1 2 October 2005 Michael Moshell UCF Digital Media

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2 October 2005

Michael MoshellUCF Digital Media

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• A statement of position and intentions

• A moral posture: “here’s how things should be”

• In my case: A plan of work for the rest of my

career.

A Manifesto: What’s That?

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• A statement of position and intentions

• A moral posture: “here’s how things should be”

• In my case: A plan of work for the rest of my

career.

To wit:

How shall we make good things happen for

humankind through media?

A Manifesto: What’s That?

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• Principals and Meta - Principles:

• Can we develop a set of key ideas that

GENERATE the operational principles of our

discipline?

Operational Principles, e. g.

“Design before you build”

“Always consider the user’s needs:

Why did she come to this website?”

Moshell’s Media Meta - Principles

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• To understand our experience

• We ‘frame’ what we see … put it into mental

‘boxes’

• Culture provides many categories:

Moshell’s Media Principles: How To Use Them

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‘boxes’



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‘boxes’



Brazil: get the spider off the boy!

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‘boxes’




China: Red ->Celebrate->What festival is this?

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‘boxes’




China: Red ->Celebrate->What festival is this?

USA: Has he just seen the Spiderman movie?

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• As a ‘check-list’ when analyzing or planning


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• Did we account for the Main Things?

• Did we allow one idea to blind us to other

ideas?


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ideas?

• As a moral framework

• Your work WILL make a difference


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ideas?

• As a moral framework

• Your work WILL make a difference

• Will it make a POSITIVE difference?

• We strive to make a better culture

– it’s an American thing to do


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• 3 Principles about Individuals Using Media

Moshell’s Media Principles

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1. User is always learning.

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2. User must UNDERSTAND & CONTROL the learning.

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3. User is always teaching.

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Information arrives …

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Changes user’s state …

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And user’s capabilities.

!

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Notice:Changes user’s EMOTIONAL state …

Emotion is much more basic/primitive/central than thought.

We learn in order to get what we want.

We have 250 million years of history, being guided by feelings

--- and maybe 50 thousand, of symbolic/logical thinking.

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Media exist on the frontier between EMOTION and LOGIC.

Never forget which one is the boss.

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Media exist on the frontier between EMOTION and LOGIC.

Never forget which one is the boss.

If I can save $138…Then I can . . .

Consequence:

We must understand emotions and

personalities, and how they grow.

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“Wow .. The Wompa-matic is a way cool board…”

WHY does he think that? Because the dude in the ad gets the girl?

Because he likes the band that makes the commercial’s music?

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• User must UNDERSTAND and CONTROL the

learning.


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If you’re not in charge of what affects you,

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learning.


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Others will take charge. (Maybe they already have.)

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learning.


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What is literacy (traditional?)

- The ability to read, analyze and understand.

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learning.


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What is literacy for media?

- The ability to understand what media do to your emotions.

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learning.


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What is literacy for media?

- The ability to understand what media do to your emotions.

Consequence: We must help people to build “mental muscles”

So that they steer the horse … not vice-versa.

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• Meta – learning: Learning HOW TO learn.


qwerty12

What are your best skills and techniques for learning?

How can you apply them to remedy your weaknesses?

What is your STRATEGY?

What are your learning objectives?

What are your learning practices/policies/plans?

Who do you plan to call on for help?

How will you know when you’re succeeding? Failing?

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• Meta – learning: Learning HOW TO learn.


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Example: Portals

• Awareness: Websites are getting complex, interactive

• Concept: There must be ‘kits’ of reusable software

• Rebuilding the DM Site: Students survey portals, pick Drupal

My personal learning style:

1. Is there a textbook? Amazon … yes, but not ‘til November

2. Can I leverage my learning (2 for 1?) sure --

3. My wife’s business needs a portal. So I learn faster

4. Mentor: Software developer Jim Salmons + students

5. Start hacking! Try things, set goals. Make it work!

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3. User is always teaching.

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Everyone is always teaching someone else

something.


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Or: “giving away info”

Or: “making choices”

Or: “Providing role

models”

Ask yourself: Who’s

watching?

What do they want or need

to know?

Is there a win-win?

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Summary of Personal Principles:


Learning: Input changes users’ emotions &

knowledge.

Meta-learning: Users should be in charge of

learning.

Teaching: Users’ output affects other

people’s lives.

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Three Principles for Communities:


4. Commonality: A community is defined by a

common interest.

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common interest.

5. Diversity: Diverse communities are stronger

and wiser.

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common interest.


and wiser.

6. Sustainability: A community provides benefits that

make it worthwhile to its

members – so they stay,

and new members come.

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“ A thing is right when it tends to preserve the

integrity, stability and beauty of the biotic

community. It is wrong when it tends

otherwise.”

Aldo Leopold

The Land Ethic

Moshell’s Media Principles:Inspiration

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common interest.

When developing a media system:

• What core common interests

define the user community?

• What do you know about this

community

that will influence your media

design?

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Example: eBay


Community of individual buyers and

sellersAnalogy: an on-line flea-market or

garage sale

Common issues of this community:

• Low cost of business (‘do it at

home’)

• Need for effective publicity

(yard signs…)

• Trust (hence, the rating system)

• Cash and Convenience (hence,

Paypal)

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common interest.


and wiser.How many kinds of diversity are

there?• Brown beige & blue frogs, female, old

etc.

• Those who knit and those who don’t

• Mathematicians and the rest of humanity

• What else … you name a few!

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Diversity of roles in a community


Actually, BACKGROUND matters less

than

NEEDS and GIFTS – when building an

ecosystem.So your media system needs to• be open to users who invent new roles

for themselves

• be constantly rethinking its own business

model

• provide tools for open-ended

inventiveness

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common interest.


and wiser.

6. Sustainability: A community provides benefits that

make it worthwhile to its

members – so they stay,

and new members come.

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Sustainability


• Respect: “The Egg Trader of the Month”,

September 2005

• Communication: Frequently refreshed,

interesting news items

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Sustainability



September 2005

• Communication: Frequently refreshed, worth-

seeing news items

• recruitment, training of next-generation key

players

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Sustainability



September 2005

• Communication: Frequently refreshed, worth-

seeing news items

• recruitment, training of next-generation key

players

• Convivial Media – (content provided by

users)

are very important tools for

sustainability

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Summary:


• Learning

• Meta-

Learning

• Teaching

•

Commonality

• Diversity

•

Sustainability

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Summary:


• Learning

• Meta-

Learning

• Teaching

•

Commonality

• Diversity

•

Sustainability

• Use these concepts to

understand and then to build

good media

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Summary:


• Learning

• Meta-

Learning

• Teaching

•

Commonality

• Diversity

•

Sustainability

• Use these concepts to

understand and then to build

good media

• The frog-people are

counting on you!

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Moshell’s Media PrinciplesCross-check with Journalism.org

1. Journalism’s first obligation is to the truth.

2. Its first loyalty is to citizens.

3. Its essence is a discipline of verification.

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4. Practitioners must maintain distance from those they

cover.

5. Must serve as an independent monitor of power.

6. Provide forum for public criticism and compromise.

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cover.



7. Strive to make the significant interesting and relevant.

8. Keep the news comprehensive and proportional.

9. Practitioners must be allowed to exercise their personal

conscience.

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cover.






conscience.

<Framing:Point the camera

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cover.






conscience.

Meta-Learning:Journalists examine HOWThey learn, to improve it.

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cover.






conscience.

Teaching:To whom is the news?

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cover.






conscience.

Sustainability:Organizational learning

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cover.






conscience.

Diversity:Proportional to what?Comprehensive of what?

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Moshell’s Media PrinciplesSo … what?

When I tried to do this for ART, I got flamed … this is

good. I’m learning.

I think that Education is not a good place to apply these

ideas … because they COME from this area, in essence.

So :: we’re inventing this new academic discipline, and

are looking for bedrock ideas.

All comments and feedback and brou-ha-ha are Most

Welcome.!

Documents

1 2 October 2005 Michael Moshell UCF Digital Media