Course:Recurring Questions of Technology/Keywords/C D

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

C

Choice

Choice is derived from the Middle English (chois, choys) and was used in Old French (chois), Old Italian (ciausire), Old Spanish (cosir), Portuguese (cousir), Romanic (causire), and German (Kausjan). This keyword is used in many fields of academia including law, psychology, mathematics, and politics. [1] The earliest use of this word, according to the Oxford English Dictionary was in 1297 by Rolls in The Chronicle of Robert of Gloucester 920 “Þe strengeste we schal bi choys and bi lot al so Chese out.” The meaning of this early entry “Having the greatest physical strength, most physically powerful” emphasizes people or objects as elite. Although this usage of the keyword is still used today, it has expanded its meaning over the centuries. Today, the more commonly used meaning is that of the act of choosing; preferential determination between things proposed; selection, election (OED). To enhance this point, a "Google Images" search of choice frequently display people at a crossroads, as they struggle to decide which of many paths to take. Yochai Benkler, in Chapter 1 of his book, The Wealth of Networks: How Social Production Transforms Markets and Freedoms (2006), highlights this usage when he explains the power of our choices to determine the outcome of the information society. As Benkler explains, the choices we make in the near future will either hinder or propel us to be “free, equal, productive human beings under a new set of technological and economic conditions.” In this sense, much like the google images illustrate, we are faced with two paths to take. One path leads to a rigid and regulated information society, while the other path leads to a free and open information society. The choice is yours. (Robert Young)

Citizenship

In its most basic sense citizenship is the right to live, work and participate in the political system of a state. In Bakardjeiva and Barney citizenship includes a much wider set of actions. Bakardjieva identifies three types of citizenship: the level of formal institutional politics, such as voting; Beck’s “subpolitics”, which describes acts of citizenship which occur beneath the surface of formal institutions, such as organized social movements and activism; and what Bakardjieva terms as “subactivism”, which is constituted by “small scale, often individual decisions and actions that have either a political or ethical frame and remain submerged in everyday life” (Bakardjieva 134). Bakardjieva’s inclusion of subactivism as a level of citizenship serves to deepen debates over political participation, particularly of allegedly apathetic groups such as young people. In this definition, people are constantly practicing their citizenship as part of their daily lives. Bakardjieva cites a study that found that although focus group participants did not perceive themselves as engaged in “civic participation” online, they were consuming a wide range of media from both mainstream, alternative and activist sources. This constitutes basic political literacy, which it can be argued is an essential component of civic culture. Barney immediately identifies citizenship with participation, referencing Aristotle’s definition of a citizen as one who “takes part”. For Barney, citizenship as participation does not go far enough. Rather discourse around the importance of participation in the traditional sense, such as voting etc. attempts to placate more revolutionary acts of citizenship, which he identifies as “politics”. For Barney, politics arises when citizens are “confronted with a fundamental and structuring wrong”, thereby motivating them to mobilize to affect change. (Jillian Oliver)

Civilization

Civilization derived from the Latin civilisatio (13th cent. in Albertus Magnus), and the French civilization" and was first used in 1656 by W. Montagu to define the “action or process of civilization or becoming civilized;(also) the action or process of being made civilized by an external force” (Oxford English Dictionary). Moreover, in its extended use, civilization refers to “a particular culture, society, and way of life as characteristics of a community of people, (also) a civilized society” (Oxford English Dictionary). Civilization is often referred to when one describes the way a society or culture lives and acts. In George Grant’s book, Time as History (2000), civilization is continually referred to, and used as an example to build his argument about conception of time. Grant suggests that in the “last three hundred years agents of our [Western] civilization have been able to influence, transform, or destroy so many other civilizations.” Grant further suggests that by comparing what our civilization temporarily thinks about time to what other civilizations thought about time we will have a better understanding about time and history; as well, that we need to “recognize how our enfolding civilization came to be what it is”. In order to better understand what type of civilization we are, and how our civilization is changing, it is crucial to have access and to participate with knowledge. For instance, our civilization is working towards 21st Century learning; in order for us to better understand what people need, and how this will benefit youth, we need to look at previous civilizations, civilizations around us, and future civilizations. However, In William Pinar's paper, The First Task of Thought in Our Time(2012), he mentions how technology will make for continual change- “the future is foreclosed and what matters is now”. Therefore, if we can look to past civilizations for knowledge and assess our own civilization, but we cannot look to the future, then what does this make for our future civilizations? How can we prepare for the future; and how will technology influence the lives of future civilizations? (Sydney Mitchell)

Close Reading

Etymology of “Close”: Middle English close-n (13th cent.), < Old French clos- stem (close present subjunctive) of clore < Latin claud-ĕre to shut, close. late Latin clūsa = clausa ‘shut or enclosed place’. The primary notion is that of having intervening spaces closed up, whereby the parts are in immediate contact with, or near to each other (OED). Etymology of “Reading”: Root word: read: Cognate with Old Frisian rēda to advise, to deliberate, to help, Middle Dutch rāden to advise, to suggest, to convince, to devise, to guess, to think, to plot (Dutch raden ), Old Saxon rādan to advise, to plan, to arrange (Middle Low German rāden , also in senses ‘to rule’, ‘to predict’, ‘to relate’) (OED). In literary criticism “close reading” is “critical and detailed analysis of a text” (OED). In his book, Close Reading New Media: Analyzing Electronic Literature, Van Looey and Baetens assert that close reading differs from less critical analyses of text in that it “does not aim to produce the meaning of the text, but rather to unearth all possible types of ambiguities and irony” and that “there is a sense of hostility between the reader and the text. The text is never trusted at face value, but is torn to pieces and reconstituted by a reader who is at the same time a demolisher and a constructor”. As such, close reading requires the reader to engage and interpret a piece of reading. The digital age, however, allows for words, themes, ideas, and genres to be extracted and coded, a reality that Jane Gallop (2007) is fearful of. “Close reading”, she states, “meant [students] could not just apply knowledge produced elsewhere [and] parrot back what the teacher or textbook had told them . . . The demise of close reading as a classroom method will leave us with students who learn cultural history by rote and then apply it to texts” (The Historicization of Literary Studies and the Fate of Close Reading”, p. 185). One example of this would be students learning the key ideas of Romeo and Juliet via online coding sources before seeking meaning from it themselves. In How to Read a Paragraph: The Art of Close Reading, Paul and Elder (2008) emphasize that to be a critical thinker “we don’t simply decipher words; we actively engage in a dialogue with the writer. We actively seek the author’s purpose in writing. We look for systems of meaning in a text”. As such, educators must be cautious in the directionality of their guidance through literary works. Students must still engage in the critical thinking process of close reading to strengthen meaning making in their reading. (Katherine Spence)

Co-Creation

Co-creation is a way that companies employ the customer to help produce or contribute value to their product, without payment for this work or contribution. According to Wikipedia, it “is a form of marketing strategy or business strategy that emphasizes the generation and ongoing realization of mutual firm-customer value,” which has an optimistic ring to it. In contrast, in their paper, Putting consumers to work: 'co-creation' and new marketing govern-mentality, Zwick, Bonsu and Darmody assert, “co-creation represents a political form of power aimed at generating particular forms of consumer life at once free and controllable, creative and docile.” They argue this is a nouveau form of corporate power. In contrast to the former passive consumer that was disciplined to act and consume according to a norm, the corporation is now working “with and through the freedom of the consumer.” They conclude, “administering consumption in ways that allow for the continuous emergence and exploitation of creative and valuable forms of consumer labor is the true meaning of the concept of co-creation” (Zwick, Bonsu and Darmody, p.1). Stemming from the international summit, “Copenhagen Co’creation: Designing for Change 09,” there is a manifesto which states, “Co-creation will empower people, companies, organizations and communities to assume responsibility and take action to create and continuously improve relevant ways of improving life. In return, increased empowerment will fuel and drive the process of co-creation itself.” It presents a positive outlook on co-creation, and perhaps does not explore its exploitative potential enough. The definition on the summit website is, “co-creation changes the game of innovation from designing FOR people to designing WITH people. Rather than being a tool or a methodology, co-creation is a mindset engaging people in the development of products and services thus creating new meaningful and profitable solutions and powerful organizations adaptable for change.” (Eva Ziemsen)

Collaboration

Collaboration relates to united labour and co-operation in the creation of different types of work. It was first used in the English language in 1860, “It is plain that collaboration was not less..than it now is in France.” (C. READE Eighth Commandment 374). There are many benefits to being able to work with others towards a common goal and in a collaborative way. This is indicated in Lawson (2004) “[2]” "Collaboration has the potential to yield multiple benefits. These benefits may be categorized as effectiveness gains (e.g., improved results; enhanced problem-solving competence); efficiency gains (e.g., eliminating redundancy); resource gains (e.g., more funding); capacity gains (e.g., weaknesses are covered; workforce retention improves); legitimacy gains (e.g., power and authority are enhanced; jurisdictional claims are supported); and, social development benefits (e.g., social movements are catalyzed). These potential benefits account in part for collaboration’s increasing popularity." As a result, collaboration is becoming a preferred model to decision making in many fields. It is also a fundamental aspect of learning and growth as evidenced in social development theory. Nachmias, Mioduser, Oren & Ram “[3]” (2000) describe collaborative learning as referring “to an instructional situation at which students interact while accomplishing an academic task.” This situates the learner as responsible for constructing their own learning through a social learning process. Collaboration has also come to prominence as one of the 21st Century learning skills. However, Lemke “[4]” (2010) discusses the distinction between collaboration and participation when it comes to student learning. “From an educational perspective, it is important to note that participation is not synonymous with collaboration.” The distinction is that participation can be harmonious and acrimonious. (Katharine Cadman)

Commercialization

Commercialize (verb) compare French commercialiser. trans. To render commercial, make a matter of trade; to subject to commercialism. Derivatives 1) commercialization n. 1889 Pall Mall Gaz. 17 June 3/2 The commercialization of the Indian railway system, giving business rather than military management. 2) commercialized adj.1850 Fraser's Mag. 41 581 Expense and rank went more together of old than in our more commercialized country. 3) commercializing n.1830 J. Wilson in Blackwood's Mag. 27 14/1 (http://www.oed.com/view/Entry/37086?redirectedFrom=commercialization#eid8737331). There has been a great extension of the power of commerce, not only in itself, but in the commercializing of agriculture. The influence of commercialization has been discussed in various forms this past week, including effects on public spaces/information, effects on youth and youth culture, ownership and social media, the use of digital products and marketing in the classroom (iPads), and effects on curriculum and learning. The documentary Consuming Kids explicates how young people are being manipulated into consumerism, and the commercialization of public schools (democratic spaces) enables this process. Additionally, this process is expedited through the technological devices that youth are carrying around with them. The influence of neo-liberalism in schools might be propagated by the Ministry, which uses the terms ‘knowledge based learning’ and knowledge based economy’ interchangeably throughout the BC Education Plan document. Terminology such as this could be reflective of the shift towards privatization of education in BC. Currently, the province has contracted online curriculum for distance learners to a private company that is based in the US, which begs the question, is online learning become an effective way to learn, or simply a profit measure? (Alison Krahn)

Commodity

Derived from French (commodité) and Latin (commoditāt) meaning due measure, fitness, convenience, complaisance. First used in 1430, "There was al that myht do pleasaunce To any harte and all commoditee", Lydgate. According to Wikipedia, in economics, a commodity is any marketable item produced to satisfy wants or needs. Detlev Zwick et al. (Putting consumers to work, 2008) point out that consumers are no longer passively receiving commodities, but are an “active interpreter and maker” of commodities and that companies are using co-creation to increase profitability. Customer participation and customer relationships are the main foci of corporations who want to ensure this profitability. Zwick also argues that commodities have changed from 'goods-dominant' to 'service dominant' which allows individuals to play an active role in consumer participation and the "consumer becomes enlisted as a permanent member of the company's production and marketing project". In reviewing Alex Molnar’s book School Commercialism: From Democratic Ideal to Market Commodity, Stephen Petrina references Molnar’s idea that “[s]chools have come to be seen as markets for vendors, [...] and commodities to be bought and sold.” In this sense we see schools as “elements of wealth”, another definition of the word commodity (English Oxford Dictionary). Corporations are attempting to embed their products into schools and in return offer to support those schools financially. In a world where lack of funding for education is prevalent, this offer of commercialism may seem intriguing. John Abbott views our consumer-focused society as having a negative impact on human relationships and suggests that we need to look to our communities for learning opportunities and to strengthen those relationships. Rajani Naidoo (Repositioning Higher Education as a Global Commodity, 2003) examines how higher education is becoming a global commodity. He argues that “market mechanisms such as league tables have been deployed to exert pressure on universities to comply with consumer demand”. The bigger question here is what is the impact of consumerism on student learning. (Tania Danilovic)

Commons

Commons comes from Latin (commune), and Greek (τὸ κοινόν). In the noun form, the word typically refers to a local collective of people, however it can also refer to the undivided land(as in not enclosed or held privately) shared by the community, often wasteland. This second meaning is the one that relates to technology in the twenty first century with terms such as learning commons in education or creative commons in regards to intellectual property. Commons shares it origins with the word commune, which has the slightly alternative (and perhaps more idealistic) twentieth century definition of holding all property within the community collectively (not just land or wasteland). John Locke, in his Two Treatises of Government uses commons synonymously with commune when he states, "God gave the world to Adam, and his posterity, in common." (208) . However Locke diverges from the utopian idea (as, it is told, did Adam) and stipulates when commons can be privatized (without the twentieth century connotations of that word). Commons can be made private with the addition of labour, and under the caveats of no waste on the private land, enough being left in common for the needy, and value-adding labour being done on the private land. Commons began to disappear, or become enclosed or private, right around the time of European colonization of North America. Loss of commons impoverished many and pushed them to North America not, curiously, in search of new commons, but in search of private land in an centuries-long glorification of the capitalist ideal. In the new frontier of the internet, however, Locke's ideas are new again. Is the internet a space for all? Is this a new opportunity to honour the rights of all? Can we protect shared space? Yochai Benkler in Wealth of Networkssays that missing this opportunity to at least try would be "unforgiveable." He worries that currently, "information, knowledge, and culture are being subjected to a second enclosure movement." It's not even those labouring to add value to common internet space that are privatizing the space. Rather it is the third parties, the publishers, the media giants who are enclosing the space in a way Locke would define as illegitimate. If Kevin Kelly is correct, and power is derived through access, not ownership ("access trumps ownership"), internet commons will only help us; for most of us there's nothing to lose. (Carol Hawkes)

Communication

Communication dates back to the early 14th century when it was used as a word in Anglo-Norman and Middle French in a Biblical reference having something in common with another person or thing (OED). Later however, the Oxford English Dictionary defines it as the transmission or exchange of information, knowledge, or ideas, by means of speech, writing, mechanical or electronic media. The electronic media being referred to here are telephone, radio, and satellite, only a few of the new age inventions used to enhance the way in which humans communicate. Today, however, the communication world uses many types of computer powered devices for communication, such as smart phones, tablets, laptops, and various other wireless inventions. With such devices at your convenience, one can conclude that communication happens more frequently, and immediately now more than ever before. Instant messages of communication via text messaging and emailing are readily available regardless of one's location in the world. However, Carolyn Miller (1996), reminds us that even with these technological advances in the 21st century, "..some aspects of communication, both oral and written, have not changed. Communication is still the social glue that holds together nations, corporations, scientific disciplines, and families." She further states that the failure to understand and communicate can lead to disastrous problems, and thus, new technology does not necessarily lead to more effective, more persuasive, or more ethical communication. Therefore, although forms communication have changed through the centuries, one can conclude that the main purpose of communication has not altered. (Janice Jasbinder Matharu)

Community

Derived from French (communité: joint ownership) and Latin (commūnitāt: organized society). Also used in a variety of languages such as Spanish (comunidad), Portuguese (comunidade), and Italian (comunità). First used in English to describe a group of people ("Bither withdrawing, the comunete of the puple wold be more encresie in malice," J. Purvey, 1395). In the late 14th Century English speaking societies used the word to mean everybody. Emerging later was the notion that a community is a group of people that share something in common (a religion, culture, ethnic identity). We see that the word community has continued to narrow and segregate its definition by adjoining a word to describe a specific community. Joke Voogt & Natalie Pareja Roblin (2012) use the term "educational community" to not only include teachers but professional organizations and educational researchers. Stuart Poyntz and Michael Hoechsmann (Children's media culture in a digital age, 2011) employ the term "online communities" that lead to social, cultural and educational networks. Yochai Benkler outlines in the Wealth of Networks (2006) how individuals use the network and that "sites cluster around communities of interest". He argues that technology provides a "newly expanded practical freedom to act and cooperate with others" and that the "networked environment allows people to reach across national or social boundaries". Media has enabled us to form these other kinds of communities and the greater capacity in which we have to form universal communities leads to a network of like minded people. By the nature of technology we are bonded to a greater universal community. However, the paradox stands that without the capacity to create a universal network, there's no capacity to create an intimate community who share like values and interests. (Tania Danilovic)

Competencies

From the Latin competere (to compete), competency took over 200 years to come to its current meaning, "sufficiency of qualification" (Online Etymology Dictionary). Edmund Burke used the term in 1797 to attest to ability and led the way for the evolution of the word (Oxford English Dictionary). Competency is currently used as a synonym for skill set, as evidenced by Voogt and Roblin's "A comparative analysis of international frameworks for 21st century competencies: Implications for national curriculum policies". This signals a transition from knowledge to ability; "an important part of many jobs in no longer related to the exchange of information only," Voogt and Roblin state, "but also to a particular understanding of information (Voogt and Roblin, 300). Competency, in this sense, is threefold: it is transferable across fields; it includes knowledge, skills and attitudes; and it relies on higher-level abilities to cope with complexity and problem solving (ibid). Specifically, competencies in this regard may refer to literacies; Voogt and Roblin outline three of these: "information literacy, technology literacy, and ICT [Information and Communication Technology] literacy" (308). Each of these refer to what Voogt and Roblin consider 21st century competencies and related to abilities to access, evaluation, and use information efficiently, critically, and effectively; also, the ability to manipulate technology to "develop solutions and achieve goals" (U.S. Department of Education 2010, quoted in Voogt and Roblin 2012). In the BC education context, competencies are at the core of the BC Education Plan, which suggests that “there will be more emphasis on key competencies like self-reliance, critical thinking, inquiry, creativity, problem solving, innovation, teamwork and collaboration, cross-cultural understanding, and technological literacy” (p. 4, BC Education Plan Document). Chris Kennedy, superintendent of the West Vancouver School District, suggests that these competencies will be replacing content as the core of the BC curriculum going forward. He further posits that although these are not new skills, teachers will be looking at how to bring content to the development of the competencies, rather than overlaying these skills on top of the study of content. BC’s Minister of Education, George Abbott, addressed these points in a public consultation delivered through a Twitter chat in January, 2012 (transcript). Abbott suggested that the plan will require “Substantial reduction in learning outcomes, focus on big ideas.” When pressed about what he means by big ideas and competencies, he answered “I'm referring to critical thinking, creative thinking + innovation, communication, social + emotional learning.” Although a different list from the published plan, the types of skills are similar. Looking ahead, educators in BC will need to consider the tough questions of how their work will change in order to make the shift from a focus on content to a one of competencies. (Ian Felgar and Robin Ryan)

Connectivity

According to the English Oxford Dictionary connectivity is the characteristic, or order, or degree, of being connected. The first recorded use of the word was in 1893, "For a simply connected surface,..we shall say that the connectivity is unity", (A. R. Forsyth). We see that the first use of the word was used in a sense to unite something together and that is just what internet technology has done. In the Wealth of Networks (2006) Yochai Benkler states that "the networked public sphere enables many more individuals to communicate their observations and their viewpoints to many others". Connectivity to the virtual world allows individuals to share thoughts, ideas and emotions. In the article Sentient Cities (2007), Mike Crang and Stephen Graham ask the question "what happens to places and people in networked environments where small informational devices and data are brought together[?]" It is an illusion of extrasensory perception of connecting of the minds. We are one power outage away from isolation. We delude ourselves that this connectivity is only empowering but we are so dependent on the technology to achieve that connectivity that the technology rules us. Caroline Haythornthwaite (Social Networks and Internet Connectivity Effects, 2005) states that it is well accepted that the internet is allowing for more connections among people but there is “a concern that such connectivity may detract from local interaction”. A real connection with a live human being, which the average adolescent evades with his/her dependence on virtual connectivity, is in fact the most powerful connection. Youth who cannot think in historical context of past, present, and future, can only live in the present with the internet as being the ultimate reality. This begs the question what is reality? Is the virtual community more real than the natural world? (Tania Danilovic)

Conservatism

Conservatism is comprised of conservative (conservat) + ism; conservative is derived from 14th century Middle French (conservatif: to preserve or conserve), and the suffix, ism, is derived from Latin (-ismus). This keyword is chiefly considered as a political and social philosophy, but it has also been applied in business, cognitive psychology, and religion. The idea of conservatism, or Toryism, as it was also initially called, originated from Royalism during the Restoration period (1660-1668) (Wikipedia). Conservatism supported a system where a monarch had the right to rule directly from God’s will. Its first recorded use was in 1832 in the Lancaster Gazette and General Advertiser, as it stated, “...we look upon this event as most important, and auspicious to the cause of conservatism...” (OED). This was in reference to a Conservative being elected to parliament, who would uphold what would be considered as traditional values and principles. In Canada, Conservatism emerged during the first three decades of the 19th century, from the Loyalists who left America after the Revolution. Canada’s Conservatives “...supported an activist government and state intervention in the marketplace...” (Wikipedia) In George Grant’s Lament for a Nation, as summarized by McGillivray (1996), he claims that “...the nineteenth century ideological conflict between liberalism and conservatism still resonates today in the forces that are shaping Canada’s fortune...” From Grant’s perspective, a conservative nation is not sustainable in an era where technology, consumption, and individual freedom are highly valued. Grant’s viewpoint is evident, as quoted by Pinar (n.d., p. 11) in The First Task of Thought in our Time: “But conservatism must languish as technology increases.” In this case, Grant (2005 [1965], p. 71) intended for conservatism to mean the “right of the community to restrain freedom in the name of the common good.” (Pinar,n.d, p.11) Grant purported that citizens who had conservative viewpoints aligned themselves more with British conservative traditional ideologies, which were consistent with the endurance of Canada as an independent nation. (Alexis Mauricio)

Constraint

Constraint comes from the Old French (constreinte) and was used in Middle English (constreynt(e), constreint). According to the Oxford English Dictionary its earliest known use was c1374 by Geoffrey Chaucer in Troilus & Criseyde iv. 713 " Hire hew whilom bright þat þo was pale Bar witnesse of hire wo and hire constreynte." It is one of the earliest entries in the dictionary, and its early meaning, "pressure of trouble or misfortune; oppression, affliction, distress" is now obsolete. The meaning of this word shifted during the 15th century, and by the early 16th century it came to have the meaning more commonly used today, that of the use of force to confiine action, or confinement, or the restriction of liberty or of free action. OED In Chapter 1 of Wealth of Networks: How Social Production Transforms Markets and Freedoms (2006), Yochai Benkler uses constraint to describe the restrictions on individual freedom and action, and the restrictions on other "core values of liberal societies" in the networked information economy. The term is used in several contexts all of which use constraint to infer a sense that more than just confinement, constraint is a force that is holding back or preventing the production of the new and vital. He describes the constraints of the market oriented model of industrial production for the generation of information on individual freedom and action in nonmarket contexts. "I treat property and markets as just one domain of human action, with affordances and limitations. Their presence enhances freedom along some dimensions, but their institutional requirements can become sources of constraint when they squelch freedom of action in nonmarket contexts." (Benkler, p. 13.) In arguing for a networked information economy that is nonmarket based, and for a common core infrastructure, Benkler uses the term constraint to describe the limitations and restrictions that industrialized modes of production, with their proprietary focus, will have not only on the generation and sharing of information, but also on the what he desribes as the core values of liberal societies. Constraint is also used by Lawrence Lessig in his book code version 2 to describe the effect of regulation from four modalities: market, code, law and norms, on behaviour in cyberspace. He notes that regulations in these four areas, substituting architecture for code, constrain behaviour in physical space as well. In his book The Public Domain: Enclosing the Commons of the Mind, James Boyle uses constraint to describe the restrictions that copyright law places on the rights of those who hold intellectual property. It is interesting to note that the use of constraint is occuring in discussions which are all centered on the idea of a commons in the generation and sharing of information on networks, and on the challenges facing that commons. The word constraint shifted meaning away from that of the pressure of trouble or distress, and towards that of confinement and restriction, during the period of land enclosures in 15th C England. People's ability to access common land, which had been held for the good of all, was eliminated; their freedom to act in common space was gone. This no doubt caused them to feel the pressure of trouble and distress. Constraint in the information commons seems to cause the same. (Pauline Veto)

Consumer

Originating from the Latin verb consūmere, and initially taking root in the English language in the 15th century, a consumer is one who devours, eats or destroys (Oxford English Dictionary). Moreover, traditionally a consumer has been seen as in opposition to production. This no longer stands. There has been an historical shift, and today’s consumers are "co-creators" as well as devourers of things, services, and information. We exist in what Jenkins classifies as a “participatory culture,” in which we do not solely want to purchase, but to construct our items of consumption (such as Build-a-Bear) and indeed create ourselves as items of public consumption, as in Facebook, YouTube, blogging, etc. Consumer as "co-creator" is a culturally constructed value and an intensification of earlier notions of "the customer is always right" (Zwick, Bonsu & Darmody, "Putting Consumers to Work: 'Co-creation' and new marketing govern-mentality," 2008) We value participation in our networked information economy, we associate it with agency. But the promise of agency in our act as consumer/”co-creator” is highly surveiled and documented by the networks we use as a vehicle for empowerment in our active consumption, such as Amazon “data mining.” As such Crang & Graham ("Sentient Cities: Ambient Intelligence and the Politics of Space," 2007) note that we “relocate agency into the world” (798) away from the self, even as we consume as an act of agency and fulfillment. Further, a critical issue in our consumption is the framework of our society as not simply a participatory model, but also as a consumer model, in which we consume a mountain of information leading to “infobesity” (Morris, 2003). In attempts to control the “information glut” (Morris) we make exclusionary selections as to what is valuable. With every gain there is also a loss. We need to be cognizant as consumers that we potentially consume our selves again and again, moving more towards a worship of the self, a solipsism amongst the mass of horizons. This being that as the technological tools themselves “data-mine” our habits of inquiry, purchasing and interaction, they feed us more of the same. Thus, we are potentially repeatedly fed our own preferences and views of the world. All the while we as consumers potentially marginalize groups even further, such as with the production of video game components made "in the mines of the Congo and end up in the electronic waste dumps of Nigeria and India" (Dyer-Whiteford, Games of Empire: Global Capitalism and Video Games, xvii) and ways of being and wisdoms that are separate from the digital world become consumed less and less, and therefore valued less and less. Furthermore, essentially the conception of consumer as a devourer remains, but it is more multiplicitous than that; consumer is a political agent as well as a self-fulfilling “co-creator,” a force of construction and destruction. (Michelle Bertrand)

Copyright

Copy is derived from French (copie) and Latin (copia: transcript); right is derived from German (recht), Icelandic (réttr), and Danish(ret). This keyword is ubiquitous in academia, as well as in a wide range of areas such as politics, arts, sciences, and humanities. Copyright is one of the principles of intellectual property, along with trademark, trade secret, and patent. In Two Treatises of Government, John Locke states that “God gave the world to men in common...he gave it to the use of the industrious and rational, (and labour was to be his title to it)” (214). In other words, the labouring over intangible works and ideas deserves a claim – copyright - by the individual(s) who invested their labour into it. The first copyright act established, The British Statute of Anne in 1710, was “an act for the encouragement of learning...” and lasted for a term of 14 years. This act was initially conceived to prevent piracy and impose limitations on reproductions due to the technological advancement of print. It also served to help improve the common stock of mankind by promoting the creation of new work; this is the objective of many copyright regulations today. Copyright violations also have legal consequences, and laws surrounding this have been instituted by many governments. For example, Canadian copyright law addresses the principles of intellectual property ownership, where authors of intangible works have exclusive rights to it for the duration of their lifetime plus 50 years after their death in Canada and in the United States it is the author's lifetime plus 70 years. However, Disney has managed to extend copyright for corporations from 75 years to 95 years under the Sonny Bono Act in order to protect Mickey Mouse from going into the public domain. Although an idea is not protected by copyright, the physical expression of that idea becomes protected by copyright the minute it is produced. The symbol © has been created to identify copyrighted work, but even without it creative work is still copyrighted immediately. Often the issue with copyright is determining who created a creative work first, so in some cases work is registered with the intellectual property office to provide additional guarantees of ownership. On the other hand, attempts have been made to allow copyright owners the opportunity to declare their work free to use in certain instances and in 2001 a successful system came into effect; the creative commons allows copyright holders to give up certain rights for the benefit of the common good although there is still some resistance as many copyright owners do not want to share their work freely. (Ashley Bayles & Alexis Mauricio)

Critical Pedagogy

Critical Pedagogy is a domain of education and research that studies the social, cultural, political, economic, and cognitive dynamics of teaching and learning. Critical Pedagogy emerges in the late 1960s with the work of Brazilian educator, Paulo Freire. According to Henry Giroux, Critical pedagogy is an "educational movement, guided by passion and principle, to help students develop consciousness of freedom, recognize authoritarian tendencies, and connect knowledge to power and the ability to take constructive action."(Giroux, H. October 27, 2010). Critical pedagogue Ira Shor defines critical pedagogy as: "Habits of thought, reading, writing, and speaking which go beneath surface meaning, first impressions, dominant myths, official pronouncements, traditional clichés, received wisdom, and mere opinions, to understand the deep meaning, root causes, social context, ideology, and personal consequences of any action, event, object, process, organization, experience, text, subject matter, policy, mass media, or discourse." Critical pedagogy gained an international audience with the 1967 publication of Freire’s Pedagogy of the Oppressed and its English translation in 1970. Over the next decade, critical pedagogy influenced pedagogical practice, teacher education, and sociopolitical and educational scholarship in South and North America. It has evolved as a cross-disciplinary field. Postmodern, anti-racist, feminist, postcolonial, and queer theories all play a role in further explaining Freire’s ideas of critical pedagogy. The Freire International Project for Critical Pedagogy was created by Joe L. Kincheloe and Shirley R. Steinberg at McGill University. In an era when open-access publishing on the Internet is a compelling issue in the politics of knowledge (Willinsky, 2006), the project attempts to move open access to writing and speaking about critical pedagogy to the next phase of its evolution. (Jennifer Jing Zhao)

Creativity

The faculty of being creative; ability or power to create. The root creative is from Latin creativus used frequently from the 12th century. In 17th century literature there is reference to God and his creativity by the 18th century artists are referred to as creative but creativity is not used until 1875 and then by Ward in reference to Shakespeare's poetry. [[OED] In the modern context of education “Creativity and innovation allow one to generate ideas and concepts, to see information in a different way from others, and to approach issues from a different direction.” (PCT, 2010) The school curriculum has for a long time offered fine arts as part of the curriculum, however the question has been examined as to how well schools teach creativity. Sir Ken Robinson asks the question does public education kill creativity? He describes creativity as “the process of having original ideas that have value” and that divergent thinking is essential capacity for creativity.” (2012) The challenge is there have been seen in recent decades a steady decline in childrens divergent thinking “The most serious decline in scores is in the younger children from kindergarten to grade six.” [(PCT, 2010)] Around the world businesses, governments a foundations are looking at the skills that are needed for the future as it is becoming more evident that students today need to have a different skill set than what is traditionally offered in the school system. “Creativity, critical thinking, problem-solving, and the capacity to develop relevant and high quality products are also regarded as important competences in the 21st century by most frameworks.” (Voogt and Roblin, 2012) In making recommendations to the Premier for the Ministry of Education the PCT states: “The need to transform education is here. Creativity and innovation allow one to generate ideas and concepts, to see information in a different way from others, and to approach issues from a different direction. (PCT, 2010) The question is can we transform educational instutions to allow for creativity? (Holly Paris)

Crowdsourcing

A compound word that consists of crowd (derived from the Old English crúdan, meaning press, suggesting that a key feature of a crowd is that people are compressed together) and source (originating from the Old French sors of similar meaning). The first usage of this term is thought to be an article published in Wired magazine in 2006 (Wikipedia). Similar to the business practice of outsourcing, crowdsourcing is used to denote a manner of seeking of work from another party. The difference is that the party providing the work is a large group of people that are usually sought out through the Internet. Although this is a relatively new term, it is a process that is not new. Most notably, the Oxford English Dictionary used a paper-based form of crowdsourcing (James Murray received slips of paper from people all over England with quotes to demonstrate word usage). The most notable modern example of crowdsourcing is likely Wikipedia, which uses the term crowdsourcing to denote the way in which the site is moderated (Wikipedia's Wikipedia entry). In essence, all viewers of the site are able to become content creators and editors should they feel that information is incomplete, unclear, or inaccurate, thus allowing the moderation and maintenance of the site’s content to be crowdsourced. In Chapter 1 of Benkler’s Wealth of Networks (2006), he refers to this type of co-authoring as evidence of “the rise of effective, large-scale cooperative efforts—peer production of information, knowledge, and culture” (p. 5). Building on this, John Willinsky has suggested that many websites use a form of crowdsourcing to obtain quality ratings for content. Rather than employing staff to review content, many websites now provide a rating and commenting system that allows the user base to collectively judge quality. Crowdsourcing of this sort can provide significant cost savings for the organization that operates the website. Zwick, Bonsu, & Darmody (2008; “Putting Consumers to Work : `Co-creation` and new marketing govern-mentality”) note that these cost savings can also be viewed as “exploiting consumer labor” (p.168). Essentially, crowdsourcing is a technique that allows for the incorporation of data from a large number of people to be compressed into a single, meaningful representation of that data. Because of the broad user base of the Internet, there are many more examples of the far-reaching use of crowdsourcing than can be mentioned here. (Ian Felgar)

Curriculum

‘Curriculum’ is one of the first words embedded into students in early teacher training. The Latin meaning refers to ‘course’ or ‘career’. Within the educational context, the very basic definition could be described as being a program of study for a particular course, which is usually created and mandated by the government or other forms of authority. It is the curriculum that every teacher is expected to follow, to adhere to the subject matter and the outcomes that each student is expected to meet. However, in the 21st century, the very idea of curriculum presents new challenges. Voogt and Roblin (2012) present the central idea that curriculum needs to either change or be adapted to adhere to the needs of the 21st century learner. The use of the term can be traced and associated with ideas, terms or phrases such as ‘re-defining’ and ‘21st century competences’. It is this idea of ‘changing curriculum’ that is needed to develop and foster key competences or 21st century skills and learning for students to ‘survive’ (Voogt & Roblin, 2012). However, the authors also discuss the lack of implementing the curriculum, of developing a ‘sustainable curriculum’, and this is where the main problem arises. Similar ideas are voiced in numerous government documents that echo the idea of change in the curriculum. The Premier’s Technology Council (PTC) was created to provide a vision for education in the 21st century and outlines possible outcomes that should be integrated into the current curriculum. Yet the huge gap between a revised curriculum and its implementation is troubling. What should be noted is the reoccurring theme of a ‘re-defined curriculum’, which is continually ongoing, however, at a time when society is advancing on so many levels, maintaining an up-to-date curriculum is almost non-existent. As Chris Kennedy expressed, there is an urgency to provide a more ‘modern’ classroom environment to ‘keep up’ with how students are interacting and learning outside of the classroom. Therefore, the necessity to implement a ‘sustainable curriculum’, to develop 21st century learning skills is imperative. (Claire Ahn) Moreover, it is a concept laden with inherent contradictions and pressing problems. It’s etymology means a course, singular. One instance of its early use in the English language is from Tour Germany: “When the [German] student has finished his curriculum, and leaves the university.” This highlights the severely outdated notion that curriculum is that which is contained within the educational institution and then is left behind when you leave for life. The Premier’s Technology Council (PTC) states that “[. . .] the knowledge economy will move with the people who carry that knowledge [and quoting from 21st Century Skills], ‘... to have expert knowledge workers, every country needs an education system that produces them; therefore, educa¬tion becomes the key to economic survival in the 21st century’” (12). This is where the paradox lies, that our curriculum is intended to guide our youth into life, yet this is a new world, a flexible, pluralistic, unmapped world, and curriculum itself is created and administered as a course to and for educators and students. In A Comparative Analysis of International Frameworks for 21st Century Competencies (2012) Voogt & Roblin outline three distinct curricula at play in our current and aspired education system: the intended, the implemented and the attained. They emphasize that "one of the major challenges in realizing curriculum change is to ensure consistency and balance between these three different curriculum representations" (301). However, it is the gap between what is intended and what is attained that looms as a potential debilitating crevice within which our students may fall. In the title of their comparative analysis and argument the term curriculum is not included, competencies is. In fact, in the B.C.'s Education Plan the platform is similarly on competencies, such as social justice, high standards of achievement, technological literacy, personalized learning and flexibility, not curriculum. These are proficiencies, essential skills, and they transcend grades, transcend fragmented subject-courses that are compartmentalized into 'subject-specific" curriculum. What's more, these competencies are holistic ways of being that promote thoughtfulness and life-long learning beyond "a course of study," and into a continuum from here to there and beyond. As such, the notion of curriculum as currently conceptualized and written into policy needs not only a reform or evolution, but a revolution, for attaching the 21st century competencies as an add-on to "core curriculum" as pre-existing in our education system is doing nothing but a disservice to our students and their future. (Michelle Bertrand)

Customize

Customization originated in the United States as recently as the 1930's as a shortened way to communicate the idea "according to customer preferences." Customization is the ability to take a mass produced product and make it personal. In the age of the internet, customization is rampant: customize your webpage, blog, network, facebook page. A new paradox (with a nod to Stuart Poyntz's theories of identifying paradox as a media literacy tool) has entered the world of customization with the internet though, that being the co-opting of customization work. Marketers have discovered the value in customization and have learned to harness customer work (Michael Hardt explains immaterial labour - harnessing the immaterial labour explained in Zwick article) and charge more for the customized product. The customer however did all the work. In education, customization is found in the term personalization, making the lesson/course/program/assignment fit the "customer" or student. Perhaps education too can learn to co-opt the work of the customer/students; have them customize their education by their own efforts. Hmmm. (Carol Hawkes)

Cyberbullying

Cyberbullying is a relatively new word that has entered the English language as a result of the information technology revolution. It was first used in 1998 in Australia, “According to the findings of a study.., cyber bullying is growing.” (Canberra Times 18 Nov. 12/1, 1998). In recent years, many have raised concerns regarding cyberbullying due to the negative impact of bullying particularly on youth, and the difficulty in monitoring the occurrences of cyberbullying online. Due to its unique nature, cyberbullying differs from traditional bullying because of the lack of personal (face-to-face) contact. Due to its emerging nature, cyberbullying has been defined and redefined in different contexts to more accurately represent what it is and is not. Hinduja & Patchin “[5]” (2010) have defined it as “‘‘willful and repeated harm inflicted through the use of computers, cell phones, and other electronic devices.” This is more along the lines of traditional bullying in the sense of it being a repeated phenomenon. This repetitive idea is also presented by Smtoh, Mahdavi, Carvalho, Fisher, Russell, & Tippett “[6]” (2008) who describe cyberbullying as a blanket term used to define bullying by electronic means: “‘An aggressive, intentional act carried out by a group or individual, using electronic forms of contact, repeatedly and over time against a victim who cannot easily defend him or herself.” The element of a power dynamic in this definition also relies on a more traditional conception of bullying in that it presumes a differential of power between the bully and the victim. More recently, Law, Shapka, Hymel, Olson, & Waterhouse “[7]” (2011) have countered this traditional bullying approach to examine the more subtle dynamics at work within cyberbullying. “there is evidence to suggest that the degree of visual anonymity afforded by an online environment provides a sense of privacy and protection, such that individuals feel comfortable and powerful saying things they would not normally say offline (Peter, Valkenburg, & Schouten, 2005; Ward & Tracey, 2004).” This examines the idea that to be a cyberbully one may not experience a power differential with the victim, and that one may only act once rather than repetitively. The permanence of the internet can replicate the effect of repeated traditional bullying experiences. (David Cadman)

Cyborg

The term comes from the combination of the words cybernetic and organism, in which Donna Haraway's Cyborg Manifesto explains, "a cyborg is a cybernetic organism, a hybrid of machine and organism, a creature of social reality as well as a creature of fiction." The actual word cyborg was first used by Manfred Clynes in an article called Cyborgs and Space. As William F. Pinar states in his paper; Modernity, Technology, Nationality; "becoming flawless – in our time the cyborg or the “fyborg“”(any bodily enhancement/transformation through any temporary technological intrusion into the body”) – incurs an intoxicating tension that promises to materialize transcendence in the rejuvenation of the nation." While there is some debate whether human beings becoming cyborgs is a good thing many people seem to think it is, so much so that there is now a Cyborg Foundation to "to extend human senses and abilities by creating and applying cybernetic extensions to the body." Mary Bryson states in her piece "Can we play Fun Gay?" that "networked knowledge media, like MySpace, Facebook, or blogs, introduce new metrics in the allocation of attentional resources and thereby fragment and/or disperse what were historically construed to be binary continua, like self/other or public/private (Cohen 2005; Rak 2005)." Pattie Maes demonstrated her Sixth Sense, which is a device the user wears that connects their physical world with the digital world. This cyborg type of behaviour is becoming more and more common in our society and invasive technologies are forcing us to become cyborgs whether we like it or not. (Ashley Bayles)

D

Data

The plural of datum, a Latin term commonly used as a noun to describe a quantity of information without meaning. An early use of the term can be found in Urquhart’s Trissotetras “ The verticall Angles, according to the diversity of the three Cases being by the foresaid Datas thus obtained.” (1645). In terms of hierarchy, data is thought to represent things like facts and measurements, where there is no meaning attached to these. Where meaning is provided, data is treated as information and when that information is applied, it is considered to be knowledge (Bellinger, Castro & Mills, 2004). The term can be used to describe a great variety of types of information, though personal data is a subset that is of interest when dealing with digital technology. Personal data is information that users of digital technology may divulge with or without their knowledge as they use online resources. Many companies have an interest in collecting and mining this data in order to tailor advertising to users (for example, see http://pde.cc/), though it should also be noted that identity theft is also a possibility with this data. Personal data can be used to identify many aspects of internet users, and visualization software can then be used to glean large trends from this data. Data and information are both easily accessed online, which uses ‘consume’ in order to become more knowledgeable of their world. Given the pervasive nature of data and information, many are overwhelmed with the flood and, as a consequence, the term infobesity has been coined to describe this phenomenon (see also http://www.nairtl.ie/workgroupDocs/Brochure%202010SMALL.pdf#page=80). (John Cunnian)

Data Visualization

Teresa Dobson (UBC lecture, July 11, 2012) argues that data visualization is a type of cyborg reading practice. Although this may be an extreme view, it certainly has become a popular way of displaying data in a graphic or visual manner. Data on its own is difficult for many to read, but through the use of data visualization it becomes easier to understand in terms of its relationship with other data and becomes an important element of collective knowledge. In an article in The Atlantic Monthly, Vannevar Bush (1945) stated that "our methods of transmitting and reviewing the results of research are generations old and by now are totally inadequate for their purpose" which means that "the difficulty seems to be ... that publication has been extended far beyond our present ability to make real use of the record." It is this overwhelming amount of data that has created a new need for data visualization and even Stanford University now offers courses in the field. As the need for functional design grows, data visualization plays a larger and larger role in our understanding of new data and information. Sites such as Information is Beautiful present graphic displays of data that allow viewers to draw entirely new meanings and connections between different data sets. Data visualization is an important literacy skill in today's ‘infobesity’ environment. (Ashley Bayles)

Decentralization

Yochai Benkler’s argument in the Wealth of Networks' centres around the concept of the Networked Information Economy (NIE), the new system of “production, distribution, and consumption of information goods characterized by decentralized individual action”. For Benkler the NIE is being brought about by an increasingly interconnected communications environment facilitated by the widespread use of computers and the internet. As people have gained access to faster and better technologies they have become less motivated to produce solely for profit and become more engaged in individual innovation for the sake of producing information, knowledge and online products such as open source software for creativity’s sake. For Benkler, the proliferation of individual production is facilitated by the internet constitutes “decentralization”. This decentralization is best characterized in opposition to the presumably centralized system of production that preceded it, where information and knowledge were produced by large mainstream entities such as Hollywood, large broadcasters and the recording industry. In the NIE where individuals have access to large audiences without requiring the assistance of centralized distributers they are able to produce innovations that can be widely consumed throughout the world without significant cost imperatives associated with traditional media production such as licensing and advertising. In addition to producing media for consumption, individuals are able to use their “expanded freedom” to collaborate with other individuals to produce large projects that would have been previously unattainable without such a robust online network. They can also access information and accomplish tasks “with substantially less dependence on the commercial mass media of the twentieth century," or in a more decentralized fashion.(Jillian Oliver) This term is used to describe the shift and transformation of how information is created, distributed, and consumed. Benkler illustrates how information, knowledge production and ownership have belonged to proprietary, market-oriented systems since the rise of the industrial economy in most of the developed world. As the costs of creating information have gone down and the methods of creation have become more accessible, information has become a ubiquitous resource that has transformed traditional brick & mortar economies towards a “networked information economy” (Benkler, p. 3) in which non-proprietary, non-market frameworks play a larger role (ibid, p. 18). Decentralization is implicated in the rise of the inexpensive computer and the channels created via networking which allow an individual to have enhanced autonomy and increased opportunities to collaborate without undue commitment. The cornerstone of this definition is the decline of the relative power of the institution/machine itself, and the rise of the individual/user as a powerful, relevant, and meaningful creator, contributor, and disseminator of information. (Jon Hamlin)

Democratize

Derived from French (démocratiser then to "démocrate") the translation means to render democratic; to give a democratic character. First used in English in 1798 by William Taylor in the Monthly Review ("Not to democratize any one of the great continental powers"). The next reference of democratize was in 1831 in Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine speaking of In the constitution ("The tendency of the measure was to democratize.. the constitution"). The final listing from James Bryce in 1888 talks about the State government ("The State Government, which is nothing but the colonial government developed and somewhat democratized"). In a discussion on the Networked Public Sphere, "Yochai Benkler" describes in the Wealth of Networks (2006) early criticism of the "democratizing effect on the Internet". These criticisms were based on the overlaod of information, "first- generation critiques of the democratizing effect of the Internet was based on various implications of the problem of information overload, or the Babel objection." Benkler disputes this by stating, "any consideration of the deemocratizing effects of the Internet must measure its effects as compared to the commercial, mass-media-based public sphere." In "How Countries Democratize", Samual Huntington (1992) describes the three waves of democratization in the 20th century. The "waves" brought more openness and freedom to the masses in these countries. The democratizing of the Internet also brings greater choice and more openness to the masses. In another example, David Guston's (2004) "Let's Democratize Science" he describes how Science like other institutions can be democratized, "in science as elsewhere, is creating institutions and practices that fully incorporate principles of accessibility, transparency, and accountability." In these three examples, the concept of greater access, choice and freedom is part of efforts to democratize various institutions. In all three cases the effects of this democratization can be debated but increased access to information whether at the voting box, in Scientific questions or on the Internet is an improvement over the past. (Andrew Taylor)

Difference

Derived from French origins, and first used in the English language in the mid-fourteenth century, “Zuyche difference is betu[e]ne þe rearde of þe bene and þe deuocioun of þe herte” (Ayenbite (1866) 210, 1340) difference has come to represent a quality or characteristic of standing apart from the norm. It has been used in different academic circles to represent an othering of marginalized or disempowered groups, as well as a uniqueness and sense of individuality. It has also been used throughout academia as a qualifying word linking a measurement as in the difference between two objects. From the perspective of collaboration and marketization of production, Zwick, Bonsu, & Darmody “[8]” (2008) reference Pierre Bordieu to describe difference as a pursuit of collaborators and individuals in the sense of identity creation: “the emergence of co-creation marks less an effort by marketers to support consumers in their individual(ist) and individualizing articulations of consumption as the pursuit of distinction and difference (Bourdieu, 1984).” This indicates that among consumers (and among producers) there is a desire to seek out difference and make oneself distinct from others. This idea is echoed in Pinar’s description of Grant’s notion of technology “[9]” (2012): “Because it is simultaneously universalizing and homogenizing, technology’s intensification of immediacy and efficiency erases heterogeneity, cultural, political, subjective. Whatever “difference” remains becomes commodified, incorporated into a system of exchange recalculating its value as eccentricity or pathology or sentimentality.” Within the realm of social justice difference is used to describe diversity and is used to support calls for greater equity. Sleeter, “[10]” (1995) calls “to embrace diversity by a commitment to the principle that equitable access, widespread achievement, and social justice result in a provision of noncoercive choices. [This will] influence the role that difference and diversity play in determining the direction of United States society.” This highlights the importance of recognizing and celebrating difference to the betterment of society. Wall “[11]” (2012) builds on this idea and indicates the importance of difference theory as a means of helping students understand the history of marginalization as a result of political will and power. “The difference model has the advantage for children of articulating historical margin¬alization and expanding the exercise of political power to include systematically sup¬pressed differences.” (David Cadman)

Digital

Originating from the Latin word ‘digitalis’ from ‘digitus’, means ‘pertaining to fingers’. The definition in reference to ‘numerical digits’, with regard to computers did not develop until about the 1940s, and still, its reference to recording or broadcasting, until about the 1960s. It is interesting to note that the origin of the word is what appears to be the first form of ‘technology’ that was available to humankind in order to communicate and calculate, and has evolved to become something highly ‘technical’ where we still use our ‘digits’. The use of the word ‘digital’ in Poyntz and Hoechsmann’s (2011) article, “Children’s Media Culture in a Digital Age”, is used to explain the change in today’s childhood experiences due to the advanced and more accessible forms of technology. This idea is shown from the change of the word from its original adjective form to an adverb, ‘digitally’, to create the phrase “digitally mediated life” (Poyntz & Hoechsmann, 2011, p. 488). This digitized lifestyle allows for young people to become a part of a much more participatory culture. As such, from Poyntz’s session, the ‘digital’ is personified to discuss how it is not enough for young children to simply be functional with digital tools, but to build a positive and effective relationship with them. That is, for youth to fully understand the potential of the digital tools. Yet while it is obvious through the use of the word that a digitized lifestyle is part of the 21st century, this lifestyle is not consistently maintained in school environments. BC’s education plan, recognizes the ‘digital lives’ of students, and has aimed to create easier access to ‘digital tools’. C21 presents ideas of the ‘digital generation’ and the need to provide students with the ‘digital capacity’ to be functional citizens in the 21st century. However, this implementation is either none existent or too slow. The idea of a 'digital divide' appears in the aforementioned articles to distinguish between those who have easy access to technology and those who do not, yet perhaps it can also help to define the lack of balance in the use of digital tools of a child’s school and home environment. The stress on the word ‘digital’ signifies the importance of not only examining its affects on young children to navigate an unknown future, but it becomes even more imperative to foster a positive, understanding relationship that can only be done by reducing the digital divide between a young child’s home and school life. (Claire Ahn)

Digital Divide

A term, made up of two words: Digital (from the Latin digitālis, in relation to the finger. Although, in its current usage, first noted in 1978, digital has come to refer to digital technology and digital media OED]) and divide (which also derives its etymology from the Latin dīvidĕre and its usage to the Middle Ages, meaning to separate, or to cleave (Chaucer c1374). Regarding our current understanding, the term digital divide points to the division between two groups as it relates to technology. While access to the hardware and software necessary to participate in the digital realm was the first way that the digital divide was used (1995), it was then described by Norris in as “Internet haves and Internet have-nots” [12](“Information Poverty in the Emerging Internet Age” Norris ,2000). The term digital divide describes the inherent chasm that exists when members of one group have greater and perhaps ready access to digital technology. In this way, the digital divide also describes the privileging of one group over another when not only access to technology but also the necessary digital literacy is not available universally. It has since broadened its meaning again to include other agents of socialization that result from the divide. As Stuart R. Poyntz points out, “digital divides in the global North have more to do with young people’s ability to access the socially, culturally, and educationally rich networks that can enable one to fully participate in online communities and networked life” (Children’s Media Culture in a Digital Age, 2011)[13]. Regarding education, the digital divide further describes the gap between students who are being educated in an environment that prepares them for a technological and digital world versus those who do not. Some have criticized the term for the way that it masks other social barriers and instead prefer to title it the racial ravine (Jill Rooney, 2011[14]) as it really points out the educational performance divide between races, where visible minorities continue to lag. (MacDougall)

Digital Literacy

Digital is derived from the latin digitalis, meaning finger, however the earliest English usage was circa 1425 and in reference to numbers. Modern usage commonly refers to computer technology in light of the fact that computer data consists of information encoded as numbers. Literacy, derived from the classical Latin litterātus, meaning marked or inscribed with letters, was first used in English in 1880 to denote the opposite of illiteracy. As early as 1943, literacy was used in compound form to denote a functional level of understanding in a subject area (e.g. financial literacy, political literacy, etc.). It is not known when the compound term digital literacy was coined. Currently, digital literacy has two distinct usages. The first usage, referring fluency with basic computer use can be found in many scholarly articles (e.g. Poyntz, 2011 “Children’s media culture in a digital age” and Hargittai, 2005 “Survey measures of web-oriented digital literacy"). Other texts extend this to the second usage, which also include the critical thinking skills to evaluate content presented through digital media (similar to media literacy). Wikipedia’s entry on digital literacy focuses on this approach and provides links to many resources that explore the skills needed to achieve digital literacy. In the USA, the Obama administration has created a website with resources for teachers, however the focus of this website does not go far beyond fluency with computing skills (one notable exception is child protection). As educators begin to conceive of what students should be learning in a 21st century school, Voogt & Roblin (2012, “A comparative analysis of international frameworks for 21st century competences: Implications for national curriculum policies”) note that information literacy is a common competency across the frameworks that they studied. In their words, “information literacy refers to the capacity to access information efficiently and effectively, to evaluate information critically and competently, and to use information accurately and creatively” (p. 308). Looking forward, educators will need to consider how to best prepare students to understand, interpret, reflect on, and critically analyze the rapidly evolving digital media with which they interact on a daily basis. (Ian Felgar)

Digital Millennium Copyright Act

The DMCA was a controversial copyright law signed by President Clinton on October 28, 1998, which “prohibits gaining unauthorized access to a work by circumventing a technological protection measure put in place by the copyright owner where such protection measure otherwise effectively controls access to a copyrighted work,” (Congress Summary). Yochai Benkler deems the DMCA as an “assault on peer-to-peer technologies,” and explains that Hollywood is the culprit behind it. He asserts that Hollywood is limiting the “freedom of action of those who wish to produce information, knowledge, and culture,” in an effort to secure their own monetary returns, (2006). “In addition, the DMCA heightens the penalties for copyright infringement on the Internet…The DMCA amended Title 17 of the United States Code to extend the reach of copyright, while limiting the liability of the providers of on-line services for copyright infringement by their users,” (Wikipedia). According to the U.S. Copyright Office Summary, the DMCA was divided into six titles. Title I, the “WIPO Copyright and Performances and Phonograms Treaties Implementation Act of 1998,” implements the WIPO Treaties. Title II, the “Online Copyright Infringement Liability Limitation Act,” creates limitations on the liability of online service providers for copyright infringement when engaging in certain types of activities. Title III, the “Computer Maintenance Competition Assurance Act,” creates an exemption for making a copy of a computer program by activating a computer for purposes of maintenance or repair. Title IV contains six miscellaneous provisions, relating to the functions of the Copyright Office, distance education, the exceptions in the Copyright Act for libraries and for making ephemeral recordings, “webcasting” of sound recordings on the Internet, and the applicability of collective bargaining agreement obligations in the case of transfers of rights in motion pictures. Title V, the “Vessel Hull Design Protection Act,” creates a new form of protection for the design of vessel hulls.” (Eva Ziemsen)

Digital Native

A term used in popular culture and media to refer to a young person generally born after the proliferation of technology and digital media; one whose views of technology and culture have been shaped by their immersion in digital technologies, usually from an early age. The term was first used by popular media author Marc Prensky, who suggests that the ‘singularity’ of the arrival of digital technologies has physically rewired the brains of ‘digital natives’, so that they process information in a completely novel way (Prensky, 2001). The current struggles experienced in the education system, he argues, are caused by teachers, who, are ‘lazy’ and ‘ineffective’, hopelessly anachronistic ‘digital immigrants’ who can’t possibly speak the language of these digital natives. Similarly, Don Tapscott, in his book Grown Up Digital uses the label ‘net generation’ for these young people whose world is fundamentally different than (and impenetrable by) those of previous generations. Implicit in these views a form of ‘academic moral panic’ (Bennet et. al., 2008); the expectations these young people have of connectedness, communication, and information on demand mean traditional societal structures are hopelessly inadequate to serve their needs. While the term is oft-cited in popular literature, the assertions made by authors like Prensky and Tapscott lack the empirical data needed to substantiate such broad claims. Researchers of youth culture tend to take a somewhat less dystopian view; Buckingham (Beyond Technology, 2007)reinforces that the ‘digital generation’, while in general avid adopters of new technologies, are less interested in technology for itself and more for the affordances around communication and information that it provides. Bennett et al. (2008) synthesise both empirical and theoretical literature and conclude that while, in general, young people do have a high level of engagement with new technologies, such sweeping generalisations like those inherent in the term ‘digital native’ are unwarranted. (Ashley Shaw)

Disappear

To stop being visible or to vanish from sight; the opposite of appear. Disappear is derived from appear both originating from French: disparaître, disparaiss The verb's first recorded use in English was in the 16th century. Over the next hundred years it is variously spelled as: disapere, disappeer, disappeare, and disappear. Early on the word is used generally as an intransitive verb for example in 1690 John Locke Ess. Humane Understanding ii. x. 66 " The Pictures drawn in our Minds, are laid in fading Colours; and if not sometimes refreshed, vanish and disappear." In the 19 and 20th centuries it occasionally takes the transitive form as 1949 Amer. Speech 24 41 The magician may speak of disappearing or vanishing a card. More recent usage includes both forms when referring to a person disappearing, having been arrested or killed under suspiscious political circumstances and subsequently not having his or her fate evealed to family or the public: 1985 London Mag. Oct. 22 The other journalist, a friend of mine, ‘disappeared’ at the end of 1976 and is presumed murdered by the military who seized government in March that year. And: 1999 Guardian 28 Sept. i. 2 By refusing to tell the families of the 1,198 people who were forcibly disappeared by the Chilean security forces what had happened to their loved ones they were subjecting them to ‘mental pain, suffering and demoralization’. http://www.oed.com.ezproxy.library.ubc.ca/view/Entry/53500?redirectedFrom=disappear& William Pinar (UBC, July 13 2012 Modernity, Technology, Nationality ) notes that Grant observed the disappearance of the individual "On both the Left and Right, the individual disappears into the collectivity, into the workers or the Volk, respectively. Many individuals did disappear. In The Jews and Economic Life (1911) and in German Socialism (1934),..." For the benefit of national and cultural renewal the individual is subsumed for technology. In discussion with Mary Bryson (Digital Democracies/Prosthetic Mobilities?: The Politics of Moving Bodies (e.g., Knowledge & People) in the Posthuman- RQT UBC July 12 2012) Being disappeared from public and professional view and concern also can arise as a unintended byproduct of modern media technology. In providing for virtual meeting places for marginalized individuals, such as those in the LBGT and Homeless communities, to gather information and support as it allows for society not have have to concern itself with marginalized groups as they are meeting separately - a form of self segregation and thus recognition of individual needs and rights fails to occur. (Yvette Cassidy)

Distributed cognition

Distributed cognition, originated by Edwin Hutchins in the 1990s by simultaneously considering the mind in society (Vygotsky, 1978) and the society of mind (Minsky, 1985), is a branch of cognitive science that proposes cognition and knowledge are not confined to an individual; rather, it is distributed across objects, individuals, artefacts, and tools in the environment. The distributed cognition approach provides a new place to look for the origins of complexity and has been used to analyze collaborative work practices for a number of different application areas. Distribution cognition changes the traditional view that intelligence is an attribute of individuals, the distributed cognition perspective holds that intelligence is distributed across “brain, body, and world,” (Andy Clark, 1997). The theory of distributed cognition informs educational research and practice when it provides a perspective for envisioning new learning contexts, tools, curricula and pedagogy. With new technologies, new cognitive possibilities arise. Educators are enabled to design activities with new technologies introduced into the classroom which would not be possible without the presence of artifacts or information appliances. It expands and augments human cognitive capacities, such as using database to externalize memory and spell-checker to help with students’ writing. Also, we as educator can exam how learning is acquired and developed effectively throughout a system including instructors, students, technologies, and various artifacts, see how meaningfully students can interact with tools that expand mental capacities based on the integrated view of human cognition, in which cognition and the environment are intimately connected. (Jenkins et al., 2009, Confronting the challenges of participatory culture) (Jennifer Jing Zhao)

Domain

Derived from Latin (dominicum: lordship, property and dominus: lord, owner) domain is used in a growing circle of disciplines including but not limited to mathematics, law, government, physics, logic, linguistics and computing and is used in other modern languages: German (Domäne), Spanish (dominio) and French (domaine from Old French demaine meaning lord’s estate). First used in English as the term demesne in 13th century, the primary idea was concerned with possession of real estate as one’s own through tenure where one would not own the land but would hold it in demesne. (“For in demeyne may be held lands and rents, in fee and for term of life.” trans. Britton III, 1292) OED. In Recognizing Public Domain (2003), David Lange explores ‘public domain’ in the realm of intellectual property. Through addressing questions such as ‘What does public domain mean?’ and ‘What is the nature of individual rights in the public domain?’ Lange refers to an on-going dialogue he and James Boyle participate in in order to try and tease out a term that is “elastic and in-exact” and is most likely a function of agenda and perspective. According to Lange, Boyle sees public domain through the perspective of the “second enclosure movement”, an occurrence that happened in 19th century Britain where previously public lands available to be used by all were enclosed by fences by those wealthier. “From this perspective, the public domain is perhaps most usefully seen as a commons, set off against the fences that delimit the interests of individual rights holders” (Lange, 2003, p. 463). In Second Enclosure Movement and the Construction of the Public Domain (2003) Boyle argues that the second enclosure unit is a threat to intellectual progress and as example uses the field of science that has thrived in an open source system. Lange challenges readers to imagine a public domain that secures opportunity, or sanctuary, for creative expression where individuals can play, think and imagine, a domain that questions the concept of copyright and its private encroachment upon personal expression. In the Wealth of Networks (2006), Yochai Benkler writes about a shift from the Internet being funded by governments. In the mid 1990s, this changed to the Internet being funded completely by the private sector. In 1995, the Clinton administration formulated a policy on intellectual property that tried to enclose public domain and pressured other countries to adopt this policy. Under this policy the concept of a shared public domain was replaced by a domains governed by private interest. (Jen Erickson)

Dynamic

Derived from French (dynamique) and Greek (δυναμικός: powerful, strength) and used in a variety of academia including: physics, engineering, sociology, psychology, computer science, and mathematics. Its first use in English, according to the “English Oxford Dictionary” was in the early 19th century to indicate a measurement of force causing movement: often opposed to static. It is revealed in the article, “A Comparative Analysis of International Frameworks for 21st Century Competences: Implications for National Curriculum Policies” by Joke Voogt and Natalie Pareja Roblin (2012) that “dynamic changes” in the current and future workforce are not being catered to by the existing school systems. This problem, as Voogt and Roblin suggest, is a challenge that educators need to be aware of and to address in order to meet the demands of its stakeholders, and ultimately, society. In the field of literature, Dobson, Michura, Ruecker, Brown, & Rodriguez (2011) argue in their article “Interactive Visualizations of Plot in Fiction” that the traditional plot graph most commonly utilized by classroom teachers is too “static,” and restrictive. In turn, they propose a more “dynamic approach” that allows students more freedom, flexibility, and creativity in their creation of plot graphs that offer different ways, or perspectives, of analyzing text. (Robert Young)