Week 2 Day 2 Part II

Selfe and Grabill,
Grabill's article focuses on the actual situations that lie behind the rhetoric of technological literacy. He uses a case study on the topic of adult education to highlight the shortcomings of the current paradigm by demonstrating that what may appear as progressive due to the claims provided, may lack the requisite warrant to support the statement.

Selfe's article is an excellent dissection of technology in the classroom for technologies sake. The author directs the critiques toward an audience of peers, adjusting the points in order to pull out the manners in which current pedagogies make invisible the structures that underpin the present power dynamics. Literacy is largely the focus of the article as it occupies a similar space in terms of societal perspective.

The articles are highly complementary. Together they provide a broad image of why technology can be dangerous if there is not a critical questioning of who is using it and why. When considering the multi-dimensional framework of race/class/gender they have provided the outline of need in the dominant American culture to examine definitions that obfuscate the systemic inequalities.

In terms of power, technological literacy is considered panacea. But perhaps more insidious is manner in which the design of technology inherently benefits some while disadvantaging others. While not necessarily Panoptic in terms of surveillance, there is a sense of discipline (in Foucaultian terms) when considering that those who have not/do not conform to the dominant culture are not granted agency (using the previous definition provided in the last post). Rather technological literacy is a form of discipline that creates a means of enforcing long lasting, uninterrupted, cost effective (arguably in the long run), and production increasing systems. Selfe argues that technological literacy creates a cycle of consumption as increased capability demands increased capacity (107).

In comparison to the other two articles assigned for Thursday the 17th, there is a significant amount of synergy. Utilizing Selfe and Grabill as a broad lens that can be narrowed using Bank's and Walton. Through a selected aggregate reading an image can be assembled that revolves primarily around race and the manner in which technology as a pedagogical tool can be used to undermine the Foucaultian discipline if utilized in a manner that may appear unscholarly, but in fact has the possibility of support unrepresented facets of marginalized cultures.

~S~