viz.

Video Credit:  Twitter and World Simulation      

I’m always impressed (and, I have to say, sometimes a bit bewildered) when I hear of instructors who are especially successful in using online social networking in a classroom setting. For an example of what’s lately leaving me pedagogically awe-struck, take a look at the video, posted above. More, after the jump.

 The video documents one of Kansas State professor Michael Wesch’s many ongoing teaching experiments in digital ethnography. Just in case you blinked or sneezed during the first part, the quickly moving text of the video tells you that students in an “Introduction to Anthropology” class created their own cultures along with “live simulation” scenarios. I’ve heard of such exercises being used before; what’s new to me is that the class used twitter to record their findings.

 I’m also quite interested in the means through which the YouTube video communicates the method, the overall scope of the project, and the intentions behind the project. Atop the footage of students directing, trading, and interacting with each other runs a feed of associated tweets.

Particularly striking is the way in which the video, with a blurred effect, intersperses factual information and images alongside the class’s simulations.

                                                                                                     Image Credit: Screenshot of Twitter and World Simulation

                                                                                                      Image Credit: Screenshot of Twitter and World Simulation

In trying to read the significance of blurring contemporary and historical photographs, I can only speculate as to the videographer’s intentions. The incorporation of news photography, relevant data, stills of recognizable figures such as Naomi Klein (below) and Ghandi, and a quotation from the work of Margaret Mead point to what might constitute the theoretical backdrop for class discussion.

                                                                                                    Image Credit: Screenshot of Twitter and World Simulation

As a result, the video successfully communicates the scope of a class project while situating it in a contemporary, historical, and theoretical framework.