LFET IN THE METAZONE
The essay your about to read is itself a meta-construction (a deconstruction) if you will of a virtually real event. To call it a study would be in and of itself would be little more than a fraud. It is much more than a study. The metazone can create an empowered students group of self-motivated learners who create their own curriculum. At the same time, they practice the very basics of democracy: freedom of speech, consensus, and a sense of social responsibility and stewardship over a community. I want to examine what happens when a diverse group of students from the Middle-East are asked to go somewhere they haven't before. So, perhaps it would be best to call our journey a travel log. Our first stop is the Meta itself.
What is the Meta, and why would anyone want to live there? In the Spring of 2001, I entered the Meta for the first time. Haunted and angry about the Bush coup d'etat in the United States, I came across a link to another website on the internet site Salon.com. The site was called Democratic Underground (DU). Wikipedia describes Democratic Underground:
as an 'online community for Democrats and other progressives.' According to its web page, its membership is restricted by policy to those who are 'generally supportive of progressive ideals,' and who 'support Democratic candidates for political office.' . However, the scope of discussion is wide and members represent a broad spectrum of liberal beliefs and backgrounds. DU was established on January 20, 2001, the day President George W. Bush was inaugurated. (Democratic Underground, n.d., ¶1)
This is a pretty unsophisticated description of what is ultimately a rather complex place. There are articles, polls, forums, and other tools which are relevant to online political activism.
Some prolific members have posted more than 1,000 times (the point at which their posts stop displaying the exact total). Through frequent contact in the forums (including special topic groups) and online private messages, members come to know one another. Discussions range beyond politics to include such diverse subjects as pets, pet peeves, and pop culture. Occasionally, members organize face-to-face get-togethers. (Democratic Underground, n.d., ¶ 13).
Essentially, it became an online meta-community with the activity of news-blogging and meta-analysis as its primary tropes. While online communities had formed even before there was an Internet, Democratic Underground was different. It wasn't just a community. It's initial purpose was to deconstruct and repackage news produced by the Main Stream Media (MSM). Eventually, this sense of community took on new forms. People actually began reaching outside of the virtual community into their real communities to influence politics in the United States at all levels. This took many forms: letter writing, faxes, emails, phone calls, poll pushing, campaign work, protest organizing, and even fielding political candidates. In 2002, partially because of the activism encouraged by my online community I played a major role in a primary campaign victory and eventually ran myself as a Democratic candidate for the Florida Legislature. Running against an incumbent with a grassroots campaign, I had little chance of winning. However, my vigorous campaigning caused my opponent to spend over $250,000 to win re-election. After that, I wrote articles for DU and even started my own independent political weblog (THESYNDROME.COM) for my own personal and editorial views of the news. Mine is only one story. Other DUers went on to become noted authors, journalists, cartoonists and activists of all shaped and sizes. The community has become so influential that its influence is exercised at all levels.
However, DU was not the only Metacommunity. Growing parallel to this site was The Free Republic. The Free Republic's goals are described in Wikipedia:
as to further conservatism, expose political corruption, and recover a truly constitutional form of government. As a conservative site, Free Republic is pro-God, pro-life, pro-family, pro-Constitution, pro-Bill of Rights, pro-gun, pro-limited government, pro-private property rights, pro-limited taxes, pro-capitalism, pro-national defense, pro-freedom, and pro-America. (Free Republic, n.d., ¶ 1)
The pattern of activism at the Free Republic community can be traced almost identically to what happened at Democratic Underground. Known as 'Freepers', this parallel group of online activists have become influential as well. A primary example is Tony Snow. Tony Snow began writing and commenting on Free Republic at about the same time that I began with DU. Tony Snow eventually leveraged his abilities into his own news column and eventually his own show on FOX News. Tony Snow was most recently appointed George W. Bush's Press Secretary (Vandehei, J. & Fletcher M. 2006).
All of this points to one thing: political Metacommunities have become a potent influence on politics in the United States. My own personal experience was that they profoundly change how we think about the media and how we think about the world. People who participate in such communities become better thinkers and ultimately actors within the political sphere. So, it should come as little surprise that when I arrived to teach with the American University of Sharjah that I began thinking of this mode as tool in my own teaching. I began thinking and planning how I might use news-blogs and the meta-community concept to to improve students' writing and critical thinking skills. However, my goals went beyond the basics of pedagogy: I wanted to introduce my students to the politics of democracy.
META-CULTURE, CONTEXTS, AND PLACES TO STAY
As a writing instructor, I have always tried to push my students to think more critically as they write. In effect, I consider this the third dimension in writing with the first being correct use of language, the second being an awareness of the forms of modern rhetoric. The third dimension gives richness to content and somehow attempts to make that connection to that elusive quality some creative writers call 'voice'. I have found most college students at the lower-levels to be just beginning the steps of critical thinking beyond what William Perry labeled the Dualistic. Also, my experiences with students coming out of high schools in the Middle-East are that they are almost universally at this level because of the predominant mode of teaching in the region. In this mode, the role of the student is seen as being to receive answers and demonstrate that they have learned them (Perry, W.G., 1999). Relying on received knowledge, students often struggle with the basic tenets of writing essays in English. Namely, the main one: having something worthwhile to say of your own.
However, my goals for my students did not just rest on having them write and think: I also wanted them to think politically, which for most of them was the first time. La Due and Huckfeldt (1998) identified the powerful importance of patterns of interdependence and social interaction within a population. They correctly identified the importance of such networks in the political process. In the brave new electronic age, it is even more important for students to be able to navigate within this new medium. Literacy is not just about the manipulation and use of language, words and texts. It is about how this nexus interfaces through the new electronic medium created by blogs, the internet, and the countless hundreds of satellite channels beaming instant broadcasts into millions of homes. Media literacy has become as important to democracy as the right to vote.
FIRST CONTACT
Over the course of two months during the Fall of 2005 in two introductory composition courses (WRI 102) with the American University of Sharjah, students were asked to begin a news blog using the forum software provided in the online classroom management software Moodle ( http://moodle.org/ ). This must be understood within the context in which the class took place. Moodle was used as a total management solution for the class. Students turned-in their essays and assignments through the system. They also conducted writing workshops, took quizzes, completed group WIKI assignments, and read material provided through the system. The blogging assignment was real. Students received a 100 point grade based on the quality and quantity of their posts. There was a minimum goal of posting two significant items each week. Most students (through their own motivation) produced much more. There were over 800 posts in the blog. When they blogged using the Moodle forum, they were asked to do the following things:
- Students were asked to collect news articles from the internet that had some connection to the course content. Because the reader for the course emphasized multi-culturalism and politics, it was not difficult for students to find material. Students used local news from sites such as Gulf News( http://gulfnews.com/home/index.html )and Khaleej Times ( http://www.khaleejtimes.com/Index00.asp ). Additionally, they used sites such as Google News ( http://news.google.com/nwshp?hl=en&tab=wn&client=firefox-a&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official_s&q= ) for specific searches and current news. These were posted as individual threads.
- Students were asked to respond to the news articles and each other.
- Students were also allowed to also post 'rants' as separate discussion threads. A rant is “to rave in violent, high-sounding, or extravagant language, without dignity of thought; to be noisy, boisterous, and bombastic in talk or declamation” (Rant, n.d.). But, a rant is more than that. It is an emotional investment on the part of the writer. When students ranted, it was over issues that they were very close to.
There were 51 students in this study from a very diverse group of countries. Like the United Arab Emirates, the American University of Sharjah is a multi-cultural place. Our students come from over 72 different countries. However, the majority of our students speak Arabic as a first language. It is a very diverse contact zone similar to those described by Pratt (1991): a contact zone which arises between peoples who have divergent backgrounds or positions, especially between an oppressor and an oppressed individual. What Pratt seems to be saying is the idea of contact zones in most present in our own composition classrooms, where members of underprivileged groups must learn to communicate with the instructor and to each other. It is there where the real fun begins.
INTO THE CONTACT ZONE
Sometimes contact goes beyond just the mundane action of blogging. Personal rants can connect to the real world in a powerful way. This happened when my student Omar wrote “I was shocked when I saw what happened in Amman last Wednesday... on Friday morning I got a call from my uncle that the cousin of my aunt's husband was killed in that bombing... I knew this person and I spent 2 weeks in his house last summer. He is funny, kind , and very social. The worst thing is he was engaged, and the marriage will be this summer. So you can see that he is an ordinary person living ordinary life. What was his fault to be killed like that?” These kinds of shared experiences helped the students in my classes develop a very real sense of community through the online medium.
The topics and news reports that students posted about were as diverse as their backgrounds. Here is a sampling of a few: Move Israel to Europe, Iran's leader suggests, Same-sex couples and marriage, RELATIONSHIPS..... Allowed for men, PROHIBITED for women, Football teams for the women in the UAE, Chatting Between Males And Females. The news articles they collected covered almost every angle related to the course readings. As they were doing so, it was difficult to ignore the obvious: they were created their own class text. In fact, they were taking ownership of their education in ways that they never had. They were creating content and providing supplemental reading which added significantly to overall reading comprehension and a much deeper understanding of the subjects involved.
Empowered students are highly motivated and often take on strange, and/or interesting topics. One of the most interesting threads the semester was a discussion of the rock singer Marilyn Manson. Part of one of the course assignments was to view Michael Moore's film Bowling for Columbine. In that film, one of the more important interviews is with the shock rocker Marilyn Manson. One of my Iranian students, Milad, posted an article and response entitled “Could Marilyn Manson's songs kill?” This was, of course, one of the critical questions asked in Moore's documentary. Could such music cause someone to commit a crime as horrible as the massacre at Columbine High School? As a teacher, I fully expected a range of responses to this thread that would be largely dualistic. I guessed that they would immediately be either all for the freedoms that Manson espoused, or totally against it. Instead, the community that had developed by the time this thread was posted did something entirely different. It searched for consensus.
Here are a couple of the exchanges:
Yasmin: I think Marilyn Manson’s songs and all these singers like 50 Cent and Eminem can have a bad influence on teenagers as they’re still immature. It doesn’t have to make them killers, but maybe make them use bad words and try to copy these singers in everything specially the way they dress. If we go to any mall any Dubai we’ll see teenagers dressed up like 50 Cent. They’re trying to copy even they way he walks and talks.
Milad: That’s right. Remember that one of his personal quotes is: "Find out what's really out there. I never said to be like me; I say be like you and make a difference." Yet Marilyn Manson is not he one to be considered guilty, I think. Actually I was looking for someone who believes M Manson should be blamed for what he is doing; I wanted to know his/her opinion. Good to see you here though  . If you can talk about it further more, well here is the place...
As can be seen in these early exchanges, the students begin almost immediately finding commonality within the context of the discussion. A couple of other important things to note are the communicative nature of writing itself. The blog format often leads students to the less formalized prose that one finds in e-mails, or perhaps even SMS messages. The Moodle software is built around Social Constructionist theories of education, so things like smileys are build into the software itself. The prose of students is much closer to spoken speech and often contains some of the same errors one finds in such utterances.
At times, voices of dissent are raised. How do these get dealt with by the community? We can see a prime example later in the Marilyn Manson thread.
Wael: I believe that while music is never enough reason to pick up a gun, people do strange things under strange conditions. For example, I think most people that listen to Marilyn Manson are usually depressed, or get depressed listening to him. As a result, they may do something radical. I do think that Marilyn Manson could cause death, I mean, a person listening to much to depressing lyrics may interpret the songs in a wrong way and end up concluding that there is no reason for life, and kill him/herself and a couple of others.
Azeem: Ummm....Wael no offence but I absolutely do not agree with you, my friend. I am a student taking the same course as you COM 102, and i am a BIG FAN of Marilyn Manson....in fact its not only him, i also listen to other rockers like: Papa Roach, Limp Bizkit, Iron Maiden, SlipKnot..... all of these people/bands, are huge in the rock business. but when u look at me I'm a perfectly normal guy (at least in my opinion). Listening to rock songs or goth rock or punk is not depressing, people have different taste in music, some might even say this heavy metal music is relaxing to them, i am one of those people who says i get relaxed when i listen to music like this. When you are a teen you tend to listen to stuff which you would consider a sign of rebelling...its a teenage thing... Listening to Marilyn Manson songs, no matter how vile or disgusting the lyrics or videos might be, doesn't make anyone a killer....Its what is inside a person's own head that makes him violent.
PEACE :D
Tammy: Actually you do have a point, although I can't really say that I agree. At points in time, listening to people like Opeth or Arch Enemy or Afer Forever could make one quite depressed about life. That's the song's intent, they are singing about all the bull that goes on in this world. If a person can't handle hearing the truth, then the simple option could be to turn off their CD player. Or the complicated, twisted option would be to remove themselves and others from this harsh world. Seriously, which one would you do? I think most of us would just turn it off and turn on something happier.... it's the psychotic ones that would actually do something. What makes these kids psychotic? Could be their surroundings, could be their idols (I know this guy who wants to be shot 9 times like 50 cent... ???? ) , it could be anything..... you can't just blame rock because it makes us aware of all the nonsense we humans do.
It was clear that a number of students did not agree with Wael's analysis. However, instead of dismissing him completely they used terms of friendship such as greeting and smileys. Also, several of the posters pointed out points of agreement. As the conversation went on over many posts, Wael eventually posted another analysis:
Wael: Marylin Manson, In my opinion, is actually an artist misunderstood, its not like he wanted to be the world's enemy, its not like he goes home everyday thinking of how he can , excuse the language, piss off America, its just that he like some of us, found a way to express himself fully in a way he never could. All those rude gestures and bad influence songs are just his way of telling us how he lost faith in the world, and all the world does is prove him right.
In Wael's mind, something like a consensus had been reached. A broad agreement about the issue had been reached among the students.
LAST STOP
When I began my study, one of my students (a local UAE girl dressed in full cover) came to me and told me after class that no one had ever asked her opinion about politics before. A little flustered, yet eager to proceed, I told her to begin with something she knows about. She began by posting and discussing an article about women playing football in the UAE. Before that, democracy was just a word to her. Once she had passed the threshold, there was no turning back. In my mind, she became an emblem of what democracy can be if the tools are put in the hands of the people. Carefully shown how to use these tools, they are fully-empowered and ready to challenge the world. Now, she stands outside the metazone waiting and furiously writing.
REFERENCES
Democratic Underground (n.d.). Wikipedia. Retrieved on 04/29/06 from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Democratic_underground
Free Republic (n.d.). Wikipedia. Retrieved on 04/29/06 from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Free_Republic
La Due, R. & Huckfeldt, R. (1998). Social capital, social networks, and politcal participation. Political Psychology, Vol. 19, 3.
Perry, W.G. (1999). Forms of ethical and intellectual development in the college years. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
Pratt, M.L. (1991). Arts of the contact zone. Profession, 91, 33-40.
Rant (n.d.). Dictionary.LaborLawTalk.Com. Retrieved on 04/29/06 from http://dictionary.laborlawtalk.com/rant
Vandehei, J. & Fletcher M. (April 27, 2006). Snow pick may signal less insular White House. WashingtonPost.com. Retrieved on 04/29/06 from http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp- dyn/content/article/2006/04/26/AR2006042600558.html |