I don’t know why I even attempted to find a musical anthem, it just ain’t my strength. So I am going to turn to something I am a little more familiar with: bad movies.
[All sorts of expletives in the following clip, you’ve been warned.]
Used Cars (1980) beautifully captures the DIY spirit of EDUPUNK, I mean come on, $12.95 for a pacemaker? You can’t beat it with a stick, or even a fire hose even.
I have to re-blog Brad Efford’s comment here (I fully acknowledge I am a huge fan of Brad’s, he epitomizes the grit, quirky humor, and intelligence of UMW’s finest, and having him in this conversation is both fun and important–he has much to add as you’ll see below). His comment crystallizes, yet again, so many things that I find attractive about the idea of EDUPUNK for, as Brad himself notes, “the overt & purposeful manipulation of all these different consumer electronics just to make a quick, joyous noise track!” Wow, first the British Invasion and now EDUNOISE —I know I am pushing it, but fuck it, I am having fun!
So, here is Brad’s and Math Horne’s creative sojourn into EDUPUNK, which may need its own generic distinction —a point I think Brian’s post about the history of NYC Punk makes all too clear —to label the very movement of punk as something static and predictable is just as dangerous as our insistence on filling it with a creative energy, emotion, and community. Punk has a rich, complex history that I myself am learning about, and I encourage all those who want to dismiss the term so readily to one or two assumptions do their homework, cause school ain’t out –even though it is Summer!
On the topic of this EDUpunk craze that’s been festering:
I’m not sure if things that I’ve done in the past can be explained by this relatively new-fangled idea, but here’s a little story for you:
Back in the day (“the day” here being when I was a senior in high school), I was introduced to the art of circuit-bending electronics by Math Horne, my old bandmate. The concept was to take used toy instruments purchased from places like thrift stores & Goodwill & take them apart in order to tear open their insides & re-wire. Sometimes it worked better than others, & often it would take hours to get a nice harsh noise working. After one particular toy guitar had been re-invented so that it emitted completely manipulatable feedback-type noises (the manipulation came from dials that were soddered onto the wires themselves), Math spent an evening re-inventing its use. What he did was use the “Talk” feature on Instant Messenger to communicate with “Trippy” Tim Whelden, a friend of ours who at the time was living in Thailand. Instead of using a microphone, though, Math plugged in the circuit-bent toy & let loose white noise over thousands of miles of internet wireless-ness. Here’s a recording that they spat out; it is completely live transmissions between Thailand & Fredericksburg, VA recorded over the internet. Tim is shouting & hooting, while Math plays squeals & other noises on the guitar. The echo-effect & reverberation comes from the fact that…well…the fact that the connection spans thousands of miles.
Download Titleif all of that isn’t EDUpunk, then I may be confused about the term!
Either way, it’s a very interesting concept, I think, the overt & purposeful manipulation of all these different consumer electronics just to make a quick, joyous noise track!
The British Invasion is taking EDUPUNK by storm thanks to Tony Hirst (someone who in so many ways embodies the DIY ethic).
Click on the image above for this awesome video or follow this link.
What do you think –do we have our anthem?!
I have been waiting patiently for Brian to return to the blogosphere since this whole EDUPUNK thing took off, primarily because him, Gardner, and D’Arcy (who is one of my heroes) got me into this whole DIY EdTech thing that is resonating with so many throughout the internets—which I find really exciting.
So, when I saw Brian’s post about distributed publishing frameworks I was thrilled to see he has solved something that folks have been talking about for a while, namely the bliki, or a hybrid/mashup of a wiki and a blog. Embedding wiki sections into webpages, blog posts, and anything else you can get your hands on is a crucial link in the syndication structure he has been pushing towards for a while now, this is huge! Check out the screencast.
After that, to add genius to genius, he offers up a post that I will be spending most of my weekend enjoying — he provides an unbelievable historical context with the amazing “You can learn a lot about punk from a folk song…,” now there is an instructional technologist who has some insane cultural range and imagination.
I can’t define EDUPUNK, but I know it when I see it, and I see it regularly over at Abject learning.
But if someone forced me at gun point to take a stab at defining EDUPUNK, I think I would defer to Scott Leslie’s awesome comment here:
You know what, if the term bugs you, that’s fine, don’t use it, but do enable, liberate, disrupt, tear down, build up, do. And recognize bankruptcy and phoniness when you see it, and even when you’re scared about the possible results, resist it.
Serena Epstein, DTLT’s newest student aide, has obviously got too much free time on her hands! PorcuJim was created in honor of my new haircut, band-aided glasses, and general love of all things WordPress.
From what I understand Serena will be creating an animal effigy of everyone that we work with. Also, just so you know, if you are too tough on me in the comments of this post, I’ll make sure I dig up a photo of you online and let here work her magic for nefarious purposes.
Welcome aboard Serena, we look forward to your design prowess, a styling learning environment is a happy one!
OK, now back to EDUPUNK! š
Leslie Madsen Brooks, who I know from Clutter Museum fame, is also a BlogHer and her recent post “Introducing Edupunk” really frames some interesting connections that need to be articulated. She provides an excellent examination of the term as a larger social, political, and cultural issue at the heart of education as we know it.
Her mention of Barbara Ganley is right on, I deeply respect and draw inspiration from her recent departure into the unknown world of possibility. Not to mention her beautifully textured photographs framed my a singular prose poetry that only leaves me wanting more. She has been blogging in her class when blogs were web logs, she is so very EPUPUNK.
Leslie also mentions some bloggers I hadn’t yet read, like Artichoke’s “…what I meant is that you have a truly magnificent bottom” –the first line of this post is so awesome:
“Should I give up on ambition?” – the last lucid question grandpa asked me was not a bad question in the circumstances.
Right on!
Leslie’s post focuses two things very sharply for me: 1) that the questions of equality, possibility, and culture are always already tied up with power and capital, 2) If EDUPUNK is all about people, and some few of us believe that we need to examine what it is we do and why (and are even crazy enough and willing to commit to creating and imagining) then thinking about the intersection of those spaces where our culture and capital come into a very sharp collision, namely gender, race, ethnicity, and class, is of the utmost importance.
Thanks for drawing that focus Leslie, and you know (as do Martha, Barbara G, Barbara S, and Laura) that Fear 2.0 is so EDUPUNK!
photo credit: bionicteaching
Spent most of the evening last night dancing around my living room with my two little nutballs (full clarification: that refers to my children, and they are very EDUPUNK š ) to the Weezer “Pork and Beans” video. I’ve never been a major Weezer fan, though I liked the Buddy Holly song, but that has all changed after this last stroke of genius. The video is a YouTube meme in the most self-reflexive of ways. It brings together all the YouTube phenomes that in mnay ways reflect the changing realities of the DIY media and our cultures sense of celebrity.
Every movement needs an anthem, and while this song may soon be played out, I will be the first to admit that it has been stuck in my head ever since the great Jerry Slezak tweeted it in on Friday. He followed up with a tweet about this post which lists all the YouTube videos referred to in this pop culture gem
[youtube width=”425″ height=”355″]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=muP9eH2p2PI[/youtube]
If that video doesn’t do it for you as an anthem, then I think the Teddybear’s “Punkrocker” featuring Iggy Pop may hit a chord or two (thanks for this one Mikhail).
I particularly like the following lines:
I’m listening to the music with no fear
You can hear it too if you’re sincere
‘Cause I’m a punk rocker, yes I am
‘Cause I’m a punk rocker yes I am
[youtube width=”425″ height=”355″]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FIiP-aAaupA[/youtube]
Update: Andy Rush just noted that this song is the backdrop to a Cadillac commercial, hmmmm —is that EDUPUNK?
But perhaps the most intense anthem I have come across since yesterday wasn’t a song, rather this post by Doug Noon I found via Stephen Downes’ OL Daily yesterday (he even referenced EDUPUNK in the write-up –how cool!). The post eulogizes the late, great Utah Phillips —I was particualrly moved by the discusion of the Chicago Conspiracy Trial transcripts, which Doug Noon notes was “a study in political theater” back in the 1960s. I was struck by the transcripts of this trial, and I am going to exceprt a bit of Abbie Hoffman’s testimony below, but go to Doug Noon’s Borderland to read the whole thing—definitely worth your time.
MR. WEINGLASS: Between the date of your birth, November 30, 1936, and May 1, 1960, what if anything occurred in your life?
THE WITNESS {Abbie Hoffman]: Nothing. I believe it is called an American education.
MR. SCHULTZ: Objection.
THE COURT: I sustain the objection.
THE WITNESS {Abbie Hoffman]: Huh.
MR. WEINGLASS: Abbie, could you tell the Court and juryā
MR. SCHULTZ: His name isnāt Abbie. I object to this informality.
MR. WEINGLASS: Can you tell the Court and jury what is your present occupation?
THE WITNESS {Abbie Hoffman]: I am a cultural revolutionary. Well, I am really a defendantāfull-time.
MR. WEINGLASS: What do you mean by the phrase ācultural revolutionary?ā
THE WITNESS {Abbie Hoffman]: Well, I suppose it is a person who tries to shape and participate in the values, and the mores, the customs and the style of living of new people who eventually become inhabitants of a new nation and a new society through art and poetry, theater, and music.
That is so EDUPUNK!
Jon Beasley-Murray’s Murder, Madness, and Mayhem course at the University of British Columbia has blown my mind over the last few months. If you are not familiar with this amazing project that brings the full extent of the communal and collaborative power of Wikipedia into the classroom, I strongly recommend you go read Jon’s article on this project here or here.
Now I know I’m given to overstatement, and it is an inherited trait I carry on in honor of my late, great mom (E.L. Doctorow said Houdini was the “the last of the great mother lovers”, but he just wasn’t aware of me). This tendency toward hyperbole necessarily means everything I say should be cut in half and then divided by three to get an approximated sense of the magnitude of any statement I make. Yet, when I see Brian Lamb noting how Jon’s project may very well suggest “the future of higher education”, I can venture my next statement with a certain amount of courage:
Not since Edward Ayers’ “The Valley of the Shadow” project back in the mid 90s have we seen a single example of how the web might be used to re-imagine instructional technologies as Murder Madness Mayhem has.
There it is, I said it and I meant it! This is the coolest project I have yet to see from any of these open tools. Not only is Jon’s detailed write-up of the project (narrated whilst still unfolding all around him) an amazingly insightful, balanced and intelligent road map for other faculty and EdTech folks to follow, but it documents an open and honest approach to experimenting and innovating in the classroom with one’s students as partners and peers. It is no surprise to me that Jon and his class had such unbelievable success with these articles (3 featured and 8 good articles out of a possible 12), primarily because he was very much part of the experiment and was learning just as much as everyone in the course, and by extension equally as vulnerable. The human element of this experiment is mind blowing, his comfort with making himself so uncomfortable in front of his students is an amazing element of this project that I haven’t seen too many folks mention just yet.
But the question of technology, infrastructure, and resources might be worth a mention here. What did it cost UBC? Hmm, let me think….nothing, zero, zilch. That is so very EDUPUNK! What’s more, not too long after the Murder Madness Mayhem got going the deus ex machina known as the FA Team (Featured Article Team) came out of nowhere to help the class get their articles to the Featured Article status. Just added value of support which is a result of doing this within a passionate, invested community like Wikipedia. How different would this have been if Jon would have done this with WebCT or Bb’s paltry wiki, or some other tool (however closed or open) that wasn’t part of an intensely active and complex community like that of Wikipedia? Jon’s project puts his class truly on the open web, making them interact with various communities while constructing knowledge and providing resources and references that millions of people could potentially see, use, and build upon. Take a look at the article this class built from scratch (the first of their three featured articles), El SeƱor Presidente, and tell me you wouldn’t be proud of such a masterpiece of collaborative knowledge building. And all of this in less than 15 weeks, have I said amazing yet? Well if not, amazing!
Professor Mara Scanlon in the English, Linguistics, and Speech department here at UMW was trying something similar with her seminar on the Long Poem. Back in January we had a bit of a different approach, we started the article on a local MediaWiki installation and had the class of nine go at it and work on framing a Wikipedia-like article. By the first of April it was to be ready to be set free upon Wikipedia. Mara (who is also very EDUPUNK) and I presented this project at this year’s Faculty Academy, and the future of such endeavors will in many ways take their inspiration from the important work pioneered by Jon and his class. The ideas he lays out so well, like doing the entire project on Wikipedia, being prepared for chaos and mayhem at any point, having specifically defined goals (like Featured Article status), and forcing students to bring an unprecedented amount of library research to the open web are solid pillars of any and all projects that we can muster up here at UMW. And lord knows we are trying. So, I could write more and more, but I have to take Jon’s lead and get ever more familiar with the intricacies of the Wikipedia community, because the future of higher education and educational technology is not about infrastructure, applications, and enterprise, it is about helping faculty and students navigate the cultural specificity of communities like Wikipedia.
Given that Mike Caulfield has already provided an awesome way to start thinking about the DIY spirit of EDUPUNK, I’ll figured I’d do my part by shaving my head, busting out the sharpee, and sporting my WordPress hoodie (thank you, thank you Lloyd).
Find out more about me here.
