During this week’s reading, three keywords emerged: embodiment, privacy, and pedagogy. A Life Lived in Media by Deuze, Blank, & Speers made me think of social media in an entirely new way. Instead of media being a separate object with which we interact, this article asserts that media is intertwined with our reality. They write that media “produces reality in terms of the reality it records, redacts, selects and thereby constructs.” They also argue that we construct ourselves and our identity through media. Parham builds upon this when discussing the embodiment of our interconnection with media. The physical movements associated with media such as swiping and scrolling become embodied habits that shape our lived experience. Parham also describes the term haunting as to “experience other people’s memories with the affective impact of personal, firsthand experience.” This embodiment of emotion can be felt through prevalent stories of injustice and violence shared through media.  

A line from A Life lived in Media that stuck with me was “It used to take effort to be public. Today, it often takes effort to be private.” Anyone who has gone through setting up a social media account will find this to be true. This sense of visibility can be dangerous for certain groups. Additionally, it leads to discussions such as that in Walsh’s piece. How do we cite social media data? How do we ensure credit is given to the real people behind the data while preserving privacy and digital safety?  

Finally, I was very intrigued about Chatelain’s discussion on #FergusonSyllabus project. I did not know previously about the value (at least in regard to obtaining tenure) placed on scholarship as opposed to teaching. How does this affect academics across all grades and disciplines? Chatelain also mentions creating an age-appropriate teaching method for issues such race, gender, class, etc. I think this is a great idea to teach a new social justice-oriented generation. However, what obstacles, legislative, social, etc. would stand in the way?