The "big D" Discourse

A quote from Gee (1999) but reproduced in Steinkuehler (2008, p.623), caught my attention.

"[Big-D Discourses are] different ways in which we humans integrate language with non-language “stuff,” such as different ways of thinking, acting, interacting, valuing, feeling, believing, and using symbols, tools, and objects in the right places and at the right times so as to … give the material world certain meanings … make certain sorts of meaningful connections in our experience, and privilege certain symbols systems and ways of knowing over others." (Gee, 1999, p. 13)

I think that exploring the critial theory of "big D" Discourses may be quite relevant to my assignment topic.  In my mind, characters such as B1 ad B2 from "Banana's in Pyjama's", "dirtgirlworld" and the "Koala Brothers" are all, or perhaps all incorporate "non-language" stuff in order to have meaning (or perhaps literacy value?) to their audience.

When reading the "dirtgirlworld blog", Cate McQullien (co-creator/editor) of the show writes:

"When dreaming about dirtgirlworld, we always envisaged something truly beautiful. A photomontage world that blended the real with the unreal, a world inhabited by characters that celebrated life outside and connected with children in a profound way. We wanted simple, sustainable stories; to create a show about the things we know and have really come to love. We wanted to share our love and thoughts about the future of our planet, from a hopeful and positive place, and we wanted it to be fun ... and weird ... and with heaps of music. Not 'worthy' and wholesome, but layered with humour and fantasy."

 dirtgirl - Source:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/pressoffice/pressreleases/stories/2009/09_september/28/assets/img/empImg/dirtgirlworld.jpg

As the blog comment notes, "Dirtgirl" lives in a specific world, where the 'non-language "stuff"' like the unusual style of animation blends with a specific agenda about saving the planet.  There is also the comment about connecting with the audience (children aged 4 - 7 years) in a "profound way".

Let's rock!

This blog is part of an assessment for the Monash University subject EDF6115.  As blogs are quite public, this seems a slightly odd way to do an assignment. Assignments are usually private affairs, involving  late nights spent slaving over a hot laptop with loads of stimulants at hand, like coffee (although I don't drink coffee...) and malteses and insanely coloured so called 'cheese' flavoured snacks.

However, this subject is on multimedia literacies.  Much of the reading so far has really challenged the way media is influencing education.  To write an assignment in one of these multimedias in 'real' time is, I think, a very practical way of trying to digest and comprehend some of the issues that these new literacies present.  A number of things have already popped into my head, including the slightly informal nature of interacting with online communities.  Things such as language and audience are also at the back of my mind.  Then there is the immediate nature of it all.

So where do I start?  My main interest with this assignment is the role that animated characters on television and the internet play in literacy.  I am interested in the meanings and value of these characters and the stories that they engage in. What messages are they sending?  Who are they excluding?  In particular I am interested in what role (if any) that they play in educating children about their national identity.

To explore this, I am going to evaluate a number of characters and shows as represented on the ABC for Kids website

In particular, the main shows that I wish to explore via their websites (over the September/October period of 2010) are:

- Banana's in Pyjama's
- dirtgirlworld
- The Koala Brothers

With each show, I will analyse their characters and their storylines in terms of what they say about 'Australian' identity.  This is going to be challenging on a number of fronts, none more so than establishing what is meant by 'Australian' identity for the purpose of this assignment.  For that I will turn to my literature review, which I will document here on the blog.

Overall, my questions are:

What does Australian identity mean to your average preschooler?
Do these characters teach children about "Australian" identity?
If these characters do teach this to children, how do they do it?
What subtexts are present, what is missing, who is excluded?
How valuable is teaching 'Australian identity' to preschoolers - how important/relevant is it?

So stay tuned!