Dyslexic Remix in the Digital Age
“Creativity is as important in education as Literacy!” (Sir Ken Robinson, 2006)
The current educational system is in need of serious reform as it is inherently exclusive instead of inclusive. Public school system of today were designed during the industrial revolution and still resembles the factory. Consequently individuals who do not fit into the particular mold that educational institutions create are cast aside as defective. This is unacceptable and irresponsible. If we expect all of our citizens to pay taxes towards an education then we need to ensure that everyone has the opportunity to thrive in this environment. I believe that introducing Media Language and Remix Documentary to a curriculum of students with dyslexia would allow these students to compete competently in the world of academia. By using digital technology and remix culture dyslexic students may be able to learn and express themselves in language based on images, sounds, and movement - a more appropriate learning environment for visual thinkers.
"Academia has really begun to dominate our view of intelligence because the universities have designed the system [of defining intelligence] in their own image. If you think about it the whole system of education around the world is a prorated process of university entrance and the consequence is that many highly talented, brilliant, creative people think they’re not. Because the thing they were good at in school wasn’t valued or was actually stigmatized. And I think we can’t afford to go on that way… I believe our only hope for the future is to adopt a new conception of human ecology. One in which we start to reconstitute consciousness of the richness of the human capacity. Our education system has mined our minds in the way that we strip-mine the earth for a particular commodity and for the future it won’t suffice". (Sr. Ken Robinson 2006)
In the world of academia I am considered “learning disabled” and labeled dyslexic because my mind works differently than that of the model student. Like many other people with similar brain functions I have suffered in this industrial education system for two main reasons.
First because traditional education is not designed to adapt to differences, it is designed to churn out the same person with the same skills to suite the preverbal “employer”. Instead of being celebrated these differences are treated as defects. But what most educators do not realize is that trying to get a dyslexic person to master the written language is like trying to train a tone-deaf person to conduct symphonies; an excruciating endeavor for everyone involved. Translating coded symbols into sounds is just not where our strengths lie.
Unsurprisingly in this environment the student is constantly left feeling as if they are failing at ‘important’ tasks while their creative talents are treated as child’s play. This leads to the second suffrage; constantly being treated as if there is something profoundly wrong with them. If a person is treated this way long enough they eventually begin to believe it. This is directly linked to the reason so many dyslexic people suffer from depression, anxiety, and an aversion to formal education.
The only refuge I found was in art. This is where I could excel, gain confidence, and keep my grade point average up. The frustration in school for me, and probably for many other dyslexics, is that subjects like biology, history, anthropology, sociology, psychology etc. are also interesting yet unrealistic to pursue. This is because the written language, as the sole means of communicating ideas in these fields, makes the process torturous and often unrewarding.
Many people who are labeled dyslexic are in no way intellectually inferior to others, we are simply different. We have a unique way of conceptualizing thoughts and ideas, which is why we are known to be creative. Our understanding of concepts does not translate into text easily because we don’t think in words. In Roland D. Davis’s book The Gift of Dyslexia he defines the two distinctive ways in which people think as “verbal conceptualization” and “non verbal conceptualization”. The first type helps to form thoughts with the sounds of words in a linear stream, in other words ideas are based on vocabulary. The second is described as conceptualizing thought with images, which means that the ideas grow more three-dimensionally. From this explanation it is very transparent which type of thought process would better suit learning by reading.
Davis believes that the unique characteristics dyslexic people have are natural perceptual ‘abilities’, which can result in above average intelligence or genius “if not, suppressed, invalidated, or destroyed by parents or the educational process” (Davis 1997). When referencing successful dyslexics such as Thomas Edison, Albert Einstein, Pablo Picasso, Robin Williams, and Agatha Christie, Davis notes, “…their genius didn’t occur in spite of their dyslexia, but because of it!” (ibid). He calls for a paradigm shift in the perception of dyslexia in order to allow dyslexic people to step outside of the frustration and shame they feel in school, so that they may use their natural abilities to succeed.
Temple Grandin wrote a book called Thinking in Pictures, which explains how her autistic mind works. In it one of the points that was surprising for me, was the in-depth description of the similarities of autism and dyslexia. What is more interesting was her explanation of why autism is the reason for her success. Temple Grandin is responsible for transforming the cattle industry in the Unites States after being approached by the McDonald’s Franchise. Her innovative designs make slaughtering animals more humane and resultantly more productive. “McDonald's is prompting the entire U.S. food industry to make "animal welfare" a major issue. And executives say they couldn't have done it without Temple Grandin.” (Grandin 2009, 5)
In her book Grandin describes herself as a “visual thinker” and has noted, “language is her second language”. She has attributed her success in the cattle industry to her unique ability to envision exactly what the animals’ see when they are slaughtered. Grandin imagines the adjustments to the environment of the slaughtering procedure, taking note of any triggers that could scare the cattle. She then invents machines that simulate specific environments allowing the cattle to be extremely relaxed before they die.
Temple’s ‘gift’ with animals reconfigures itself into a ‘disability’ with people. She admittedly finds people to be confusing and uninteresting. People don’t make as much sense to her as animals. The key to her success was a mother who refused to institutionalize her like doctors were advising parents to do at the time. Instead she was encouraged to pursue her interests and strengths. From there she managed to find her own way. Her “second language”, as in the English language, has served her well enough but it is her unique way of thinking that has made her a contributing member of society instead of an institutionalized statistic.
"In order to be content, men must have the possibility of developing their intellectual and artistic powers to whatever extent accords with their personal characteristics and abilities". (Einstein 1940)
Dyslexics often wind up in the Arts because this environment allows us to express ourselves using the languages we speak fluently, that being moving images and sound. This is often the only place our intelligence is recognized. For me this meant a career in drawing, painting, photography, and finally digital art. Only recently have I integrated sound and motion into my work. I realized a few years ago that my consistent dissatisfaction with my practice was not because of the quality or content of the images but because I felt limited by the mediums. Upon entering into an MFA program in documentary media I was given the opportunity to add motion and sound to my art and for the first time I feel as though it is possible for me to communicate 100 % of my ideas with out struggling to compose something in writing to explain it further.
I am now creating “remix” or “mash up” art, as a type of video collage that utilizes user-generated content from websites like Youtube as source material for my films. My current experience with this socially reflexive art form has made it very clear to me why I do not personally know many other dyslexic people who have made it to the graduate level. Quite simply this is because the written components of these studies are and always will be a second language to us.
I consider myself extremely lucky. Thanks to my supportive, open minded, and well-educated parents, I have managed to find a field in which I can express complex ideas without having to translate them into text. Within the field of documentary I am able to leave my thoughts in their original context of media language. Lawrence Lessig (a law professor at Stanford University famous for promoting international copyright reform and an advocate for “creative commons”) has been studying the history of remix and its importance to culture. In his latest book, Remix: Making Art and Commerce Thrive in the Hybrid Economy, he points out that culture always builds on the past. Lessig argues that remix is “the modern day equivalent of quoting authors in papers and books.” He describes this art form as “a type of literacy [and] a form of expression that is increasingly defining young generations”.(Lessig 2009, 1) This language of remix that Lessig speaks of is a digital call and response culture where source material is recycled repeatedly to expand on ideas and provoke further social discourse.
He attributes international expansion of this area to Web 2.0 and user-generated sites like Youtube, Myspace, and Facebook where the sharing of music, videos, and ideas have encouraged a “read /write” culture that allows its users to reappropriate, reorganize, and reevaluate the media. In Remix he argues that the age of Web 2.0 and the opportunity it provides the ‘common person’ to contribute to this read /write culture, has ushered in the opportunity to democratize media. Lessig’s contention is that corporate greed has made the building blocks for culture sharing and reflexive art illegal. He argues that this is impossible to maintain because we cannot dispose of copying technology so there is no way to stop the act of file sharing. Instead the government can only criminalize the act and thus we have created an entire generation of criminals.
I agree with Lessig on many points. In that I believe that remix is an incredible form of reflexive sociopolitical commentary that is necessary and impossible to exterminate. Also his arguments for “fair use” and “creative commons” outline a more economically and socially conscientious approach to the ownership of ideas and cultural artifacts. More importantly I relate to his definition of remix as a form of “literacy”. The ability to utilize our vast digital library is extremely important for what I believe could be an updated technique for dealing with dyslexic students.
“Remix” or “Mash Up” is helpful for everyone. It helps people to surpass passive consumption by becoming active producers of media. But its main contributing medium, the Internet, is a non-linear structure that is well suited for the dyslexic minds. In the book Digital Media and Democracy: Tactics in Hard Times, Graham Meikle describes creativity itself as subversive and discuses why tactical art, A.K.A remix, as play, can be so effective for learning and self expression. “Play as progress, play as identity, and play as the self” in reference to remix culture are an accurate description of the phases in reflexivity that the artist goes through when creating these narratives. This type of experiential learning is what has driven me and other people around the world to spend long hours mashing up media in order to understand it. The remix artist refuses to allow only media to determine how images and sound bytes reflect our world.
Technology today allows us to quote and critique in a similar way to writing. This type of dissection should be happening in education. It is important because it is during these formative years that a person can begin to create complex thoughts by working out ideas and arguments. This fundamental development, if missed, can seriously stunt our intellectual growth. A reformed approach to the read and write culture in the scholastic setting is what I believe dyslexic students are missing. Instead they struggle to make sense of the world through written language. In order to fulfill their potential we must offer them a suitable alternative.
These programs would not be designed to “fix dyslexia” as I don’t believe this is possible or necessary. Nor is it designed to replace literacy in the traditional sense, as reading and writing is and always will be a critical part of communication. Instead this program is designed to work with the mind of the dyslexic person to develop their potential for complex thought through creativity. When we are toddlers we learn that trying to fit a square peg in a round hole is pointless and we must not forget this lesson with individuals.
By making mini documentaries in place of a major term papers for some classes they would be learning vital research skills, while working in a medium that is more comprehensible to them. This could also help them with their writing assignments in other classes, for the nature of building a documentary is very similar to writing a research paper in terms of its linear construction, chapters, key points, quotations, researched material, and reflexive process. These projects would also build the students self-confidence level improving their intellectual capabilities. In truth the two go hand in hand.
My future plan is to use technology to work with student talents instead of against the learning difference. In order to make this program realistic for schools in a variety of socioeconomic institutions, I could conduct these programs with ‘freeware’ and inexpensive consumer cameras that can be used on any computer. This would be essential because if the method works to improve the students overall standing in academics, it must be affordable and maintainable for both the individuals and schools aspiring to the tenets of Photovoice based work. I believe that it is irresponsible to involve people in a process of self-exploration with tools that they will not have access to after my time with them finished. After all this is not merely an experiment it is an alternative way of communicating. These are alternative linguistic tools to be utilized and built upon.
The children’s personal expedience with the projects could help to determine whether or not my thesis is sound. The documentary I will eventually produce will observe how working with media language will affect the participants over all confidence levels. The reflexive nature of the art they create will help them, and myself, to determine where they are emotionally and conceptually. Finally I will need to have a working relationship with their other teachers to assess significant improvement in their overall engagement with school, social life, and their traditional studies.
How do we make the interactive aspects of the schoolroom more relevant to the world that these children live in? How do we utilize the resources that variation in learning “differences” may offer? Can technology provide diversities in education? Can media language and remix art be used practically for students who have an affinity towards thinking in pictures? And finally will it help dyslexic students to teach them how to recontextualize their schoolwork into an image-based language?
This will be the next faze of my remix exploration.
References
Boler, Megan, ed. 2008. Digital Media and Democracy: Tactics in Hard Times. USA: The MIT Press.
Davis, Roland D. 1997. The Gift of Dyslexia. London, UK: Souvenir Press.
Einstein, Albert. On Truth & Reality: The spherical understanding wave structure of matter (wsm) in space. 1940 [cited February 2009]. Available from http://www.spaceandmotion.com/Albert-Einstein-Quotes.htm.
Grandin, Temple. Kill Them with Kindness. in American Public Media [database online]. USA, 2009 [cited February 2009]. Available from http://americanradioworks.publicradio.org/features/mcdonalds/grandin1.html.
Lessig, Lawrence. How Creativity is being Strangled by the Law. in Ted Conferences LLC [database online]. Ted Talks, 2009 [cited February 2009]. Available from http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/larry_lessig_says_the_law_is_strangling_creativity.html.
Robinson, Sir K. Do Schools Kill Creativity? in Ted Conferencing LLD [database online]. Ted Talks, June 2006 [cited February 2009]. Available from http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/ken_robinson_says_schools_kill_creativity.html.