Chapter 8

This chapter is focused on exploring Digital Media Criticism, a special topics course at the University of Puerto Rico.

To explore this topic and attempt to historically document the course, I will present an introduction to the course framing it in the context of the academic department which it is susbcribed to in the University of Puerto Rico. Then, I will introduce the professor who teaches it. Lastly, I will demonstrate some examples of student work done for the course. All the while I present these, I will also attempt to analyze what digital media is and how this course might (re)define what a “text” that merits academic discussion is. It is worthwhile to note that this current semester (Spring 2017) is the first time this course is offered, so any judgement claims I make  on how this course redefines anything is to be understood as “in progress” and definitely not final.  

For an entertaining (and brief) introduction to a parent theme of this chapter, watch the video below from 0:00 to about 2:25. It is a clip from COSMOS: A spacetime odyssey.

The web has immensely changed the way we entertain and inform ourselves. Still, it’s not surprising to hear someone respond with “a library” or “a school/university” when asked where one can go learn. It’s equally unsurprising to hear them say “books” if asked what is used to learn at those same libraries or universities. What is surprising is to not hear them consider anything else, such as digital tools and digital media, in their answers.

It’s no secret that digital media is popular. In distinct places ranging from entertainment (like television and social media) to the workplace (such as business and teacher training) and even in casual conversation, it’s usual to come across the familiar expression: “now, more than ever, [insert synonym of “digital media”] is present in our lives”. This expression is of course followed by any relevant implications for any of those fields. And admittedly, the expression is largely true.

This “never before seen” ubiquitousness of  digital media is especially interesting for those of us  in education because historically, examples illustrate that once something is popular—and sometimes even before it’s popular—wide efforts to incorporate it into education are set into motion: popular technologies which today produce and disseminate digital media, such as motion pictures, television, and computers, all have been considered and explored as learning tools, each to diverse levels of success.

In the 1920’s, motion pictures were sure to supplant books for learning since they were far more ‘engaging’ than books could ever be; in the 1930’s radio was going to replace individual teachers across all classrooms in favor of beaming one teacher into many classrooms; in the 50s and 60s it was television that was all the rage and experiments were conducted to determine if students preferred sitting in on an in-person lecture or watch the same lecture be televised in the very next room. In the 80’s? It was the computer that was the way forward since it was not only audio-visual like the other technologies before, but it was interactive as well. In the 90’s? It was video discs that would be the way forward. It’s clear that the idea of using media to either enhance or completely replace (successfully or unsuccessfully) some educational practice has been around for decades.

It is my impression that in education, especially in the research side of education, we try to be early adopters of technologies. However, due to budgetary and effectiveness concerns, we typically lag behind in the adoption of the technology, including digital media. What we do instead is spend time criticizing it (i.e., researching it), to determine—essentially—if it’s “worth it”.  What we end up doing is, paradoxically, become late adopters. We adopt the ‘new’ technology once students start bringing it into the classroom conversation themselves. Once students have the new technology outside of the school context–and because it’s already at home and other places outside of school–the classrooms then seem lacking.

The digital material produced across the web, as one example, is providing a space for anyone with the time, resources, and freedom to create and communicate to be able to do so to the rest of the world. One relevant example is that of internet memes, a widespread social phenomenon that is commonplace in conversations between friends and strangers across the internet. It has been used by people (not just students) for communication of political, social, economic, philosophical, academic, and even revolutionary ideas.

These digital materials are not of interest only to educators, but businesses have found ways to market and sell their products or services in clever ways through digital media; individuals have been able to share and be seen/heard on topics of activism, entertainment, and personal purposes; even politics has found digital media, specifically social media, to be a powerful tool to reach voters as demonstrated in recent elections.

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In an effort to use digital media for academic goals, there is a specific class in the University of Puerto Rico at Mayagüez which is attempting to use this evidently powerful digital tool as a central class text for students to simultaneously: use that which they are familiar with and engage in a serious discussion of digital media through digital media. That course is:

That course is:

INGL 3300: Studies in Literature and Language

What is Special Topics?

The course, officially titled  “INGL 3300: Studies in Literature and Language” (and informally known as “the special topics course”) offered by the Department of English at the University of Puerto Rico at Mayagüez has been offered for several years. It’s a well-known student-favorite course which is enrolled to capacity within minutes of opening year after year.

This special topics course’s focus shifts from semester to semester as the professor teaching it changes. In the past, this course has focused on varied themes with some examples including: Young Adult Paranormal Romance which dealt with the theme of love and physical as well as emotional attraction (and abuse) in paranormal characters (vampires, witches, werewolves, etc.) in literary texts aimed at young adults such as Twilight among others; their film/show adaptations were also included. Another instance of the special topics course focused on the Hero’s Journey and the Monomyth with a special focus on the Star Wars films. There have been other iterations of this special topics course and some examples of recent class titles are: “The Fluid Text in the Early Black Atlantic” and “Introduction to Electronic Literature”. Each time the special topics course is offered, the topic varies in its central unifying focus largely due to a combination of the specific professor’s area of expertise and what, at the time, are current and relevant events both in the literary and real worlds (the difference between the two, if there is one, is also debated in the class itself).

Since the topic of the course changes from professor to professor, each one makes efforts to divulge what the topic of their course will be months in anticipation. They usually do so by posting promotional flyers at the English Department’s physical location as well as their webpage and social media outlets as well.

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INGL 3300: DIGITAL MEDIA CRITICISM

What is Digital Media Criticism as a course?

The current and most recent offering of INGL 3300 is happening right now (Spring 2017). For this offering, the course is titled Digital Media Criticism and it is being offered for the first time ever.  The official, brief description is on the course syllabus:

Who is the professor?

Just like other themes of previous special topics courses, this iteration surfaces from both the expertise of the professor and a perceived need/interests of the students. Digital Media Criticism is taught this semester by Dr. Leonardo Flores. His expertise is in digital humanities and to get a better idea of this branch of research, with a examples, you may watch this video below from one of his talks.

I interviewed Dr. Flores in preparation to writing this chapter to get his own views on the course and its success in a one-on-one setting. Our conversation touched on several questions, one of the more interesting ones revolving around what this course is in response to and/or preparation for. He responded by saying:

We have this idea that what is in the classroom is serious and what is done outside to be not so much. One of the things this course does is demonstrate that complex ideas can be expressed in a simple way in much the same way that Buzzfeed articles often do. This is something that is being referred to as “Buzzademia”, where “listicles” are a popular form of digital media communication in which complex ideas are presented simply. Part of what makes these complex ideas simple to communicate is the purposeful integration of text with static and/or moving images, or “GIFs”—something that is not possible to do with traditional print media (other than a static picture).

Dr. Flores has been interviewed on the subject before. In one of his replies to generational literacy concerns, Dr. Flores brought up the point that there is a palpable disconnect between what most students engage with on a daily basis when they’re home (what they perceive to be fun and not serious) versus what they engage with in the classroom (what they perceive to be learning and serious).  So this course is, in large part, preparation for communicating ideas in ways that digital mediums not only allow for, but favor—and it’s in response to what seems to be too stringent and often, unengaging ways of communicating complex ideas. It aids in the realization that there are serious things happening in what is too often perceived as merely frivolous.

Parting from these perceptions in combination with the need of the student population at the UPR, this course intends to explore digital media as a tool–even if only in one group of about 30 undergraduate students.

What is done in this course on Digital Media Criticism?

In the context of many universities, there are tenured professors who have studied literature in its print form, are extremely comfortable with it in this form, and have likely memorized extensive passages of static text. Now, they have students read these static versions of literature exclusively because ventures into other adaptations of the text, such as film; television; and video games, considered as “cheating” by engaging with a perverted version of the original real work. This reality is one that perpetuates the notion of academic seriousness as coming only from traditional forms of literature, namely books, which we have seen before in this chapter. However, in this Digital Media Criticism course, Dr. Flores has set the objectives to be geared towards enhancing and complementing the reading and study (criticism) of both traditional and digital media by having students create and criticize digital media.

Examples of Course Work

It is essential, however, to understand that this course is not attempting to supplant the traditional print medium of reading or writing. It is, instead, adding to it a layer of familiarity taken from what most students already use for their own web creations and entertainment and adding to it a layer of academic rigor. The term paper is still an assignment, but it’s complemented with other varied assignments such as the creation, publication, and discussion of:

• Blogs
• Hypertexts
• Social Media Criticism Assignments
• Meme Writings
• Podcasts
• Video Tutorials and Criticism
• E-Literary Criticism
• Live Streaming Performances

Each of these examples above serves to illustrate the kinds of work produced by students enrolled in INGL 3300 Digital Media Criticism with Dr. Flores. In our interview, Dr. Flores further commented on other points that are relevant to our exploration of the course here. These pieces of academic work which students produce tend to be striking when they are first presented as class activities–but for all the wrong reasons. Expressions on those wrong reasons even came from the enrolled students themselves early in the semester. The perception of the course was that it was simply creating memes. This is unsurprising, since this perception of it being purely ‘fun’ is a reference to the earlier point of how the things students do outside of the classroom are not serious, and can even be considered frivolous when appropriated for classroom use/study. But when examined closely, the seemingly simple act of purposeful meme creation is observed to require careful thought which parallels the same dedication required of traditional blank-paper based assignments. The difference being that the digital media used to produce them enhances the shareability, relatability, readability, simplicity, and memorability in almost all cases where they are well-planned and purposefully done.

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Digital Media Criticism @ The University of Puerto Rico at Mayagüez

The University of Puerto Rico at Mayagüez

University Background

The University of Puerto Rico at Mayagüez is the highest ranked university in the Caribbean. It was founded in 1911 and has historically been most highly regarded as an engineering university. It graduates bilingual (English-Spanish) professionals from the colleges of Business, Arts and Science, Agronomy, and of course, Engineering. The institution is officially a bilingual university, meaning that the language of instruction for most classes can be either Spanish or English or a combination of both (with the exception of language classes–English courses are in English, French are in French, Spanish in Spanish, etc.)

Student Background

The student population is comprised of around 13,000 students across graduate and undergraduate degrees. The students who can enroll in INGL 3300 need to have completed their first-year English requirements, so only sophomores and above can enroll. The students who enroll tend to be, for the most part, English majors although students from any major can enroll as long as they have completed their first-year English credits.

Digital Media Criticism in the UPR-M Context.

Although the Department of English offers a Bachelor’s and Master’s degree in addition to other certificates, these are all primarily and overwhelmingly comprised of text and assignments which are “traditional” in the sense that they are mostly blank-page writing and reading assignments. Further, there is still no major implementation of online or distance completion options for any of the degrees in the department, despite the advocating efforts of select professors–one of which is Dr. Flores. However, there has been an initial push of momentum of faculty who are proposing that more programs and parts of programs be offered in online environments. This course on Digital Media Criticism, although not offered online, employs a majority of its material from online or web sources and most of the assignments can only be completed using online tools, such as social media.

Takeaway Analytic Points:

In the context of the University of Puerto Rico at Mayagüez, this course can be seen as an initial pilot into deliberate inclusion of digital media as a classroom text. This can be seen as a response to trends that have been rising for years now that consider non-traditional texts as classroom worthy; media studies is one example that comes to mind, except that for this course, the media is now digital. While this is not exactly a new academic practice, it is uncommon in the context of UPRM and the English Department under which this Digital Media Criticism course is housed.

Some takeaways from this historical documentation of this Digital Media Criticism course are the following:

Modern Teachers need Modern Tools: “I. Teach. Literature.”

One of the programs that the UPR offers is teacher preparation, of which English majors make up a considerable amount of those enrolled. This digital media criticism course is one such course which pre-service teachers can use as a means to gain teaching tools and ideas that might aid in using the technology available to them at schools or the technology which seem relevant to students since they use it outside of school.

In the Teacher Preparation program, there is an important semester-long assignment which asks students to reflect on the simple phrase “I teach literature”. To complete this exercise, students go through iterations of discussions of each single word individually: “I”. “Teach”. “Literature”. Opportunities for reflection on what each word is and means to each student is one of the biggest turning points for most on their road to becoming a teacher. They extensively reflect on “I” and introspectively and openly reflect on what has made them who they are today and what that means for their teaching and their future students; they reflect on what it means to teach and how to do that the best they can; and they also reflect on “literature” and what that is (and is not) and why that is so. Throughout this reflective process, one of the most interesting discussions are those around what “literature” is. Is a tweet literature? Is a movie? A video game? I believe this Digital Media Criticism course adds an important focused semester-long discussion with experience in use of digital media as a text–as literature to be read, interpreted and analyzed, and created. In the same way that traditional texts provide important opportunities to grow and learn about the world and about themselves, so

I believe this Digital Media Criticism course adds an important focused semester-long discussion with experience in use of digital media as a text–as literature to be read, interpreted and analyzed, and created. In the same way that traditional texts provide important opportunities to grow and learn about the world and about themselves, so too do digital technologies if they are used effectively and purposefully incorporated. This course, and other future courses like it, is a means to provide that to these pre-service teachers.

Shifting Times in the UPR system. Digital Media as more than just an “academic” text, but an advocacy tool.

Currently, as this chapter is being drafted, the University of Puerto Rico faces major budget cuts due to a dwindling economic situation. Budgetary cuts of over $450 million threaten to eliminate services provided to the institution and increases in tuition have thousands of students in fear of not being able to continue with their higher education. As a result, the University is on a student-initiated indefinite strike–university campuses across the island are closed; the gates are shut. Students voted to go on strike. The objective is to put pressure on government administration to eliminate these budget cuts. However, there is a considerable amount of students who are against such measures of completely halting all activity and access to the university through a strike. A lot of the arguments are in fact carried out online, through social media. When I interviewed Dr. Flores, the strike had just begun (it is now in its 5th week). In our interview, Dr. Flores mentioned how if the university had programs offerings online, one potential way to still go about providing regular educational services would be online. Yet, he also warned that while this seems like an effective way around the immediate problem, it would bring about another set of problems to solve: if education was done online, those in favor of striking would need to (and likely somehow would) migrate their efforts and instead of blocking physical access, they would block digital access to education.

As a result of this strike and a rise in concern over losing eligibility as an accredited institution, a great number of students have begun movements to evaluate the strike’s goals and reflect on whether or not this is the best way to proceed going forward. Social media has played a massive role in organizing the efforts of these students, even more so than it did those who were in favor of striking in the first place. There is currently a movement organized entirely through the web to convene again and vote on whether or not to continue with the current strike. While there is no real way of knowing how, it is certain that digital media would be even more impactful than it is now for the efforts of both sides of the argument if the students had an introduction to it such as this course offers. One interesting and deceptively simple incarnation of such an advocacy tool is found on this tumblr page which details and contains photographs of those in Puerto Rico who do not benefit from the University as a means of demonstrating the worth of eliminating the budget cuts which would render the institution nearly inoperable. Sidenote: The tumblr page is empty because their argument is that no one on the island does not benefit from the UPR (notice the double negatives)

(Re)Defining an academic ‘text’: Trends in academic discussion–Examples such as poetry, music, and video games

Poetry has long been equated with song. It’s fairly common for teachers to draw parallels between music and poetry as a way to get student’s attention when discussing poetry, a topic which frankly bores too many a student. But, by using songs–something students are familiar with outside of their school setting and use it for entertainment–when the connection is made to poetry, the intent is to also make poetry seem familiar and equally entertaining. That is what this Digital Media Criticism course intends to do as well with the topics of criticism. The idea of criticizing something academic does not chime as an entertaining activity to most students. However, when the idea of criticizing in a similar way as they do outside of class–through social media posts, video creating and sharing, and listicle use and creation, among others, the activity then becomes one that is both familiar and entertaining as well as instructive. Furthermore, it communicates the possibility of entertaining complex arguments in simple ways–something that can be done through online memes, listicles, or 140 character tweets. More than this, the course also arguably aids in expanding perceptions of students to consider something that is seen as an unlikely academic text, say for example a video game, and argue how it may tell a story, reflect a real-world issue, or follow (or challenge) narrative styles.

The idea of criticizing something academic does not chime as an entertaining activity to most students. However, when the idea of criticizing in a similar way as they do outside of class–through social media posts, video creating and sharing, and listicle use and creation, among others, the activity then becomes one that is both familiar and entertaining as well as instructive. Furthermore, it communicates the possibility of entertaining complex arguments in simple ways–something that can be done through online memes, listicles, or 140 character tweets. More than this, the course also arguably aids in expanding perceptions of students to consider something that is seen as an unlikely academic text, say for example a video game, and argue how it may tell a story, reflect a real-world issue, or follow (or challenge) narrative styles.

Moreover, the course arguably aids in expanding perceptions of students to consider something that is seen as an unlikely academic text (say for example a video game) and argue how it may tell a story, reflect a real-world issue, or follow (or challenge) narrative styles; precisely the same things they do with traidional liteature.