Format Bigotry

Doug JohnsonSecond Life, September 8,

2009

…a little about the presenter

http://doug-johnson.squarespace.com

A modest proposal…

poke an eye out

poke another kid

write a dirty wordwrite a threatening notewrite a note with test

answers

some students may have nicer models

get stolen

break and need repair

might be used for doodling

Federal legislation neededNOW!

Just what’s the point?

These kind of questions drive me bonkers:

Should we ban games from our library?

Should we block social networking sites in our building?

Should kids be allowed to access to video/audio streaming sites in our district?

These kind of questions drive me bonkers:

Should we ban games from our library?

Should we be ban books from our libraries?

Should we block social networking sites in our building?

Should we allow kids to have pencils and paper in our building?

Should kids be allowed to access to video/audio streaming sites in our district?

Should kids be allowed to watch DVDs in our district?

Why do adults so often start with format when determining appropriateness?

Penthouse

Games

You may be a format bigot if:

You may be a format bigot if:

You have different rules surrounding the checkout of videos and laptop computers than you do books.

You may be a format bigot if:

You allow voluntary free reading of books, but ban personal audio players with audio books.

You may be a format bigot if:

You believe reading novels is preferable to reading graphic novels.

You may be a format bigot if:

You ask kids to read something else when they’ve read one book multiple times, but you purchase movies just so you can watch them again and again.

You may be a format bigot if:

You accept research findings in print but not as a multimedia product.

You may be a format bigot if:

You require at least one “print’ reference in student research papers, but not at least one audiocast, video or blog reference.

You may be a format bigot if:

You allow, and even encourage kids come to the library to play chess on a chessboard, but not chess on a computer screen.

Other signs of format bigotry?

• In acceptable assignments?• In acceptable use of non-school

library use?• In … ?

How are you literate?

Forming an opinion of a resource based on its format makes about as much sense as forming an opinion about a person based on ethnicity.

 

Forming an opinion of a resource based on its format makes about as much sense as forming an opinion about a person based on ethnicity.

We've got to get beyond format bigotry. 

Forming an opinion of a resource based on its format makes about as much sense as forming an opinion about a person based on ethnicity.

We've got to get beyond format bigotry. Kids have.

Format Bigotry

Doug JohnsonSecond Life, September 8,

2009