Pay Attention People - It's A GLOBAL Community Out There
Thursday, April 26, 2007I may have offended some of the best thinkers of our time without even realizing it.
When a person decides to post something to the Internet, be it text, a photograph, or a video, they would be well to keep in mind that they are not just making the video available to the person in the next room - rather, they are submitting their content to be viewed, scrutinized, and evaluated by people throughout the world. The Pay Attention video is a perfect example. What started as a video designed to motivate only the teachers in our District (the Jordan School District, in little ol' Sandy, Utah), spread throughout the world like wildfire.
This map is one of dozens that shows 500 sequential hits made to the T4 website. This particular "snapshot" was taken just after Pay Attention hit the bloglines.
From the map, we can see that the video has been seen by people all over the globe. In creating the video, however, I never even thought about how it might be interpreted by viewers in Australia, Japan, or throughout Europe.
Which was probably wrong for me to do.
Now don't misunderstand me here. I'm not saying that it was wrong for me to create such a video targeted to members of my District. Nor am I saying that I shouldn't have posted it to the Internet.
However, I am saying that if we truly are a global community, and if a blog can truly be an international forum (an international classroom, if you will), then participants in that community must make a conscious effort to avoid ego-centric references to their own particular culture - for a world-wide culture is what we must become. I'm not sure if most current participants in the blogosphere truly understand their role in shaping the future. It seems to me that as participants in this global forum, we are all forming the international culture that will eventually be called "school".
To illustrate how inadvertently one might reference their own particular culture, examine a recent comment "conversation" that took place between Graham Wegner and myself. In short, Graham saw the Pay Attention video and commented that "the only thing that rubs me the wrong way about these videos is their US centric view of the audience". I later explained that I had no intention of showing the video to the entire world, and that "I don't see how the video is US centric. Is there no Internet access outside of the US? Are there no cell phones nor iPods?"
That's when Graham let me have it because I most certainly deserved it.
Graham was very tactful. I was so naive. Quoting:
The stats about college students are US based (we don't have a college system - university or VTE options for Oz/NZ students)... Cell phone is a North American term, as is pop quiz, spelling bee - not to mention the astronomical charges from telcos in various parts of the world that make some of the ideas very expensive to implement.Now, as a new participant in this global classroom, I hope that participants everywhere will think twice about what they say, and generously forgive others of their lack of cultural awareness. In the future, I hope to be more mindful and inclusive of those outside of my cultural circles.
Peace,
D. Draper
Hi Darren
Firstly, thanks for "paying attention".
As an educator from downunder, and having shown paying attention to some staff members and colleagues, the first question I get is inevitably:
"This is fine and good, but what relevance is it to Australia?"
My answer has been limited so far to: It has relevance to a global future. I'm sure most of the facts and figures would equate to most places with a western culture (canada, usa, england, australia).
Rather than seeing your presentation as US centric, I ask the viewers to be less australian centric, and to look at it globally. The audience usually divides into Digital Immigrant, and Digital Refugees.
So far no one has pressed me to come up with "aussie" figures, to support the video.
Thanks Again.
Mark Collinson
Darren, the ability to communicate effectively on a global basis is a learning curve for us all. It's good to see these conversations taking place. I think we need to aim for more generic terminology and more international statistical evidence. However, I understand your Pay Attention video was made for a particular audience but at the same time it was also a chance to introduce a global approach to that very same audience and to look beyond your 4 walls. A question: would your immediate local audience have been as enthralled if the video was global and they found terms and/or ideas that were out of their immediate circle of knowing?
Thanks for you blog Darren, I enjoy reading it.
Julie
Hi Darren!
We all understand that the small audience that you designed the presentation for. Congratulations on your global success.
On Monday I am using "Pay Attention" with our staff meeting: I have no problem with the fact that it is US based... I will simply explain that the figures relate to the US before showing it... no issues there.
I believe your video is still applicable to other countries; for example... we will be asking "what does this mean for us in New Zealand?" which is a valid question!
The success your video has had has FAR outweighed any negative aspects... it is truly inspirational and one that I believe will help many teachers on their journey.
Kind regards, Rachel
(PS - sorry this all took place on my blog! - hopefully you have now seen that Graeme has clarified his comment)
Darren:
I feel your anxiety, but I must put your feelings in perspective. The United States is notoriously egocentric. A good portion of the people that I know make prejudiced comments without thinking about them. I am sensitive to this: I teach our minority and I hear the comments EVERYWHERE. I would argue that the edu-blogosphere is largely (much more so than the population at large) culturally sensitive and careful. You are included in that.
By acknowledging mistakes that you have made and owning up to them and discussing what better to do in the future you are both validating your credibility AND, I think, validating the, at times questioned, credibility of the blogosphere. Thank you.
Hi Darren
It is interesting to hear both points of view however I would hope that people didn't disregard the message for those reasons.
And sorry Graham, I would like to disagree on this point "I am hoping someone local more talented than me will re-spin your excellent message and ideas into something my peers won't disregard just because "It's American."
As you know I am a podcaster but I would never consider re-doing Darren's great video with Australian facts because Darren came up with the great idea for the video. From a podcasting/online video point of view I appreciate how long great videos take to create. I am more than happy to use his video in presentations and then talk about it in the Australian context.
Great comments from you all! I think this conversation needs to continue, throughout every culture. I know I'll address the issue when I teach teachers and students to blog.
I've added my two cents at my blog. It's great to see a new dimension of conversation come out of your great work. In response to Sue, I wasn't after an Aussie version but it would be fair to say that Darren has built on the work of Karl Fisch. Maybe the next step is for another super talented educator (that's why it wouldn't be me) to build a globally friendly video based on Darren's work.
Hi Darren
I trackback this post.
If I translate the entire Pay Attention video to Portuguese (i´ve download a .pdf version) and send you back a .txt file, could you generate another video with portuguese words?
Let me know... at novasinapse.com ou novasinapse at gmail dot com
At this moment, I´m not using my Intercultural account anymore. Thks.
Alexandre
(from Brasil)
I'm with Graham on this one. I think we do need a video similar to Pay Attention that reflects the global nature of educational technology.
And, yes, I was inspired by Karl Fisch's "Did You Know". In fact, it was after seeing it that I decided to do Pay Attention - I had a slightly different message I wanted to tell, but was very much impressed with Karl's style.
As for a global version of "Did You Know To Pay Attention" (work with me here, it's a title in progress... :), I would actually like to give it a shot. However, this time around, I'd like some help from the community in acquiring the statistics - and the kind of message that you would like to be told.
For that matter, perhaps Karl and I could work together on something?
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