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given in September-October 2011 for TESOL, pp107.

For the most current version, please click on the links in the SideBar at right.

Free EBooks on topics related to Multiliteracies

One aspect of multiliteracies is the changing face of publication. These days it's not always necessary to shop for good books (especially on the topic of multiliteracies ;-).  As Lawrence Lessig, main proponent of Creative Commons, puts it, books with CC license are now a part of the Sharing Economy, and you can simply download them.  Here are some examples of good reads for this session.

Remix by Lawrence Lessig

Lessig's book is now available as a free eBook: http://www.archive.org/details/LawrenceLessigRemix. It's great that Lessig has put his sharing where his mouth is, good on him!

This book is reviewed in Wikipedia at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Remix_(book)

From the review:

"Lessig insists that knowledge and manipulation of multi-media technologies is the current generation's form of "literacy"- what reading and writing was to the previous. It is the vernacular of today. The children growing up in a world where these technologies permeate their daily life are unable to comprehend why "remixing" is illegal. Lessig insists that amateur appropriation in the digital age cannot be stopped but only 'criminalized'. Thus most corrosive outcome of this tension is that generations of children are growing up doing what they know is "illegal" and that notion has societal implications that extend far beyond copyright wars."

Mediactive by Dan Gillmore

This book was recommended to us by Barbara Dieu

One idea behind Mediactive is essentially to relate how people can become discriminating consumers of media content in an age where it's increasingly unclear where all the available information comes from and with what agenda it was made available online. Also the book encourages people to not only consume but to create content on the Web, and suggests how to interact with what's there.  In discussing these areas of concern, the book addresses a range of new-age literacy issues (e.g. "In a participatory culture, none of us is fully literate unless we are creating, not just consuming." p.xvii)   More information is available at the Mediactive website http://mediactive.com , where it says that "because this project lives under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike license,"  a pdf version is available for download free at: http://mediactive.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/mediactive_gillmor.pdf

The Future of the Internet and How to Stop it by Jonathan Zittrain

In this book, Zittrain discusses opposing forces online, the generative and appliance apps, and what the Internet is as opposed to the Web.  The generative Web is the one where users are able to adapt it to their purposes because it is free and unfettered, with the down side being that those who wish to generate spam, malware, or simply bad code are also able to exploit the same lack of constraint.  A growing sector of the Internet economy is moving toward appliance approaches where content is still on the Internet but not on the Web, so that a Google search of music on the Web, for example, will not penetrate the iTunes store, which is on the Internet but not the Web.  The appliance approach is gaining favor with producers who enjoy restored control over content, and with consumers who enjoy computing with greater security, but at risk of losing the generative nature of the what many see to be Web's greatest affordance.  Zittrain explains the problem and offers solutions whereby the two sides might meet to everyone's advantage.

Also published in hard and soft copy under creative commons license, the book is available (in pdf, for free) at http://futureoftheinternet.org/ .

Knowing Knowledge by George Siemens

I have always liked Stephen Downes's Where's Waldo analogy of what knowledge is.  You can stare for some time at a picture where Waldo is concealed and not be able to see him.  But once you see him, then you "know" where he is, and then you understand the corollary to what knowledge is, which is that it's something you cannot "not know" as Downes puts it, or that you cannot 'unknow'. In other words, once you KNOW where Waldo is, you cannot again NOT know, and you will always find him quickly in that same picture.

This book from 2006 offers a connectivist perspective on what it means to "know". Expanding and communicating knowedge, of course, is the whole point of literacy, hence in this day and age, multiliteracies.  And the book is about knowledge in this day and age.

I  googled the book and was taken directly to the pdf file at http://www.elearnspace.org/KnowingKnowledge_LowRes.pdf. But in the pdf itself it says that "A Creative Commons licensed version is available online at http://knowingknowledge.com .

From Blogs to Bombs by Mark Pegrum

We have used this book in past renditions of this session, and we have even adapted our syllabus to its breakdown of the topic of Multiliteracies ...

Mark Pegrum's From Blogs to Bombs: http://www.newsouthbooks.com.au/isbn/9781921401343.htm

This is not a free eBook but ...

Multilit Yahoo Group participants can get the intro chapter to Mark's book here:

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/multilit/files/EVOMlit2010/pegrum_blogs2bombs_manylenses.pdf

In September 2010, Patrick reported that the ebook version can be purchased at http://www.ebooks.com/ebooks/book_display.asp?IID=565711 . He said: "I purchased the PDF version expecting to receive a PDF, but it is a little more complicated than that. I had to download and install "Adobe Digital Editions" first. I took several tries and I received numerous error messages, but once I got it working I found it a convenient way to read the book.

In a pinch you can send an email to Sylvia Defendi at sdefendi@uwapress.uwa.edu.au (or call her on: (08) 6488 6804) to order a copy.

The annual Horizon Report for 2011

Johnson, L., Smith, R., Willis, H., Levine, A., & Haywood, K. (2011, February 8). The 2011 Horizon Report. The New Media Consortium. Retrieved from http://net.educause.edu/ir/library/pdf/HR2011.pdf    This book was "borrowed" from the Virtual Reading Room at http://taedtech.ning.com/group/virtualreadingroom Borrowing also from Jim Buckingham's review at http://taedtech.ning.com/group/virtualreadingroom/forum/topics/2011-horizon-report  The areas of emerging technology cited for 2011 are: Time to adoption: One Year or Less   Electronic Books   Mobiles Time to adoption: Two to Three Years    Augmented Reality    Game-based Learning Time to adoption: Four to Five Years    Gesture-based Computing    Learning Analytics

The Wealth of Networks by Yochai Benkler

Benkler, Y.(Yochai). (2006) The Wealth of Networks: How Social Production Transforms Markets and Freedom. Yale University Press: New Haven and London. Retrieved on February 17, 2011 from http://www.benkler.org/Benkler_Wealth_Of_Networks.pdf 

More by Benkler:

• Yochai Benkler's TED talk http://www.ted.com/speakers/yochai_benkler.html
• Benkler, Y. and Nissenbaum, H. (2006). Commons-based peer production and virtue. The Journal of Political Philosopy 14, 4: 394-419. Retrieved May 1, 2011 from http://www.nyu.edu/projects/nissenbaum/papers/jopp_235.pdf 

"Learning Perspectives: 2010" Contributions by 40 Global Learning Leaders Edited By: Nigel Paine & Elliott Masie Published by: The MASIE Center & The Learning CONSORTIUM Free Open Source Print & e-Book: CreativeCommons License http://www.learning2010.com/ebook.htm    This book was mentioned in a posting at EduMOOC 2011, where Anil Prasad said that it includes an article: "by Julie Clow of Google, which gives a picturesque narration of innovative staff Training and Development methods that are being implemented by Google. The learning teams at google have come to the conclusion that conventionally printed guides and other learning materials do not provide a significantly better learning experience. They have tested this hypothesis in creating a leadership programme for early-career Googlers.

They did not have time, budget or resources to create a highly polished programme. They wanted to train a few thousand Googlers spread across the globe quickly. They have decided to tap into the freely available leadership resources on the web. For this purpose they have drafted a series of simple emails that contained some basic context of the leadership themes along with links to the free content as noted above. Each email required only a few minute’s learning activity such as read an article, watch a video or answer a few questions.

In the above learning initiative of four week duration, they have kept their participants on track by holding virtual synchronous brief sessions at the end of each week, which also built a sense of community. The programme received high feedback scores. Participation and completion scores fell in the 80% - 90% range; which was far higher than the typical eLearning completion rates. The demand for the programme is very strong now."

A teacher's guide to eLearning by Mark Winegar   http://eduherald.org/book/index.htm    Chapter 1 - Crisis? Chapter 2 - Collaboration Chapter 3 - The Creative Commons Chapter 4 - Books as light as air Chapter 5 - Youtube me! Chapter 6 - Audio podcasting Chapter 7 - Video podcasting Chapter 8 - Chatterboxes Chapter 9 - Learning Management Systems Chapter 10 - HTML primer Chapter 11 - Collaborative software Chapter 12 - Time management Chapter 13 - Closing comments

Dr. Mark Winegar gave a presentation on his book at the Moodle Moot Virtual Conference Wednesday, August 17, 2011: A teacher's guide to eLearning

This is a substantially comprehensive guidebook, illustrated and explained in such a way as to be approachable by novice Web designers. Tells you what you'll need for professional Web design, what hardware and software, and how to use them.

If you know of other good ebooks we might read, please leave comments below