I bet that you heard that Osama Bin Laden was killed from a different source that how you heard that Princess Diana or JFK was killed?
The reason I bet this is because you heard the other two were killed on the TV, whereas the latest story you read through the news on the web, through Twitter or because of a post on Facebook.
Gosh, how things are changing.
In the future, be it five years, ten, twenty or more, how will we be viewing, reading, hearing and sensing the news? Media will continue to be more self-directed.
We have seen the advent of Sony, Samsung and Apple internet-TV, NetVibes, and iGoogle. RSS feeders have been around for a while, and then of course there is Tweetdeck to help manage Twitter Tweets. We are no long er passive readers and watchers. We want what we want, when we want it, how we want it and how much we want of it.
We don’t like to stop for commercials, so they better be built right in somewhere and if we really like something you can bet we are going to share, tweet, like, or stumble it. Our groups of friends and contacts are going to get to hear, watch and read what we did.
But it is going to get better with time. Media itself, along with the ads that we see are learning from us and then cater to us. Trends are amalgamating about things that we are doing. What then, are you doing to help with trending for yourself? How are you making your life easier? Are you still watching the TV or reading an actual newspaper for your information?
I don’t know if these are the most inane, insane, funny, repetitive or just plain weird things that I have seen today, but they are viral:
and
How and why do some things become viral, whereas other, possibly much better videos don’t see the light of day? In order to do a small amount of research myself I played these videos for three classes of mine. As soon as I put them on, big…and I’m talking BIG… smiles came to most kids faces. Giggles and laughs broke out and after I had stopped playing the videos and discussions were had, I heard and saw some of my students looking the videos up themselves to play them over and over again.
I often play videos for my students. In fact, most of the videos, which you can witness for yourself in the “Videos” section of this site, have been shown and discussed at one time or another with students. However, the two that are embedded in this post seem to be the ones that elicit the largest “play again” response.
I asked my students why. Some of their answers were:
They are funny
They are cute
The first one reminds them of videos games
They are repetitive
They are fun to annoy other people with
They catch into your brain immediately
They are spoofs
I agreed with all of these answers. I thought about what age demographic these videos seem to be appealing to and assume that most people who are watching these are kids and teens. Let’s look at each video individually to see what commonalities they have.
The first video has a retro-feel that many adults might remember from their video game experiences [think: Pong, Atari, Coleco-Vision, Sega, Nintendo, Commodore 64 & Amiga] It might be exliciting memories with the play of a very repetitive song and some bright, pixelated graphics. It is repetitive, has good sound quality, is simple, but well-made and is repetitive.
The second video is also well-made. It is possibly a spoof – something that is intended to make fun of the original. It also seems like something we all could have done had we set our minds to it. It has mediocre to good looking people in the video. It mimics the style of music and videos of the same genre and the theme is something most people love – Friday!
Comparing the two, we see that both are well-made, repetitive, and give us something to talk about on a general level. They are both simple in form. They feel like something we could have done or made ourselves, but they are original. Both bring smiles to our faces because they are entertaining, light-hearted and have a tacit “like” factor. But how did they become viral?
Malcolm Gladwell examines the “critical mass of an idea” in his book The Tipping Point. Overall it’s an interesting explanation of how information moves through crowds and things go viral. There is much emphasis on influencers or super influencers in getting something to go viral; someone with a lot of reach or readers already can promote an idea and really enhance its chances of getting spread further. Bingo! The idea goes viral. No rocket science here – you are basically starting out very near critical mass already.
Does this mean that we need to be connected to a super influencer who can promote our product or idea? Maybe. But sometimes they can’t get it going either. If the idea is not good, then they may have problems as well. If they send out bad information about an idea or product then they lose credit and people will listen to them less. Patrick, of Very Involved writes:
You should not be writing an article [or making something] to just be helpful to the end user. It’s much more than that. You want your article or product to be one that your customers need to invest others attention in.
Your readers should feel like they have something to gain from passing along your article to their friends. They are your co-authors, reaping the benefits of your words, by being able to say, “I found that”.
Reexamining my two examples you might want to say, “I found that”. If at least for entertainment’s sake. However, as an educator, I want to be someone who is passing on valuable information. In order to do so I would read more about that idea of virility here: www.smartpassiveincome.com
Good luck. Think about what you’re making or continuing to make viral. Think about what others have made viral. Let’s get viral!
I thought the clipping was interesting and also agreed. In fact, I was just talking with another teacher about how I don’t usually allow students to hand in assignments that are hand written. I like to read assignments that are typed “10 or 12pt Arial, Helvitica, Garamong or Times, single-spaced, narrow margins, double-sided”.¹ The reason for this is that I like the standard, easy to read font and the lest three traits are to save with paper.²
In my class I most often have students using a digital device to write notes. More recently I have had a few ingenious [read: crafty or possibly even lazy] students who have asked if they could just take a photo of the board after I have written or typed notes, so just as this title suggests, they are no longer taking notes in my class.
Now that I allow students to be friends with me on Facebook I also often notice that notes, book clippings, photos of the board and many other things pertaining to assignments in classes are turning up as photos on walls.
It’s definitely a different world that we are living in. I can’t even imagine if I asked my teachers back when I was in high school or elementary school if I could take a photo of the board and how they would have reacted.
As a teacher I can see the benefits of writing the notes. Writing things down means that we are visually and physically processing all of the information. Still, due to time constraints I will allow students to take photo notes with their gadgets … AND some actually even seem to refer back to these photos. Cool.
When all is said and done I don’t think we should throw the baby out with the bath water. I counter my argument with the fact that everyone will need to pick up a pen or pencil to fill in a form or write something down the old fashioned way. In these cases, students do need to have knowledge of how to write with their hands.
I ponder this thought about the future, but what will happen to synaptic connections in the brain and also to our hands fine motor skills due to the fact that we are using them less and less for holding a pen? I know that the art of penmanship has gone out the window, but will there be other consequences?
I think, as with everything, there is a time and a place. Technology is allowing new and useful ways for students to change their habits. It is up to the educator to decide in what amounts they will teach or allow certain skills. I look forward to seeing the next ingenious and crafty strategies my own students bring to class, as it usually brings humor to my day and also makes me think.
¹I also insist upon: Headers with ‘Class – Assignment Title – Student’s Name‘; Footers with Page Numbers styled bold2 ‘Page 3 of 42‘; the use of Headings and Subheadings to be referenced with a Table of Contents; and a Conservative Title page with an Abstract
²Most of the time I try to have students hand things in digitally through one-note, a wiki, a Ning, or through Google Docs.
I hate to admit it, but yes I am on Facebook too much and yes, I play Cityville. I don’t know why I play such a silly game as this, but I did just find out it is the biggest game on Facebook to date.
It gets me a little giddy knowing that Cityville is going to update their game depending upon what events are coming up. For example, when it is winter, you have snow in your city. You even have the option to buy and build a big Christmas Tree when it is nearing the season. At summer’s crest, the snow melts and you can buy surfboard shops.
But now, for a limited time only, you can also cash in your coins and get four items pertaining to the Royal Wedding: The British Flag, Waving Royal People, Royal Guard, and the Royal Palace Gate. Sadly, I only have the flag and gate.
What does this lead me to talk about on a tech, design and education blog? Beside the fact that the game is played on a computer, which is technology, it also reminds me of elementary school when many, if not most of the projects and themes revolved around events that were current. I assume the demographic the game is appealing to is one of younger children. However, I would presume to say they are tapping into the kids inside us who are also loving the retro-feel we are getting because we are being taken back to this theme idea.
In fact, if it wasn’t for Cityville I might not have been as excited as I was to workout and watch the live feed on my iPad via Youtube on the Royal Channel in T-minus 1hour and 30Mins.
I bet that you heard that Osama Bin Laden was killed from a different source that how you heard that Princess Diana or JFK was killed?
This was a web clipping update that Jeff Utecht took “
I hate to admit it, but yes I am on Facebook too much and yes, I play Cityville. I don’t know why I play such a silly game as this, but I did just find out it is the biggest game on Facebook to date.
education | technology | ai & NOT A.I. | design 