Creation, Social Media, and Punk Rock

This blog post is a bit late, but I wanted to post the link to my newly created glog – http://shawnat83.glogster.com/classicrock/. This glog is a poster advertising a contest at the fictitious Vancouver Classic Rock Museum. Developing a social media plan for the VCRM is the final group project for Sara Murphry, Cristina Friere, and myself.

After I completed my glog and Module IV, and had time to mull things over in my head a bit, I came to the conclusion that the creative side of social media is a lot like punk rock. There are two specific reasons for this. First, as Dean wrote for Module IV “social media creates a learning web (regardless of socioeconomic class)” and, second, the metaphor of learning as knowledge-creation. Many social media tools are free to use and open-access tools are becoming increasingly available. If an individual can access a computer and an Internet connection, socio-economic class does not determine the user. Social media “creates a learning web” and, thus, learning can occur across economic divides. Further, if learning is knowledge-creation, then using social media precipitates knowledge via creation (at least this is my understanding of it).

And this is why I think it is similar to punk rock, or at least early (1970s) punk rock. ANYONE CAN DO IT!! That was the driving ideology behind bands like the Ramones, the Damned, Black Flag, the New York Dolls, and even Social Distortion. How the music developed and what these bands became is a different story. In many cases of the early punk pioneers, the Clash excluded, “couldn’t play their way out of a paper bag.” For a brief history of punk rock, see this blog  http://www.fastnbulbous.com/punk.htm

But the rebellious, don’t care attitude was exactly the point. Many of the bands that “lasted” throughout the decades grew to become true musicians, but the do-it-yourself, create for-yourself attitude has lasted 35 years later. The thing with social media is, anyone can do it as well!! Knowledge develops from what we create and how we interact with information. I find this aspect of social media to be truly inspiring. So in the somewhat overly idealistic and hardline anthem of many old school punk rockers, “D.I.Y OR DIE!”