Question for Your to Lead Group Discussion

Group 1

Question for your to lead group discussion:

Carr suggests that new media are encouraging us to think "more efficiently" in the same ways that Taylor's system of streamlining the manufacturing process made factory workers labor more efficiently. Make sure your group can explain what Carr says was the essence of Taylorism and how it relates to new forms of "knowledge work.” (Look closely at how Carr describes the method Taylor used to make workers more efficient and what he claims the creators of Google assume about intelligence, p 5.) What kind of efficiency might new media be promoting? Is efficiency always good, and what might be its cost? Why does Carr argue "The last thing these [Internet] companies want is to encourage leisurely, or slow, concentrated thought" (6)? Do you agree with his assessment?

Questions for everyone:

Do you think new media are affecting our minds and thinking habits in the ways Carr describes? In other ways?

Do Shirky and Carr leave us with any options other than opposing/bemoaning the expansion of internet use in our daily lives or wholeheartedly cheering it on? What other perspectives might we bring beyond celebrating or demonizing the way the internet is affecting our minds?

Does reading books really led to more “deep thinking” and concentration than reading online? How do the authors of these articles characterize the difference between online reading and book reading? Do you agree with their characterizations? Do you think it is important to preserve the type of thinking and reading habits associated with books?

Group 2

Questions for your group to lead discussion-

Both Carr and Shirky accept the idea that we cannot know today exactly what might be the future fallout of new technologies. What examples does Carr give of cultural consequences that were not able to be predicted when a new media technology was first introduced? Why might Carr argue skepticism is good? Why might Shirky argue optimism is good? Do you feel the ways the internet will affect our minds or our culture in the future is predictable? If not, what is your take on facing the uncertainty?

Questions for everyone:

Do you think new media are affecting our minds and thinking habits in the ways Carr describes? In other ways?

What do you think Shirky is suggesting we must do individually or collectively to maximize the potential benefits of the net?

What does Shirky mean when he says that Carr's essay does "not actually seem to be about thinking, or even reading, but culture?" Why does Shirky suggest Carr's worries about the net represent an elitist anxiety? Do you agree?

Group 3

Questions for your group to lead discussion –

In what ways does Rich say the Internet differs from other forms of electronic media that have sparked debates about declining literacy? Rich suggests that Internet skills are particularly important to the “digital age job market.” To what extent do you think the desires of employers should determine the learning priorities set for schools? Should schools in lower-income areas have learning priorities different from higher-income areas if employers expect different skills from people in those areas coming into the workforce?

Re-read this passage from the Rich article:

Some literacy experts say that reading itself should be redefined. Interpreting videos or pictures, they say, may be as important a skill as analyzing a novel or a poem.

“Kids are using sound and images so they have a world of ideas to put together that aren’t necessarily language oriented,” said Donna E. Alvermann, a professor of language and literacy education at the University of Georgia. “Books aren’t out of the picture, but they’re only one way of experiencing information in the world today.”

To what extent do you agree with Alvermann that the rise of the Internet means that we need to adopt new ways of teaching literacy in schools?

Questions for everyone

How do you think learning computer literacy or new media literacy in a school environment would differ from developing these skills in less formal settings? In what ways have each of these environments affected the ways your own internet literacy skills?

What environments to you multitask in? Do you think multitask during lectures sacrifices your retention of material or alters the way you understand it?

Do you find the research presented in the Frontline video convincing? Why or why not? What kinds of research questions and methods do you think should be taken up to shed more light on new media literacy questions such as the effects of multi-tasking or how internet use affects our minds?