This article steps away from the more detailed thread I was follwoing with identity, and looks a bit more at the bigger picture, which might be helpful at this point in time. The major point of this article is how it clearly explains how television actually sits across two media landscapes. One being 'old media' which includes television, print media, and radio and the other being 'new media' which can include:
"digital, computerized, or networked information and communication technologies that allow for new modes of content delivery (downloads and file sharing), media experience (interactive DVDs and iPods), and media production (viral videos and blogs). (no page ref).
There is also mention of a related 'new media' goal, which is to encourage multiculturalism. Shore points to the example of the American children's television show "Sesame Street"
"[as a] a form of media literacy based in the old media landscape to produce children as multicultural citizens whose media "citizenship" was formed through a highly mediated participatory community." (no page ref)
Source: https://wiki.brown.edu/confluence/display/mcm1700p/Sesame+Street
A quick visit to the "Sesame Street" website confirms why the show is referenced by Shore (2008) as being a leader in the new media landscape. There are online videos, interactive games to play, and the characters on the show (such as Elmo) are 'speaking to you' as soon as you enter the site. The movement between watching the characters on the site and interacting with the games on the site is quite seamless. Added to this, the emphasis again and again is on learning. Whether it's about learning about different shapes, different letters, basic numeracy, etc, it is very hard to find anything that doesn't appear to have a 'learning moment' (Shore, 2008) embedded within in it.
Source: http://celebritybabies.people.com/2008/12/03/advent-house-an/
After reading this article by Shore (2008) it is much easier to idenitfy how the show mentioned in my aforementioned blog entry on the "Banana's in Pyjamas", fits into the new literacy landscape. The show itself is 'old media', in that there is no ability to interact with the characters on the show itself directly. It encourages passive watching. Also, unlike "Sesame Street" which is falling over itself to provide 'learning moments', a show like Banana's is more about entertainment. As noted by Hopkinson (2005) one of the original creators behind Banana's brief clearly stated that:
'this series will have no educational agenda. It is to provide nothing but entertainment for our audience" (p.16)
Welcome to the world of Sesame Street - Source: http://www.gpb.org/sesamestreet
What carries the Banana's into the new literacy landscape though is its website. With the date range of the series being 1992-2002, it's highly probable that the website as it is today, was not part of the original concept. The Banana's website, unlike the show, is full of quite a few 'learning moments' such as a memory game, a colour game, a mix n match game. There are also instructions on how to download images from the show and how to make the characters into fingerpuppets and paper dolls..
Activities from the Banana's in Pyjama's website
Although the transition from tv to internet is slightly more clunky than the seamless transition made by "Sesame Street", the Banana's concept does participate quite successfully in the new media landscape when the website and television show are viewed in conjunction with each other..
This success in part, may be due to another reason that Shore (2008) mentions, and that is the creation of the virtual world/television network as place. Shore cites Nickelodeon (a large US based children's network) as an example of this:
"{Nickelodeon of Nick Jr] is not only intended to be a place for children's television it is to be my place for children's television. ..."Nick Jr. is therefore a 'personality' and a place … it is also 'owned' and inhabited by the child viewer--it is 'just' for them."( n2)
Shore is quoting the work by Karen Lury, "A Time and a Place for Everything Children's Channels," in David Buckingham, ed., Small Screens: Television for Children (London and New York: Leicester University Press, 2002).
The point being made here is fascinating and puts a whole other spin on my thoughts with this project in regards to learning "identity". The "Banana's" website, actually forms part of a larger network of sites known collectively as ABC for Kids. On entering the website
you are 'greeted' by "Jimmy Giggle" and "Hoot the Owl" who encourage you to 'have fun', while in what is effectively being promoted as an 'online world'. Within the world there are games, videos, a playroom, an area where you can 'make things' etc. All of the characters and storylines featured on the website come from ABC children's television shows though, like "Banana's in Pjyama's"
Jimmy Giggle and Hoot the Owl from http://www.abc.net.au/children/
Further blog entries will continue to explore what this means in terms of "Australian" identity (for example, are children now more likely to identify with these 'online' worlds more readily than they will with their real life worlds - ie Australia) by looking at the other two selected ABC shows - "dirtgirworldl" and "The Koala Brothers".
Yes, this seems like a really useful article. In fact it reminds me of other interesting work Gee has done around kids television shows and identity. Check out his book 'Sitiuated language and learning' (2004, ch7). I think you're right in pushing your inquiry into identity in this broader direction.
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