Module 1 and 2 Overview
Module one discussed attention literacy, specifically information literacy, digital literacy and media literacy. In my own words, information literacy involves understanding how to locate and accurately evaluate the information you are attempting to use in order to ensure credibility. Digital literacy means understanding how to do the skills needed for information literacy, but in a digital sphere. Media literacy is the ability to understand and evaluate information across multiple platforms. These three skills go hand-in-hand, and are buildable skills needed to ensure full comprehension when using the internet for educational or entertainment purposes. With the growing age of technology, one must be able to understand how to effectively evaluate the information they are looking for to ensure accuracy and preciseness with internet usage. According to Rheingold (2010), there are five literacies that must be nailed down to consider yourself to be social media literate: attention, participation, collaboration, network awareness and critical consumption. As Rheingold (2010) puts it, "the most important fluency is not in mastering a particular literacy but in being able to put all five of these literacies together into a way of being in digital culture."
Module 2 discussed participation and virtual communities, as well as the "dead internet" theory. Participatory culture describes the way that consumers respond, share and interact with material on the internet. According to Rheingold (2014), "knowing how to blog, tweet, wiki, search, innovate, program, and/or organize online can lead to political, cultural, and economic value." Involving yourself into a system of participation within multiple medias can lead to involvement within social networks and virtual communities. Whereas social networks are dependent on simple, basic interaction within your social media or social groups, virtual communities involve more creation and collaboration, which furthers jolts you into participatory culture. Using systems of participation, to eventually become an individual who contributes to media in a creative sense, involves moving from the "lurker" or "opportunist" sector, into the "contributor" and "creator" levels of involvement. In the YouTube video posted by The Linux Experiment, the use of AI and computer generated content is discussed, specifically the repercussions it has on the internet and how it is perceived. While AI is becoming more popular by the day, it is important to decipher what is AI generated, and whether or not it is appropriate to use AI generated content within your own work. AI generated content has the capability of being extremely convincing, especially to those who may not be familiar with it, and by using AI, you stand the chance of putting work into the world that is not yours, which can diminish pride, take away emotional value and tone and overall, create a very conforming internet. Think about it, if every piece of content you read was created with chatGPT, you would lose all creativity and joy with reading, expecting a mundane, very forced feeling of writing.
Module 1 and 2 Thoughts and Reflection
These modules, being the introduction to this class, sparked a lot of reflection and deep thinking. I have never been very tech savvy... and part of that is because I was scared to learn. However, as time goes on, and the more that the world relies on internet (even grocery shopping is done on a phone now), I have quickly realized the only person I am harming by not learning is myself. The internet feels very vast, and a bit overwhelming at times, but Module 1 and 2, specifically the participation culture section, helped me realize that I can start small. I do not have to immediately start my own blog and have a large online forum (ironic as I'm writing a blog post), but my first steps can involve communicating more with those I see on social media, and being more creative with what I post to work up my confidence with media creativity.
Reading about the dead internet theory really made me reflect on my own experiences with "bot" activity and the use of AI. I recently de-activated my old Instagram account and made a new, private account after seeing the amount of bot profiles that followed me. I have no clue what these accounts are, or their purpose, and knowing they can see my whole life that I broadcast, robot or not, is scary. I also, within the last few months, began using chatGPT for my new job (as suggested by my boss - I'm not taking the easy way out). When I create a piece of writing for my job, I use chatGPT to make it sound more professional, but what I have learned is that instead of making it professional, it just removes all the personality is uniqueness within the writing, and I end up with essentially the same piece of writing each time I use it. Following that, I have fallen victim to seeing a cute animal video, only to realize it's actually AI generated. I have started watching videos that show real videos versus AI videos to work on deciphering between the two. Overall, module 1 and 2 made me realize that the best tool for internet usage is education; knowing how to use the internet, and knowing how the internet can use me.
PS... would you believe me if I said this photo was AI?
References
Attention, and Other 21st-Century Social Media Literacies
Did bots and AI kill the internet? The Dead Internet Theory
Rheingold, H. (2014). Net smart: How to thrive online. MIT Press.
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