Creating Performance And Discourse In Teaching With Mobile Devices And Photo-social Networking

Brief description of session and activities

The rapid and continued rise of the mobile device as platform for internet access is well documented. We are seeing a move away from a seated static performance (the desktop) for online engagement to a more fluid and in the moment reactionary one (mobile).

One of the rapidly rising areas of such performance is around the photograph. Our ability to shoot and share almost immediately has allowed for a type of communication which is unprecedented. Photo social networks like Instagram make having a conversation around what we see not only easy but enjoyable. But taking pictures and sharing them is only hovering on the surface. We are becoming obsessed with quality of the image. In front of the mobile device we not only shoot what we see but create, arrange, better the things which we are about to shoot and share. But after the image is taken there is a faculty of apps which combined resemble a post-production studio on the go. From simple image adjustment techniques and filters to text choices and font overlays to image sandwiching and layout arrangements - the mobile image once captured can move through a workflow and be uploaded without even entering a desktop environment.

For teaching this is revolutionary. Students using their mobile devices can now not only document discoveries or analysis, monitor progress or record evidence in the moment but turn assignments into engaging creative narratives to be shared and responded to through a ‘playlist’ of apps. This playlist results in an on-the-go performance - from capture to enhancement to compositional arrangement and text and font application to upload, where hashtag creation and sharing lead to public followup and dialogue. Whether one’s tool is a smartphone, tablet or the more recent ‘phablet’ there is an increasing amount of applications or ‘apps’ for the user to implement while on the go. Understanding the combinations of these rich tool sets and encouraging students to use them is an approach to a unique and innovative engagement in learning.

What will participants take away from the session?

This workshop will be an exercise in the multi-application approach to photographs - from shoot to share - through the mobile device of their choice. Students will be asked to shoot to a brief and then prepare images through a list of apps to create a story around the topic explored. This result will then be posted into a photo-sharing network where it will be open to feedback and discussion in the mobile environment.

At the end of this workshop students will know how a series of pictures can travel through a multiple layer of applications in order to start a narrative on any photo social networking site and how this may translate to their own teaching in the future.