Curation Culture: Brain Science, Social Media, and Information Literacy
Click here to view the syllabus
When we think of curation, we typically imagine secret work, perhaps the kind that preoccupies an art historian at a museum. The truth is that in the digital age, we all curate to some degree whether we realize it or not. Every time we decide to follow someone on Twitter, “like” someone or something on Facebook, pin an image on Pinterest, or give a thumbs up to a Pandora song, we are curating our online lives and dictating the range of information that we can encounter. As we forge further into the digital future, curating networks of information will become a fundamental literacy, as important as reading and writing are perceived to be today.
Sara Schneckloth, Rhizome, 2006
In this class, we will explore how social media, the Internet, and the Web 2.0 revolution have transformed our lives and even physiologically changed our brains. We’ll study models of learning, information seeking, writing, and participating in the world as we filter our lives through digital networks like Facebook, Twitter, Google Reader, and StumbleUpon. By reading some of the most recent scholarship on the information age and the brain, and by learning how our curation practices determine what we can understand, we will emerge with a metacognitive awareness of how we organize our lives and learn on the Internet. In other words, this course will help you to realize what you’re already doing online, and will guide you to discover ways to do those things better.
Curation Culture is a 1-credit Honors course at the University of Montevallo. If you are interested in our learning community and would like to follow along or perhaps even participate in the course discussions, get in touch.
You can also follow our discussions on Twitter by looking for #curationculture
Note that you are encouraged to bring your electronic devices to class and use them.
Instructor Information
Andrew Battista
I am an Assistant Professor, Information Literacy and Reference Librarian at the University of Montevallo, Alabama’s public liberal arts university. I earned a Ph.D. in English Literature from the University of Kentucky, and since then I have taught classes and written articles on social media, social justice, information literacy, and curation.
Fall 2012 Office Hours - Monday 1-3 PM, Tuesday 5-9 PM, Wednesday 2-4 PM, or by appointment
E mail – abattista@montevallo.edu
Twitter – @rawdeal85
Phone: 205-665-6109
Additional Information
This course blog is supported by a University Teaching Fellowship via the Office of Faculty Development and Collaboration at the University of Montevallo. Many thanks also to Mike Price and Hunter Tinsley for their work with badge development.