One of the higher purposes of creative mediums, whether they be audio-visual, text-based or both, is to encourage deeper thinking about important social issues. This is being done notably on two fronts in the form of the motion picture, District 9, and the cable television series iCarly.
District 9 tells the tale of how a huge population of extraterrestrials ends up stranded on earth and the enormous socio-cultural implications this generates. Rather than a “First Encounters of Third Kind” approach, the storyline addresses themes of bigotry and xenophobia, more reminiscent of the science fiction movie “Alien Nation”. Where it departs from the standard science fiction genre, though, is the powerfully symbolic setting of the story itself: Johannesburg, South Africa, the central location of decades of world attention due to its apartheid laws that created legal separation between Blacks and Whites. In the movie, similar draconian laws are passed to address the alien “problem” in District 9, a bureaucratic designation given the location where these stranded extraterrestrials are forced to live in squalid conditions very akin to Nazi concentration camps. The personal transformation that both the aliens and some of the human beings who are close to the situation undergo makes for a visceral connection; particularly to the larger concerns of today about a re-emergence of deep seated racial intolerance coming forth in many developed countries due to economic conditions, immigration issues, and America having elected its first African American president.
The second standout in my acknowledging contributions of higher order thinking and learning via the creative medium is the teens-targeted Nickelodeon show, iCarly. A 21st century version of “Wayne’s World", the shows’ stars host a web-based television show for their peers. Though essentially a comedy, iCarly manages to serve up some potent lessons about the environment, entrepreneurship, and basic family values in most episodes I have seen. Most recently an episode about constructing a science project contest that had at least one lesson dealing with environmental stewardship was built around the theme “reduce, reuse, recycle.” Though, predictably, none of the iCarly cast won the contest, their hijinks in trying to develop an acceptable project made for some poignant teachable moments. One of note was the character Fred learning that his otherwise very well designed mobile composting device would actually increase the carbon footprint because some of the materials needed would have to be shipped in by aircraft. Another was lead character Carly’s electric bicycle that not only burned more energy than expected but travelled at a ridiculously slow speed.
To be sure, there is a chasm of difference between the content and themes of District 9 and iCarly, but what both have in common is that social consciousness did not end up on the cutting room floor; a further testament to the potential power of learning by thoughtful use of the audio-visual medium.
Wednesday, August 26, 2009
Wednesday, August 12, 2009
Goodbye Knowledge Age, Helllllooooo, Conceptual Age!
We are living in exciting times. It’s been more than 20 years ago that the term “knowledge worker” burst on the scene and captured the public mind. This came in tandem with the convergence of revolutions (and evolutions) of computer communications.
But it is a new day.
Author Daniel Pink, who delivers a wonderful narrative on this in his book, “A Whole New Mind,” identifies this time we are living as the post-knowledge age and, more specifically, the time of the “conceptual worker”.
Whereas the knowledge worker was someone who took the traditional blue collar work concept and moved it to information-specific activities such as software engineering, the conceptual work synthesizes disparate work systems and brings forth new and interesting definitions. The conceptual worker is an innovator.
And interestingly enough, as blue collar work eventually moved overseas to countries with developing economies, so now has knowledge work done the same thing. This is why China and India are ruling the economic dynamics of present time.
And it is also why the U.S. and other developed economies, under the right leadership, will emerge as leaders of conceptual work the essence of which is entrepreneurship, innovation and creativity.
The truth is—and I am borrowing very loosely from Andy Warhol’s famous line—in the future we are all going to be actors, artists, and designers.
My oldest son, Cornelius Fortune, is an excellent example of a conceptual worker. Corney is the associate managing editor of a newspaper, an accomplished fiction writer, and a musician with a popular local band (where he play a variety of horn and electronic instruments). Similarly, I am a writer, an educator, a preacher, and an entrepreneur. There was a time when someone with this array of skills was labeled affectionately as a “renaissance man.” But there was also the unspoken implication that this person was still trying to figure out what he would be “when he grew up.” Now, though, the synthesizing of skills is the hallmark of conceptual competence and evidence of functioning at the higher order levels of Bloom’s Taxonomy.
Indeed, what an exciting time we are living in.
Bibliography
Bloom’s taxonomy (2009). Retrieved July 29, 2009 from
http://www.odu.edu/educ/roverbau/Bloom/blooms_taxonomy.htm
Kolb, D.A. (1984). Experiential learning. Prentice-Hall: Englewood Cliffs, NJ.
Pink, D.H. (2008). A whole new mind. NY: Riverhead Books.
Knowles, M.S. (1989). The making of an adult learner. Jose Bass: San Francisco
But it is a new day.
Author Daniel Pink, who delivers a wonderful narrative on this in his book, “A Whole New Mind,” identifies this time we are living as the post-knowledge age and, more specifically, the time of the “conceptual worker”.
Whereas the knowledge worker was someone who took the traditional blue collar work concept and moved it to information-specific activities such as software engineering, the conceptual work synthesizes disparate work systems and brings forth new and interesting definitions. The conceptual worker is an innovator.
And interestingly enough, as blue collar work eventually moved overseas to countries with developing economies, so now has knowledge work done the same thing. This is why China and India are ruling the economic dynamics of present time.
And it is also why the U.S. and other developed economies, under the right leadership, will emerge as leaders of conceptual work the essence of which is entrepreneurship, innovation and creativity.
The truth is—and I am borrowing very loosely from Andy Warhol’s famous line—in the future we are all going to be actors, artists, and designers.
My oldest son, Cornelius Fortune, is an excellent example of a conceptual worker. Corney is the associate managing editor of a newspaper, an accomplished fiction writer, and a musician with a popular local band (where he play a variety of horn and electronic instruments). Similarly, I am a writer, an educator, a preacher, and an entrepreneur. There was a time when someone with this array of skills was labeled affectionately as a “renaissance man.” But there was also the unspoken implication that this person was still trying to figure out what he would be “when he grew up.” Now, though, the synthesizing of skills is the hallmark of conceptual competence and evidence of functioning at the higher order levels of Bloom’s Taxonomy.
Indeed, what an exciting time we are living in.
Bibliography
Bloom’s taxonomy (2009). Retrieved July 29, 2009 from
http://www.odu.edu/educ/roverbau/Bloom/blooms_taxonomy.htm
Kolb, D.A. (1984). Experiential learning. Prentice-Hall: Englewood Cliffs, NJ.
Pink, D.H. (2008). A whole new mind. NY: Riverhead Books.
Knowles, M.S. (1989). The making of an adult learner. Jose Bass: San Francisco
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