Global warming?

I'm sure I'm not alone in being inconsistant in my adoption of new technology. While I've thrown myself whole-heartedly at YouTube I've dragged my feet with Facebook. But everything is subject to change. In the aftermath of last night's Champion's League semi-final between Chelsea and Liverpool I had a 'wall-to-wall' converstaion with Tom (tlg847 of YouTube Community Council fame!). This sudden, spontaneous, piece of real-time global interaction changed something.

This morning 'Matt is gradually warming to Facebook!' I've never posted a Facebook status before; funny, because I regularly change mine on MSN. With the growing interest in Twitter, and rival services, I see 'status' as being a great way to counter the curse of 'out of sight - out of mind.' It was Tom's 'status' that prompted me to start the conversation. Perhaps mine will provoke responses for those who've heard my anti-Facebook rants. So in the interests of transparency I felt I should share my belated conversion experience!

New Media Literacy

I owe Tom for putting me onto this. If you want to get a grip on how we should be training our young people for the world they're growing up in then get Confronting the Challenges of Participatory Culture: Media Education for the 21st Century. Henry Jenkins, Director of the Comparative Media Studies Program at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology published this white paper that explores new frameworks and models for media literacy. It's well worth reading.

Check out Tom's video's on YouTube. He goes by the user name tlg847. This is a taste of what you'll find...