Affordances of [silly] Digital Media
Explore why the appeal and how we might use them for not so silly things
About
We can do much to improve our digital teaching by just adding images to words, not as decoration, but for demonstrating examples, by introducing metaphors. What can we do with the things we see often used “to be funny” in social spaces, meme images and animated GIFs, in a meaningful way for learning? We can also find some use of the practice of improv with random photos to improve our individual and group communication skills and creative potential.
The simple addition of text and images as a Meme image is meant to trigger a reaction, an expression of an emotion. Can we trigger thinking? Can we use these same media forms to explore multiple perspectives?
And likewise, the animated GIF of cat pounding on a computer keyboard might make us smile, but the media form of a “short form” repeated video / animation can be used to demonstrate a process, slowing down or speeding up time, observing something in nature not visible to the naked idea. We will both expand our ideas to what is possible and practice making our own memes and GIFs.
