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Mashups

September 2, 2009 Jerome Tells Me That Google Lit Trips are "Mashups"

that is, they mix together (mash) two different forms of technology: the book and Google Earth. I'm pleased to see that some of you are already experimenting with GLTs. I'll have Jerome back to answer FAQs for any of you who want to create GLTS -- just post your qustion as a comment. More generally, the concept of the mashup is really what we all need to be thinking about. Did you catch Brian Kenney's editorial yesterday about California: tinyurl.com/mbsfvg He sees opportunity in the state's headlong dash into using free content in classrooms -- just as I'd discussed here. Well let's all imagine, picture, what those opportunities might be like:
         One way of thinking about mashups is as a form of connecting, or tailoring. A book is crafted, slowly, and is (or should be) the product of much considered thought -- the author's, the editor's, the design team's.... Digital technology allows for interaction and connection. A mashup is a marriage of the two -- consideration and connection. Schools need materials that are slow cooked -- carefully researched, checked, and written. But they also need to engage students right now. How can we bring slow and fast, consideration and connection, together?
          I have a bunch of ideas for new forms of mashup -- and I'll let you know as they develop. But this is for all of us to imagine, to picture -- Skype turns the author visit into the author relationship; digital download turns the single hardcover into the school-wide text, GLTs turn a journey into an experience -- there should be as many forms of mashup as there are creative minds. What can you envision?

Posted by Marc Aronson on September 2, 2009 | Comments (0)