Showing posts with label south_africa. Show all posts
Showing posts with label south_africa. Show all posts
Thursday, 14 April 2022
Behind 'Design principles for developing critique and academic argument in a blended-learning data visualization course'
Written for visual design educators and social semiotic researchers interested in students' use of data visualisations for argument.
Designed by Arlene Archer and Travis Noakes, 2021.
Table 2. Lesson topic changes from 2017 to 2018's course
1) Delimiting the scope of the task
2) Encouraging the use of readily accessible design tools
3) Considering gains and losses in digital translations
4) Implementing a process approach for developing argument and encouraging reflection
5) Developing meta-languages of critique and argument
6) Acknowledging different audiences and the risks of sharing work as novices
Figure 2. Tumi's limitations slide 2018
Professor Arlene Archer and my chapter, 'Design principles for developing critique and academic argument in a blended-learning data visualization course', is to be published in 'Learning Design Voices'. Edited by Professor Laura Czerniewicz, Tasneem Jaffer and Shanali Govender. the book is produced by the University of Cape Town's (UCT) Centre for Innovation in Learning and Teaching (CILT). Its compilation aims to catalyse a discussion of key themes shaping practice in online learning design. Our contribution falls under the book's 'Learning materials, activities and processes' section. The book's other two tackle 'Learning Design as field, praxis and identity' and 'Humanising Learning Design'.
Our new chapter is a sequel to 'Exploring academic argument in information graphics' (2020), in which we proposed the framework for argument in data visualizations shown in Table 1. This social semiotic framework provides a holistic view that is useful for providing feedback and recognising students’ work as realised through the ideational, interpersonal, and textual meta-functions. For example, in addition to the verbal (written) mode that they are usually assessed on in Higher Education, students' digital poster designs must also consider composition, size, shape and colour choices.
Designed by Arlene Archer and Travis Noakes, 2021.
When the course was first introduced, many students' were able to produce attractive posters, but there seemed scope to support them in developing better arguments by revising the course's contents. Our follow-up piece describes how using this framework proved helpful for changing a second-year journalism, blended-learning course and helping students' argument-development:
In five-weeks, the lecturer had to teach novices- data infographics, graphic design and Excel software, visual design aesthetics and multimodal argumentation via data visualization designs. Many changes were considered for improving the posters’ argument and the lecturer changed the 2018 syllabus structure by adding two new sections (for ‘Multimodal argument’ and ‘Creative ideas for infographic design’, see Table 2).
A midway assessment was also introduced in which students’ infographic arguments were tested as works-in-progress. Reviewers’ feedback presented those who went for the wrong goalposts with opportunities for changing their direction by the final assessment. The new sections and mid-way assessment proved helpful for supporting 2018's students on aggregate with developing better arguments via infographic posters. The initial course was arguably weighted too much on using new tools for aesthetic design. By contrast, the new iteration was weighted towards teaching opaque discursive conventions and how to make a coherent, strong infographic poster argument using different modes that travel well as they traverse different formats.
To illustrate the benefits of this shift, our article focuses on two students, whose work differed from those of the 2017’s class in presenting meta-level critiques. As a result of some of the curriculum interventions, students began to engage with normative attitudes and societal discourses that shaped the information they shared. They began to flag how the graphs they shared might represent a numeric simplification of a qualitatively complex situation, and to point to the ways in which the categories for comparison may be blurred.
Before presenting two in-depth student cases, we described how several principles for learning design informed our analysis of student work using this framework:
1) Delimiting the scope of the task
2) Encouraging the use of readily accessible design tools
3) Considering gains and losses in digital translations
4) Implementing a process approach for developing argument and encouraging reflection
5) Developing meta-languages of critique and argument
6) Acknowledging different audiences and the risks of sharing work as novices
"Tumi" and "Mark" followed different approaches to metalevel critique in their data visualization project's. Tumi’s presentation (see Figures 1 and 2) critiqued the usefulness of Youth Explorer for exploring education in a peripheral township community versus a suburban ‘core community’. In contrasting the Langa township ward's educational attendance data versus the leafy suburb of Pinelands, she flagged why the results may be skewed unfavourably against Langa- children from peripheral communities often travel to core communities for schooling, so data for both core and peripheral communities “can be blurred to some extent”. Tumi also flagged that youth accused of contact crime were not necessarily ‘convicted or found guilty’.
Figure 2. Tumi's limitations slide 2018
By contrast, Mark’s poster (see Figure 3) critiqued the statistics available for understanding ‘poor grade 8 systemic results’ and the reasons for higher drop-out rates in schooling between suburbs. His poster explored the limitations of what Youth Explorer can tell us about systemic tests and how these link to dropout rates and final year pass rates. He argued that a shortcoming is the dataset’s failure to convey 'the role that extra-curricular support plays' in shaping learners’ results. Mark's poster reflected the fact that many children from affluent homes go for extra lessons after school to improve subject results. This knowledge of concerted cultivation was based on his personal experience, but is unaccounted for in most official accounts of educational input.
Both cases reveal how teaching a social semiotic approach for analysing and producing argument proved helpful. It informed changes to a data visualisation poster course that could better support students’ development as critical designers and engaged citizens- the two aspirant media professionals' meta-critiques flagged important challenges in relying on data that may be incorrect and incomplete, accurately spotlighting the inherent difficulties of simplifying qualitative complexity into numbers for their audiences.
If you would like to view a presentation on our research, please visit my earlier blog post at
https://www.travisnoakes.co.za/2021/10/the-presentation-developing-critique.html.
Acknowledgements
The research is based upon work supported by the British Academy Newton Advanced Fellowship scheme. Travis’ research was supported by a Postdoctoral Fellowship (2019-21) at the Cape Peninsula University of Technology. Both authors thank the University of Cape Town’s Centre for Film and Media Studies for facilitating our research with students between 2017 and 2018. In particular, we thank Professor Marion Walton and Dr Martha Evans for their valued assistance. We also greatly appreciate the feedback from the editors and reviewers at Learning Design Voices.
Need support doing Social Semiotic research in Africa?
Both Arlene and Travis are members of the South African Multimodality in Education research group (SAME) hosted by UCT. Should you be interested in sharing your multimodal research project with its experts, please contact SAME.
I hope that you will read our chapter and find it informative. You are most welcome to give readers and I your feedback in the moderated comments section below.
Wednesday, 6 May 2020
'Exploring academic argument in information graphics' in 'Data Visualization in Society' from @AmsterdamUPress #Academicbooks #OpenAccess
Written for design educators and social semiotic researchers who are interested in infographic design and multimodal argument.
Associate Professor Arlene Archer and I wrote 'Exploring academic argument in information graphics', which was recently published in the book, Data visualization in society. Our chapter proposes a framework for analysing and producing argument in data visualisation. This framework is applied in the chapter for investigating two second-year journalism students’ semiotic and rhetorical strategies in making arguments via data visualisation posters. We then discuss the broader implications in Higher Education for teaching students to become critical citizens via infographic poster production and analysis.
Associate Professor Arlene Archer and I wrote 'Exploring academic argument in information graphics', which was recently published in the book, Data visualization in society. Our chapter proposes a framework for analysing and producing argument in data visualisation. This framework is applied in the chapter for investigating two second-year journalism students’ semiotic and rhetorical strategies in making arguments via data visualisation posters. We then discuss the broader implications in Higher Education for teaching students to become critical citizens via infographic poster production and analysis.
 |
| Figure 1. Data Visualization in Society book cover, Amsterdam University Press, 2020. |
The chapter drew on my fieldwork as a lecturer in the multimedia production course (FAM2017S) teaching infographic poster design to journalism students at the Centre for Film and Media Studies, UCT. I liaised with Professor Marion Walton and Dr Martha Evans in preparing a five-week course for teaching infographic poster production in 2017. Students learnt to explore educational inequalities between two suburbs in Cape Town using youthexplorer.org.za's aggregated data and to visualise their findings via infographic poster design. Arlene kindly volunteered as a guest reviewer of students' poster design progress. As novice designers, students' data visualisation arguments produced some interesting inconsistencies and disjunctures that helped inspire this chapter. Its analysis was also informed by a review of students' final posters and accompanying rationales.
In response to these concerns, Arlene proposed the framework for analysing and producing argument in data visualisation. Its components are illustrated in Table 1 below.
 |
| Table 1. A framework for analysing and producing argument in data visualisation. Archer, A. and Noakes, T. 2020. |
We are very grateful to the book's editors, Professors Helen Kennedy and Martin Engebretsen, for their feedback and help in refining the chapter.
In 2018, I retaught infographic poster design to a new group of second years and adjusted the course to allocate more for considering argument and included this framework and the article's cases for students' consideration. Both interventions helped students to improve the critical arguments in their posters. Arlene and I are writing about these changes in a draft manuscript, 'Developing critique and academic argument in a blended-learning data visualisation course'.
There are three ways you can view Data Visualization in Society digitally:
2. Its Open Access version is at https://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctvzgb8c7.
3. You can download it as an Adobe Acrobat pdf book via http://library.oapen.org/handle/20.500.12657/22273.
Or to purchase it in hardcopy, you can order through your local bookseller, via Amsterdam University Press for Europe/Rest of the World, or via Baker & Taylor Publisher Services for North America.
I hope that you will find our chapter informative and welcome any feedback in the comments below.
Monday, 1 October 2018
Knowledge gaps in African design for my Post-doc research to address
Written for readers interested in the directions that my future Post-doctoral research will take (and won't!)
Doing a PhD helps one understand that there are many gaps in human knowledge. It helps clarify the existence of important gaps and challenges one to do appropriate research that help with closing them. As part of writing Post-doctoral Fellowship applications, it became important to reflect on what my inter-disciplinary media studies research contributions have been so far and how I might build on them, and move onto new topics, in the future:
In working for UCT's 'ICT Access and Use' project (2011/12), I explored how media students followed a form of connected learning for developing identities linked to creative industry as undergrads. Together with Associate Professors Cheryl Brown and Laura Czerniewicz, we addressed a gap in the literature regarding university students’ extramural creative production with varied online services. Three case studies illustrated how Connected Learning can be empowering: each student provided a vivid example of digital practices embedded within social contexts, exemplifying the processes students undertake when constructing meaning and knowledge in the digital world. Such cases have been lacking in the literature, especially from developing country contexts (GAP1). Future research can build on ours by exploring how Connected Learning is experienced in other South African contexts and more broadly in the global South.
My PhD thesis contributed to closing a research gap concerning digital inequality. Its research described how the e-portfolios of young Cape Town visual arts students at two secondary schools were shaped by their privileged or marginalised circumstances. There is an opportunity to extend this pathfinder project by looking at completely underserved schooling environments. For example, what digital repertoires are young visual creatives in Cape Town's marginalised settings (poor suburbs in schools without support for visual art or design) developing (GAP2)? This focus also suggests an opportunity to combine research interests in connected learning and participatory culture for exploring the visual creative productions that occur in underserved contexts outside formal academic settings in Cape Town and how these repertoires link to academic cultural capital, or not (GAP3). Multimodal researchers could also explore the longitudinal changes to visual creatives' e-portfolios (GAP4). For example, how students change their e-portfolio styles after leaving school and preparing to apprentice in creative industries or helping justify future study).
African design is an understudied and emergent field, which could benefit from more scholarship documenting its existing practices (Venter, 2018)}. After lengthy consideration, I have decided to develop an inter-disciplinary proposal for this field that addresses three distinct, but overlapping, concerns related to bitmap design, digital access and collaborative software design:
The first concern is what bitmap designs are marginalised young creatives producing and sharing online? This online content analysis will serve as a starting point for exploring the second concern- what does 'access' to digital design really mean in under-served contexts. For example: How accessible are apps and open source software to mobile-centric designers in highly constrained circumstances? What role does English as a 'global language' play in shaping Xhosa mother-tongue creatives' access and use to bitmap software? What cultural repertoires (i.e. fashion, gaming) seem to motivate interest in being a bitmap designer? The final concern is to contrast what happens when design thinking and design strategy approaches are used for collaborative software design focussed on localisation. I will describe the benefits and limitations of both, using workshops for aspirant, but under-resourced, visual creatives. They will be consulted for understanding how Create With's new functional specifications for https://www.createwithpixels.com might provide better access for young South Africans.
By addressing these three concerns, my Post-doc research should make a solid contribution to the field of African design. It addition to its novel exploration of bitmap designers' content and circumstances, it should also generate interesting findings concerning the meanings of 'access', plus the differences between two design approaches' outcomes for collaborative software localisation.
Doing a PhD helps one understand that there are many gaps in human knowledge. It helps clarify the existence of important gaps and challenges one to do appropriate research that help with closing them. As part of writing Post-doctoral Fellowship applications, it became important to reflect on what my inter-disciplinary media studies research contributions have been so far and how I might build on them, and move onto new topics, in the future:
In working for UCT's 'ICT Access and Use' project (2011/12), I explored how media students followed a form of connected learning for developing identities linked to creative industry as undergrads. Together with Associate Professors Cheryl Brown and Laura Czerniewicz, we addressed a gap in the literature regarding university students’ extramural creative production with varied online services. Three case studies illustrated how Connected Learning can be empowering: each student provided a vivid example of digital practices embedded within social contexts, exemplifying the processes students undertake when constructing meaning and knowledge in the digital world. Such cases have been lacking in the literature, especially from developing country contexts (GAP1). Future research can build on ours by exploring how Connected Learning is experienced in other South African contexts and more broadly in the global South.
My PhD thesis contributed to closing a research gap concerning digital inequality. Its research described how the e-portfolios of young Cape Town visual arts students at two secondary schools were shaped by their privileged or marginalised circumstances. There is an opportunity to extend this pathfinder project by looking at completely underserved schooling environments. For example, what digital repertoires are young visual creatives in Cape Town's marginalised settings (poor suburbs in schools without support for visual art or design) developing (GAP2)? This focus also suggests an opportunity to combine research interests in connected learning and participatory culture for exploring the visual creative productions that occur in underserved contexts outside formal academic settings in Cape Town and how these repertoires link to academic cultural capital, or not (GAP3). Multimodal researchers could also explore the longitudinal changes to visual creatives' e-portfolios (GAP4). For example, how students change their e-portfolio styles after leaving school and preparing to apprentice in creative industries or helping justify future study).
I would like to continue developing longitudinal studies that range from young adult creatives in Cape Town that are heavily involved with online content creation to those that are scarcely involved. There are many related gaps for local researchers to explore:
I am currently preparing Post-doctoral Fellowship applications for Cape Town universities and the positions that might support research contributions to (1- 7) and tackling GAPS1-4 are very scarce.
A further challenge is that justifying a Post-doctoral fellowship position requires a narrow focus on the type of gap selected. One's post-doc work is required to develop knowledge that moves one's 'field' forward by addressing its 'critical knowledge gaps'. As an interdisciplinary researcher, whose PhD has spanned disciplines ranging from media studies to cultural sociology, the academic field I must contribute to seems blurred and difficult to address. Which 'field' and what 'gaps' must my interdisciplinary focus prioritise? Which unrelated threads of work can I link that might change current research? What concepts and approaches can be extended to address critical knowledge gaps in my field?
- What are the advantages and pitfalls of young online content creators developing their technical cultural capital plus digital symbolic capital?
- How are social networks and technical cultural capital becoming more important as determinants of opportunity (see Jenkins, Ito and boyd, 2016).
- How are people being included, or excluded, in participatory culture based on their cultural, ethnic, gender or racial affiliation?
- How might such differences be echoed or different in the global South?
- How are inequalities of opportunity reproduced via schooling and how might this be or challenged?
- How does cultural taste impact on what is valorised or dismissed and which identities and communities of practice are permissable in different creative contexts?
- What novel forms of creative production result from new media literacies and how do creators perceive them to be successful, or failures?
I am currently preparing Post-doctoral Fellowship applications for Cape Town universities and the positions that might support research contributions to (1- 7) and tackling GAPS1-4 are very scarce.
A further challenge is that justifying a Post-doctoral fellowship position requires a narrow focus on the type of gap selected. One's post-doc work is required to develop knowledge that moves one's 'field' forward by addressing its 'critical knowledge gaps'. As an interdisciplinary researcher, whose PhD has spanned disciplines ranging from media studies to cultural sociology, the academic field I must contribute to seems blurred and difficult to address. Which 'field' and what 'gaps' must my interdisciplinary focus prioritise? Which unrelated threads of work can I link that might change current research? What concepts and approaches can be extended to address critical knowledge gaps in my field?
African design is an understudied and emergent field, which could benefit from more scholarship documenting its existing practices (Venter, 2018)}. After lengthy consideration, I have decided to develop an inter-disciplinary proposal for this field that addresses three distinct, but overlapping, concerns related to bitmap design, digital access and collaborative software design:
The first concern is what bitmap designs are marginalised young creatives producing and sharing online? This online content analysis will serve as a starting point for exploring the second concern- what does 'access' to digital design really mean in under-served contexts. For example: How accessible are apps and open source software to mobile-centric designers in highly constrained circumstances? What role does English as a 'global language' play in shaping Xhosa mother-tongue creatives' access and use to bitmap software? What cultural repertoires (i.e. fashion, gaming) seem to motivate interest in being a bitmap designer? The final concern is to contrast what happens when design thinking and design strategy approaches are used for collaborative software design focussed on localisation. I will describe the benefits and limitations of both, using workshops for aspirant, but under-resourced, visual creatives. They will be consulted for understanding how Create With's new functional specifications for https://www.createwithpixels.com might provide better access for young South Africans.
By addressing these three concerns, my Post-doc research should make a solid contribution to the field of African design. It addition to its novel exploration of bitmap designers' content and circumstances, it should also generate interesting findings concerning the meanings of 'access', plus the differences between two design approaches' outcomes for collaborative software localisation.
Friday, 17 November 2017
Designing infographics on educational inequalities in Cape Town's wards- a new #UCT Media Studies project.
Written for Media Studies educators interested in teaching data journalism and infographic poster design.
A new infographic poster design course (FAM2017S)
Professor Marion Walton, Dr Martha Evans and I recently prepared a five week course in which I taught second year journalism students to design infographic posters that focused on educational inequalities in two Cape Town wards.
The course comprised the following lessons (which dovetailed with Martha's on article layout):
week 1: Introducing typography;
week 2: Designing an online identity using type, shapes and paths;
week 3: Introducing infographics and preparing a poster template;
week 4: Exporting data from youthexplorer.org.za and designing charts;
week 5: Short infographic poster presentations by students for assessment.
All students had access to the Mendi lab, where they could learn to use Adobe Illustrator for detailed design work and Microsoft Excel for chart design. Most students had already been to a workshop that introduced them to youthexplorer.org.za. I taught its use for exporting Excel files, cleaning their data and preparing various comparative charts. Students also had the option of using Adobe InDesign in class or a similar alternative at home.
A diverse group of students produced work in different infographic sub-genres in response to the lessons. The posters were shared to their blogs (see my Diigo social bookmark index for the public ones), as well as to other online accounts as part of the assessment process.
Fast facts infographic poster by Ester van der Walt, 2017
Infographic chart diagram by Jamie Kawalsky, 2017:
Academic research poster by Alana Schreiber, 2017:
These three posters exemplified the high-quality work that most students achieved and the innovation of those who departed from my academic research poster that I designed as an example for the course:
Technical recommendations:
#1 Support maximum flexibility in terms of software choice
Many students could not make every lesson due to anxiety over their safety. Violent protests at UCT by the #feemustfall movement and the near-militarisation of campus with private security and police resulted in students feeling anxious and unsafe. In response, they were granted increasing freedom to choose the software they had access to. While most students continued to use Adobe, several chose to use Microsoft Word, one Google Docs and another infogram.com).
#2 Prepare teaching materials on export options for best quality
Students found exporting imagery to be challenging and will require better support materials on achieving quality exports. This is particularly important given the varied software that students may need to use.
#3 Prepare support material on compressing files
For assessment, students had to submit six files to Vula, UCT's intranet. An upload limit of 4MB on particular file formats, meant that several students required email advice on compressing their files close to the submission deadline. Again, support material should be provided upfront for students on compressing the graphics in their files, creating compressed web-friendly, low-res versions and also archiving their work to .zip formats. Interestingly, the students who compressed their work in .zip files could upload large files.
#4 Organise that fewer files have to be submitted for assessment
Students submitted at least five files, which enabled the assessors to appreciate the process behind students' poster, rather than just the final project. While such insight proved valuable, it was highly time-consuming to assess, especially when combined with checking how students shared their work online. Consideration must be given to whether there is a more efficient way to assess the process.
Content recommendations:
#5 Emphasise the importance of curation as a digital literacy with new slides
For students keen to work in data journalism, it’s highly important that they develop digital curation literacies. While this was spoken of in lessons and foregrounded through an assessment process that required students to evidence their process through uploading their source logo, chart- and poster files in addition to final work, it could be better emphasised. For example, the insights of Potter (2012) and his 'Curation and Media Education' manifesto could be drawn on for developing dedicated slides. These should highlight the benefits of having an archive of one's source documents and process, so that they can be refined, corrected or referred back in the case viewers raise concerns about their accuracy.
#6 Provide examples for students' diverse work in the infographic genre
Innovation was an important assessment criteria for students' work. The examples above should be used to suggest to students the wide variety of options they can choose from, rather than replicating my poster's look-and-feel, as a few defaulted to.
#7 Present a work-in-progress for early assessment
Rather than assessing all work at the end, a draft presentation followed by a final submission would work better next year. This will give those students who went for the wrong goalposts feedback they can use to adjust their direction.
#8 Introduce students to how South African sociologists in education explain local educational inequalities
To improve their analysis, students would benefit from being exposed to South African research into educational inequalities and relevant concepts from educational sociology. Students would also benefit from seeing examples of what not to do. For example, do not confuse correlation (i.e. high internet access..) with causation (... supports a high matric pass rate! Rather internet access is a marker of privilege that is often linked to households that can afford better schooling).
N.B. You are most welcome to suggest further recommendations in the comments box below, ta!
The course comprised the following lessons (which dovetailed with Martha's on article layout):
week 1: Introducing typography;
week 2: Designing an online identity using type, shapes and paths;
week 3: Introducing infographics and preparing a poster template;
week 4: Exporting data from youthexplorer.org.za and designing charts;
week 5: Short infographic poster presentations by students for assessment.
All students had access to the Mendi lab, where they could learn to use Adobe Illustrator for detailed design work and Microsoft Excel for chart design. Most students had already been to a workshop that introduced them to youthexplorer.org.za. I taught its use for exporting Excel files, cleaning their data and preparing various comparative charts. Students also had the option of using Adobe InDesign in class or a similar alternative at home.
A diverse group of students produced work in different infographic sub-genres in response to the lessons. The posters were shared to their blogs (see my Diigo social bookmark index for the public ones), as well as to other online accounts as part of the assessment process.
Fast facts infographic poster by Ester van der Walt, 2017
Infographic chart diagram by Jamie Kawalsky, 2017:
Recommended changes to the course
Being the first course of its kind, several ideas emerged in the process that could improve it for next year:Technical recommendations:
#1 Support maximum flexibility in terms of software choice
Many students could not make every lesson due to anxiety over their safety. Violent protests at UCT by the #feemustfall movement and the near-militarisation of campus with private security and police resulted in students feeling anxious and unsafe. In response, they were granted increasing freedom to choose the software they had access to. While most students continued to use Adobe, several chose to use Microsoft Word, one Google Docs and another infogram.com).
#2 Prepare teaching materials on export options for best quality
Students found exporting imagery to be challenging and will require better support materials on achieving quality exports. This is particularly important given the varied software that students may need to use.
#3 Prepare support material on compressing files
For assessment, students had to submit six files to Vula, UCT's intranet. An upload limit of 4MB on particular file formats, meant that several students required email advice on compressing their files close to the submission deadline. Again, support material should be provided upfront for students on compressing the graphics in their files, creating compressed web-friendly, low-res versions and also archiving their work to .zip formats. Interestingly, the students who compressed their work in .zip files could upload large files.
#4 Organise that fewer files have to be submitted for assessment
Students submitted at least five files, which enabled the assessors to appreciate the process behind students' poster, rather than just the final project. While such insight proved valuable, it was highly time-consuming to assess, especially when combined with checking how students shared their work online. Consideration must be given to whether there is a more efficient way to assess the process.
Content recommendations:
#5 Emphasise the importance of curation as a digital literacy with new slides
For students keen to work in data journalism, it’s highly important that they develop digital curation literacies. While this was spoken of in lessons and foregrounded through an assessment process that required students to evidence their process through uploading their source logo, chart- and poster files in addition to final work, it could be better emphasised. For example, the insights of Potter (2012) and his 'Curation and Media Education' manifesto could be drawn on for developing dedicated slides. These should highlight the benefits of having an archive of one's source documents and process, so that they can be refined, corrected or referred back in the case viewers raise concerns about their accuracy.
Innovation was an important assessment criteria for students' work. The examples above should be used to suggest to students the wide variety of options they can choose from, rather than replicating my poster's look-and-feel, as a few defaulted to.
#7 Present a work-in-progress for early assessment
Rather than assessing all work at the end, a draft presentation followed by a final submission would work better next year. This will give those students who went for the wrong goalposts feedback they can use to adjust their direction.
#8 Introduce students to how South African sociologists in education explain local educational inequalities
To improve their analysis, students would benefit from being exposed to South African research into educational inequalities and relevant concepts from educational sociology. Students would also benefit from seeing examples of what not to do. For example, do not confuse correlation (i.e. high internet access..) with causation (... supports a high matric pass rate! Rather internet access is a marker of privilege that is often linked to households that can afford better schooling).
N.B. You are most welcome to suggest further recommendations in the comments box below, ta!
Tuesday, 14 June 2016
Learn to be a design thinker at the University of Cape Town's d-school #dschoolCPT
Written for UCT students interested in doing a design thinking course at its new d-school.
1 Understand the problem;
2 Observe places, people and processes for developing empathy;
3 Exploring different points of view;
4 Ideating widely to explore solutions beyond the obvious;
5 Prototyping fast;
6 Testing the prototypes with stakeholders and communities.
Design thinking is a creative methodology based around 'building up' and integrating conflicting ideas and constraints to create new solutions to problems. In Tim Brown's talk, Designers -- Think Big!, he argues that the broad concept of 'design' should be recovered from its modern understanding. This is as a narrow process that focuses on making objects more attractive, easier-to-use and more marketable. Such a highly-constrained, object-focussed understanding is shaped by consumerism's rise in the late 20th century. An unfortunate by-product of this restricted conception is that design becomes mostly unimportant due to its scope often being unambitious and its outputs quickly outdated.
An earlier, grander understanding of design as catalysing breakthrough systems exists in stark contrast to its present use addressing the small screen issues of image, aesthetics and fashion. As society confronts new, pressing social problems, an opportunity has emerged for 'design thinking' to recover design's earlier, expansive meaning. Design thinking focuses on systems to create impact on big social challenges, such as universal access to quality education and improved healthcare. Ideally, design thinking supports designers in stretching the desirability, feasibility and viability of their solutions to the limit.
I was fortunate to participate in a local design thinking course at UCT. Its new d-school chapter of the Hasso Plattner Institute's design thinking school recently opened courtesy of the 'Beyond 2014 Legacy' project of Cape Town's World Design Capital 2014. UCT's d-school is part of UCT's strategy to become a research intensive university. Like the recent UCT upstarts initiative, the d-school is part of an innovation portfolio. This is intended to leverage the triple helix of academia, research and industry for driving innovation via inter-disciplinary approaches. Hopefully, it can emulate Potsdam's example, where 30 start-ups have emerged with its d-school's support since 2008.
I was one of 30 post-graduate students in the d-school's free ten week pilot course at UCT's Graduate School of Business, which students typically pay 600 Euros to do. Cape Town's d.school will be formally launched towards the end of 2016, joining other chapters at Potsdam and Stanford University. Like both, Cape Town's will be unaffiliated to any particular faculty.
According to the d-school's founding director, Richard Perez, design thinking training’s basic tenets are collaboration, being human-centred, creative thinking and learning through doing. Each feature in the d-school's unusual style of pedagogy: students from varied academic backgrounds are placed in inter-disciplinary teams. These are introduced to concepts via talks and then spend a significant amount of their project time in the field. Each team is closely mentored by a coach in their custom studio space and out in public.
UCT's d-school pilot spanned twenty days (two days a week for ten weeks) and each participant did four projects over 10 weeks:
Project one. Redesign the entertainment experience at the V&A Waterfront (two days);
Project two. Design the d.school studio space into 'we', 'team' and 'me' spaces (one day);
Project three. Redesign the mobility experience at the V&A Waterfront (four days);
Project four. Encourage the development of Plumstead's transport precinct to support the City of Cape Town's Transport Council's Transport Oriented Development Strategic Framework. This final project spanned seven weeks.
In each project, students were taught to apply a design thinking process in response to the problem statement. This highly iterative process consisted of six phases:
1 Understand the problem;
2 Observe places, people and processes for developing empathy;
3 Exploring different points of view;
4 Ideating widely to explore solutions beyond the obvious;
5 Prototyping fast;
6 Testing the prototypes with stakeholders and communities.
For project one, team 'Good Fellows' explored redesigning the Waterfront's entertainment experience. A key insight was that visitors (i.e. the Watershed) had suggestions on what else they would like to do (i.e. participate in African maker space activities), but had no easy way to make suggestions. In response, we proposed a system that encourages visitor's feedback.
In project three, 'Team Not A Shuttle' learnt humility in what we might accomplish in four days in response to a wicked problem. To answer the challenge of improving the mobility experience for the V&A Waterfront's workers, we focused on their walk to and from Cape Town station. We proposed that interested staff be provided with sponsored, seasonal wear to protect them from the sun in Summer and rain and winds in Winter.
In project four, team 'Trains On Time' learnt that users of the Plumstead transport precinct want a safer and cleaner area before they will buy into further development. To promote an active citizenry that might address these needs, we proposed a 'Plum Tree Network'.
Our presentation to the Transport Council suggested that this network could organise a seasonal Open Plumstead festival. This would provide an opportunity for locals to work together for addressing the precinct's basics.
In addition to being tutored by design thinkers during these projects, students also had the opportunity to attend presentations by Tim Brown (the originator of design thinking) of IDEO, Jocelyn Wyatt from ideo.org. Plus, we could also do a one-day workshop led by Stanford's d.global's Tania Anaisse on Freedom Day.
As a designer and researcher my experiences of problem-solving have mostly been limited to small screens. By contrast to this largely linear experience, design thinking is highly iterative. Learning to apply the design thinking methodology has helped me to be more critical of my working process. In particular, I need to include the target of any designs during the project, not merely after it. I should work with an inter-disciplinary team to refine the problem statement and proposed solutions. Their feedback should be used to develop integrated solutions and prototypes that can be experimented with as early as possible. I also hope to take the advanced design thinking course next year, which will be open to graduates of the ten week course. Each of its phases also offer different methods (or 'buckets'). This means one can still learn new methods while repeating the same phases.
A student in any discipline can benefit from design thinking and I highly recommend the UCT d-school course to Fine Arts, Design, Media Studies and ICT for Development students. Most will benefit from learning its methodology, as it can support them in critiquing their projects, whilst stimulating alternate ideas and prototypes to test.
P.S. For Facebook updates on the d-school, 'like' https://www.facebook.com/Cape-Town-d-school-179577095777354/.
P.S. For Facebook updates on the d-school, 'like' https://www.facebook.com/Cape-Town-d-school-179577095777354/.
Thursday, 26 November 2015
Online Content Creation. Looking at students' social media practices through a #ConnectedLearning lens.
Written for researchers interested in students' social media practices, creative content production and how both can reflect indicators of the Connected Learning educational framework.
Cheryl Brown, Laura Czerniewicz and I wrote 'Online content creation. Looking at students' social media practices through a Connected Learning lens' for the Learning, Media and Technology journal. Our paper contributes to closing research gaps concerning: the Online Content Creation (OCC) practices of African university students; how indicators of the Connected Learning (CL) pedagogical framework are present in university students' non-formal creative productions; and the potential benefits that becoming digital creators might have for supporting students' social trajectories.
While previous studies have addressed creative production by university students for specific purposes, there is a research gap concerning OCC in the everyday lives of African university students. In analysing both the formal and informal ICT practices of 23 first year students at four South African universities, the use of online networks was pervasive. However, just three undergraduates described developing and/or using online presences to pursue interest-based activities.
We followed "Jake", "Vince" and "Odette" into their third year and learnt about: the social media they utilised; their trajectories; their linkages with career interests; and the types of online presences they created, maintained or discontinued. The pedagogical framework of CL proved an appropriate heuristic since all case studies spanned digital practices that, although non-formal, were: peer-supported (PS), interest-driven (ID) and academically oriented (AO). The cases also demonstrated the production-centred (PC) and shared-purpose (SP) of using openly networked (ON) new media for self-expression. PS, ID, AO, PC, SP and ON are all important indicators for CL.
There has been a tendency in CL literature to focus on secondary school youth, aged 12 to 18. We show how this emphasis can be extended to university, as students are likewise engaged in forming new interests and emergent social identities. By engaging in OCC, Jake, Vince and Odette could expand on the academic creative production interests they were formally taught. We describe how each student leveraged non-formal OCC practices for orientating towards new learning opportunities and social trajectories. Complementing these three student's formal production interests with rare OCC practices, seemed likely to give them an edge in our globally competitive society, as digital creators:
Jake used his productions as a student journalist, editor, poet and book writer to develop an online presence as a writer. He currently works as a communications trainee for a state agency. Vince's successful video production in an extra-curricular, online Ghetto Film School of LA course resulted in him being sponsored to present his short at the Sundance Film Festival Showcase. He currently works in multimedia and directs video-productions. Odette strategically developed separate online presences to promote her availability as an actor/model and scriptwriter. She also shares productions as a fiction writer, poet and personal journal diarist.
For more on African students' online content creation and social media use and how both reflected Connected Learning indicators, click on http://www.tandfonline.com/eprint/SqgVIjCFNzhQsXx5TKRF/full.
Cheryl Brown, Laura Czerniewicz and I wrote 'Online content creation. Looking at students' social media practices through a Connected Learning lens' for the Learning, Media and Technology journal. Our paper contributes to closing research gaps concerning: the Online Content Creation (OCC) practices of African university students; how indicators of the Connected Learning (CL) pedagogical framework are present in university students' non-formal creative productions; and the potential benefits that becoming digital creators might have for supporting students' social trajectories.
While previous studies have addressed creative production by university students for specific purposes, there is a research gap concerning OCC in the everyday lives of African university students. In analysing both the formal and informal ICT practices of 23 first year students at four South African universities, the use of online networks was pervasive. However, just three undergraduates described developing and/or using online presences to pursue interest-based activities.
We followed "Jake", "Vince" and "Odette" into their third year and learnt about: the social media they utilised; their trajectories; their linkages with career interests; and the types of online presences they created, maintained or discontinued. The pedagogical framework of CL proved an appropriate heuristic since all case studies spanned digital practices that, although non-formal, were: peer-supported (PS), interest-driven (ID) and academically oriented (AO). The cases also demonstrated the production-centred (PC) and shared-purpose (SP) of using openly networked (ON) new media for self-expression. PS, ID, AO, PC, SP and ON are all important indicators for CL.
There has been a tendency in CL literature to focus on secondary school youth, aged 12 to 18. We show how this emphasis can be extended to university, as students are likewise engaged in forming new interests and emergent social identities. By engaging in OCC, Jake, Vince and Odette could expand on the academic creative production interests they were formally taught. We describe how each student leveraged non-formal OCC practices for orientating towards new learning opportunities and social trajectories. Complementing these three student's formal production interests with rare OCC practices, seemed likely to give them an edge in our globally competitive society, as digital creators:
Jake used his productions as a student journalist, editor, poet and book writer to develop an online presence as a writer. He currently works as a communications trainee for a state agency. Vince's successful video production in an extra-curricular, online Ghetto Film School of LA course resulted in him being sponsored to present his short at the Sundance Film Festival Showcase. He currently works in multimedia and directs video-productions. Odette strategically developed separate online presences to promote her availability as an actor/model and scriptwriter. She also shares productions as a fiction writer, poet and personal journal diarist.
For more on African students' online content creation and social media use and how both reflected Connected Learning indicators, click on http://www.tandfonline.com/eprint/SqgVIjCFNzhQsXx5TKRF/full.
Monday, 4 May 2015
Extend a MacBook Air's life by upgrading it with an SSD drive from Other World Computing
After nearly four years, my MacBook Air seemed nearing the end of its lifespan. Despite using MacPaw’s CleanMyMac to clear unwanted files and Gemini to identify and remove duplicates, it had become impossible to keep the recommended 15% free diskspace available (or 36GB of 240). My MacBook's performance seemed to be slowing and less reliable.
An important benefit of Mac's high-quality hardware is its longevity, but there is minimal support in South Africa for Apple users having more than basic maintenance done (such as upgrading existing hardware). Apple's laptop design focus is on making them attractive, disposable consumables, but providing lighter, thinner options is being done to hackability's detriment. Local Mac consumers are only afforded the option of buying-up {with a trade-in, if lucky}; I could not find any Cape Town company promoting Apple laptop upgrades. Apple's sole South African authorised distributor, The Core Group, has a history of uncompetitive, exorbitant pricing and I was surprised that no local companies promote reasonably priced upgrades. Given the steeply-priced new options available via The Core Group's monopoly, there must be a market need for upgrades that is not being met.
In the absence of local upgrade support, I explored the import options: Other World Computing's (OWC) online store was prominent in Google search for the wide range of Mac upgrade and expansion products it offers. OWC's Mercury Aura Pro SSD and Envoy storage solution upgrade kit promised an impressive upgrade solution that would almost double my hard drive’s space (to just under 480GB), while increasing my laptop's speed up to three times (to 570 MB/S). It's not an inexpensive solution; around R4,050 ($338), which includes US shipping, and R625 on SA Post Office collection. Add in one's time, travel and related additional expenses, this could easily sum up above R 6,000. Still, that's much, much less than a new MacBookAir!
Before ordering, I checked out the installation video to see that I could install the Mercury Aura Pro SSD easily (given that I am far from being a computer technician). It looked to be simple and after collecting my order, the extraction-and-installation process went very smoothly. It took the ten minutes suggested for laptop memory card replacement. Next, I moved the old storage to an external OWC Envoy USB holder. Again, OWC's thorough guidance, this time in a brochure, was easy and quick to follow.
The next phase was to migrate my previous Mac OS X settings and files to the new drive, which took just over a day... I restarted my Macbook Air in a mode to re-install Yosemite. This clean install necessitated downloading OS X {24 hours via entry-level ADSL}, followed by a migration process to import my data {2 hours}. I then ran a software update and repaired the new drive's disk permissions {2 hours} as advised.
This left just four minor issues to sort out;
The next phase was to migrate my previous Mac OS X settings and files to the new drive, which took just over a day... I restarted my Macbook Air in a mode to re-install Yosemite. This clean install necessitated downloading OS X {24 hours via entry-level ADSL}, followed by a migration process to import my data {2 hours}. I then ran a software update and repaired the new drive's disk permissions {2 hours} as advised.
This left just four minor issues to sort out;
1. Microsoft Office required a Java download and re-entry of its product key to launch;
2. I logged out of Google Drive and resynchronised it so that it could re-locate its local files;
3. I reinstalled my Canon printer's core driver;
2. I logged out of Google Drive and resynchronised it so that it could re-locate its local files;
3. I reinstalled my Canon printer's core driver;
4. Backup failed, so Disk Repair's verify-and-repair option was used to fix the back-up drive.
After checking my most heavily used applications and some recent files, I am pleased to report that OWC's marketing promises were spot-on. My hard-drive now affords a capacity of 478GB (much, much more than the latest Mac Air laptop's 256GB!), my laptop starts faster and its speed seems far more responsive. I'm hoping that the enhanced durability of an SSD drive adds a few years before laptop replacement is necessary.
Hopefully, this post helps confirm to local Mac users that it is possible to save money by taking the initiative to do upgrades. This reduces one's frequency of laptop consumption and can add to those examples helping make 'green computing' somewhat less of an oxymoron.
After checking my most heavily used applications and some recent files, I am pleased to report that OWC's marketing promises were spot-on. My hard-drive now affords a capacity of 478GB (much, much more than the latest Mac Air laptop's 256GB!), my laptop starts faster and its speed seems far more responsive. I'm hoping that the enhanced durability of an SSD drive adds a few years before laptop replacement is necessary.
Hopefully, this post helps confirm to local Mac users that it is possible to save money by taking the initiative to do upgrades. This reduces one's frequency of laptop consumption and can add to those examples helping make 'green computing' somewhat less of an oxymoron.
Sunday, 6 October 2013
I'm using an iTunes Store SA account. Should I terminate my account with the iTunes Store US ?
Written for SA iTunes users with US iTunes Store accounts.
With the release of iTunes version 11, the iTunes Store was officially launched to South Africans in December, 2012. The entertaining shopping experience it provides is impressive. This begs the question for locals with iTunes US accounts, should we close the latter?
In making this decision, I suggest you weigh up the benefits of having two accounts against the inconvenience (and added risks) of managing accounts for multiple territories:
Under benefits, account holders of more than one iTunes Store can benefit from being able to select the best one for; i. speediest access and easiest browsing; ii. a wider product range or one better suiting their tastes, iii. lower prices and iv. quicker delivery. In my case, as a local iTunes Store and iTunes US customer (who predominately shops for music), my experience of these benefits has been:
i. Ease of access and browsing.
Accessing the SA store via iTunes is speedy and I seem to have less difficult being interrupted for repeat logins which the US service requires when I'm purchasing music on my laptop or via other devices. Overall, the local service is better.
ii. Product range.
An important reason for accessing the latter is to get the latest US entertainment content, which are unlikely to be available in the local store at the time it is released in the States. As for TV shows, these are currently not offered in South Africa; nor are free games or iTunes radio.
iii. Pricing
A disadvantage of using the US store is the premium that South Africans pay organizing vouchers in terms of purchasing dollars and the associated exchange rate and service provider fees. While purchasing songs en-mass may still be cheaper via the US store (at $ 0.69 to $1.29, compared to R 6.99 to R 8.99), album prices for purchases are often cheaper on the SA store (or local music specialists).
iv. Purchase and delivery process
The local payment system is credit card-based and far more efficient that redeeming vouchers on the iTunes US Store. A further challenge is that songs downloaded with a US account may have a 90-day waiting period before they can be played from your computer, if it is associated with a South African account.
Having used the SA store since its opening, I now rarely log-in to use my US account. However, I will keep the latter until the range of formats and content offered locally approximates that of the iTunes Store US. I believe the advantages of this approach outweighs the minor inconvenience and small risks associated with holding two accounts.
Let us know your approach by adding a comment, thanks?
With the release of iTunes version 11, the iTunes Store was officially launched to South Africans in December, 2012. The entertaining shopping experience it provides is impressive. This begs the question for locals with iTunes US accounts, should we close the latter?
In making this decision, I suggest you weigh up the benefits of having two accounts against the inconvenience (and added risks) of managing accounts for multiple territories:
Under benefits, account holders of more than one iTunes Store can benefit from being able to select the best one for; i. speediest access and easiest browsing; ii. a wider product range or one better suiting their tastes, iii. lower prices and iv. quicker delivery. In my case, as a local iTunes Store and iTunes US customer (who predominately shops for music), my experience of these benefits has been:
i. Ease of access and browsing.
Accessing the SA store via iTunes is speedy and I seem to have less difficult being interrupted for repeat logins which the US service requires when I'm purchasing music on my laptop or via other devices. Overall, the local service is better.
ii. Product range.
An important reason for accessing the latter is to get the latest US entertainment content, which are unlikely to be available in the local store at the time it is released in the States. As for TV shows, these are currently not offered in South Africa; nor are free games or iTunes radio.
iii. Pricing
A disadvantage of using the US store is the premium that South Africans pay organizing vouchers in terms of purchasing dollars and the associated exchange rate and service provider fees. While purchasing songs en-mass may still be cheaper via the US store (at $ 0.69 to $1.29, compared to R 6.99 to R 8.99), album prices for purchases are often cheaper on the SA store (or local music specialists).
iv. Purchase and delivery process
The local payment system is credit card-based and far more efficient that redeeming vouchers on the iTunes US Store. A further challenge is that songs downloaded with a US account may have a 90-day waiting period before they can be played from your computer, if it is associated with a South African account.
Having used the SA store since its opening, I now rarely log-in to use my US account. However, I will keep the latter until the range of formats and content offered locally approximates that of the iTunes Store US. I believe the advantages of this approach outweighs the minor inconvenience and small risks associated with holding two accounts.
Let us know your approach by adding a comment, thanks?
Monday, 16 July 2012
Why Multichoice's DSTV won't be offering a less-expensive, pay-per-view service anytime soon.
Written for South African satellite television subscribers.
My DIS'-SA-TV-A rant bemoaned the lack of a truly customized, pay-per-view service for South African television viewers. Now, here's a contrarian view as to why local satellite television subscribers who want to pay only for programming they are interested in (rather than subsidising the ridiculous lifestyles of the "Dim {Kardashians} and Dangerous {Snooki & Sitch}") should not 'hold their breath' for such a product offering from DSTV:
One of Umberto Ecco's most humorous articles 'Does the Audience have Bad Effects on Television?' (from Apocalypse Postponed) saw him confronting the belief amongst certain intellectuals that television is "bad for its audience" by showing that the inverse was true; television audiences had rejected many state-subsidised efforts aimed at promoting High Culture to them. This came to mind after a recent u-turn by Multichoice: I was pleasantly suprised and impressed that DSTV had ditched daily scheduling from their April subscriber magazine. However, it later became clear that I was in the minority. Multichoice did a subscriber poll in May and promised to return to the old format by August due to customers' negative feedback concerning this change.
This may reflect several truths about DSTV television subscribers:
If you agree, or not, let us know in the comment box below. Ta.
My DIS'-SA-TV-A rant bemoaned the lack of a truly customized, pay-per-view service for South African television viewers. Now, here's a contrarian view as to why local satellite television subscribers who want to pay only for programming they are interested in (rather than subsidising the ridiculous lifestyles of the "Dim {Kardashians} and Dangerous {Snooki & Sitch}") should not 'hold their breath' for such a product offering from DSTV:
One of Umberto Ecco's most humorous articles 'Does the Audience have Bad Effects on Television?' (from Apocalypse Postponed) saw him confronting the belief amongst certain intellectuals that television is "bad for its audience" by showing that the inverse was true; television audiences had rejected many state-subsidised efforts aimed at promoting High Culture to them. This came to mind after a recent u-turn by Multichoice: I was pleasantly suprised and impressed that DSTV had ditched daily scheduling from their April subscriber magazine. However, it later became clear that I was in the minority. Multichoice did a subscriber poll in May and promised to return to the old format by August due to customers' negative feedback concerning this change.
This may reflect several truths about DSTV television subscribers:
- They resist change;
- They prefer to read their magazine to know exactly when shows will appear on their favourite channels (even though the reason DSTV initially gave for dropping scheduling from its magazine was their concern that it became outdated during the month);
- They do not want to use their electronic TV guide to get more accurate information on programming;
- They may find it easier to search the magazine for content they are interested in, rather than using the electronic TV guide (and, yes, IMHO its 'search for' function could definitely benefit from a Google-sque makeover);
- They like to know for a month-in-advance what's on television, rather than the week-in- advance that their electronic TV guide shows them;
- They may prefer to schedule their daily lives around television programming times rather than to set recordings and watch them later.
- At around 300 000 subscribers as of November, 2011, TopTV offers no existential threat worth evolving for;
- If media visibility determines reality, MyTV would not to exist (the only reason I know about it is thanks to Wikipedia);
- And Free2view "South Africa's only free to air satelite TV platform" is dead, according to Teevee with Thinus, quite contrary to what its Wikipedia entry's PR rep seems to have wrote!
If you agree, or not, let us know in the comment box below. Ta.
Thursday, 7 June 2012
Introducing the 'Coding index for Social Media Use 4'.
Written for researchers interested in the ICT Access and Use project's coding indices development.
After reviewing first year students' initial and second interviews in the fourth phase of the ICT Access and Use project, Laura Czerniewicz and I have prepared a fourth index to code conversations in which the following themes were discussed:
After reviewing first year students' initial and second interviews in the fourth phase of the ICT Access and Use project, Laura Czerniewicz and I have prepared a fourth index to code conversations in which the following themes were discussed:
- Representations of self;
- Friendships and social media;
- Social media affordances;
- Personal social media rules;
- Students’ feelings in relation to social media;
- Other roles of social media.
These discussions are outside the scope of the previous coding indices, which looked at students' past, current and future use of ICT.
In this posting, I describe the codes we decided on, their definitions, and then provide some examples of each code.
1. Representations of self.
Students spoke about how they chose to represent themselves online as themselves (their real names), using personas or with fake identities:
4.1 Identity representation
In this posting, I describe the codes we decided on, their definitions, and then provide some examples of each code.
1. Representations of self.
Students spoke about how they chose to represent themselves online as themselves (their real names), using personas or with fake identities:
4.1 Identity representation
This is about stating who they are online, who they represented themselves to be, literally.
Not all students used a 'genuine identity' online, but some chose an online profile type that was a 'persona' or even 'fake identity' online. Three examples were:
4.12 Type of username
The naming convention students used in selecting usernames would follow from their choice of identity. Most used some variation of their first and last names, while others chose a 'pseudonym': a pseudonym is different from a fake name as there is often a link between it and one's real name. Two examples of pseudonym use were:
4.13 Self disclosure
Another aspect of self-representation lay in the degree to which students were prepared to share the information they publish to social networks with all of its members or select groups of members. Student S was very selective about the people she chose to be her Facebook friends and said that she was comfortable with being very personal on it, because; 'For the people that are on Facebook, I feel as if I can share anything'. It is likely that she would not choose to limit the information that her Facebook friends could see by specifying a "limited profile view" for some groups of them.
By contrast, a researcher commented that she would not allow her parents to be Facebook friends with her. However, now that she could use Facebook's 'limited profile view' option for them, she might as she could then share select updates with her parents. Student R described the importance of knowing what your social network audience might see with the example of how a former high school prefect left his school and then his homosexuality was 'outed' by “Facebook Friends” who had used the photograph tagging functionality to identify him in gay bars.
Another aspect of self-disclosure is whether students allow their information on social networks to be searchable in these services' local search engines and/or external ones. The coding "Search settings for the Web 4.13.2" was added to cover instances where this was discussed.
2. Friendships and social media.
Not all students used a 'genuine identity' online, but some chose an online profile type that was a 'persona' or even 'fake identity' online. Three examples were:
- Student V used his “real” profile to publish writing on fanstory.com.
- Student O used another name (or persona) when she published her online diary to wattpad.com, as she did not want her intimate thoughts traced back to her by those who could recognise her handwriting.
- Student S and her best friend used a fake profile of a handsome guy to stalk prospective boyfriends' other potential girlfriends on facebook.com.
4.12 Type of username
The naming convention students used in selecting usernames would follow from their choice of identity. Most used some variation of their first and last names, while others chose a 'pseudonym': a pseudonym is different from a fake name as there is often a link between it and one's real name. Two examples of pseudonym use were:
- Student S' last name is an isiXhosa one, but she chose an English pseudonym at University that was easy for non-Xhosa speakers to use and remember.
- For his Facebook account, Student V uses a nickname of a film character he was given by his school friends and has not changed it as he believes that his friends would search for him using it.
4.13 Self disclosure
Another aspect of self-representation lay in the degree to which students were prepared to share the information they publish to social networks with all of its members or select groups of members. Student S was very selective about the people she chose to be her Facebook friends and said that she was comfortable with being very personal on it, because; 'For the people that are on Facebook, I feel as if I can share anything'. It is likely that she would not choose to limit the information that her Facebook friends could see by specifying a "limited profile view" for some groups of them.
By contrast, a researcher commented that she would not allow her parents to be Facebook friends with her. However, now that she could use Facebook's 'limited profile view' option for them, she might as she could then share select updates with her parents. Student R described the importance of knowing what your social network audience might see with the example of how a former high school prefect left his school and then his homosexuality was 'outed' by “Facebook Friends” who had used the photograph tagging functionality to identify him in gay bars.
Another aspect of self-disclosure is whether students allow their information on social networks to be searchable in these services' local search engines and/or external ones. The coding "Search settings for the Web 4.13.2" was added to cover instances where this was discussed.
2. Friendships and social media.
Students described the relationships between their face -to-face friendships and those existing online in these relatively open-ended codings:
4.21 Face-to-face versus online friendships
This code addresses the value students perceive online friendships to have, and how “real” they perceive them to be. Some students, like Student R, expressed a 'preference for face-to-face contact'. He would prefer someone to get to know him face-to-face than via his profile, 'The profile is an extension of oneself; it is still really important to be in touch with the real person. Facebook gives you many links and you can communicate with someone that is far away, but if you make Facebook your reality, then you sort of lose touch with actually sitting down and just having a glass of wine with someone and just chatting.'
A few students described the 'benefits of online friendships'. For example, Student K said that he believed his online friendships are real. There are people that he feels he can talk to and share with. There are other people that really encourage him. He felt that the relationships are realistic, rather than virtual. Student N said that she goes onto the internet to relieve her stress during her exams. When she relieves her stress, she does talk about the exams a lot with her friends on Facebook.
4.22 Friendship types by contact type
This coding covers the types of friends a student has on Facebook and on other types of social networks. For example, Student S said that only her closest friends and family are on BBM, while most of her friends are on Facebook and anyone can follow her on Twitter. So different levels of closeness are associated with different social networks.
4.23 Online social capital and self-esteem
This coding covers student feedback on the importance that online activities play in developing their social capital and self-esteem. Some students commented that when they joined Facebook, they felt under pressure to have 1,000 friends or more, to match their peers. Student K said that most people at are at the stage where he was on Facebook, when he first started. He noticed that many people had 1000 friends and he had a few, which he thought was a crisis. So, he went to Facebook pages that allow one to easily find new friends. He would go onto these pages and write 'Hi, just add me as a friend.' Then his Aunt told him, 'For real now, you need real friends, it's not cool to have many friends; who you don't know, who don't care and you won't even talk to.'
4.24 Types of exclusion
This coding deals with the extent to which students feel included or excluded from particular social networks due to them not having access to particular tools. A common example for South African students is those who do not have Blackberry phones and therefore feel left out of BBM conversations between their face-to-face friends.
3. Social media affordances.
A category for social media (software) affordances is useful to code student discussions about the distinct affordances that social media provides them. Since the most commonly discussed social networks were MXit, Facebook, Twitter and Google+, the categories reflect this by covering:
4.31 Facebook status updates
This code covers the types of updates students made as well as the reasons for the updates.
Many students spoke about their use of Facebook's status 'update' affordance and described the frequency with which they made updates. Student S said that on Facebook, you cannot have five status updates back-to-back as you need to give time for friends to comment. She normally updates her status on Facebook at least once every two days
Students also spoke about the reasons for updates. For example, Student K uses his updates for religious purposes; he comments on the challenges that people face and testifies on what God is doing for them.
The type of Facebook status update feedback they desired was also discussed; Student V, wanted his 'Facebook friends' to discuss the updates he made, as he is a lyricist and interested in what people think of the thoughtful updates he wrote.
4.33 Facebook: number of friends
This code deals with the number of friends affordance and the meaning this has for students.
As a 'social network' software, Facebook offers the affordance of allowing its users to view their friend's social networks or those which users have not set to be private. It also provides the total number of a user's "Facebook friends". Student Y wrote that she has 900 friends on Facebook, which came about, because she went on exchange. She met many groups on rotation. There are also family, friends and South Africans on exchange everywhere else. She emphasised that this was not by 'accept', 'accept', 'accept'!
4.34 Lists and circles
This code deals with the role that “friends’ lists” plays, either in Facebook (lists) or in Google + (Circles). Facebook offers an affordance for users to create "friend lists" and manage which lists get to view a user's updates. In speaking about how Student O's friendships online could be sustained, she stated that the fact that you are 'on their list, or that they are on hers, shows that you consider each other friends'. Even though you don't communicate with people often, you can still use the 'Family', group views. People will ask questions and one still feels that they are part of your life.
Google+, the social network that pioneered the concept of lists, shapes these as 'circles'. Student S spoke about this affordance, saying: In Facebook, Google+ believes that this is an add-on, while in their service one has to choose who one shares content with. You have "Circles"; a work circle, then school, then family. You separate (your contacts into) these groups and when you share something you can tick who you do, and don't, want to share with. People do not know what Circles you put them in.
4.35 Twitter affordances
This code looks specifically at how students understand Twitter affordances, and how they perceive these affordances to be different to other social media. While Facebook offers the affordance of 'friending' other users which they may approve or decline, Twitter offers "following", which is automatically accepted. Whilst "tweeting" is similar to updates, this does have its own syntax and benefits. Students discussed these affordances, for example. In discussing the merits of Twitter versus Facebook, Student R said that at least on Twitter, the people that he is following and the tweets that they put out are basically what he is looking at. So, at least he is following it, and it's not a lot of nonsense that one is not looking for (like on Facebook). By contrast, Student K stated that he finds Twitter "a bit dry" and prefers Facebook as you can see his profile and "meet me", while with Twitter, you just see who a person corresponds with, but do not get a good idea of what is going on.
4.36 MXit affordances
This code looks specifically at how students understand MXit affordances, and how they perceive these affordances to be different to other social media. Popular because of MXit's affordance of free messaging, this service was spoken about by Student R, who said that part of the reason that got him off MXit is that when you logon, there is probably a group of people he wants to chat to, but when you show that you are online, you get all these random messages. He related this to his concerns around asynchronous messaging: he has never really liked the realtime conversation where it is just all at once, and one has to do a relay; from someone to someone, come back... answer, answer, come back. It is too dispersed for him and he finds it difficult to follow these conversations.
4. Personal social media rules.
Some students spoke about developing rules that they used to govern when, where and how they would access social networks. For example, Student S said that she 'has her own rules for the different social networks'; there was a stage on Facebook when she would accept all friend requests and it reached a stage where she got to 1,500 friends. But they were all commenting on her wall, commenting on her personal pictures and asking her personal questions and she did not like this at all. So, she decided to clean up her Facebook and she would only have people that she knew personally; from primary school, high school or university. Not someone that she has never met before.
These codes are the indicators of the different social media rules:
4.41 Information flow control between services
In theory, students can publish a new tweet, blog post, picture, et al. and share this information after linking these services within their social media accounts (for example, this blog post is tweeted about via my Twitter account and that tweet is then published to my Facebook feed). This coding tracks student mentions of this practice.
4.42 Student media management
This coding is used where students speak about managing the types of media they select for publication to social media services. For example, Student S stated that when she updates Facebook it is for an audience. She always says, if you have a picture, keep it, why put it on Facebook? She only puts it up on Facebook if she wants other people to comment, so it's definitely for other people, to get their attention. Another example is Student R who spoke about regularly updating his profile; he had stages where he wants to update everything on his profile. When he sees a new movie that he likes, he will go under under information and add it. The latest thing he has done was with his CVs, he just went it to re-shuffle them around as he likes to place them in order of importance. He was having quite a bit of a Gossip Girl prediction. So he did not quite revamp it, you can see the influcence coming in as these characters pop-up. His profile will start to reflect what is going on in his life; before this his statuses were like about Vampire Diaries, his profile picture, his information reflected what he watches and stuff. This has become like a part of him and he updates it as he goes along; very regularly.
4.43 Social media terms of use
This code refers to student mention and understanding of social media terms of use; different terms of use apply to different social media services. For example, some will retain copyright of the material users submit, while others will share copyright or leave it as the users. When asked 'How does it work, in terms of copyright, do you know? Do you have any functions, settings or stuff? Or, do you basically go on the idea that somebody else is a writer and will respect your...)' Student V replied, 'The thing is that I have not checked it out. I have just been, like WOW!, 'writing site', bam, thrown it on there. And because there are so many people, I assume that the copyright means you get to keep your own work. Especially, because you can actually sell your work through this site.'
4.44 Privacy
This code deals with mentions of privacy and privacy settings on social media. Students described their perceptions of the privacy controls that social network software afforded them. Student S said when she first used Facebook, her profile was open and there were not as many privacy control settings. Now, if you go on, you will just see her name and what she is studying; no photos, most of her wall is 'off'.
Students discussed their concerns about privacy issues. Student S stated that she is big on 'Facebook stalking' other people. She knows that other people will stalk her and she does not want strangers to have access to her personal information.
It also includes students' descriptions of being searchable (or unsearchable) on a particular service or external ones. For example, if they talk about selecting settings on social media services that would make their profile searchable via that service and other search engines.
5. Student feelings in relation to social media
This cluster of codes refers to spoke about students feelings about or 'relationship' to one, or more, social media services. It was clear from the interviews that students form a relationship with different types of social media. There is at times a kind of personification happening.
4.51 Relationship to a social media service
For an example of a relationship to Facebook, Student S said that she definitely feels that because Facebook is so personal to her, that when they (Facebook) make a change to it, she feels like they are messing with her (personal) space!
4.52 Rationale and benefits of a social media service
Students did talk about their reasons for using specific social media services and their benefits. Student N said that Facebook was useful for support during University exams: She does feel that because all of her friends are in the same boat, that she gets support. One of her friends is writing and he also does Economics, so, you know, he was telling her the other day "you know, you better read...". So, it helps to know that there is someone going through what you are going through, not to just tell someone you are learning for exams and "Sorry, it will all work out". It helps a lot.
4.53 Understanding of services' use of personal data
Students could also describe their understanding of how social media services used their data:
For instance, Student K said that he was doing a course called 'Evidence-Based Management' in which they spoke about Facebook and Google. On Facebook, its Privacy Terms & Conditions state that you must update your account within 18 months or it will be terminated. So, they always want you update your infromation as they are making money off your profile and one's account details are provided to advertisers and they are making a lot of money from us using it.
4.54 Termination of service
A few students spoke about terminating their social media membership. Student S wrote that there was a time in the holidays that she was 'hating Facebook' and even deleted it for a couple of days. Facebook can be a way for people to ignore you; so she was not getting many wall-posts, she was updating her wall, saying things in status updates, but no-one was commenting. She felt a bit ignored, so she deleted Facebook. She got angry at it. Student K wrote that he wanted to 'stay away from Facebook for ever'; he finds Facebook draining as he was addicted to it. He would wake up with Facebook and go to sleep with Facebook. He wasted a lot of time on it; it has many applications and he received many invitations from dating sites which sent you profiles every day to your email. He needed space, so he stopped for three weeks and deleted his profile.
6. Other roles of social media
Code 5 covers the examples which emerged which demonstrated other roles played by social media in students’ lives.
One example is Student R, who spoke of the school that he went to, about 150 years old and tradition means a lot. One of the traditions was that prefects could lash their skivvies. Obviously now in modern times, this is counted as assault, so it was banned. However, it was happening behind closed doors. Someone had taken a video (of a beating), whatnot, and had threatened to go to Carte Blanche. The head boy was de-prefected, but then the rest of the prefects-body threatened to throw their badges away and there was this huge drama. This found its way onto Facebook and then the school said they would block Facebook and if you wanted to use it, you must go off campus. As a border, being at school during the week, there was not much Student R could then do with Facebook.
Hopefully, this introduction to the index is so thorough that you don't have any questions :) ! If not, please add yours as a comment below, thanks.
4.21 Face-to-face versus online friendships
This code addresses the value students perceive online friendships to have, and how “real” they perceive them to be. Some students, like Student R, expressed a 'preference for face-to-face contact'. He would prefer someone to get to know him face-to-face than via his profile, 'The profile is an extension of oneself; it is still really important to be in touch with the real person. Facebook gives you many links and you can communicate with someone that is far away, but if you make Facebook your reality, then you sort of lose touch with actually sitting down and just having a glass of wine with someone and just chatting.'
A few students described the 'benefits of online friendships'. For example, Student K said that he believed his online friendships are real. There are people that he feels he can talk to and share with. There are other people that really encourage him. He felt that the relationships are realistic, rather than virtual. Student N said that she goes onto the internet to relieve her stress during her exams. When she relieves her stress, she does talk about the exams a lot with her friends on Facebook.
4.22 Friendship types by contact type
This coding covers the types of friends a student has on Facebook and on other types of social networks. For example, Student S said that only her closest friends and family are on BBM, while most of her friends are on Facebook and anyone can follow her on Twitter. So different levels of closeness are associated with different social networks.
4.23 Online social capital and self-esteem
This coding covers student feedback on the importance that online activities play in developing their social capital and self-esteem. Some students commented that when they joined Facebook, they felt under pressure to have 1,000 friends or more, to match their peers. Student K said that most people at are at the stage where he was on Facebook, when he first started. He noticed that many people had 1000 friends and he had a few, which he thought was a crisis. So, he went to Facebook pages that allow one to easily find new friends. He would go onto these pages and write 'Hi, just add me as a friend.' Then his Aunt told him, 'For real now, you need real friends, it's not cool to have many friends; who you don't know, who don't care and you won't even talk to.'
4.24 Types of exclusion
This coding deals with the extent to which students feel included or excluded from particular social networks due to them not having access to particular tools. A common example for South African students is those who do not have Blackberry phones and therefore feel left out of BBM conversations between their face-to-face friends.
3. Social media affordances.
A category for social media (software) affordances is useful to code student discussions about the distinct affordances that social media provides them. Since the most commonly discussed social networks were MXit, Facebook, Twitter and Google+, the categories reflect this by covering:
4.31 Facebook status updates
This code covers the types of updates students made as well as the reasons for the updates.
Many students spoke about their use of Facebook's status 'update' affordance and described the frequency with which they made updates. Student S said that on Facebook, you cannot have five status updates back-to-back as you need to give time for friends to comment. She normally updates her status on Facebook at least once every two days
Students also spoke about the reasons for updates. For example, Student K uses his updates for religious purposes; he comments on the challenges that people face and testifies on what God is doing for them.
The type of Facebook status update feedback they desired was also discussed; Student V, wanted his 'Facebook friends' to discuss the updates he made, as he is a lyricist and interested in what people think of the thoughtful updates he wrote.
4.33 Facebook: number of friends
This code deals with the number of friends affordance and the meaning this has for students.
As a 'social network' software, Facebook offers the affordance of allowing its users to view their friend's social networks or those which users have not set to be private. It also provides the total number of a user's "Facebook friends". Student Y wrote that she has 900 friends on Facebook, which came about, because she went on exchange. She met many groups on rotation. There are also family, friends and South Africans on exchange everywhere else. She emphasised that this was not by 'accept', 'accept', 'accept'!
4.34 Lists and circles
This code deals with the role that “friends’ lists” plays, either in Facebook (lists) or in Google + (Circles). Facebook offers an affordance for users to create "friend lists" and manage which lists get to view a user's updates. In speaking about how Student O's friendships online could be sustained, she stated that the fact that you are 'on their list, or that they are on hers, shows that you consider each other friends'. Even though you don't communicate with people often, you can still use the 'Family', group views. People will ask questions and one still feels that they are part of your life.
Google+, the social network that pioneered the concept of lists, shapes these as 'circles'. Student S spoke about this affordance, saying: In Facebook, Google+ believes that this is an add-on, while in their service one has to choose who one shares content with. You have "Circles"; a work circle, then school, then family. You separate (your contacts into) these groups and when you share something you can tick who you do, and don't, want to share with. People do not know what Circles you put them in.
4.35 Twitter affordances
This code looks specifically at how students understand Twitter affordances, and how they perceive these affordances to be different to other social media. While Facebook offers the affordance of 'friending' other users which they may approve or decline, Twitter offers "following", which is automatically accepted. Whilst "tweeting" is similar to updates, this does have its own syntax and benefits. Students discussed these affordances, for example. In discussing the merits of Twitter versus Facebook, Student R said that at least on Twitter, the people that he is following and the tweets that they put out are basically what he is looking at. So, at least he is following it, and it's not a lot of nonsense that one is not looking for (like on Facebook). By contrast, Student K stated that he finds Twitter "a bit dry" and prefers Facebook as you can see his profile and "meet me", while with Twitter, you just see who a person corresponds with, but do not get a good idea of what is going on.
4.36 MXit affordances
This code looks specifically at how students understand MXit affordances, and how they perceive these affordances to be different to other social media. Popular because of MXit's affordance of free messaging, this service was spoken about by Student R, who said that part of the reason that got him off MXit is that when you logon, there is probably a group of people he wants to chat to, but when you show that you are online, you get all these random messages. He related this to his concerns around asynchronous messaging: he has never really liked the realtime conversation where it is just all at once, and one has to do a relay; from someone to someone, come back... answer, answer, come back. It is too dispersed for him and he finds it difficult to follow these conversations.
4. Personal social media rules.
Some students spoke about developing rules that they used to govern when, where and how they would access social networks. For example, Student S said that she 'has her own rules for the different social networks'; there was a stage on Facebook when she would accept all friend requests and it reached a stage where she got to 1,500 friends. But they were all commenting on her wall, commenting on her personal pictures and asking her personal questions and she did not like this at all. So, she decided to clean up her Facebook and she would only have people that she knew personally; from primary school, high school or university. Not someone that she has never met before.
These codes are the indicators of the different social media rules:
4.41 Information flow control between services
In theory, students can publish a new tweet, blog post, picture, et al. and share this information after linking these services within their social media accounts (for example, this blog post is tweeted about via my Twitter account and that tweet is then published to my Facebook feed). This coding tracks student mentions of this practice.
4.42 Student media management
This coding is used where students speak about managing the types of media they select for publication to social media services. For example, Student S stated that when she updates Facebook it is for an audience. She always says, if you have a picture, keep it, why put it on Facebook? She only puts it up on Facebook if she wants other people to comment, so it's definitely for other people, to get their attention. Another example is Student R who spoke about regularly updating his profile; he had stages where he wants to update everything on his profile. When he sees a new movie that he likes, he will go under under information and add it. The latest thing he has done was with his CVs, he just went it to re-shuffle them around as he likes to place them in order of importance. He was having quite a bit of a Gossip Girl prediction. So he did not quite revamp it, you can see the influcence coming in as these characters pop-up. His profile will start to reflect what is going on in his life; before this his statuses were like about Vampire Diaries, his profile picture, his information reflected what he watches and stuff. This has become like a part of him and he updates it as he goes along; very regularly.
4.43 Social media terms of use
This code refers to student mention and understanding of social media terms of use; different terms of use apply to different social media services. For example, some will retain copyright of the material users submit, while others will share copyright or leave it as the users. When asked 'How does it work, in terms of copyright, do you know? Do you have any functions, settings or stuff? Or, do you basically go on the idea that somebody else is a writer and will respect your...)' Student V replied, 'The thing is that I have not checked it out. I have just been, like WOW!, 'writing site', bam, thrown it on there. And because there are so many people, I assume that the copyright means you get to keep your own work. Especially, because you can actually sell your work through this site.'
4.44 Privacy
This code deals with mentions of privacy and privacy settings on social media. Students described their perceptions of the privacy controls that social network software afforded them. Student S said when she first used Facebook, her profile was open and there were not as many privacy control settings. Now, if you go on, you will just see her name and what she is studying; no photos, most of her wall is 'off'.
Students discussed their concerns about privacy issues. Student S stated that she is big on 'Facebook stalking' other people. She knows that other people will stalk her and she does not want strangers to have access to her personal information.
It also includes students' descriptions of being searchable (or unsearchable) on a particular service or external ones. For example, if they talk about selecting settings on social media services that would make their profile searchable via that service and other search engines.
5. Student feelings in relation to social media
This cluster of codes refers to spoke about students feelings about or 'relationship' to one, or more, social media services. It was clear from the interviews that students form a relationship with different types of social media. There is at times a kind of personification happening.
4.51 Relationship to a social media service
For an example of a relationship to Facebook, Student S said that she definitely feels that because Facebook is so personal to her, that when they (Facebook) make a change to it, she feels like they are messing with her (personal) space!
4.52 Rationale and benefits of a social media service
Students did talk about their reasons for using specific social media services and their benefits. Student N said that Facebook was useful for support during University exams: She does feel that because all of her friends are in the same boat, that she gets support. One of her friends is writing and he also does Economics, so, you know, he was telling her the other day "you know, you better read...". So, it helps to know that there is someone going through what you are going through, not to just tell someone you are learning for exams and "Sorry, it will all work out". It helps a lot.
4.53 Understanding of services' use of personal data
Students could also describe their understanding of how social media services used their data:
For instance, Student K said that he was doing a course called 'Evidence-Based Management' in which they spoke about Facebook and Google. On Facebook, its Privacy Terms & Conditions state that you must update your account within 18 months or it will be terminated. So, they always want you update your infromation as they are making money off your profile and one's account details are provided to advertisers and they are making a lot of money from us using it.
4.54 Termination of service
A few students spoke about terminating their social media membership. Student S wrote that there was a time in the holidays that she was 'hating Facebook' and even deleted it for a couple of days. Facebook can be a way for people to ignore you; so she was not getting many wall-posts, she was updating her wall, saying things in status updates, but no-one was commenting. She felt a bit ignored, so she deleted Facebook. She got angry at it. Student K wrote that he wanted to 'stay away from Facebook for ever'; he finds Facebook draining as he was addicted to it. He would wake up with Facebook and go to sleep with Facebook. He wasted a lot of time on it; it has many applications and he received many invitations from dating sites which sent you profiles every day to your email. He needed space, so he stopped for three weeks and deleted his profile.
6. Other roles of social media
Code 5 covers the examples which emerged which demonstrated other roles played by social media in students’ lives.
One example is Student R, who spoke of the school that he went to, about 150 years old and tradition means a lot. One of the traditions was that prefects could lash their skivvies. Obviously now in modern times, this is counted as assault, so it was banned. However, it was happening behind closed doors. Someone had taken a video (of a beating), whatnot, and had threatened to go to Carte Blanche. The head boy was de-prefected, but then the rest of the prefects-body threatened to throw their badges away and there was this huge drama. This found its way onto Facebook and then the school said they would block Facebook and if you wanted to use it, you must go off campus. As a border, being at school during the week, there was not much Student R could then do with Facebook.
Hopefully, this introduction to the index is so thorough that you don't have any questions :) ! If not, please add yours as a comment below, thanks.
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