Modeling participatory literacy (in your pants): An analysis of print and new media convergence in the Vlogbrothers' YouTube videos

Engaging with the spoken and performed content of more than 600 YouTube videos, this dissertation examines how networked digital media can be used to speak to a young adult audience about the value of books, reading, and writing. Using a thematic analysis, supplemented by discourse analysis and visual analysis, this study constructs a portrait of two influential adult YouTube stars, the Vlogbrothers (John and Hank Green), and specifically identifies their personal literacy practices. This research then analyzes how the online video platform of YouTube transforms those practices into modeling behavior for their adolescent fan-base. The research further describes how the Vlogbrothers create social, networked spaces where their fans can participate in literacy practices and how they use the YouTube platform to engage their fans more fully in those practices. The research also traces how those practices ultimately inform and reflect broader community values. This dissertation thus contributes to a more nuanced appreciation of how reading and writing can manifest in the context of social and digital media and calls for a reconsideration of anxieties that online media, like YouTube videos, will undermine adolescent literacy habits. At the same time, this dissertation contributes to ongoing research into how youth and adults collaborate to support learning in online and informal spaces, especially in the context of youth-oriented fan communities. These contributions and their implications are discussed, with specific attention paid to how this dissertation can contribute to future work on the role of fan communities in providing broad-based learning opportunities

Exploring innovative pedagogies in a global information context

SIG Innovative Pedagogies offers a panel that includes four sets of speakers who examine innovative pedagogies for LIS education in a global information context. Each presentation features a different innovative pedagogical approach. Presentations are followed by an interactive discussion period, and attendees are invited to continue the conversation after the program via Twitter. Kyungwon Koh and Alaine Martaus discuss Design thinking for teaching the foundations of librarianship, showing how design thinking can be a tool of innovation for teaching core courses in LIS graduate programs. Their talk also features examples of how they applied design thinking in their course designs, and includes details about course assignments, student projects, and reflections. Denice Adkins and Nina Exner show how Using Library Carpentry methods and resources in the LIS classroom can be used for technology training in LIS education programs. This presentation provides an overview of the Library Carpentry instructional approach and shows how it is different from traditional LIS classroom instruction. Adkins and Exner conclude with an overview of Library Carpentry lesson design principles and standards that can be used for LIS classrooms and LIS practitioner training. Vandana Singh discusses Integrating professional librarians into open source software (OSS) communities. Singh notes that professional librarians are increasingly integrated into OSS communities, and she shows how this integration has inspired an innovative participatory action model for OSS that can be used to guide curricula for current LIS students as well as continuing education programs for working practitioners. In Gender, community and narrative: Exploring the social aspects of fanfiction, Kristen Schuster and Brittany Kelley show how creative aspects of fanfiction contributes to the development and maintenance of social networks, which in turn facilitates deeper and transferrable forms of learning and literacy. In this talk, Schuster and Kelley combine learning theory and information behavior models into a framework for teaching literacy and information-seeking practices