Week 6 in INTE5340 Digital Storytelling is winding down. This week we learned about new literacies. One of the questions asked of us this week was “What are some of the new literacies that you believe you have developed as a result of new technologies? What are some of the new literacies you recognize you lack?” I have been contemplating this all week.

I feel fortunate that I had studied New Media Communications for my bachelor’s degree – with that, I feel like I should be ahead of the curve, but honestly, digital technology is changing at such a rapid pace that I find it difficult to keep up with. I feel like I have a good foundation on many of the technologies that have come out. Some of the new literacies that I recognize that I lack are the ones involving mobile social media such as Snapchat, etc. I knew I was behind the curve when I noticed people much older than myself using it in an official capacity for their businesses and organizations. I also admit that I am pretty shy and do not like to “put myself out there” on social media too much, so this is another factor that goes into it.

Another question that was asked of us this week in class was “How can schools support all members of their community — teachers, administrators, students, parents — in developing these new literacies?” Schools can support administrators by providing them training on new literacies. Administrators can then take this knowledge by giving teachers the training, knowledge, and tools to implement these literacies into their own classrooms. Administrators and teachers must reach out to parents and arm them with the tools and knowledge they need to be successful in supporting their student at home. Fortunately, college students studying to be future teachers seem to be increasingly exposed to more and more classes aimed at exposing them two new literacies involving digital technology, so I think this will become an easier transition as younger teachers who have studied digital literacy are hired in schools. Schools also seem to be hiring digital technology specialists who act as a support to administrators and teachers within schools.

This week in class, I produced a radio commercial for my weekly assignment.  I decided to create a commercial for a product from the future. I needed another audio assignment for my media scorecard, so I thought that a commercial would be perfect. I have also wanted opportunities to learn more about using Audacity, so this worked out well. I had went to the assignment bank in our class Canvas and was looking through the Signs from the Near Future Tumblr account that was linked on it and was inspired by an image I saw:

 Image: http://signsfromthenearfuture.tumblr.com/

I decided to produce a commercial for a fictitious pharmacy, Robotic Pharmacies, who are offering “social media chip implant malware scans” and social media chip upgrades at all of their locations, even their new locations on Mars. It reminded me of how our current pharmacies offer a variety of vaccinations, as well as tests for some minor medical issues such as strep throat, etc. I wrote a script and then went to work on Audacity. I was lucky  in that the first attempt at recording the commercial was a success! This was also a milestone for me, as I finally learned how to “silence” parts of an audio track – I was able to remove myself inhaling in air and several small clicks, instead of how I would previously just delete those sections. I also added a background track of royalty-free music with a space-age sound. Another trick I finally learned was how to reduce the sound of the background music. I finally felt like I was making progress using Audacity this week.

Here is the link to my commercial on Soundcloud.

For my Week 6 Case Study critique, I wrote in my blog about PechaKucha 20×20, a medium that I have become quite fond of since making my own PechaKucha last semester.

For my weekly DS106 Daily Create, I did “Chase a Phrase” for #tdc2010.