A Call for Digital Explorers

Would you consider yourself an explorer? If the worlds of tech and media are a vast expanse of wilderness, are you just wandering, or actively wondering? Have you used the new media and available technology to set forth on any voyages of discovery?

These people did. Who needs billions of dollars and millions of man-hours to launch something into space? They used a digital camera, a GPS-enabled iPhone, a weather balloon, and a desire to see the heavens for themselves -- and successfully launched and retrieved their own space vehicle. Galileo would be proud. Check it out.

Homemade Spacecraft from Luke Geissbuhler on Vimeo.

In my last post about finding a purpose for learning and using new media, I made a critical omission: exploration. We need to learn new media because we need to explore.

Give me a purpose for learning new media!

creative commons licensed
by godserv (Flickr)

Do you have a purpose for learning and using the new media?

Recently I asked a student in my Digital Culture class what she hoped to get out of it. Other students have said they hope to get more proficient at blogging or becoming more informed about digital issues. But she surprised me. In fact, she seemed to push back a bit. Why should I learn yet another thing to do online when I already waste enough time there?

Wow. That really made me think twice about asking my students to learn another social network, to blog, and to learn the other skills I've listed in my expectations regarding digital literacy. I don't want my students to waste time or overdo it with media and technology. I worry all the time about my own children becoming cyberkids. Just 10 minutes ago I made my 14 year-old son pause from playing his favorite online game ("Realm of the Mad God") to be sure he'd practiced his cello and read from the scriptures before getting caught up in something less important.

"I need a purpose," my student told me. She didn't want another tool necessarily; she wanted a good reason to be using these new media at all. This is a totally fair response, and a thoughtful one. And I've been thinking about it.

Here are some purposes for learning to use new media as I am requiring: