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Friendly and hostile audiences of young in the new media writing

Risto Niemi-Pynttäri & Outi KallionpääGreat Writing 2012 London

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Outi Kallionpää

Senior teacher of Finnish and Literature at New Media High School of Rajamäki, Finland

Master of Arts in literature, creative writing and Finnish language

My family: Husband Marko (teacher), daughters Lumi-Emilia (13 yrs) and Oona-Roosa (10 yrs) and Onni (a golden retriever)

My hobbies: jogging, yoga and reading/writing

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The research project of the New Media WritingDoctoral thesis “ New Media Writing and

Creativity at High School Writing Pedagogy“Rajamäki High School is a pilot school of The

New Media Writing research projectThe reaseach questions:1. How new media writing could be taught at

high school in a creative way?2. What is the role of creative writing in the new

media writing?3. How the creative new media writing education

effects on students motivation to write?

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Risto Niemi-PynttäriPhD Researcher, Literature, Creative Writing,

University of Jyväskylä, FinlandLiterary blog writer (www.luutii.ma-pe.fi)Literature and prose styles in blogs Public spheres of Literary WritingCreativity in public spheres Flaming, trolling or agonistic debates Public Web at high school writing ? What are

the threads and possibilities ?

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Writing at high schoolMatriculation examination is the main goal of

the education Writing is formal, academic writingStudents, especially boys, lack motivation to

study writingCreative writing seems to raise motivation to

write in generalParadox: new media writing is not taught

at school, but students write a lot in the new media outside the school

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Writing and spoken languageQuestion of the change of language, adopting new vocabulary,

new ways of speaking.Creative self-expression is part of identity work of young

people, of adopting new language. It is not only individualistic, but social as well.

Importance of freetime for young, Young people´s social media is pluralistic,

There are connections between problematic Internet use (PIU) of young and their lack of sympathy.

Socially sensitive writing, combining figures and story. SIMShttp://ubastisims.wordpress.com/

Using spoken language in writing - as narrative prose makes - it brings social nuances at language - and enriches the social web.

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New media writingTRADITIONAL SCHOOL WRITING NEW MEDIA WRITING Written text Text is written text, visual elements and voices Creative writing and formal writing are separate The border between creative and formal writing is not clear Individual process Individual and collaborative/social process Audience is the teacher Audience is the internet and the various social youth forums One-way feedback Interactive feedback during the whole process Grammar orientated editing Editing is a constant collaborative process Classroom context The public context of the internet

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Teaching new media writingThe important skills the students should be taught

about the audience and the feedback process:Use feedback selectively, learn to pick up those

things which help YOU to develop as a writer.Separate the text from your personality. The

estimating of the text is not the estimating of you as a person.

Develop the skills of receiving feedback actively by learning spontaneous and dialogic interactivity.

Teacher! Offer plenty of positive writer experiences to strengthen writer identity of the students.

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Writer/reader and Cultural Power

Reader is always part of social context of writing (Clark and Ivanic: The Politics of Writing)

Writers position (situation , expression of cultural knowledge and personality)

Readers position (imagined reader is often friendly, hostile readers at social web are not recognized)

Dialogical relationship in the text (different values, online conflicts). Rhetorical possibilities of sharing differences between styles, attitudes, values.

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SIMS stories and pluralityWriting drama as creating situations between

peopleThe reader is free to take her point of view at

the situationTake snapshots from the SIMS game, write

the story between these pictures and publish it in a blog

Or create situations between people carefully as in studio and take pics

The genre of SIMS stories has sense of the plurality of youth cultures.

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