Levels of iPod literacy as social practice

I just watched a news report about the imminent release of the iPhone in the U.S.A. People were sitting in a queue along 5th Avenue in New York City, to get in early when they are released tomorrow.

In Australia we won't see it for about a year more, but it got me thinking about why the news would focus on such a story. The iPod has indeed risen to the level of a cultural icon. Already, there is a rapidly evolving realm of writing and scholarship on these compact music libraries (Jones, 2005; Kahney, 2005; Levy, 2006; Thomas, 2006).

For my part, I considered what meaning-making practices seem to be generally at play. iPods are generally used, in meaning-making process in terms of 'interpretation' (Kress, 2003) as opposed to 'articulation'. In terms of the multiple modes of textual design that are interpreted, they manifest in individual practice in two main fields: the outside world, or context of iPod use, and the soundtrack the iPod provides. The relationship between these two sets of texts is an example of multimodal social practice. But is it literacy?

How do individuals use the soundtrack the iPod provides to augment their external reality? To what extent are emotion, intellect, sociocultural influences, purpose and physical environment each involved in the choice of what one listens to on an iPod at any one time? There is a distinct different in the multimodal literacy practices where one intentionally listens to specific music because one is in the mood for a certain song in a certain situation, as opposed to simply putting the iPod on shuffle and randomly hearing (and enjoying or not) a selection of songs that evoke individual memories (Jones, 2005). Listening to a news podcast on a train in order to prepare for a meeting, is a different multimodal literacy practice compared to surreptitiously listening to pop songs whilst in class. And this is only considering the audio features of the iPod.

Meaning-making designs other than audio are present in the multimodal textual landscape of iPod use. Showing photos to friends using an iPod is another literacy event distinct from spending hours organising playlists. Identity, s is often displayed through different social practices during the use of iPods: the overt display of an iPod in public has a range of different (and related) meaning-making potentials to the intentional hiding of the device within one's clothing. To display an iPod is in way to claim: I am part of this! Or so it seems.

The problem about the relationship between the soundtrack one runs on an iPod and the context of its use, is that sometimes they don't fit neatly together. A man was recently critically injured after being hit by a tram in Melbourne. Witnesses reported that he had ear-phones in and appeared not to have heard the tram coming. Was he listening to an iPod? A music player of any kind? It doesn't really matter: the point is, the soundtrack he was running and the dangers of his physical environment were not congruent. The same situation may be observed by students listening to iPods during lessons: where attention is required, it cannot be fully given; the soundtrack generally doesn't match the focus of a lesson. Of course, this may not always be the case.

One can imagine situations where the soundtrack of an iPod could be used productively, to augment a specific situation to create a congruent multimodal experience. This has clear implications for learning. The use of podcasts to augment class based lessons is one example. One can also imagine guided audio tours of cities or landmarks using podcasts. Then again, there are already examples of this: in some Japanese cities you can access information on specific places in your physical vicinity using mobile phones (Thompson, 2005).

Well, now that we have the iPhone coming out, with an iPod fan base ready to go crazy over them, further possibilities may emerge for ways to augment reality using technology. What new soundtracks will we run to our lives? More importantly, how will we choose to access soundtracks? We will of course have to wait and see.

References

Jones, D. (2005). iPod therefore I am. New York and London: Bloomsbury Publishing.

Kahney, L. (2005). The Cult of iPod. San Fransisco: No Starch Press.

Levy, S. (2006). The Perfect Thing: How the iPod Shuffles Commerce, Culture, and Coolness. New York: Simon & Schulster.

Thomas, M. (2006). iPod Education: Innovations in the Implementation of Mobile Learning [Electronic Version]. The Knowledge Tree: An e-journal of learning innovation, 10, 4-15. Retrieved 8 December, 2006 from http://kt.flexiblelearning.net.au/edition-10/ipods-in-educationinnovations-in-the-implementation-of-mobile-learning/

Thompson, H. (2005). Phone Book: a handy guide to the world's favourite invention. London: Thames & Hudson.

ESSI Money Program - Financial Literacy for Adolescents

A new program has been designed by the 'Financial Basics Foundation' to teach 'financial literacy' skills to students. The ESSI Money Program (Earning, Saving, Spending and Investing), takes around 6 hours and is based on simulating financial decisions over a 6 month period.

www.essimoney.com.au

"The game is a teaching resource designed around the concept of a challenge or quest. It is a structured exploration of financial concepts using mentors and educational scaffolding to create a valuable learning experience primarily for teachers and students, though individuals can register and play at their own pace."

What was interesting to me with regard to ICT literacies, was not just the fact that the whole program is computer based, but that understandings about the financial impact of communication using different technologies, is addressed within the framework of 'financial literacy'. Some of the key learning areas addressed relate directly to the use of specific technologies, such as 'Spending on mobile phones' (bills) and 'Investing scams' (such as bogus emails).

When channel surfing whilst having my morning coffee, I happened upon a segment on a TV about this, where Katrina Birch, from the Financial Basics Foundations was discussing how the program worked. The example given was that students are required to read mock newspapers that emerge in the course of the game. Later in the game, they receive a scam email: if they had not read the article on this scam in an earlier mock-newspaper, then it is highly likely they will fall for the scam. Part of financial literacy it seems, as configured by this Financial Basics Foundation program, is being aware of the contextual surroundings of individual financial decisions. This seems to be an extension on the concept of "cultural literacy" (Shirato & Yell, 2000), where an essential component is contextual understanding of communications. In this case, it is important to have an understanding of the financial risks involved in responding to some emails, whilst having knowledge of social and cultural practices occurring in the wider society (ie. the existence of scammers). A social practice is configured in this situation in terms of monetary understandings and knowledge.

Examining the use of mobile technologies by young people under the key learning area of 'spending', seems to reinforce a common cultural discourse that young people experience financial difficulties as a result of mobile phone bills. Whilst the alarmist promotion of this issue by the media is seemingly supported by an array of anecdotal evidences (testimonies from tearful teenagers and families who have experienced financial ruin as a result of runaway mobile phone bills), this idea is not always supported by research. In conducting focus groups with young people, the Australian Psychological Society found that dramatic difficulties over paying for mobile phones was not a massive issue for young people, with most able to manage this financial commitment competently (2004). I am not suggesting that a focus on 'Spending' on mobile phones is not an important part of a concept of 'financial literacy' - rather, in today's world it would seem to be a rather natural and common bill for most people - rather, I would suggest that we should not automatically assume that young people need our help in this respect.

It must be remembered that this new ESSI Money program is not limited to young people. Indeed, anyone can play it, although your character in the game - you - is only every 18 years old. With current Australian personal debt being at an all-time high, perhaps there are wide swathes of the rest of the community who would benefit from playing this game.

Of course, just how financially literate young people and adolescents already are, is still an area in need of more research.

The concept of financial literacy also got me thinking about my own concens with mobile technology costs, which I had termed broadly as a form of 'economic literacy'. Are 'financial literacy' and 'economic literacy' the same thing? Are these two concepts interchangeable or are they different?

References

The Australian Psychological Society (2004). Psychosocial aspects of mobile phone use among adolescents. Sydney/Melbourne: The Australian Psychological Society. Accessed on 16th January, 2007 at: www.psychology.org.au/news/mobilephoneresearchreport.pdf

Financial Basics Foundation (2007). Earning,Saving,Spending,Investing. Essi Money Website. Accessed on 22nd June, 2007 at: www.essimoney.com.au .

Mornings with Kerri-Anne, Broadcast Friday, 22nd June, 2007. Sydney/Melbourne: Channel 9. Accessed on 22nd June, 2007 at:
www.kerri-anne.com.au/news.php?newsid=437

Schirato, T. & Yell, S. (2000). Communication and Cultural Literacy: An Introduction (2nd ed.). St Leonards, N.S.W.: Allen & Unwin.