http://hdl.handle.net/10468/265 Tue, 21 May 2013 21:05:52 GMT 2013-05-21T21:05:52Z http://hdl.handle.net/10468/272 Excavating the future: taking an 'archaeological' approach to technology Cronin, James G. R. This is an invited essay review of titles and new editions on media culture published by MIT Press. The titles are Caleb Kelly Cracked Media: The Sound of Malfunction (MIT Press, 2009); Paul Virilio The Aesthetics of Disappearance (MIT Press, 2009); Carrie James Young People, Ethics, and the New Digital Media (MIT Press, 2009). The leitmotif threading the three texts under review is the socio-cultural impact of technological mediation on the processing and dissemination of information. Technologies are tools of transformation both through practical usage and ideological construction. For Caleb Kelly, turntablism mediates the expanded soundscapes so emblematic of the twentieth century's 'sonic turn', for Paul Virilio, hypermodernity is played out via the cinema screen through immersive moments of accelerated vision, while, for Carrie James, the computer screen is the locus for questioning constructions of the networked self. Already in the first decades of the twenty-first century we are on the cusp of a proliferation of enhanced participatory cultures mediated through user generated content -- a digital hive mind. The experience of technology is not neutral it changes the rate and flow of information and in so doing it changes us in many imperceptible ways. Adopting an 'archaeological' lens challenges deterministic approaches to media history and may even assist us in mapping alternative futures. Tue, 01 Mar 2011 00:00:00 GMT http://hdl.handle.net/10468/272 2011-03-01T00:00:00Z http://hdl.handle.net/10468/264 Beyond Wikipedia and Google: Web-based literacies and student learning Cronin, James G. R. Higgs, Bettie; Kilcommins, Shane; Ryan, Tony The Educause Horizon Report (http://wp.nmc.org/horizon2009/) argues that while web-based tools are rapidly becoming standard in education and in the workplace and technologically mediated communication is the norm, fluency in information, visual, and technological literacy is not formally taught to most students. In the light of this we need new and expanded definitions and paradigms of academic digital literacy that are based on mastering underlying concepts of critical thinking and enhancing these paradigms within the digital environment. This chapter attempts to test the assumption that entrants to the humanities (in this case art history) are information or data literate. This is an assumption often made yet it largely goes unchallenged. This study reflects on the strengths and weaknesses of a series of information literacy workshops currently being delivered in History of Art, University College Cork (http://eimagespace.blogspot.com/). The use of dynamic web tools, like audio and video podcasts, has given dyslexic students attending the workshops alternative entry points to learning. Fri, 01 Oct 2010 00:00:00 GMT http://hdl.handle.net/10468/264 2010-10-01T00:00:00Z http://hdl.handle.net/10468/274 Digital images for the information professional by Melissa M. Terras Cronin, James G. R. McCarty, Willard This book asks: how do digital images function as cultural artefacts? And how have these artefacts been appropriated and managed by libraries, galleries and museums, systems Terras defines as 'memory institutions'? Important themes emerge from these questions, principally, user experiences and their relationship with the 'memory institutions' of libraries, galleries and museums; the current proliferation of digital media tools via the Internet; and the role of the information professional as educator and interface between private users and public institutions. Mon, 01 Mar 2010 00:00:00 GMT http://hdl.handle.net/10468/274 2010-03-01T00:00:00Z http://hdl.handle.net/10468/241 Critical survey of information technology use in higher education: blended classrooms Cronin, James G. R.; McMahon, John Paul; Waldron, Michael Payne, Carla R. Reception and use of information technology by lifelong learners within a 'blended' learning environment needs to be articulated within a constructivist paradigm.  Increasingly, the term reflective practice is appearing in the vocabulary of adult education discourse. Educators have become familiar with the concept of reflective practice through Donald Schön's writings. Schön's work is founded on a tradition of learning supported by Dewey, Lewin, and Piaget. As a learning group, lifelong learners are receptive to constructivist learning interventions where facilitated activities provide learners with opportunities to enact and collaboratively construct meaning as interventions unfold. This case study reviews learning enactments through an online discussion forum in an evening diploma in European Art History, University College Cork, Ireland. Mon, 01 Jun 2009 00:00:00 GMT http://hdl.handle.net/10468/241 2009-06-01T00:00:00Z