Duography in the Classroom

The potential of mobile devices to support learning has been explored for some time; however, little attention has been paid to arts education and the active creation of content on mobile devices as a facilitator of learning experiences. Further, new features of mobile phones such as dual cameras open new possibilities for supporting learning in creative contexts. In this paper, the authors investigate 'duography', a novel kind of 'two-sided' photography, for mobile phones in an art class. The study involves 17 adolescents, and their art teacher, over the course of 12 weeks. The objective is to convey creative competencies by means of the affordances of new mobile phones. The authors analyse a rich set of student created 'two-sided photos' to unpack the potential of this novel learning tool for technology-mediated art education. The authors illustrate how duography can mediate creative engagement by providing a frame for reflective discussions and negotiations on different perspectives and multiple meanings of artefacts. The authors conclude with a set of strategies for designing mobile teaching tools for arts education

A Second Life Within Second Life

Virtual worlds such as Second Life (SL) are online computer-based world-like spaces, where users assume virtual selves or avatars to interact with others, create objects, and engage in a variety of transactions. This paper examines SL residents\u27 avatars, activities, and the relation between residents\u27 offline characteristics and online avatars and activities. The authors examined whether there was a relationship between residents\u27 identity style and online beliefs and activities, specifically those related to self-presentation and identity exploration via avatars and relationship formation as they are related to one\u27s sense of self. An online survey of 378 SL residents (age range = 18-69) was conducted. Respondents were asked to complete an SL survey (containing questions about their avatars, use, and activities within SL) and the Identity Style Inventory sixth grade reading level (ISI-6G). Results suggested that SL avatars were mostly human, and were of the same gender as the residents\u27 offline self; SL activities were similar to every day offline ones. Latent variable analysis revealed that identity processing styles were partially related to beliefs and activities within SL. The study suggests SL residents may not be creating second lives within this virtual world, but are instead bringing elements of their first or offline lives into this online context