through a photograph album and how the photos jog longforgotten memories about growing up poor, skipping out on school, getting
into trouble with the law, hanging out with friends, first love, etc. The narra-

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tor is leaving his hometown. Despite all thats happened, hes leaving reluctantly and with at least some fond memories.
Matt uses this basic thread to follow Narutothe principal protagonist
in the seriesthrough a range of adventures. The first verse of the song is
accompanied by clips presenting the main charactersNaruto Uzumaki,
Sasuke Uchiha, Sakura Haruno, and their ninja sensei, Kakashi Hatakeand
conveys a sense of some of the mischief and danger Naruto and his fellow
ninjas-in-training enact and encounter while developing their skills and characters: e.g., playing truant from school (synchronized clips show students
escaping through a school window and running outside) and getting in trouble with the law (clips show someone holding up a record sheet to a sheepish
Naruto).
The initial segue to the chorus moves from bright, yellow and red colorsmatching the singers comment that life is better now than it was back
thento darker, more muted images emphasizing bittersweet memories
recounted in the song. At this point the video includes many close-ups where
an individual is standing at a remove from others, often with text (e.g., Time
to say it and Good-bye) superimposed over images and aligning with the
lyrics as theyre sung. The initial chorus closes with scenes from a beloved
elders funeral. Good-bye does double work here, synching with the song
and saying farewell to the master sensei. The remainder of the song follows a
similar pattern. At times there is a literal synching between lyrics and images
(e.g., mention of cops in the lyrics is matched with images of law keepers in
Naruto). At other times the synch between lyrics and images has a kind of
frisson to it, like the image of Naruto kissing Sasuke (a boy) as the singer
recalls his first kiss. This move references the corpus of Naruto/Sasuke
relationship fiction and music videos made by fans. Sometimes, the synch
between lyrics and images is more conceptualas when the lyrics speak of
missing the sound and faces of childhood friends, while the clip sequence
emphasizes how Naruto, Sasuke, Sakura and their sensei, Kakashi, have
formed a close bond over the course of living and training together. Second
time round the chorus is used to up the visual tempo with a bricolage of
images that suggests time passing. This bricolage includes pages of the original print-based Naruto manga series superimposed over images from the
Naruto anime series. This speaks directly to Naruto having both manga and
anime forms, and links to the concept of the photo album at the heart of the
song. An image of Naruto running away from the reader is superimposed
over other clips, again emphasizing the sense of time passing. This same animation of Naruto is repeated in the closing bars of the song as the singer
explains that its time to leave his hometown and move on.
Matt first uploaded Konoha Memory book to AnimeMusicVideos.org
(aka AMV.org), the premier website for anime music video creators and aficionados (http://www.animemusicvideos.org). AMV fans found it and sub-

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sequently uploaded it to YouTube for others to view. Konoha Memory

Book has now almost two million views across these accounts. It won all
sections at the 2007 Anime Expo in Los Angeles, although contest rules permitted just one official prize: the Popular Vote Award. It has spawned copycat videos using the same song and Naruto video clips. Many fans on
YouTube identify it as their all-time favorite AMV. Possibly, though, the
stand-out fan tribute is a karaoke version of Konoha Memory Book on
YouTube. Konoha Memory Book remains one of Matts favorites among
his 45 published AMVs to date.
Time spent watching anime music videos online opened up the world of
anime to Matt, who is now an avid fan of a range of series.
The first AMV I officially saw was Narutrix [an AMV faux movie trailer parodying the Matrix movies] which is what got me into Naruto [the anime series]
and downloading anime in general. After that I saw an AMV for Azumanga
Daioh [another anime series] and decided to give it a shot.

When Matt first began making AMVs in 2005 hed produce like one a
night, but they werent amazing. After We Will Fight for Her, one of my
first major AMV projects, I spent a LOT more time on AMVs. Its not
unusual for Matt to spend hundreds of hours remixing an AMV, particularly
if he plans to submit it to a competition, on top of hundreds of hours spent
watching anime online, downloading resource files, searching for appropriate
scenes, and so on, before starting production and subsequent editing
iterations.
Matt mainly creates in-canon fan videos: situated within a single anime
universe, like Naruto, rather than constructed from clips taken from different
series. To date most of his creations have used the Naruto series and movies
as their anime source, although hes also used Street Fighter Alpha, Tengen
Toppa Gurren Lagann, Digimon, Fullmetal Alchemist, Tenjou Tenge, and
Azumanga Daioh. He categorizes the bulk of his work posted to his
AMV.org account as action genre (34 of 45) and the remainder as comedy,
parody, sentimental, or drama AMVs (many are assigned to multiple categories). As Matt explains, I really enjoy making action AMVs due to the
rush one can get from it; I like that feeling in the back of my head that just
goes Woah . . . ! He also enjoys making drama AMVs cus with it you can
try to express a storyline or bring out a trait of a character that not many
notice or get to see.
Many of his AMVs are accompanied by spoiler alerts, warning viewers
that key plot points to the anime series featured in the AMV will be given
away. Matt remixes his AMVs with audience strongly in mind. This includes
using superimposed text or other devices within the AMV itself to help viewers interpret his video clips. In Before We Were Men,

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I wanted to show all the things that the two had gone through up to the fight
that they have near the end of the series. Also I tried to throw in a bit of fan
service with the text [i.e., words like passion, angst appear at specific points
in the video] and the ending along with keeping the theme of the video feed
effect at the beginning and end [i.e., a visual effect that makes the video look like
its playing on a television monitor].

Matts information page for this AMV (posted to AnimeMusicVideos.org)

concludes with the all-caps text WARNING YAOI-ESQUE ENDING!!!
Yaoi is a term used outside Japan by fans of Japanese manga and anime to
describe a genre of manga and anime focusing on male/male love
(Wikipedia, 2008). Yaoi texts are not necessarily sexual in nature or necessarily considered gay texts. Matt describes this particular AMV as yaoi because
The AMV overall has that kind of passionate feeling of the two longing for
each other kind of sense. And in the end theyre just practically face to face in
the rain, and with the lack of a visual and the rain still running it leaves you to
think what might happen.

Music videos
Anime music videos are a subset of music videos, which came into their own
in the 1980s and have a long and interesting history. During the 1920s and
1930s, music and moving images began to be combined by professional
movie makers and music producers to create what are typically referred to as
musical short films and Vitaphone films (Wikipedia, 2009). These short
music films were produced expressly to showcase new bands, vaudeville acts,
and opera singers as well as to promote more established artists and their performances (Vernallis, 2004; Wikipedia, 2009). These films were played
mostly in cinemas. By the 1940s, jukeboxes were playing soundiesa song
combined with moving images printed on celluloid film. Produced primarily
to promote musical artists, soundies largely presented artists performing their
songs in studio settings (Austerlitz, 2007).
In the 1960s, major artists, including The Animals, The Kinks, The Beatles, and Bob Dylan, were experimenting with song films. Performers lipsynched their songs in the studio or real-world settings. Audio and film were
then edited together to produce the song film (Wikipedia, 2009). Producers
began experimenting with camera shot types and angles, with editing
sequences within the song film, and with color. The launch of the television
shows, Countdown and Sounds in Australia in the early 1970s and Top of the
Pops in England in the late 1970s, signaled and stimulated the growing popularity of music videos as a distinct form of entertainment. Their fare
included music videos showcasing up-and-coming artists and established
bands and singers from different parts of the world (Wikipedia, 2009), as well

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as live performances. Music video-focused television shows became popular

in many countries subsequently.
In 1981, MTV was launched in the U.S., offering 24/7 music on television. The music video genre had become mainstream (Wikipedia, 2009), and
music videos were carefully edited in synch with the music, lyrics, mood or
theme of the song. Music videos soon became expected components of any
mainstream music album launch. Increasingly, music video directors began
experimenting with visual effects, adding animation and newly-invented editing effects (e.g., visual overlays, quick-cut editing, inserting photographs and
found footage, experimenting with film effects) (Vernallis, 2004). There also
was a noticeable shift in orientation, away from highly representational
videos showing the artists and documenting their performance (ibid.),
toward greater use of non-representational music videos. The latter included
fully animated music videos and live action videos in which the artists did not
appear. Some music videos began assuming explicit narrative forms; telling
a story that added depth or intrigue to the song (ibid.) (e.g., Bonnie Tylers
Total Eclipse of the Heart and its multiple layers of interpretation). The
1980s also saw many music videos becoming more conceptual in orientation,
often defying narrative conventions altogether; such as Bowies Ashes to
Ashes music video, where none of the characters in the video feature in the
song, and the main character in the song (Major Tom) is absent in the video.
Current music videos draw on this varied history. They can be representational or non-representational, narrative or non-narrative, and draw extensively on pop culture trends (use of machinima, stop motion filming, anime
conventions, etc.). Todays music videos still employ a wide range of filmic
and editing techniques, albeit more like those used in television commercials
and movie trailers than in feature films (Vernallis, 2004): sudden shifts in shot
length, unusual angles and framing devices, reversed film, tracking shots, slomo, unusual uses of focus, monochrome or saturated colour, atmospheric
lighting, and so on.
As MTVs emphasis shifted in the early 2000s away from continuously
airing music videos towards reality shows, fan-made music videosor
songvidsseemed to gain momentum (Austerlitz, 2007), abetted by
affordable or free access to easy-to-use digital video and audio software and
networked spaces like YouTube for sharing fan works. Today, countless thousands of fan-made music videos span every conceivable music genre, running
alongside commercial professional music video production. Bands recognize
the importance of fan-made videos in terms of pleasure and promotion alike,
often hosting music video contests and incorporating fan footage into commercial DVDs (Catone, 2008, p. 1).

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Part of the pleasure of fan music video creation appears to be its DIY
nature: exploring the meaning of the song through images to create ones
own interpretation or narrative or commentary. While some fan-made music
videos are highly representational, others reflect a much more experimental
spirit. Some game and music fans use video game engines to film and create
machinima music videos (e.g., Paul Marinos Still Seeing Breen; see also,
Chapter 6 in this volume). Others synch still images to a favorite song, film
themselves lip synching to a favorite song (cf., Gary Brolsma in Numa
Numa Dance), or create kinds of fan fictions, where favorite movies (e.g.,
Lord of the Rings), movie genres (e.g., kung fu movies), or television shows
(e.g., Star Trek) provide the source video to be synched with a chosen song.

Anime music videos

Anime music videos are fan-made music videos that use only clips from anime
movies and series. Animeanimated Japanese cartoonscome in a range of
genres (e.g., comedy, drama, adventure), storylines (e.g., saving villages from
demons, saving the world from mecha-robot domination), themes (e.g.,
coming to terms with ones own character flaws, loyalty, environmentalism,
the human cost of wars, dealing with bullies), and orientations (e.g., shonen
anime targeting boys, shoujo anime targeting girls). Creating an AMV
involves taking small clips from anime productions and splicing them together
in new sequences synched to a chosen song.
The anime clips used as source video bring with them the universe, characters, storylines and themes of the series from which they came. This is often
used deliberately by the remixer to add layers of meaning to the AMV itself.
Viewers not familiar with the Naruto anime series when they first watch
Matts Konoha Memory book will likely miss much of its symbolism and
many relationship references. The use of anime means that AMVs are mostly
non-representational of the bands whose music is being used, although this is
not hard and fast. For example, the winner of the 2005 best video award
on AnimeMusicVideos.org was Jihaku by Tyler, set to the Foo Fighters
Best of You, and included footage of the Foo Fighters performing live.
No definitive account exists to date of how and why anime music videos
became a widespread fan practice. Some suggest they were developed initially
by anime club members to show previews of movies or new series to attract
new fans (Springall, 2004). Others suggest anime music videos are an outgrowth of fansubbing practices, where anime fans add English subtitles to
originaloften bootlegcopies of Japanese anime (Kirkpatrick, 2003).
Some think AMV is a logical outcome of MTV music videos mixed with adolescent interests and experiences (Milstein, 2008). Whatever the original
impetus, AMVs are massively popular do-it-yourself fan productions.

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YouTubecurrently the best-known user-made video content hosting websitesimply states millions in response to the search term: AMV
(YouTube, May 1, 2009).
Like music remixing (see Chapter 2 in this volume), anime music video
making began well before digital technologies were readily and widely available. During the 1980s and well into the 1990s, creating AMV involved
manually working two analog video recorders cobbled together with audio
and video cables (Springall, 2004). While one recorder played the source
videos, the other captured clips from the sources on a single video tape,
building the AMV in a linear way, one small clip at a time. The music soundtrack was added when the clips were finally in place. Synchronization between
song and clip sequence was often clunky at best (Springall, 2004). Digital
technologies have made the AMV remixing process much easier, more
affordable and widespread. An anime fan can now use the free video editing
software that ships with most standard computers (e.g., Windows Movie
Maker on PCs and iMovie on Macs) to create a good quality AMV. The creation of online fan communities like AnimeMusicVideos.org, and AMV competitions hosted at high-profile anime conventions, have also helped establish
anime music video remixing as a well-recognized and widespread DIY fan
practice.
Tim Park (2008), founder of AnimeMusicVideos.org, identifies the first
recognized AMV as a 1983 creation by Jim Kaposztas, who remixed segments from Gundam and synched them with the Styx song, Mr. Roboto.
Early AMV remixing was largely underground. Occasionally shown in
British dance clubs in the early 1990s (Milstein, 2008), AMVs remained culturally marginal until quite recently. Park dates AMVs coming of age to
1999, when Kevin Caldwells Engel scooped the prize pool in three major
categories at a premier U.S. anime convention. Engel broke new ground
with its flawless synchronization between song and the on-screen action,
achieved with a laser disc machine and a VHS insert editor (Springall, 2004,
p. 41).
2001 was a landmark year in AMV development and direction.
Odorikuruu, by Jay R. Locke, spearheaded dance/fun AMV, which has
become very popular within the AMV community. Locke spliced segments
from 34 different anime and set them to the wildly infectious dance song,
Elissa, by Mamboleo. Odorikuruu continues to set the technical and
artistic benchmark for many dance genre AMV remixers (Park 2008). 2001
also brought quantum advances in technical sophistication within AMV productions. For example, E-Ko merged two different anime into the same
frame in his Tainted Donuts AMV, using Photoshop, After Effects, and
Final Cut Pro software to achieve this effect (Park 2008).

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2003 brought the release of Koopiskevas Euphoria, still ranked the

all-time Number One anime music video on AnimeMusicVideos.org. Paradoxically within a fan practice, many AMV exponents claimed they would
stop making AMVs because Koopiskevas AMV had raised the bar too high
(Park, 2008).
The range and styles of fan-produced AMVs have continued to grow and
broaden, albeit within one or other of two general forms: AMVs that remix
clips from a single anime series (e.g., Naruto, Evangelion), and AMVs that
remix clips from multiple anime series and movies. Within these two broad
categories, popular types of AMVs include tributes to series or movies, character profiles or biographies, non-narrative or conceptual music videos that
focus on a particular dimension of an anime series (e.g., loyalty or betrayal),
videos promoting an anime series, compilations of specific events from different anime (e.g., characters falling down, characters kissing), celebrations of
multiple anime series set to a favorite song, parodies of social or political
events or of AMV making itself, and remixes used to tell stand-alone stories
not necessarily connected to the anime from which the clips were borrowed
(Springall, 2004; Park, 2008).
Popular genres include drama, action, horror, comedy, dance, romantic
and sentimental AMVs (see AMV.org, 2008a; Springall, 2004). Matt
describes Konoha Memory Book as being principally sentimental in
intent because it focuses on all the trials and tribulations, difficulties and
memories that the characters of Naruto gain and share. Engel falls into
the drama category, with its depiction of strong, warrior-like Japanese school
girls, its fight scenes and its heavy metal soundtrack. This contrasts with the
comedy of, say, AMV Hell, which focuses on slapstick moments set to an
eclectic and eccentric soundtrack comprising snippets from sources as diverse
as the soundtrack to The Passion of The Christ, Lords of Acids Spank My
Booty, and Shania Twains Man! I feel Like a Woman.

SECTION TWO
Creating an AMV
Becoming a good AMV remixer requires watching a lot of AMVs. Matt recommends that beginners watch LOADS of AMVs. He gets a lot of inspiration from other videos on technical stuff and effects. Just because someone
else uses an effect doesnt mean you cant. Watching AMVs helps with
working out personal preferences and dislikes with respect to video effects,
transition effects, sequence editing, synching between images, music and
lyrics, and so on. Reading comments left for anime music videos on YouTube

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by (re)viewers provides rapid entre to what insiders consider good and bad
quality editing and remixing (e.g., avoid cheesy transition effects like the
over-used checkerboard effect).
Matt arrives at developing a new AMV by different routes. Sometimes a
song strikes him as eminently AVM-able. Other times, he has an idea that
has grown out of an anime series that he would like to explore but keeps on
the backburner until he hears a suitable song. The match between the
selected song and the anime used in conjunction with the song is crucial: If
you use a Linkin Park song with shows like Azumanga Daioh, its totally
pointless, explains Matt. Linkin Park is a hard rock band; Azumanga Daioh
is a light-hearted, humorous anime. Then,
Once I get the song I listen to it over and over again so I can get a sense of the
song and am able to work with the clips without having to play the song at the
same time, which makes it very hectic [i.e., listening to the song and editing clips
simultaneously can be hectic].

Matt began remixing AMVs using Windows Movie Maker software and
still considers it a useful starting place for beginners: I always tell people use
Movie Maker. Lots of people dont think you can make a good AMV [using
this software], but almost ALL of my [early] AMVs are made with it, and my
recent ones use it to some extent too. Learn to use it, tamper with the effects
and invent new things. Ive found ways to create effects in movie maker that
[expensive] programs like Adobe Premiere can do. Good quality AMVs also
can be made easily using iMovie. The principles for both movie editing programs are much the same. We focus on Windows Movie Maker here to make
the most of Matts expertise. (For a range of excellent tutorial videos for
using the latest iMovie release, that can serve in place of our technical
descriptions below, see: www.apple.com/ilife/imovie.)
Source anime to be used in the AMV project can be ripped from a DVD
or downloaded from the internet (copyright issues are discussed later). Ripping requires special-purpose software that copies the video file to ones
computer harddrive and converts it into an editable format (e.g., an *.avi file,
a *.mov file). Popular DVD ripping software includes DVDFab (for PCs) and
Handbrake (for Macs and PCs). Video downloading sites can be used to capture video from YouTube and other video hosting websites, like
KeepVid.com and SaveVid.com.
Original, free-to-use-with-attribution anime can be found via CreativeCommons.org. Click on the Search option at the top of the page,
then on the Blip.tv tab. Key anime into the search window and hit Go.
Another option is to search Aniboom.com for anime, find animators whose
work you like and then search for them on YouTube or other video hosting
sites (e.g., Break.com, Revver.com, Vimeo.com, OurMedia.org) in order to
download their videos and use them, after obtaining their permission to do

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so. A third option is to visit Newgrounds.com, a user-created flash animation

portal, and hand search their anime category: newgrounds.com/colle
ction/anime.html.
Once the source anime is downloaded to the harddrive, it needs to be
stored in a single resource folder to help keep the AMV project stable while
working on it inside Windows Movie Maker or iMovie. It pays to keep careful note of where this folder is, in order to be able to access it from inside
ones video editing program. Setting up this folder under desktop makes it
easy to locate. Likewise, setting the destination of downloaded files to the
desktop makes it easy and quick to drag them to the resource folder and not
lose track of what resource is where. Windows Movie Maker only works with
Windows Media files (e.g., *.wma, *.wme, *.avi), and some *.mpg file types
(but not *.mp4 or *.mov files). Zamzar.com is a useful free service for converting short video clips from one file format to another.
It is important to keep file formats consistent. When using Windows
Movie Maker, the project will crash less frequently if all the video clips share
the same file type or format. This same resource folder should include the
song file as well. Songs downloaded from iTunes will not work with either
Windows Movie Maker or iMovie since copyright restrictions are built into
the song file. Original free-to-use-with-attribution songs and soundtracks can
be found via ccMixter.org, FreePlayMusic.com, Opsound.org, and elsewhere.
Finally, it is important to ensure there is plenty of free space on the computer harddrive because video editing projects can gobble up computer memory quickly.

Building the project

We will focus here on the principles involved in creating a short AMV.

1. Import resource files into Movie Maker.

We open Windows Movie Maker (hereafter, Movie Maker), click on File
in the top menu bar, and select Import into Collections (or just press the
keys Cntrl + I) (see Figure 9.1). This opens up a file selection window. We
locate our resource folder and click on one of our movie resource files inside
it. We can also import video files by clicking on the Import video hyperlink
in the task pane located on the left-hand side of the Movie Maker window
(covered by the drop-down menu shown in Figure 9.1). It doesnt matter in
which order we import our movie files.

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Figure 9.1: Importing the first file into a new video editing project using Windows
Movie Maker software

An information window pops up to show file progress as each is converted into a format with which Movie Maker can work. Successfully
imported files appear as thumbnail images in the Collection space between
the task pane and the video player in the top half of the Movie Maker window
(see Figure 9.1). If we import a number of collections or sets of video files we
can move between them using the drop-down menu in the Collections section. This importing process is repeated until all the movie files we plan to
edit at this stage are imported into Movie Maker. We can easily add more
later.
This is a good time to first save the project. Saving a project at regular
intervals is invaluable for guarding against losing work should the video editing software crash. There is a very important distinction to keep in mind here
when saving the project: between Save project as and Save movie file.
Clicking on File in the top menu bar and selecting Save Project or
Save Project As . . . saves your file as a Movie Maker project file. This is an
editable file that will only play inside the Windows Movie Maker software.
(It cannot be uploaded to YouTube or OurMedia.org or burned to a CD
that can be played as a movie on another machine.) We must use this option
while we are still working on our AMV: to add or delete files, edit files, move
files around, add in transitions and effects and so on. Once our AMV is complete, and we are happy with the final results and want to publish it as a
stand-alone movie clip, we can then click File on the top menu bar and
select Save Movie File. . . . This will convert our project into a single movie
clip that can be uploaded to YouTube, emailed to friends, and burned to a
CD that will play on compatible media players on any computer. We cannot,
however, go back inside this movie file to edit and tinker with things. If we
want to make further changes we just open the project file inside Movie
Maker and tinker there, before saving it as a new movie file. (The analogy

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here is saving a text document as a Word file, which can be opened up and
edited etc., and then converting this same file to a portable document file, or
pdf. This pdf file can be read in Adobe Reader software, but the text cannot be edited.)

2. Storyboarding clips.
Now we have a pool of video clips imported into Movie Maker from which to
draw. For the audio we will use The White Stripes song Why cant you be
nicer to me?
Movie Maker provides a storyboard for sequencing clips. Its layout is linear and runs along the bottom of the Movie Maker window (see Figure 9.1).
To begin adding clips to our AMV project we simply locate each one we want
within the collections pane and click-and-drag it into position on the storyboard, using the mouse and cursor. We can preview clips in the collection
pane using the video player in the right-hand top corner of the Movie Maker
window. This same video player can be used to review the AMV as we build
it.
Ours will be a compilation AMV, drawing from a diverse range of different anime. The idea we want to realize in this anime music video is a montage
of rather violent mecha-robots who are wondering why people arent nicer to
them. The message of the video portion will be in tension with the song
itself. Rather than portraying a solitary figure who is treated unkindly by others, it will suggest that people try and do nasty things to these robots because
they are not being nice to others. The White Stripes open their song with
three sets of heavy electric guitar downbeats immediately followed by a quick
bridge to a repetition of these same sets of beats. The third beat in each set is
slightly louder and held slightly longer than the other two beats. So, in our
video, the first two beats of the song are synched to a clip of a normal, very
static everyday scene, and on the third beat, this shifts to a clip of a mecharobot stomping emphatically on a car. This same patternan everyday, fairly
tranquil scene followed by a robot doing serious damageis repeated for the
entire opening sequence of the song.
As we work through this sequence, we find that our resource clips are
way too long for our needs; they also contain a lot of extraneous footage that
doesnt suit our purposes. We need to clip them and make them shorter.
There are various ways to do this and a quick Google search will pull up any
number of how-to tutorials. We will begin by clicking on Show Timeline,
an option found in the storyboard function menu (see Figure 9.2).

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Figure 9.2: Switching between the storyboard view and the timeline view in
Windows Movie Maker

The timeline view displays the actual run-time per clip in seconds, and
this is where we work on refining the synch between clips and, later, between
clips and our audio track.
In the storyboard we highlight the clip to be trimmed by clicking on it
(once selected it will be surrounded by a heavy black outline). Placing the
cursor over one side of this highlighted video clip changes the cursor to a
red, double-ended arrow. Clicking-and-holding-down the left mouse button
when this red arrowed cursor appears, then dragging the cursor, moves the
video playhead (which appears as a blue horizontal line) to where we wish to
cut the video (see Figure 9.3).

Figure 9.3: Clipping a video file to make it shorter or to remove extraneous footage

We release the mouse button once the playhead is where we want it, and
this breaks our original selected video file into two clips. The clip segment
to the right of the playhead automatically deletes itself. If we make a mistake,
we can immediately reinstate this deleted portion by clicking on Edit in
the Movie Maker main menu bar and then Undo Trim Clip.
If we want to use a portion of a trimmed clip elsewhere and want to split
the clip into two, rather than cut it and delete a portion, we first highlight the
clip we want to split. Using the video preview window, we then play the clip

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to the point where we want to split it, and press the Stop button (marked
by a square icon, and found next to the Play button). Still working in this
preview window, we click the Split button (see Figure 9.4), and now have
two clips instead of the one in our timeline or storyboard sequence.

Figure 9.4: Splitting a video into two clips

To rearrange the order of clips, we click-hold-and-drag them to where

we want them in the sequence (this can be done in either the storyboard view
or the timeline view).
Once we have roughed out a version of our overall concept using the
clips to hand, we work methodically through our timeline, selecting each clip
and then clicking on Clip in the top menu bar of Movie Maker, choosing
Audio then Mute. This suppresses the soundtrack for each storyboarded
video clip so that it doesnt interfere with the song. Meanwhile, we are saving
our project regularly.
Now its time to import our song and begin working more closely
between the rhythm of the song, the song lyrics, our AMV concept, and the
video files.

3. Importing our song.

We import our song into Movie Maker by clicking on the Import audio or
music hyperlink in the task pane located on the left-hand side of the Movie
Maker window. This opens a file location window. We locate our resource
folder and click on our song file. The song file needs to be in a format such
as *.wav, *.aif, *.snd, and *.mp3 (not *.m4a, for example). Once weve
imported our song, it will also appear in our collections window pane,

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marked with a musical note icon. We switch to timeline view for our project
and click-and-drag the music file onto the timeline. The audio file now displays as a separate track beneath our video clips in the timeline (see Figure
9.5).

Figure 9.5: Adding a song file to an AMV project

Clicking and highlighting our music track means we can also listen to it
using the same preview pane used for watching and editing our video clips.
We use the shape of the sound waves in our audio track to help synch clip
transitions. We pay attention to the rhythm of the action within each clipif
theres running or other consistent movement we want to aim at lining this
up with the beat of our soundtrack. Our music track can be clipped and split,
just like a video clip and using the same processes. We can also add effects to
the track, like fade out at the end of the song (see Chapters 2 and 3 in this
volume).

4. Refining synch.
The process of creating an AMV now becomes quite recursive. We listen to
snatches of song and fine tune where one clip ends and the next starts. We
may go off in search of new clips that better match the lyrics or to fine-tune
our narrative. We might find we need more video clips to match the length of
the song. We experiment with transition effects (see below) and find that it
throws our timing out, so we tinker with clip length, and so on, in iterations.
Refining the synch between music rhythm, lyrics, mood (e.g., slowing clip
transitions down during sad patches of music; increasing the rate of clip
changes during frenetic bursts of music) is a trial-and-error, lets-see
process. We trim, split, and move clips until were happy with the projects
overall look, sound and feel.

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We also leave some music at the start of our AMV for our title and
enough at the end for credits.

5. Adding transitions and effects.

We can add two key types of effects to our video: transition effects and video
effects. Transition effects govern the different ways one clip can change to
the next (e.g., bars, bow tie, horizontal, circle out, fade). Anyone familiar
with creating PowerPoint presentations will know about adding transition
effects between slides. Video effects added to each clip itself can include fog
effects, sepia toning with scratchy old-film effect, grayscale, slow down half,
watercolor, etc.
To add transitions and video effects to our video we must be in storyboard mode. We click on the second entryEdit Moviein the Movie
Task box on the left-hand side of the Movie Maker program. We then click
on view video effects. This brings up a palette of different effects in the
center of the Movie Maker window. By clicking on each effect icon we can
preview the look of the effect in the preview window (where we earlier previewed video and sound). When we find a suitable effect we click on it and
drag it down on top of the clip to which we want to add that effect. A small
blue star appears in the bottom left-hand corner of each clip in the storyboard that has had an effect added. When weve finished adding effects, we
play our AMV through to check that the effects do not distract from or
undermine the mood or idea of the video overall.
To add a transition effect between clips we stay in storyboard mode.
Between each clip there is an icon that looks vaguely like a ships semaphore
flag (see Figure 9.2 above). This is where we click-and-drag our transition
effects to when we decide which transition we want. The generic transition
icon will change to match the icon for the transition effect weve selected and
added (e.g., a successfully added keyhole transition effect will be indicated by
a keyhole icon appearing between the two clips).
Staying with the Edit Movie portion of the Movie Tasks pane, we click
on View video transitions. The palette of video effects is now replaced with
a palette of transition effects. We preview each by clicking on the effect and
clicking the Play button in the preview pane. Transition effects keep the
AMV flowing smoothly from one clip to the next. They need to be in keeping with the music and concept of our music video (e.g., lots of gentle fade
transitions wont work so well with a fast-paced rock anthem). The trick here
is to have watched lots of AMV beforehand and made a note of transitions we
found particularly effective and then recreate them within our own AMV.
The same holds for transitions (and video effects) that annoyed us because
they were so common, clumsy, or over-wrought. We avoid them here since
they will likely annoy others too.

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For additional help with effects and transitions we can click on How to
add titles, effects, transitions in the Movie Task box on the left-hand side of
the Movie Maker window.

6. Finishing touches: Title and credits.

The title is usually the name given to the final AMV by the remixer and doesnt have to match the title of the song or any titles of anime it has used. For
example, we can call our AMV simply Be Nice or Robo-Love, or whatever we like. Having a specific name, like Konoha Memory Book, makes it
much easier to talk about ones AMV as distinct from the song and the original anime on which it drew. Its considered good etiquette to also list the
name of the band and the song title somewhere in the AMV, such as in the
final credits. Credits typically include the AMV source videos, the AMV
remixers online alias or real name, a website where more AMVs can be
found, and sometimes a list of acknowledgments of people who have helped
produce the AMV.
Staying with the Edit Movie portion of the Movie Tasks pane, we click
on Make titles or credits and then on the Add title on the selected clip on
the storyboard option above. This will display the title as soon as our AMV
starts rather than creating a separate title sequence. Once weve clicked on
the hyperlink, a text box appears and we key in whatever information we
want to appear (e.g., name of the AMV, the band and song). We next click on
Change the title animation and scroll through the different effects we can
add to the title text. We choose the Ticker tape title animation, which will
scroll our information across the bottom of the AMV when it starts to play.
Making sure we have the first clip on our storyboard highlighted, we click on
the Done, add title to movie hyperlink. We preview our title to ensure it
hasnt thrown any timing or synching out.
Adding credits at the end requires a similar process. Returning to the
Edit Movie portion of the Movie Tasks pane within the main window of
Movie Maker, we click on Make titles or credits and choose the Add credits at the end of the movie option. We enter text into the text box columns
(e.g., Anime usedMobile Suit Gundam, Evangelion, Giant Robo; Software
usedWindows Movie Maker, etc.). We play around with how the credits
will appear at the end of the video by clicking on Change the title animation and then scrolling down to the Credits subheading. We choose
Credits: Scroll, Up Side-by-Side), so the credits look a little like 1950s
movie credits. Clicking on Change the text font and color allows us to
change the background color of the credits clip. Happy with how the credit
sequence looks, we click Done, add title to movie. Movie Maker automatically adds this credit sequence to the end of our movie.

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7. Its a wrap!
We watch our video a few more times once everything is in place to check for
smoothness of transitions, that video effects add to rather than detract from
the work overall, and that synching hasnt come a little askew when we tinkered with different things. We invite feedback from family and friends. We
can also post an in-process copy to YouTube, hoping to attract useful viewer
feedback on a work in progress.
When happy with the final video, we click on File in the main menu
bar in Movie Maker, and choose Save Movie File . . . This brings up a dialogue box asking whether we want to save our movie to the harddrive, burn
it to a CD-ROM, email our movie, save and upload it immediately to the
internet, or use a tape in a hooked-up video camera to record it. Since the file
size is quite large, we save it to an external harddrive attached to a USB port.
We select the My Computer option and click the Next button, key in a
title of the final movie (e.g., Robo-Love). Then we click the Browse
button and locate our external harddrive in the drop-down file directory and
click Okay. We double-check the destination for the movie file, then click
the Next button. Were asked to verify file quality wantedwhich we do.
Clicking Next again, sets the ball rolling and our file is converted from a
Movie Maker project file to a neatly transportable *.wmv file.

SECTION THREE
Copyright issues
AMVs currently appear to be running beneath the copyright radar of music
and other media companies (Lessig, 2008). Milstein (2008, p. 32) suggests
this industry ambivalence is because companies see AMVs as providing free
marketing for anime series as well as constituting resources through which to
recruit editors for making [movie] trailers and DVD extras (ibid.). DIY
anime music videos are actively promoted at anime conventions, and
YouTube is loaded with AMVs using commercial anime and music without
visibly attracting cease and desist orders from media company lawyers. This
could change, but at present AMV creation seems relatively immune from
the scale of litigious copyright and IP infringement bullying that plagues
other areas of young peoples popular cultural engagement. Instead, what
seems more likely to be a pressing concern for AMV remixers is the use of
peer-to-peer filesharing networks for sourcing anime footage. Peer-to-peer
networks are increasingly subject to corporate and legal surveillance, especially in the U.S.

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Useful educational responses within classrooms to copyright law can

include discussion of fair use guidelines for teachers and students (see, for
example, Gardner, 2008; Salpeter, 2008). Informed discussion can draw
attention to how copyright laws function, how these laws can indeed protect
creators work and earningswhich is necessaryand how corporations
should make a fair proportion of their stock available for cultural creativity
(see also Chapter 3 in this volume). It is important, however, to ensure that
discussion is genuinely informed and not dominated by the schools position on copyright, which may have been shaped more by fear, by convenience, or by being ill-informed than by considerations grounded in the
mission to educate.
Important ground can be laid in such discussions for helping learners and
teachers alike to appreciate the ways in which overly restrictive copyright law
and law enforcement can and does harm cultural development by removing
important resources from the pool of fair uses. The landmark work of
Lawrence Lessig (2005, 2008) is essential reading here. It illuminates how
todays generations of digital youth are being denied rights to create that previous generations (whose medium was print) took for granted. Any school
failing to deal with these issues is reneging on its responsibilities with respect
to literacy education specifically, and education for productive and creative
citizenship more generally. Within such discussion, promoting awareness of
the Creative Commons system of author-assigned copyright licenses is an
important educational contribution. Encouraging learners and colleagues to
search for materials bearing such licenses helps sidestep copyright issues
especially with respect to using commercial music files. ccLearn licenses, in
particular, are intended to help educators and students locate learning
resources (see: discovered.creativecommons.org/search). This kind of educational work will (further) encourage participants to put their own work out
there for free use, subject to proper attributionthereby helping break the
stranglehold corporations currently wield over cultural ownership and use.
With many young people this will simply involve nurturing an extant
disposition.

AMV meets language arts

Interestingly, Matts creative engagement as an AMV remixer involves him in
understanding, appreciating, and doing many of the things English Language
Arts educators ideally aim to encourage and develop. He consciously designs
his AMVs to be interpreted on multiple levels. In his 2007 Shinobi Ballad
AMV, for example, he aimed to grab the emotion of struggle and triumph
through the clips I put in, timing them well with the lyrics and making sure
that I chose the right clips to pull out the most emotion for each section.
He wanted to focus primarily on the symbolic aspect of the characters

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struggles and triumphs but also have many scenes that literally express the
lyrics. Likewise, Matt pays careful attention to narrative structures. His
AMVs typically summarize key storylines from some anime series whilst
simultaneously standing as complete self-contained stories. He identifies
major elements in complex and episodic stories and melds them into engaging condensations of the original, much larger sequential story. Attending to
mood, symbolism, theme, multiple layers of meaning, narrative structure, key
character traits, etc., are as integral to Matts AMV remixing as they are
esteemed understandings within language arts and English classes at school.

Explicit pedagogy and media education in schools

Cases like Matts challenge various established curriculum orthodoxies about
media and literacy instruction. Some of these can be grouped around the idea
of explicit pedagogy. In its widest sense, perhaps, it refers to focusing students attention on very specific tasks and concepts within a structured setting with a view to producing specific learning outcomes. As a pedagogy it
begins from stating a specific goal for the immediate context and telling
learners what they are to do and moves to demonstrating how it is done and
then to guiding students practical efforts to apply the new concept, skill or
technique. At the other extreme, making it explicit may involve little more
than drawing attention to a concrete instance of what is being talked about,
or taking the guesswork out of a moment in classroom life, pointing directly
to what is relevant and separating it out from other contextual thoughts or
talk. With a student like Matt, a teacher might make a link between the
learners optimizing synch or establishing mood in an AMV and what is
immediately at stake in an English literature lesson.
In media and literacy education, theoretical and analytical work done in
research often provides motivation and means for importing substantial
explicit pedagogy into curriculum and foisting it on learners. A typical example is the long-running fetish for teaching young people how to identify
stereotypes in advertisements. It is assumed that young people need to be
taught how to do this, and contexts are contrivedlearning opportunities
are createdfor teaching them. Examples like those provided by Matts
experiences with AMV throw this assumption into doubt. Such experiences,
born of engaging as an authentic professional (Gee 2007) in the world of
fan-based, amateurs-working-to-professional-standards (Leadbeater & Miller,
2004) AMV remixing, would call at most for the lesser strain of explicitness
distinguished above: leveraging knowledge acquired within contexts of
authentic social practice for scholastic learning being undertaken within
settings that are very often anything but authentic. Within media and literacy
education it is widely assumed that young people need to be taught key ele-

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ments of design features, text structures, interpretive strategies, and critical

analysis processes, among other thingsthe best countervailing efforts of
popular culture resources like South Park and The Simpsons notwithstanding.
Obviously, clarity and focus are virtues in any context where meaning
and purpose are at stake. The point, however, is that in many cases the perceived need to make things explicit in classrooms is a consequence of learning situations lacking the kind of authenticity within which facility and
competence can be acquired in the ways Matt acquired themwhereupon
all that is required is to make relevant connections and to transfer or leverage
existing knowledge and competence for formal (analytic, critical, etc.) educational purposes. Furthermore, just as making it explicit can work back from
something that is extant, it can also point learners forward to things they are
likely to encounter within hands-on engagement in meaningful learning
activities. In this sense, making something explicit takes the form of alerting
learners to something that will likely lie ahead, so that when they see it they
will be able to recognize it as an example of X (which may be educationally
important or valid because of Y). There will be no need to instruct the point
in a decontextualized manner before the event. Learners can make the connection themselves at points of application with minimal teacher intervention.
The key to thisa key that comes at educators in waves from accounts of
young people surpassing themselves as learners within affinity spacesis
ensuring as far as possible that classroom learning meets the principle of efficacious learning that a sociocultural approach to media and literacy education insists upon.
In a sociocultural approach, the focus of learning and education is not children,
nor schools, but human lives seen as trajectories through multiple social practices
in various social institutions. If learning is to be efficacious, then what a child or
adult does now as a learner must be connected in meaningful and motivating
ways with mature (insider) versions of related social practices (Gee, Hull &
Lankshear, 1996, p. 4)

It is relatively easy to see what this involves when we look at cases of

young peoples DIY media activity within affinity spaces like AnimeMusicVideos.org or in other popular cultural affinity spaces (see Black, 2008, for
fan fiction; Gee, 2007, for video games).

Learning and identity: ProAms, affinities and appreciative

systems
Dedicated and strongly invested AMV remixers like Matt aim to become
what Charles Leadbeater and Paul Miller describe as ProAms: innovative,
committed and networked amateurs working to professional standards

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(Leadbeater & Miller, 2004, p. 9; see also Gee, 2007, on authentic professionals). Even where their remixes fall short of the ideal, they nonetheless
know what makes an AMV excellent. They are alert to the musical, lyrical and
mood dimensions of synchthe connections between music and video,
without which there is anime and music but no real connection between
them. They appreciate the importance of concept as ones vision for the
video, what one wants viewers to think and understand, or how one wants
them to feel. And they are attuned to the role of effects, with respect to
their meaning, composition, appearance, and so on (Kalium, 2006). Matts
concept of a high quality AMV emphasizes:
Good quality video resources (e.g., within the AMV community, using
footage downloaded from the internetrather than ripped from
DVDsis frowned upon for quality-of-resolution reasons)
Relevance of the song to the anime resource(s) used
Excellence of the correlation between the song and the video clips; this
includes synching lyrics with the video effectively
Not using clips containing subtitles, series titles, or final credits
Matts understanding of what constitutes a good quality AMV has been
gleaned from participating in a range of anime and AMV remixing affinity
spaces (Gee, 2004). Affinity spaces are places of informal learningphysical,
virtual, or a mixwhere people come together and interact around and
through a shared interest, common goal, or collaborative endeavor (Gee,
2004, p. 98). They comprise resources on which this group draws and that it
shares, ways of providing feedback and responding to other members, collective expertise and troubleshooting advice, and networks wherein newcomers
and experts alike work together in collegial and supportive ways. According
to Gee, within affinity spaces knowledge is both intensive (each person
entering the space brings some special knowledge) and extensive (each person
entering the space shares some knowledge and functions with others) (original emphases; Gee, 2004, p. 98). Matt participates actively in spaces like AnimeMusicVideos.org, regularly watches and provides constructive feedback on
other peoples AMVs, submits AMVs to anime convention contests, and participates in a range of anime cosplay and manga drawing discussion boards
and art-related community sites (e.g., DeviantArt.org, Megatokyo discussion
forums). For Matt, these activities are part and parcel of being recognized as
someone in the know (who has intensive knowledge of AMV remixing)
and whose work and opinions count among members of the affinity space.
Participating in these spaces also enables Matt to draw on the extensive, collective knowledge and expertise of others in developing his own work.
Gee (2007, p. 172) elaborates upon these ideas in terms of learning contexts where one takes on a new identity and acquires an appreciative sys-

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tem. The point about identity puts the emphasis on learning to be a particular kind of person-practitioner rather than on learning about or learning
a subject. Matt has engaged in learning to be an AMV remixer, and at every
point his quest has been to become more of and better as an AMV remixer. As
Gee (2007, p. 172) puts it:
Learning a new domain, whether physics or furniture making, requires learners
to see and value work and the world in new ways, in the ways in which physicists
or furniture makers do. . . . [I]n any domain, if knowledge is to be used, the
learner must probe the world (act on it with a goal) and then evaluate the result.
Is it good or bad, adequate or inadequate, useful or not, improvable or not? . . . Learners can only do this if they have developed a value systemwhat Donald Schn [1983] calls an appreciative systemin terms of
which such judgments can be made. Such value systems are embedded in the
identities, tools, technologies, and worldviews of distinctive groups of people
who share, sustain, and transform themgroups like doctors, carpenters, physicists, graphic artists, teachers, and so forth through a nearly endless list.

AMV remixers are just such a distinctive group, and their affinity spaces
are, precisely, contexts where identities, tools, technologies, and worldviews are taken up, enacted, and negotiated within immersive and embedded practice. Participating in AMV affinities and taking on the identity of an
AMV remixer aspiring to ProAm proficiency involves coming to realize that
AMV remixers look at and act on the world in quite distinctive ways because
of their values and goals and [moreover] these values and goals are supported
by and integrally expressed through distinctive tools, technologies, skills, and
knowledge (Gee, 2007, p. 172). As Gee notes, the same holds true for any
kind of science (e.g., being a physicist, chemist, biologist) and, we would
add, for mathematics and any kind of social science or humanity (e.g., being
a literary critic, a poet, a creative writer, an historian, etc.).

Conclusion
This chapter does not imply that AMV remixing should simply be imported
into school curriculum and classroom practice, any more than the fact that
good commercial video games have sound learning principles factored into
their designs means we should give classrooms over to game playing. Rather,
the point is to understand how and why cultural practices like AMV remixing
constitute social and learning systems that are conducive to learning effectively and that foster high levels of personal investment in achieving success.
We can then try to apply these insights to educational purposes in ways that
maximize opportunities for students to leverage their own social and learning
systems in school-valued ways.

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imemusicvideos.org/help/ (accessed 7 March, 2008).
Austerlitz, S. (2007). Money for nothing: A history of the music video from the Beatles to the
White Stripes. New York: Continuum.
Black, R. (2008). Adolescents and online fan fiction. New York: Peter Lang.
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DynamiteBreakdown (2008a). The Konoha memory book. YouTube.com. Available from:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u-12_2peCMg (8 March, 2008).
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mbers/members_videoinfo.php?v=101473 (8 March, 2008).
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Gee, J. (2004). Situated language and learning: A critique of traditional schooling. New
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Springall, D. (2004). Popular Music Meets Japanese Cartoons: A History of the Evolution of Anime Music Videos. Unpublished undergraduate Honors Thesis. Birmingham, Alabama: Samford University, 2004.
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Afterword: Communities of Readers, Clusters
of Practices
HENRY JENKINS

This book is at once a How to guide to various emerging cultural practices

and a Why to guide to the reasons you should bring them into your classroom. Throughout, youve learned from expert practitioners what to do if you
want to become more adept at music sampling, podcasting, vidding, photoshopping, flash animation, or machinima and youve learned why these practices matter to those already participating in them and how they might enhance
formalized education. This is urgent work, especially at a time when so many
schools have cut themselves off from participatory culture. Too many educators are determined to protect youth from exposure to Facebook and MySpace,
Twitter, Wikipedia, and YouTube, as if these were threats rather than resources.
Those who want to lock them out argue that they constitute dangerous distractions from formal education; many who favor them still talk of making
learning more fun or entertaining for students who grab their iPods the
minute the school bell rings.
These approaches are two sides of the same coin and largely miss the point:
for the generation which has come of age alongside networked computing,
these practices do not simply represent entertainment or distraction.
These practices are important gateways into larger learning cultures that help
support young people as they construct their identities and navigate their social
surroundings. Bringing some of these meaningful practices into the classroom

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AFTERWORD

allows young people to deploy more effective learning strategies and to take
greater control over their education. Educational reformers have long argued
that schools need to break down the walls that isolate classroom teaching from
the larger learning ecology surrounding schools, incorporate outside perspectives, connect textbook knowledge with real world contexts through authentic inquiries, and link emerging expertise to the meaningful performance of
social roles. Incorporating DIY practices into your teaching is a huge step
toward such a more integrated approach.
Carol Jago of the National Council of Teachers of English told New York
Times reporter Motoko Rich (2008, no page), Nobody has taught a single
kid to text message . . . When they want to do something, schools dont have
to get involved. Im not sure what this implies about the content we do need
to teach through schools, but I reject this laissez faire approach to the new
media literacies. Even if some children learned the needed skills on their own,
these practices, and the skills and mental habits associated with them, are
unevenly distributed across youth culture: some young people amass diverse
portfolios of experiences (Gee, 2004), moving across a range of different
communities and practices, both acquiring mentors and mentoring others.
They have had rich and meaningful online experiences and they have found
ways to connect these experiences to knowledge they are acquiring through
school. Incorporating these practices lets them strut their stuff, allowing them
to tap into the power and status theyve acquired online, and it also helps them
to articulate more fully what they have learned and why it matters.
But, many other young people have little or no opportunities for such
empowering experiences outside of school, lacking access not only to the core
technologies but also to what Ellen Seiter (2008) has identified as the economic, social, and cultural capital required for full participation. We might characterize the limits on technological access as the digital divide and the limits
on social and cultural experiences as the participation gap. Schools have
sought to address the digital divide by insuring that every school and library
provides access to networked computing; the best way to address the participation gap may be for schools to assume a similar responsibility for
integrating many of these DIY practices into our pedagogies.

From do it yourself to do it ourselves

The book makes a second important assumption that you cannot fully understand the value and significance of these practices without participating.
Teachers need to get their hands dirty (at least figuratively) by working with
the tools, platforms, and processes fundamental to these new forms of cultur-

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al production and circulation. Through doing these things, you learn what it
is like to tap a larger community of expertise around your activities. Do It
Yourself rarely means Do It Alone. For example, much of what youth learn
through game playing emerges from meta-gaming, the conversations about
the game play. Trading advice often forces participants to spell out their core
assumptions as more experienced players pass along what theyve learned to
newcomers. This meta-gaming has many of the dimensions of peer-to-peer
teaching or social learning. As John Seeley Brown and Richard P. Adler
(2008, p. 18) explain, social learning is based on the premise that our understanding of content is socially constructed through conversations about that
content and through grounded interactions, especially with others, around
problems or actions (original emphasis). To call this learning by doing is
too simple, as we will not learn as much if we separate what we are doing
making a podcast, modding a game, mastering a levelfrom the social context in which we are doing it.
I have always felt uncomfortable with the phrase Do It Yourself as a label
for the practices described in this book. Do It Yourself is too easy to assimilate into some vague and comfortable notion of personal expression or
individual voice that Americans can incorporate into long-standing beliefs
in rugged individualism and self-reliance. Yet, what may be radical about
the DIY ethos is that learning relies on these mutual support networks, creativity is understood as a trait of communities, and expression occurs through
collaboration. Given these circumstances, phrases like Do It Ourselves or
Do It Together better capture collective enterprises within networked
publics. This is why I am drawn towards concepts such as participatory culture, (Jenkins, Purushotma, Weigel, Clinton, & Robison, 2009) affinity
spaces, (Gee, 2007) genres of participation, (Ito et al., 2009) networked
publics, (Varnelis, 2008) collective intelligence, (Levy, 1999) or communities of practice (Lave & Wenger, 1991).
Although each reflects a somewhat different pedagogical model, each
captures the sense of shared space or collective enterprise which shapes the
experience of individual participants/learners. Each offers us a model of peerto-peer education: we learn from each other in the process of working together to
achieve shared goals. Many of these models emphasize the diverse roles played
by various participants in this process. It is not that all participants know the
same things (as has been the expectation in school); success rests on multiple
forms of expertise the group can deploy just in time by responding to shifting circumstances and emerging problems. It is not that all participants do the
same things; rather, these practices depend on the ad hoc coordination of
diverse skills and actions towards shared interests.

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We need to understand the specific practices discussed here as informed by

norms and values that emerge from their community of participants. We see
different things if we focus on the practices or on the communities that deploy
them, and in my remarks here, I hope to shift the lens onto the communities.
Focusing on practices first, the editors write in this books introduction,
Podcasting, for example, involves using particular kinds of tools, techniques
and technologies to achieve the goals and purposes that podcasters aim to
achieve and to use them in the ways that people known as podcasters recognize as appropriate to their endeavor in terms of their goals and values. While
saying something important about the nature of these practices, this description assumes that the operative identity here is that of the podcaster and that
podcasters enjoy a shared identity as parts of a community of practice regardless of the content and functions of their podcasts. And this may be true for
some, especially at the moment they are first learning how to podcast or are
passing those skills and practices along to others, but for many, podcasting is
a means to an end.

Otaku, fans, hip hoppers and gamers

On the ground, these practices get embedded in a range of different interestdriven networks and what motivates these activities may be less a desire to make
a podcast than an urge to create a shared space where, for example, fans can
discuss their mutual interests in Severus Snape, or where church members can
hold prayer circles, or where comic book buffs can interview writers and
artists. The Digital Youth Project (Ito et al., 2009) drew a useful distinction
between messing around, tinkering with new tools and techniques to see
what they can do, and geeking out, going deep into a particular interest that
may, in turn, lead you to engage with a range of social networks and production practices. There is some risk that as educators organize class projects
around the production of podcasts, they risk divorcing these practices from the
larger cultural contexts in which they operate.
We might think about different interest-driven networks as mobilizing
somewhat different clusters of interlocking and mutually reinforcing practices. Consider, for example, Mimi Itos (2005, no page) description of the literacy skills within otaku culture, the fan community around anime and manga:
Anime otaku are media connoisseurs, activist prosumers who seek out esoteric content
from a far away land and organize their social lives around viewing, interpreting, and
remixing these media works. Otaku translate and subtitle all major anime works, they
create web sites with hundreds and thousands of members, stay in touch 24/7 on hun-

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dreds of IRC channels, and create fan fiction, fan art, and anime music videos that
rework the original works into sometimes brilliantly creative and often subversive alternative frames of reference. . . . To support their media obsessions otaku acquire challenging language skills and media production crafts of scripting, editing, animating,
drawing, and writing. And they mobilize socially to create their own communities of
interest and working groups to engage in collaborative media production and distribution. Otaku use visual media as their source material for crafting their own identities, and as the coin of the realm for their social networks. Engaging with and
reinterpreting professionally produced media is one stepping stone towards critical media
analysis and alternative media production.

Certainly, within otaku culture, one can gain an identity as a fan-subber, a vidder, a fan fiction author, a community organizer, or an illustrator, but these
practice-based identities do not supersede ones larger identity as an otaku.
What Ito observes about otaku culture is consistent with what researchers
have observed in a range of other subcultures. Consider this description from
my fieldwork on female-centered science fiction fandom in the early 1990s
(Jenkins, 1992, pp. 1523):
Four Quantum Leap fans gather every few weeks in a Madison, Wisconsin, apartment
to write. The women spread out across the living room, each with their own typewriter
or laptop, each working diligently on their own stories about Al and Sam. Two sit at
the dining room table, a third sprawls on the floor, a fourth balances her computer on
the coffee table. The clatter of the keyboards and the sounds of a filktape are interrupted periodically by conversation. Linda wants to insure that nothing in the program contradicts her speculations about Sams past. Mary has introduced a southern character
and consults Georgia-born Signe for advice about her background. Kate reviews her
notes on Riptide, having spent the week rewatching favorite scenes so she can create
a crossover story which speculates that Sam may have known Murray during his years
at MIT. Mary scrutinizes her collection of telepics(photographs shot from the television image), trying to find the right words to capture the suggestion of a smile that
flits across his face. . . . Kate passes around a letter she has received commenting on her
recently published fanzine. . . . Each of the group members offers supportive comments
on a scene Linda has just finished, all independently expressing glee over a particularly telling line. As the day wears on, writing gives way to conversation, dinner, and the
viewing of fan videos (including the one that Mary made a few weeks before). . . . For
the fan observer, there would be nothing particularly remarkable about this encounter.
I have spent similar afternoons with other groups of fans, collating and binding zines,
telling stories, and debating the backgrounds of favorite characters. . . . For the mundane observer, what is perhaps most striking about this scene is the ease and fluidity
with which these fans move from watching a television program to engaging in alternative forms of cultural production: the women are all writing their own stories; Kate
edits and publishes her own zines she prints on a photocopy machine she keeps in a spare
bedroom and the group helps to assemble them for distribution. Linda and Kate are
also fan artists who exhibit and sell their work at conventions; Mary is venturing into
fan video making and gives other fans tips on how to shoot better telepics. Almost as

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striking is how writing becomes a social activity for these fans, functioning simultaneously as a form of personal expression and as a source of collective identity (part of what
it means to be a fan). Each of them has something potentially interesting to contribute;
the group encourages them to develop their talents fully, taking pride in their accomplishments, be they long-time fan writers and editors like Kate or relative novices like
Signe.

At the time, I was interested in what this scene told us about how fans read television and how they deployed its contents as raw materials for their own
expressive activities. Rereading the passage today, I am struck by how fully the
description captures the strengths of a DIY culture as a site for informal learning. Sometimes the women are working on individual, self-defined projects and
sometimes they are working together on mutual projects but always they are
drawing moral support from their membership in an interest-driven network.
Each plays multiple roles: sometimes the author, sometimes the reader, sometimes the teacher, sometimes the student, sometimes the editor, sometimes the
researcher, sometimes the illustrator. They move fluidly from role to role as
needed, interrupting their own creative activity to lend skills and knowledge
to someone else. Their creative interests straddle multiple media practices: they
write stories; they take telepics; they edit videos; they publish zines. Each
activity constitutes a complex cultural practice combining technical skills and
cultural expertise. Leadership, as Gee (2004) tells us, is porous: the space is
Signes apartment; Kate is editing the zine to which they are each contributing; and Mary has the expertise in fan video production which she shares with
her circle in hopes of getting more of them vidding. And we see here a conception of culture as a series of processes rather than a set of products. Fan
work is always open to revision, expansion, and elaboration, rather than locked
down and closed off from others contributions. As a more recent account of
fan cultural practices (Busse & Hellekson, 2006, p. 6) explains:
Work in progress is a term used in the fan fiction world to describe a piece of fiction still
in the process of being written but not yet completed . . . The appeal of works in
progress lies in part in the ways . . . it invites responses, permits shared authorship, and
enjoins a sense of community . . . In most cases, the resulting story is part collaboration and part response to not only the source text, but also the cultural context within and outside the fannish community in which it is produced . . . When the story is
finally complete and published, likely online but perhaps in print, the work in progress
among the creators shifts to the work in progress among the readers. [original italics]

Similarly, Kevin Driscoll (2009) has discussed how Hip Hops diverse
practices around music, dance, the graphic arts, video production, and entrepreneurship associated with Hip Hop encourage participants to master a range
of cultural and technological skills. He describes, for example, the different par-

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ticipatory practices that got mobilized around the circulation of a single song:
As the figurehead of 2007s Crank Dat phenomenon, Atlanta teenager Soulja Boy
exploited social-networking and media-sharing websites to encourage a widespread
dance craze that afforded him a level of visibility typically only available to artists
working within the pop industry. Crank Dat . . . began as a single commodity but
grew into a multi-faceted cultural phenomenon . . . Within just a few months of the
first Crank Dat music video, fans had posted countless custom revisions of Crank
Dat to media-sharing sites like YouTube, SoundClick, imeem, and MySpace. In each
case, the participants altered the original video in a different manner. They changed the
dance steps, altered the lyrics, created new instrumental beats, wore costumes, and performed in groups. Some created remix videos that borrowed footage from popular TV
programs and movies . . .Crank Dat welcomed diverse modes of participation but
every production required considerable technical expertise. Even a cursory exploration
of the various Crank Dat iterations available on YouTube provides evidence of many
different media production tools and techniques. The most basic homemade dance
videos required operation of a video camera, post-production preparation of compressed
digital video, and a successful upload to YouTube. For some of the participants in
Crank Dat, the dance craze provided an impetus for their first media projects. This
lively media culture is representative of a spirit of innovation that traverses hip-hop history. (Driscoll, 2009, p. 61)

As a former classroom teacher who worked with inner city and minority youth,
Driscoll directs attention towards the technical proficiency of these Hip Hop
fans to challenge assumptions that often position African-American males on
the wrong side of the digital divide, assuming that they have limited capacity
and interest for entering STEM subjects. Rather, he argues that educators need
to better understand the ways that their cultural attachments to Hip Hop often
motivate them to embrace new technologies and adopt new cultural practices,
many of which could provide gateways into technical expertise.
Or consider what James Paul Gee (2007, p.100) tells us about the affinity spaces around on-line gaming:
A portal like AoM [Age of Mythologies] Heaven, and the AoM space as a whole, allows
people to achieve status, if they want it (and they may not), in many different ways.
Different people can be good at different things or gain repute in a number of different ways. Of course, playing the game well can gain one status, but so can organizing
forum parties, putting out guides, working to stop hackers from cheating in the multiplayer game, posting to any of a number of different forums, or a great many other
things.

Indeed, for Gee, the idea of multiple forms of participation and status are part
of what makes these affinity spaces such rich environments for informal learning. Unlike schools, where everyone is expected to do (and be good at) the
same things, these participatory cultures allow each person to set their own

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goals, learn at their own pace, come and go as they please, and yet they are also
motivated by the responses of others, often spending more time engaged with
the activities because of a sense of responsibility to their guild or fandom. They
enable a balance between self-expression and collaborative learning which may
be the sweet spot for DIY learning.
These examples represent four very different communities, each with their
own governing assumptions about what it means to participate and about what
kinds of cultural practices and identities are meaningful. Yet, all of them
embody the pedagogical principles I have identified within participatory culture: A participatory culture is a culture with relatively low barriers to artistic expression and civic engagement, strong support for creating and sharing
ones creations, and some type of informal mentorship whereby what is known
by the most experienced is passed along to novices. A participatory culture is
also one in which members believe their contributions matter, and feel some
degree of social connection with one another (Jenkins et al., 2006, p. 3).

Challenging the Learning 2.0 formulation

There has been a growing tendency to describe the application of these participatory culture principles to the classroom as education 2.0 and as we do
so, to take the highly visible corporate web 2.0 portals not simply as our ideal
model but also as the source for these new participatory practices. Look at the
way Brown and Adlers (2008, p. 18) influential formulation of Learning 2.0
ascribes agency to corporate platforms and technologies rather than to communities of participants:
The latest evolution of the Internet, the so-calledWeb 2.0, has blurred the line between
producers and consumers of content and has shifted attention from access to information toward access to other people. New kinds of online resourcessuch as social networking sites, blogs, wikis, and virtual communitieshave allowed people with common
interests to meet, share ideas, and collaborate in innovative ways. Indeed, the Web 2.0 is
creating a new kind of participatory medium that is ideal for supporting multiple
modes of learning [italics my emphasis].

The DIY ethos, which emerged as a critique of consumer culture and a celebration of making things ourselves, is being transformed into a new form of
consumer culture, a product or service that is sold to us by media companies
rather than something that emerged from grassroots practices.
For this reason, I want to hold onto a distinction between participatory cultures, which may or may not be engaged with commercial portals, and web 2.0,
which refers specifically to a set of commercial practices that seek to capture and
harness the creative energies and collective intelligences of their users. Web

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2.0 is not a theory of pedagogy; it is a business model. Unlike projects like

Wikipedia that have emerged from nonprofit organizations, the Open
Courseware movement from educational institutions, and the Free Software
movement from voluntary and unpaid affiliations, the web 2.0 companies follow a commercial imperative, however much they may also wish to facilitate the
needs and interests of their consumer base. The more time we spend interacting with Facebook, YouTube, or LiveJournal, the clearer it becomes that there
are real gaps between the interests of management and consumers. Academic
theorists (Terranova, 2004; Green & Jenkins, 2009) have offered cogent critiques of what they describe as the free labor provided by those who choose
to contribute their time and effort to creating content which can be shared
through such sites, while consumers and fans have offered their own blistering responses to shifts in the terms of service which devalue their contributions
or claim ownership over the content they produced. Many web 2.0 sites provide far less scaffolding and mentorship than offered by more grassroots forms
of participatory culture. Despite a rhetoric of collaboration and community, they
often still conceive of their users as autonomous individuals whose primary relationship is to the company that provides them services and not to each other.
There is a real danger in mapping the web 2.0 business model onto educational practices, thus seeing students as consumers rather than participants
within the educational process.
Participatory culture has a historyindeed, multiple historieswhich is
much larger than the history of specific technologies or commercial platforms.
This books introduction offers one such trajectory, starting with a consideration of how the DIY ideals took root through the countercultures of the 1950s
and 1960s, which, as Fred Turner (2008) has suggested, exerted powerful influences on the development of cyberculture in the 1980s and 1990s. We might
imagine another history that goes back to the emergence of the Amateur Press
Association in the middle of the nineteenth century as young people began to
hand set type and print their own publications, commenting on culture, politics, and everyday life (Petrik, 1992). These publications were mailed through
elaborate circuits that resembled what we would now call social networks. This
same community was among the early adapters of amateur radio in the early
part of the twentieth century at a time when it was assumed that there would
be almost as many transmitters as receivers (Douglas, 1989). Or we might consider, as Patricia Zimmerman (1995) does, the emergence of amateur camera
clubs in the nineteenth century or the growth of home movie production in
the twentieth century. Amateur media production got labeled as home
movies (and locked from public view) within a culture based less on grassroots
production than on the professionalization associated with mass media. Rather

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than participants, mass culture turned fans into spectators.

We might pay attention along the way to the emergence of science fiction
fandom in the 1920s and 1930s. Hugo Gernsbeck, the father of modern science fiction, was a major advocate of ham radio. Gernsbeck saw fandom very
much as an extension of his pedagogical mission to use his publications
whether focused on real world science or on the imaginings of what he called
scientifictionto create a space for expanding popular access to information
and insights about the scientific and technological revolutions taking place
around them. He saw the fan community as a space where people could
debate ideas found in his pulp magazines and thus explore the limits of current scientific understandings (Ross, 1991). Fans quickly adopted the amateur
publication and circulation practices of the early Amateur Press Association to
connect with each other across geographic distances around shared affinities
and to support each others creative growth and intellectual development. Over
the course of the twentieth century, almost every major science fiction writer
and artist got their start through producing and publishing amateur work
through fanzines or participating in other kinds of fan practices. Forrest K.
Ackerman, editor of Famous Monsters of Filmland, inherited many of the values of the science fiction fan culture, focusing them on the horror genre and
using his publication to encourage his readers to construct models, apply
monster makeup, or produce their own horror films, again providing a training ground for many future professionals as well as providing the basis for an
autonomous fan culture (Yockey, 2009). Television fandom in turn provided
a supportive context through which many women, excluded from the maleonly club that science fiction fandom had largely become, could develop their
skills and hone their talents, not to mention build a following for their
output. By the 1970s, these women (Bacon-Smith, 1992; Jenkins, 1992;
Coppa, 2008) were remixing television footage to create their own fanvids,
writing and editing their own zines, creating elaborate costumes, singing original folk songs, and painting images, all inspired by their favorite television
series. With the rise of networked computing, these fan communities did
important work in providing their female participants with access to the skills
and technologies as these women took their first steps into cyberspace, reversing early conceptions about the gendering of digital culture as a space of masculine mastery. These female fans were early adopters of social network
technologies such as Live Journal and Facebook. In short, this female-led
fandom adopted the practices of early male science fiction fans and the resources
offered by new media technologies to create their own distinctive forms of participatory culture. Fans were quick to embrace the value of podcasting, given
how much their history was linked to earlier forms of amateur radio produc-

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tion. The return to this earlier moment of fan engagement with radio is especially suggested by recent fan projects to resurrect the traditions of radio drama
as an extension of fan fiction.
These participatory cultures embraced each new technology as it emerged
whenever it offered them new affordances which could support their ongoing
social and cultural interactions. The practices associated with specific forms of
cultural production, similarly, got taken up by a community which could trace
its core identity back to the middle of the nineteenth century. The availability
of new media has allowed this community to dramatically expand the scope of
its membership, allowing much quicker interactions between members, creating greater cultural visibility for its productions and enabling more opportunities to participate, yet the core logic of participatory culture remains
surprisingly unchanged despite the constant churn of tools and platforms.
And interestingly, at each step along the way, there were educators who sought
to harness the communitys practicesamateur printing, radio production, or
home movies, among themas a means of motivating learning, as well as those
who resisted such moves as distracting from formal education. All of this
points to the need for us to explore continuities within participatory culture
and commonalities across creative communities alongside our current preoccupations with technological and cultural innovations. It is an open question
as to how many of the new media literacies are in fact new and how many
of them have simply gained new visibility and urgency as digital culture has
enabled diverse communities of practice to intersect and interact with each other
in new ways.
In their earlier book, New Literacies: Everyday Practice and Classroom
Learning, Colin Lankshear and Michele Knobel (2006) draw a productive distinction between new literacies as responsive to a set of new technologies and
new literacies as responsive to this larger ethos of participatory culture. In
my own work, I have placed much greater emphasis on bringing that ethos
into the classroom than on integrating specific tools and practices, though the
ideal is to do both. Otherwise, we may bring podcasting into the classroom and
do nothing to alter the cultural context that surrounds contemporary formal
education. Without that ethos, podcasts become one more thing we grade, one
more way of measuring whether everyone in the class has learned the same
material and mastered the same skills. Having students make videos rather than
write book reports may shift the mechanisms of learning but may not alter the
hierarchical and pre-structured relationship between teachers and learners.

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Project New Media Literacies: Bringing participatory

culture into the classroom
Over the past few years, Project New Media Literacies (NML), first at MIT and
now at the University of Southern California, has taken what we know about
participatory culture and applied it to the development of curricular resources
for use in both in-school and after-school based programs. Our work has
included the development of the Learning Library, a robust set of tools and
media-focused activities, which are designed to get learners (teachers and students alike) exploring and experimenting with the new media literacies and in
the process, producing and sharing media-related activities (challenges)
with each other; The Ethics Casebook, developed in collaboration with
Harvards GoodPlay Project, which encourages young people to reflect more
deeply on the choices they make as media producers and members of online
communities; and a series of Teachers Strategy Guides intended to encourage
teachers to rethink how they would teach traditional school content differently in a world which embraced a more participatory model of learning. Our work
has been informed both by my own scholarship on participatory culture and
by the applied expertise of Erin Reilly, who had previously helped to create
Zoeys Room, a widely acclaimed on-line learning community that employed
participatory practices to get young women more engaged with science and
technology. Our team brought together educational researchers, such as
Katherine Clinton, who studied under James Paul Gee, with people like Anna
Van Someren, who had done community-based media education through the
YWCA and had worked as a professional videomaker, Flourish Klink, who
helped to organize the influential Fan Fiction Alley website which provides beta
reading for amateur writers to hone their skills, or Lana Swartz who had been
a classroom teacher working with special needs children. The work of Project
New Media Literacies, thus, emerged from multiple expertises and many different practices, much like the informal learning cultures we drew upon as our
model. Much of our work took shape through collaborative authoring tools,
such as GoogleDocs and Ning, as we sought ways to embed these technologies and their affiliated practices into our day-to-day operations. And our
development and deploying of these curricular resources involved us in collaborating both with other groups of academic researchers, such as the GoodPlay
Project at Harvard or Dan Hickey, an expert on participatory assessment, at
Indiana University, with youth-focused organizations such as Global Kids and
Zoeys Room, and with classroom teachers in New England and the Midwest
who were rethinking and reworking our materials for their instructional
purposes.

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Here, I want to use the Teachers Strategy Guide we developed around

Reading in a Participatory Culture to explore what it might mean to bring
the ethos of a participatory culture into the English/Language Arts classroom. The Learning Library introduces a range of different participatory practicesfrom Djing to Podcasting, from Graphiti to Cosplayand encourages
young people to go out and explore the web, messing around with new tools
and platforms, even as they are developing a conceptual vocabulary for linking
what they learn at a particular location to their larger acquisition of core social
skills and cultural competencies. The Teachers Strategy Guides adopt a more
conservative approach on the level of content, reflecting the current constraints on what can be incorporated into formal education, but propose a radical reconceptualization of what it means to engage with literary texts.
Jenna McWilliams (2008, p. 1), a researcher on the Project NML team,
captures many of our goals in this statement from the Teachers Strategy
Guide:
This model embraces the traditional modelwhich conceives of a literary text as a living presence imbued with deep cultural meaningsand works to enhance active
engagement with the text through integration of participatory practices and skills. The
participatory model of reading harnesses the activities that many kids already engage
in when participating in online and offline communities. The unit also emphasizes
that reading can be a generative process, one in which the work of understanding a
text can serve as a launching point for creative work and a cultural conversation, one
in which they may take on the role of authors who help keep the book alive through
appropriation and remixing it for a contemporary audience.
This unit highlights the concept of purpose-driven reading: that depending on the
role different readers play, they will be driven to engage with a text with different purposes. In other words, purpose is both individual and social: Each student engages with
the text in a slightly different way, and these different modes of engagement can
enhance a collective understanding of the work.
The goal of this unit is to help students identify individual motives for approaching
a creative text and to use those motives for collaborative problem-solvingworking
in cooperation with a community of readers to develop an enhanced understanding of
the text. [original emphases in bold]

You can already see from this description how we sought to embed what we
know about affinity spaces and participatory culture into a reconfiguration
of what it means to study literature in schools. One key way we have done this
is to call attention to what we describe as motives for reading, recognizing
that when we read a text for different reasons in the service of different goals
and interests, we read it in different ways, asking different questions, noticing
different things, and generating different responses.

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In school, there has too often been a tendency to reify one kind of readingone that can easily be reduced to SparkNotesas if that was the natural
or logical way of responding to particular texts. Students arent asked to think
about why they, personally, individually or as members of a larger learning community, might be reading Moby-Dick; they have simply been assigned a book,
and they are reading it because the teacher, the school board, or the national
standards dictate that they should do so. This cuts reading in the literature class
off from the other reasons young people might choose to read outside of the
classroom and thus diminishes the relevance of the skills we are teaching for
the rest of their lives. It has been suggested that if we taught sex education in
schools the same way we taught reading, the human race might die out in a
generation. Literature professor Wyn Kelley (2008), a key collaborator on this
project, describes two very different modes of reading, one Romantic (we are
drawn irresistibly into the text, seduced, horrified, or intoxicated by something
greater than ourselves) and one critical (a left-brain navigation of the text,
complete with charts, guides, and lists). She argues:
Students, in my experience, approach reading with both approaches in mind. They love
the experience of losing themselves in a text, and they also savor the joy of discovering themselves and mastering their world. We do them a disservice if we try to separate those two modes of reading or prioritize them, suggesting that one exists only for
private pleasure, the other for public instruction and assessment. One is for enjoyment,
we seem to be telling them, the other learning. One is emotional, the other rational.
One has no particular meaning; anything you think is fine. The other has a meaning
assigned by teachers, critics, and other authorities; whatever you think, you must
eventually adopt this authoritative interpretation. (Kelley, 2008, p.12)

The challenge was how to create a context in the literature classroom which
supported readers with very different goals and interests, much as Gee (2007)
describes the forums around Age of Mythologies as enabling many different
forms of status, participation, and leadership. What if young people were
asked to identify their own goals for reading this text, to take responsibility for
sharing what they learned with each other, and to translate their critical engagement with the text into a springboard for other creative and expressive activities?

You Dont Know Dick!

Our interest in Moby-Dick as a specific case study for this participatory model
of reading emerged from our interactions with Ricardo Pitts-Wiley, the creative
director of the Mixed Magic Theater in Pawtucket, Rhode Island. Pitts-Wiley

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had gone into an institution for incarcerated youth and helped them to learn
to read Moby-Dick by encouraging them to identify closely with a single character and to try to imagine what kind of person that character would be if they
were living today. In the process, he encouraged them to re-imagine MobyDick not as a novel about the whaling trade in the nineteenth century but rather
as a story about the drug trade in the twenty-first centuryboth dangerous professions involving men who were on the outside of their society and who
formed enormous loyalty to each other and to their leaders in their ruthless pursuit of their economic interests. We might describe this approach as learning
through remixing. Pitts-Wiley (2008, p.28) described some of the ways that
these young men reconceptualized Melvilles characters:
One of the young men chose Ahabit was a great story, too! Ahab was at home. He
had just come back from a very successful voyage of drug dealing for WhiteThing, his
boss. It was so successful that he worried that he was now a threat to the great omnipotent WhiteThing. He was making some decisions that it was time for him to either challenge the boss for control or to get out of the business. Hes home, hes got this young
wife, shes pregnant, and the drug lord sends agents looking for him. In looking for
him, they kill his wife and unborn child. They dont get him. His revenge is based on
what they did to him. Another one chose Elijah, the prophet, and the awful dilemma
of being able to see the future and no one believing or understanding what youre trying to tell them. Im going to warn you about this, but if you dont heed my warning this is whats going to happen, and the awful dilemma that you face. His story was
about 9/11. Im trying to tell you this is going to happen, and then nobody listened,
and how awful he felt that he knew and couldnt stop it . . . Another one chose
Queequeg and he made him a pimp. Wow, why a pimp? He says, Well, when we meet
Queequeg hes selling human heads, shrunken heads, so hes a peddler in human flesh.
Hes exotic. Hes tall. Hes good looking, and fiercely loyal and dangerous. Thats a
pimp.

Pitts-Wiley, in turn, took inspiration from the stories these young men created for his own new stage production, Moby-Dick: Then and Now. In the
process, Pitts-Wiley has become a passionate advocate for getting communities to read and discuss classic novels together as they seek to better understand
how these books inform their own contemporary lives and identities. Although
Pitts-Wiley saw remixing as an important strategy for constructing a productive dialogue with young people around literary works, he was also emphatic
that remixing should emerge from a meaningful engagement with the original and not simply the careless appropriation of someone elses words and ideas
for ones own purpose. As an African American, he was very aware of how his
culture was often ripped off by white artists without any acknowledgment
of its original meanings and contexts. He asserted his right to draw on the literary canon but he also insisted that his students pay respect to those who came

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before. Creative reading worked hand in hand with critical reading; remixing
literary texts started with and enhanced what literature teachers have traditionally talked about as close reading.
We wanted to bring key aspects of Pitts-Wileys visions and pedagogical
practices into our Teachers Strategy Guide. One way we did this was to offer
students multiple models of what it might mean to read Moby-Dick. A video
(see: http://techtv.mit.edu/collections/newmedialiteracies/videos/410-fourreaders), produced by project member Deb Lui and filmed by Talieh Rohani,
introduced Four ReadersPitts-Wiley, Rudy Cabrera (a young actor in his
troupe), Kelley, and myself, each embodying a very different relationship to the
text. Indeed, the video shows that not only do we each read Melville in different ways and for different reasons but that we each may read the same book
in different ways on different occasions. Kelley, for example, describes how she
reads the novel as a scholar and as a teacher and how these different goals shape
what she pays attention to. I discuss what it means to engage with a book as
a fan (in this case, using the Harry Potter novels) and as a media scholar. PittsWiley discusses what he looks for in translating a literary text for the stage, while
Cabrera discusses how engaging with a text as an actor helped him develop a
deeper understanding of Melvilles words through the eyes of a particular
character. Another resource called attention to the range of different goals and
interests reflected in fan websites around popular television shows: a medical
students website on House that nitpicks its representation of medicine;
a Survivor fansite that explores why particular contestants lost the competition;
a Patrick OBrian site that draws together information about nineteenth century ships and their procedures, and so forth. Through these examples, students
were encouraged to reflect on reading as a process and a practice, identifying
the goals and strategies different readers applied to texts.
Students were also asked to take an inventory of their own reading practices, inside and outside the classroom. Jenna McWilliams, Katherine Clinton,
and Deb Lui developed an activity where young people charted various aspects
of their lives and then identified the different kinds of texts they tapped in their
daily activities. As McWilliams (2008, p. 9) tells teachers:
Though traditionally, reading has generally counted if its a book that you read cover
to cover, over the next several weeks the class will be encouraged to expand its concept of what counts as reading a textyou can read a website, for example, or read
text messages, or even read a movie or a TV show or a song. The class will be . . . reading lots of different things, including but not limited to the main text. The teacher
should model these ideas by drafting his or her own Identity Map and engaging in a
discussion about what else might be considered within each identity the teacher
identifies.

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One Somerville-based teacher, Judi, brought a box of materials from her

everyday life and asked students to guess what they had in common. Our team
member Hillary Kolos (in Clinton, McWilliams, & Kolos, 2009, no page)
observed Judis activity:
At first, they group the items together in categories like maps, menus, and bills.
Judi then led a group discussion about what all the items had in common. With a little help, one student guessed that you read all of the items. Judi explained that she reads
items like these constantly throughout the day, in addition to reading books.

Judi described how this one activity started to change her students understanding of reading. One student, for example, had been told for most of her life that
she was not a good reader, but through filling out the activity, she came to realize that I read all the time. This expanded conception of literacy, thus allows
students to understand the reading they do in the classroom as a particular reading practice with its own rules and goals rather than creating a hierarchy where
they were taught to devalue their own relationship to texts simply
because it falls short of their teachers exacting standards.

Learning is messy business

Teachers and students alike were encouraged to think of the classroom as a
community of readers, a metaphor running through Pitts-Wileys descriptions of his theater practice. He had launched a campaign to get adults to read
Melvilles novel so that they might engage in meaningful conversations with
younger readers in their community. This is very similar to what the Digital
Youth Project (Ito et al., 2009, p. 39) found in interest-driven networks more
generally:
In contexts of peer-based learning, adults can still have an important role to play, though
it is not a conventionally authoritative one . . . Unlike instructors in formal educational settings, however, these adults are passionate hobbyists and creators, and youth see
them as experienced peers, not as people who have authority over them. These adults
exert tremendous influence in setting communal norms and what educators might call
learning goals, though they do not have direct authority over newcomers.

A community of readers, like the fan communities described above, offers a

supportive environment through which individual students might develop
their own expertise and share what they discover about the book and themselves
with the group as a whole.
One way that students came to share their emerging expertise was through
the annotation and illumination of Melvilles text. Kelley introduced our team

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to the recently recovered marginalia which Melville produced as he read some

of the booksfiction and nonfictionand which informed his writing of MobyDick. Literary scholars are now exploring how these clues into Melvilles reading process might shed light on his creative process. As she did so, we were
struck by how rarely we encourage students to think about great authors as
themselves readers of other cultural texts. Our approach, on the other hand,
saw Melville as a master remixer who took ideas from many sources and
mashed them up to create a work which captures the multicultural community that had grown up around whaling.
Having considered Melvilles own model, students were then asked to
select a page from the novel, blow it up to poster size, and create their own
marginalia. Sometimes they might write words, other times draw pictures, but
they were encouraged to engage as fully and diversely as possible with what they
saw on the page. Because each student brought different motives to his or her
reading, each annotation and ornamentation stressed different aspects, and thus
as they presented the posters to their classmates, many different possible routes
of interpretation emerged. In an exchange at one of our professional development conferences, Wyn Kelley talked with Paula, a teacher who had been
using the Teachers Strategy Guide, about how the classroom dynamic changed
under this more participatory model (Clinton, McWilliams, & Kolos, 2009,
no page):
Wyn: In our writing of the guide we started with what we spoke of as a traditional model
of literacy which you might summarize as mastery of the text. I wondered how you
would define the kinds of literacy you are seeing in your students now? I gather not
all of them read the whole book or were able to spout facts afterwards as we might
expect in some mastery based model but clearly you saw something that looked like
literacy to you. How would you describe that? What is that literacy?
Paula: I want to talk about one students response to the annotation of Moby-Dick
he did. Afterwards he came to me and he said, You know what I figured out from that
exercise, and Im saying to myself, Not what the text means, thats for sure. It was
really messy and I didnt come off of it really thinking that they understood all of the
text, you know what I mean. They probably couldnt even tell me the plot line. But
what he said to me was, I think what I learned is that I really should read the classics
because theres something in there I dont understand. And I thought, Ahh! When
you do the traditional way we teach literature to students, somehow the teacher
becomes a conduit of all information, no matter how you do it, whether its a study
guide or this and that. Eventually the teacher tells you how to think about this particular kind of text. What was driving me a little crazy was that I wasnt telling them how
to think about anything. The thing I liked was that they came out of it thinking that
they better think some more because they really didnt think it through. Eventually, if
you are going to be literate, they have to come to the place where they say that I had
to struggle with this text a little bit to find out what it is saying to me.

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Read in such ways, the push towards dealing with meaningful chunks from the
novel is not about lowering expectations but, rather, about raising expectations; asking students to engage closely and creatively with specific passages
from the text rather than developing a superficial understanding of the work
as a whole, asking students to take ownership over what they are learning rather
than relying on the teacher to hand them the answers for the exam. It is about
intensive rather than extensive reading. As Pitts-Wiley (2008) explains, Dont
make it a test. Make it a lifetime experience. . . . Then the question becomes,
How do I support you all the way through? If you start reading Moby-Dick
in the ninth grade where are you being supported in the tenth grade? Where
are you being further supported in the eleventh grade and the twelfth grade?
For Pitts-Wiley, the key comes through constructing a community with a
shared investment in literary works the student can draw upon for scaffolding
and support. Such a community of readers has emerged spontaneously
around the discussion of popular texts online, but Pitts-Wiley hopes to use his
theater work to help foster a similar kind of community around Melville so
young people remain connected to the books they read in school throughout
the rest of their lives.
Some of our Strategy Guide activities (McWilliams, 2008, p. 25) pushed
the idea of a community of readers even further, applying models of collective intelligence to think about how young people might pool their different
interpretations and reading interests in the book:
How to Ace Moby-Dick wall: Students work together to come up with guidelines for
how other students can begin to engage in Moby-Dick. The class collectively identifies
important themes, concepts, symbols, images, and so on from the text; as these are
acknowledged, theyre posted on a wall for all students to have access to. The purpose
of this activity is to show that knowledge-building can be a collective practice and that
this built knowledge can live in a shared social space (much as it does online). Because
students dont have to worry about memorizing key ideas, theyre freed to engage in
the text and work with the key ideas in other ways. By asking students to articulate the
ways that theyve begun to engage with the novel, they can become more self-reflective of the process of studying the text within the framework of participatory culture.
Ultimately, this knowledge can be pooled online (perhaps using social networking sites
such as ning.com, or a free wiki through such hosting sites as pbwiki.com) with other
classes who are working with the same text, with the end result being a fuller set of tools,
instructions, definitions, and terms for future students use.

One Indiana school encouraged students to make their own contributions to

the Wikipedia page on Moby-Dick. Over the course of the term, their additions
faced challenges from others invested in Melvilles novels, as is often the case
when additions get made to Wikipedia, and the students entered into the discussion forum to defend their claims, and in the end, they were successful in

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getting many of their contributions to become an accepted part of the shared

knowledge Wikipedia provides. Significantly, the schools computers had previously been blocked from adding content to Wikipedia because some user had
vandalized the site. Now, the students became valued members of the Wikipedia
community and in the process, they saw themselves as having developed a
degree of expertise over Moby-Dick.
As they worked with the Teachers Strategy Guides, different teachers
deployed a range of different expressive practices to help their students engage
more fully with the novels they were reading. (In many cases, the teachers were
appropriating the techniques we had developed and applying them to other
books they felt were more appropriate to their students lives and reading levels.). Some had students develop comic strips using tools like Bitstrips; some
staged and recorded plays much like Pitts-Wileys own Moby-Dick: Then and
Now which emerged from their reinterpretations and appropriations from the
novel; some created music videos inspired by M.C. Larss Ahab, an example which was often incorporated into their teaching of the book; and some
wrote fan fiction which explored the perspective of secondary characters on
board the Pequod. The choices of these practices emerged organically from the
shifts that were taking place in the classroom culture, shaped by a changed
understanding of the nature of literacy and expertise, informed by the reconceptualization of the class as a community of readers and their recognition
that reading is a springboard for many other kinds of cultural expression.
Writing in her blog about the experience, McWilliams (2009, no page)
described how reading with a mouse in your hand encouraged young people to move from consumption to production and to move outward from the
core text to many other cultural expressions:
Reading-with-mouse-in-hand is fundamentally different from the act of readingwith-pencil-in-hand, a common practice among professional writers and voracious
readers. The difference is in what happens to the generative activity linked to reading.
When you are reading-with-mouse-in-hand, your writing is going public instantly in
a way that marginalia never could. Reading-with-mouse-in-hand, therefore, is a practice that requires a deep sense of an intended public, which is much broader than the
public generally identified by the school context.

Students and teachers were encouraged to treat even canonical texts as works
in progress, to go back to our earlier discussion of fan fiction, which have
informed subsequent generations of writers and artists.
Learning to read in this context is, as Paula and Professor Kelley suggest,
messier than learning to read in a traditional classroom, much as the mixing and matching of production practice within any given creative communi-

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ty is much messier than trying to deal with the practices individually. Teachers
reported struggling with their own entrenched assumptions about what forms
of culture or what types of reading were valuable and often got caught off guard
by materials students wanted to bring into the discussion that had not yet been
vetted for their appropriateness or directions that students wanted to take the
conversation that were far removed from the instructors own expertise and
training. Often, our field observations found that students were most engaged
when our practices felt least like normal schooling and least engaged when the
bureaucratic structures reasserted themselves. And this is a problem we will need
to explore more fully if we are going to be able to bring a participatory model
of reading and learning more fully into our teaching.
Yet, this approach is also highly generative in the sense that it sparks a range
of different critical and creative responses to what is being read and it encourages students to take a much greater pride in what they were able to contribute
to the classs joint efforts to make sense of this complex nineteenth century
novel. Some of what is valuable here emerges from a Do It Yourself ethos
where students are encouraged to take greater ownership over their own learning, but it is also shaped by the fact that they are doing it together as part of
a larger community of people with diverse interests and multiple opportunities
for participation.
We are, however, pushing up against the boundaries of formal education.
We are pushing against the time limits of the class period which restricts the
ability of students to geek out around subjects of passionate interest to
them. We are pushing against the hierarchical structure which places obligations
of teachers to be in control over what happens in their classroom and which
thus generates fear and anxiety when discussions move in directions that reflect
the intrinsic interests of their students. We are pushing against the requirements
of standardized testing which adopt a model radically at odds with our notion
of a diversified and distributed expertise, insisting that every student know and
do the same things. We are pushing against administrative practices which isolate schools from the larger flow of the culture, and we are pushing against the
division of learning into grade levels which rejects the notions of lifelong learning that underlie Pitts-Wileys idea of continuing to scaffold students relations
to literature after course assignments are completed. Project NML has done its
best to identify ways that at least some of what we see as valuable about participatory culture can be inserted into current pedagogical practices, but all of
us need to continue to struggle with the challenges of how we might more fully
align our schooling practices with what we know to be socially, culturally, and
pedagogically productive within the field studies that have been done around
DIY subcultures.

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At the end of the day, the idea of do-it-ourselves remains a radical conceptat least where formal education is concerned. Enter at your own risk.

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Contributors

Authors
Erik Jacobson is an Assistant Professor at Montclair State University
(USA). His research interests center on adult literacy, reading comprehension, and using social networking systems to support teachers and learners.
He has published in journals such as Radical Teacher, the Journal of Literacy
Research, and E-Learning. He is working on a book to be published by Peter
Lang, titled Adult Basic Education in the Age of New Literacies. Eriks earliest
DIY memories include refashioning his own clothes, being in punk bands in
the 1980s, and doing live mixes while on the air as a dj at his college radio
station.
Henry Jenkins was until recently the Co-Director of the Comparative
Media Studies Program at MIT and is now the Provosts Professor of Communications, Journalism, and Cinematic Arts at the University of Southern
California. He is the author or editor of thirteen books, including The Childrens Culture Reader, Textual Poachers: Television Fans and Participatory
Culture, and Convergence Culture: Where Old and New Media Collide. He
blogs at henryjenkins.org. Henrys earliest memories of DIY culture involve
making monster models and play-acting Batman and The Wizard of Oz
in his backyard.

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Michele Knobel is Professor of Education at Montclair State University (USA), where she co-ordinates the graduate literacy programs. Her current research focuses on new literacies, social practices and digital
technologies. Micheles books include New Literacies (with Colin Lankshear), as well as The Handbook of Research on New Literacies (co-edited Julie
Coiro, Colin Lankshear and Don Leu). One of Micheles favorite DIY memories from country-town, high school days is cutting-and-pasting photos of
friends into cruise line catalogues, adding captions and creating jet-set,
tabloid lives for them. They did the same for her.
Colin Lankshear is Professor of Literacy and New Technologies at
James Cook University in Australia, and Adjunct Professor at McGill and
Mount St Vincent Universities in Canada. His recent books (with Michele
Knobel) include Digital Literacies: Concepts, Policies and Practices, and A
New Literacies Sampler. He and Michele are currently working on a 3rd edition of New Literacies, with a focus on social learning. His favorite DIY memory is building a verandah on the house in Coatepec, Mexico, applying
Meccano construction principles to steel, timber, and terracotta tiles.
Matthew Lewis attends College of the Canyons in California, where
he is majoring in fine arts. He began using computers at the age of 4 years
and always has been fascinated with technology and art. He is also an Eagle
Scout. He is deeply interested in anime, cosplay, art, and video gaming.
While much of what Matthew does is DIYeverything from creating original manga comics to making anime music videosthe design and art work
involved in creating his cosplay outfits is something he finds deeply satisfying.
Susan Luckman is a Senior Lecturer in the School of Communication,
International Studies and Languages, and a member of the Hawke Research
Institute, at the University of South Australia. Current research explores the
use of GIS and mental mapping digital visualisation tools in cultural research
interviews. She has authored numerous publications on new media, creative
cultures and cultural policy, digital music cultures, and contemporary cultural
studies and is co-editor of: Sonic Synergies: Music, Identity, Technology and
Community. Susans DIY media directorial debut was a silent Super 8 film
fairy tale starring the family guinea pigs.
Guy Merchant is Professor of Literacy in Education at Sheffield Hallam University, where he co-ordinates the work of the Language and Literacy
Research Group. He is interested in the digital literacy practices of children
and young people, and how their informal uses of these literacies cross into
school contexts. Guys most recent book is Web 2.0 for Schools: Learning and
Social Participation (with Julia Davies). Once upon a time in the land of

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DIY, he invested in a bag full of cold dye and invited all his friends to a dyein. It was the summer of 68 and Guy had the most colorful shirts in the
neighborhood that year.

Rebecca Orlowicz works in the Technology Teaching and Learning

Group at Hunter College, New Jersey (USA), where she is involved with
training development, instructional design, and multimedia production of
educational technology. Despite limited distribution (to her grandparents),
Rebeccas favorite DIY memory is recording Christmas albums with her family, including guitar and recorder accompaniments.
Robin Potanin is a Senior Lecturer in Concept Development at the
Academy for Digital Entertainment (mADE) at NHTV University (The
Netherlands). She used to produce and write commercial console and PC
games. Now she teaches interactive narrative and entertainment theory. Her
earliest and strongest DIY experiences are learning how to cook piroshki with
her Siberian grandmother and reaching up to the stove from under the barrel chest of Johnny Cash to help create a delicious chile con carne while
singing Ring of Fire.

John Potter is a lecturer in new media and education at the London

Knowledge Lab, part of the University of London Institute of Education.
Currently, he is program leader for the MA in Media, Culture and Communication. As part of the Centre for the Study of Children, Youth and Media,
his research interests and publications are in the areas of new media and
learning, in formal and informal settings, as framed by media and cultural
studies, theories of identity, new literacies and multimodality. Johns earliest
DIY media memories are of rainy Sundays spent recording ghost stories on a
2 track stereo reel-to-reel tape recorder, using sound effects (clanking chains,
howling wind, etc.) from BBC vinyl LPs borrowed from Croydon Public
Library.
Christopher Shamburg is an Associate Professor in the Educational
Technology Department at New Jersey City University. He is the author of
National Educational Technology Standards for Students: Units for the English
Language Arts and Student-Powered Podcasting: Teaching for 21st Century
Literacy. His favorite DIY memory is making pear wine in a friends basement as a teenagerthe pears were from a neighbors tree and the recipe was
from the Jersey City Public Library.
Angela Thomas is a Senior Lecturer in English Education at the University of Sydney (Australia). Her research centers around the social and discursive practices in new media spaces, with a particular focus on youth
communities in virtual worlds. She is author of the book Youth Online: Iden-

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CONTRIBUTORS

tity and Literacy in Virtual Communities, and is currently working on a project exploring childrens multimedia authoring with the Australian Childrens
Television Foundation. Angela has a fond DIY memory of spending many
long hours in a darkroom developing her own photographs.

Nicole Tufano is a teacher at Memorial Elementary School, Maywood,

New Jersey (USA), where she teaches Kindergarten and Grade 1. Nicole
holds a Master of Arts in Reading, and her interests include working with literacy and digital technologies to enhance students learning. She is currently
completing a graduate certificate program in new literacies, digital technologies and learning at Montclair State University. She is looking forward to
introducing claymation (stop motion) video making into her Kindergarten
class.

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Index

A
Ackerman, F. K. 240
Adler, R. 19-20, 233,238
Aerosmith 30
Anderson, C. 142
Ang, T. 112-13
Armstrong, H. 108
Association of Research Libraries 68
Audacity Ch. 2
Aufderheide, P. 67

B
Bakhtin, M. 179
Bamford, A. 98
Barthe, R. 106
Bauman, Z. 13
Beatles, the 31
Beck, U. 13
Black, J. 58
Black, R. 15-16, 18-19
Boivin, P. 177
Bolter, J. 178
Bourgeois, L. 120-121
Boyett, S. 53
Brolsma, G. 210
Brown, J. Seely 16-20, 233 238
Brown, James 29-30
Bruns, A. 10
Buckingham, D. 18, 164
Burn, A. 18

Burton, T. 162
Butler, C. 163
Butterfield, S. 122

C
Cabrera, R. 246
Caldwell, K. 211
Campbell, J. 73
Carroll, J. 58
Center for Social Media 67
Chic, 30
Chong, A. 161-162, 164
Clash, the 29, 43
Clinton, K. 242
Coltrane, J. 28-20
Creative Commons 33-34, 56, 64, 67,
223

D
Dalton, T. 182
Dane, B. 40
Davies, J. 18, 87, 89
Disney, W. 186
DJ Dangermouse 31-32
Driscoll, K. 236-7
Duncum, P. 93, 99

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INDEX

260
F
Fake, K. 122
Flickr Ch. 4, Ch. 5

G
Garland, E. 11
Gee, J. 18, 76, 124, 226-7, 236-7, 242, 244
Gernsbeck, H. 240
Giddens, A. 13, 109
Goffman, E. 109
Grusin, R. 178

H
Hagel, J. 16-19
Harper, L. 99
Harryhausen, R 182
Hickey, D. 242
Hobbs, R. 67
Holt, J. 7

I
Illich, I. 7
Ito, M. 234-

J
Jago, C. 232
James, R. 31, 46
Jaszi, P. 67
Jay-Z 31
Jenkins, H. 14-15, 18, 41-44, 47, 70, 129,
197, Afterword
Johnson, S. 196

Knight, T. 163
Knobel, M. 70-71, 124, 205, 241
Kolos, H. 247
Koman, P. 156
Koopiskeva 212
Kozelek, M. 107
Kress, G. 98, 115

L
Lankshear, C. 70-71, 124, 205, 241
Lars, M.C. 250
Leadbetter, C. 225
Lehrer, B, 53, 56
Lessig, L 156, 223
Lewis, M. 19, Ch 9
Locke, J. R. 211
Lovecraft, H. P. 140
Lui, D. 246

M
M.I.A. 42
Malcolm X 46-47
Mamboleo 211
Manovich, L. 115
Marino, P. 137-8, 210
Martin, A. 13-14
MC Hammer 30, 46
McClay, J. 156
McGuigan, S. 58
McWilliams, J. 243, 247, 250
Melville, H. 246-50
Merchant, G. 18, 124
Miller, P. 225
Moby 31, 47
Morris, W. 6
Morrison, T. 47
Mullins, J. 167
Murphy, D. 56

K
Kaposztas, J. 211
Kasem, Casey 32
Kelley, W. 244, 248, 251
King Jr, Martin Luther 38-40, 46
Kist, W. 70

N
Navas, E. 28
Negativland 32

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261

Index
O

Turner, F. 239
Turnure, J. 142

OBrian, P. 246

U
P
U2 32
Papert, S. 68, 71
Park, T. 211
Pitts-Wiley, R. 244-5, 247, 249-51
Prensky, M. 18
Project New Media Literacies 242

R
Rasmussen, P. 142
Reilly, E. 242
Reimer, E. 7
Rewis, G. 192
Rich, M. 232
Richardson, W. 18
Roberts, L. 128
Robertson, C. 87
Rohani, T. 246
Ronkowitz, K. 73-74

S
Salen, K. 18
Schn, D. 96, 227
Seiter, C. 232
Selick, H. 162, 178
Shakespeare, W. 45, 73, 177
Shirky, C. 142
Sontag, S. 105-106
Staples, Mavis 35-36
Steinkuehler, C. 19
Sugarhill Gang 30
Sutton, D. 54, 56
Sutton, K. 54, 56
Swartz, L. 242

T
Tolstoy, Lev 45
Tufano, N. 182

V
Van Leeuwen, T. 115
Van Someren, A. 242

W
Waldman, N. 87
Waller, M. 180-182
Wellman, B. 82-83
Williams, J. 177
Williams, T. 87

Z
Zimmerman, P. 239

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Subject Index

A
Affinity groups 81
Affinity spaces 2-3, 12, 15-16, 18, 81, 90,
95, 106, 112, 124, 128, 225, 226,
233, 237, 243
and appreciative systems 226-227
and photosharing 112-113, 124
and photoshopping 112-113, 124
Animation 3, 11-12, 188, 209
flash animation Ch. 8
machinima Ch. 6
stop motion Ch. 7
Anime 15-16, 208-209, 234
fans of 234
types of 208-209
Anime music video (AMV) production 9,
12, Ch. 9
history of 210-212
forms of 206-207, 210
genres of 207, 210, 213
as fan practice 207, 211-212
popular AMVs 210-212
creating AMVs 212-222
preliminaries 212-214
criteria for good AMV 213, 225-227
importing resources into WindowsMoviemaker 214-216
storyboarding 216-218
importing music 218-219
refining synch 219
adding transitions and effects 220
titles and credits 221

educational considerations 220-225

copyright issues 222-223
and language arts 223-224
and explicit pedagogy 224-225
and media education 224-225
and learning and identity 225-227

C
Community of readers 243, 247-250
Copyleft 32, 64, 67
Copyright 32, 44-45, 64, 67-68, 69, 127
and machinima 144, 156
and music remixing 32, 44-45
and photosharing 126-127
and podcasting 56, 64, 67-68
and AMV 222-223
Creative Commons 32-33, 127
Curatorship Ch. 5
online image curating 108, 109, 124125, 127, 129-130

D
Daily life images 110-111
Digital literacies Ch. 5
Digital photography Ch. 4, Ch. 5
Digital Youth Project 234, 247
DIY 5-12, 32, 143-144, 156, 157, 232234, 238, 239-241
DIY culture 236, 251

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SUBJECT INDEX

264
DIY ethic 6-7
DIY ethos 8, 233, 238
DIY media 5-21, 104, 109, 112, 164-167,
179, 210, 225
as a window on the contemporary 12-20
strengths of DIY machinima 143
weaknesses of DIY machinima 143-144
do it ourselves 233, 252
and communities of participants 233252

F
Flash animation Ch. 8
ActionScript programming language 190
Adobe Flash 187-189
amateur Flash animations 189
and games 190
and game design 190, 201
and media literacy 200-202
and mobile devices 190
and reading media 200-202
creating flash animations 191-196
educational appropriations of 196-203
examples of Flash uses 189-190
examples of educational Flash interactives
198-199
frame rate 188
history of 185-191
professional animation 189
publishing animations online 196
user interactivity 189-190
using Flash CS3 with Macs and PCs 191
Flickr Ch. 4, Ch. 5
as a resource 90-92
discussion forums 92
Flickr software 104
Flickr statistics 93
geo-tagging 92
Folksonomy/folksonomies 85, 94, 96, 125,
127 , 131
and taxonomy 127

G
Graffiti 48, 79-81

H
Hip-hop see: Music remix

I
Identity 13-14, 80, 88-89, 123, 128,
225-227, 234-238
and classroom practice 130, 246
Image editing 114-122, 124
Informal learning 236-237, 242
Intellectual property 32, 44, 58, 64
Interest-driven networks 234-238
and gaming 237-238
and hip-hop 236-237
otaku culture 234-236

L
Learning 2, 4, 17, 18-20, 48, 224-227,
233, 236, 244-245
and Flash animation 200-201
and photosharing 93-100, 129
and podcasting 68-9, 71
and stop motion 167, 179-180
about Web 2.0 99-100, 238
as messy business 247-252
just in time 112, 119
participatory model of 242
see also: informal learning, learning 2.0,
learning cultures, learning to be,
social learning
Learning 2.0 19, 238-241
Learning cultures 231, 242
Learning to be 19, 227
and push-pull 20

M
Machinima Ch. 6
and classroom learning 155-157
as DIY storytelling medium 143
weaknesses of 143-144
as DIY film making medium 143
weaknesses of 143-144
as fan activity 138-141

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265

Subject Index
as literacy 156
creating machinima 146-154
definition of 136
early machinima series 138-140
filmic storytelling 135
history of 137-141
interactivity 135
narrative experience 135
genres of 141, 144-146
serious machinima 141-142
software for creating machinima 157158
Mash-up 31
Meaning 13, 29, 44, 95, 98, 200-202,
210, 225, 243, 244-245
Meaning making 28, 29, 45-47, 89-90,
93, 94, 97, 106, 115, 127, 129-130,
181
Multimodality 90, 93-94, 98-99
Music remix 8-9, Ch. 2
and 21st century skills 41-43
as classroom activity 40-47
aura 28, 30
basic steps in producing music remixes
34-41
creation and dialog 44-45
educational benefits of 41
ntellectual property 44-45
key web sites 32-33
loops 36-39
meaning 29, 45-48
musical genres 30-31
music remix software 34
participation 14-15, 81
pleasure and politics as motives 31-32
reinterpretation 28
samples, sampling 28, 31, 36-40, 46
Music videos 98, 145-146, 155, 198,
206-210
anime music videos, Ch 9

N
Networked images 107-109
Networked individualism 82-83
New media literacies 231-252
role of schools in 231-232

P
Participatory culture 14-15, 18, 70, 164,
Afterword
and classrooms 242-252
and literature 245-251
Photosharing Ch. 4, Ch. 5
and attribution 126-127
and copyright 126-127
and identity 107-110, 130-131
and learning 93-99, 127-131
and memes 128-129
and new literacies 127-131
and RSS 91
Flickr, see: Flickr
Flickr community 86, 89-90, 93
Flickr identity 88-89
Flickr tutorials 84
uploading pictures 86-88
Photosharing community 82-83, 91-92
Photoshopping Ch. 5
and affinity spaces 111-112
and editing images 112-114
Plagiarism 45
Podcasting 1, 3, 20-21, Ch 3, 234, 241,
243
and copyright 56
and curriculum reform 69-71
and teaching and reflecting 73-74
creating a podcast 57-68
citing sources 64-65
copyright aspects, 67-68
exporting a podcast 64-65
getting set up 59
getting started with software 59-60
importing existing audio 63-63
recording voices 60-62
syndicating a podcast 66-67
syndication 52, 57, 66-67
educational applications 68-69
student projects 71-73
RSS 57
Podcatchers 52
iPods and iTunes 52-53
typical podcasts 52-54
Youth Radio 55
Podcasting communities and resources
56-57

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266
Produsers 10
Project New Media Literacies 242-244
Punk 7-8, 29
and music remix 32

R
Recognition effect 84
Remixing 1, 8-9, 27-29, 31-36, 40-45,
129, 177, 207, 211. 213, 224, 226227, 234, 240, 243, 245-246
Resource mobilization 16-18
emerging models of 16-18
RSS (really simple syndication) 57-58,
66, 91

young people as stop-motion animation creators 164-167

Still image creation Ch. 5
and aura 111
and blogging 107-109
and image editing software 114-119
and social networking 107-110
using Photoshop Elements 119-122

T
Tagcloud 85
Tags 84-86, 89

V
S
Video remixing 9
Social learning 19-20, 233
See also: learning
Social networking 81-83, 88-89, 91, 9495, 98-100, 106, 108-109, 122123, 127, 129-130, 154, 237-238,
249,
Social practices, 4-5, 19, 130, 177, 179,
224-225
Souvenir images 109-110
Stop motion animation 3, Ch 7
and media theory 177-179
as art form 162
creating stop-motion 167-176
adding music or sound 173-174
importing photos 170-171
publishing a stop-motion movie 175
taking photos and shooting scenes
169-170
timing 172-173
tips for preparation 167-169
using Windows Movie Maker 171-175
using the storyboard 171-172
defined 15
DIY stop motion animation 164-167
in the classroom 179-181
meeting points of amateurs, fans and
professionals 176-7
online resources for 175-176
software 164, 167

Virtual communities 82

W
Wall art 79-80
Web 2.0, 19, 81-83, 91-92, 94, 99-100,
122-123, 127, 135, 238-239

Z
Zines 7-8