WHAT’S SO SPECIAL ABOUT TSN?
Writing & Directing. Scalpel-sharp, machine-gun fire dialogue from The West Wing scribe Aaron Sorkin coupled with David Fincher’s thriller-paced direction turns the typically tedious, mundane, boring world of Website construction into a gripping, exhilarating, mesmerizing adventure, consistent with the Net Gener’s “twitch speed” of playing video games. It’s like a 2-hour sprint. You won’t fall asleep.
Transition to Web 2.0. The activities chronicled as Facebook was being built represent the quintessential 2003 example of the transition from Web 1.0 to 2.0, from “read-only,” passive viewing Websites to “read-write” participatory sites. Facebook ushered in a new generation of sites that required user interaction, active participation, and content creation. Users contributed content in the form of their personal profiles, pics, comments, etc.
Social Networking. TSN is a mind-blowing, once-in-a-lifetime success story that changed the world of social networking. The story is like the social network itself, still in motion and constantly being revised and rewritten. Zuckerberg started a global phenomenon he can’t figure out how to finish.
MESSAGE FOR TEACHING
Watching TSN reveals the techie potential that some of your students may possess, or not. The issue is assessing and tapping your students’ abilities and potential. Here are some thoughts:
1. Measure your students’ tech skills
2. How even or uneven are they?
3. How can you or other personnel/resources level the playing field to a certain standard of performance?
4. Consider how their skills may be applied in your course
5. Leverage the momentum of TSN while it’s hot. Explore how Facebook and other social media can be used as systematic teaching tools
GO SEE IT!
As a movie, TSN received critical acclaim with 97% of the critics giving it a positive review with an average score of 9.1/10 based on 217 reviews. It has been characterized as “impeccably scripted, beautifully directed, and filled with fine performances.” If you can squeeze it into your super-busy schedule, GO, GO. Sorkin’s zingy, dazzling wordplay with his scathing wit are worth the price of admission alone.
COPYRIGHT © 2010 Ronald A. Berk, LLC
ROMANTICIZING THE WEBMASTER: "This Is Your Time!"
Who would have thought that the tapping on laptop keyboards and scribbling algorithms on a windowpane (not since John Nash in A Beautiful Mind) could possibly be as exciting as a James Bond or Jason Bourne spy flick? Welcome to “GeekWorld”! There’s an almost romantic aura to punching those keys at lightning speed to code a Website. The movie glorifies computer genius. Webmasters and IT professionals, listen up: “This may be your time.” It certainly is in TSN.
SIGNIFICANCE OF TSN TO THE NET GENERATION
As Sean “Napster-founder” Parker says to Zuckerberg in the film, “This is our time.” He may well have been addressing the entire Facebooking-Twittering community of Net Geners.
The goal was not to make money off the site, at least, not early on, because it will lose “all cool and credibility.” However, Zuckerberg’s genius combined with his social insecurities to create a computer chip on his shoulder the size of Quasimodo’s hump played out in his relationships throughout the film.
This film is the 1st detailed screen portrait of the Net Geners by mostly Net Gen actors. It conveyed their views on money, personal and professional relationships, careers, and responsibility to society. The movie also revealed their character, integrity, business ethics, and values, although loyalty, betrayal, and jealousy were the primary driving forces.
HOW DOES TSN DEPICT NET GENER CHARACTERISTICS?
You bet! All of my research and writing on the Net Generation over the past 2 years hit me in the gizzard as I was watching TSN. Aaron Sorkin’s screenplay and David Fincher’s direction represented the confluence of so many Net Gener learner and social characteristics: tech savvy, creation of Internet content, operating at twitch speed, learning by inductive discovery, teamwork and collaboration, pressure to succeed, need for instant gratification, embodiment of change and activity, confident and assertive, trial and error problem solving, and craving social interaction—face-to-face and, especially, virtual connectivity.
TSN is like mouse candy to a Net Gener baby. What does Facebook represent in the transition to Web 2.0 technology? What message does it send teachers? Stick around for the final blog, coming to a PC/Mac near you.
COPYRIGHT © 2010 Ronald A. Berk, LLC
TOP 10 SECRET TIPS:
6. WRITE ON TOPICS ABOUT WHICH YOU ARE PASSIONATE. Your excitement about the content should burst through your writing. If you’re bored about your topic, you will kill your readers and prompt them to click “delete.” They don’t deserve linguistic purgatory—writing with the excitement of a wad of used paper towels. That can induce a coma. Light a fire under your writing to create at least a spark of interest by your readers, and torch the paper towels while you’re at it. If necessary, find a way to produce a percolating caldron of controversy or some other metaphor to stimulate your readers’ minds.
Writing Gifts: Leverage your knowledge and expertise with your writing gifts to put your unique spin on every topic. Express your passion for your serious subject in your writing.
What writers have inspired you? What words stop you in your tracks? Here are two examples you’ll know.
Two Writers:
David E. Kelley: Award winning TV screenwriter David E. Kelley (L.A. Law, Picket Fences, Chicago Hope, Ally McBeal, Boston Legal) revealed his signature style in his characters’ words and behaviors, even dancing, such as the “dancing baby” and John Cage on Ally McBeal. Kelley fused his quirky, off-beat humor with the surreal and the serious. He’s also known for seeding his plots with political and social “hot-button” issues, especially on Boston Legal. Kelley said,
“Often we try to seduce the audience at the beginning that this is going to be fun, a romp or a ride, and then once the ride has begun, to reveal some serious subject matter for them to think about.”
Aaron Sorkin: Aaron Sorkin (A Few Good Men, The American President, The West Wing, Sports Night) has a different style. His teleplays for the Emmy-Award winning The West Wing had his trademark rapid-fire dialogue (which I love) and extended monologues which were complemented by director Thomas Schlamme’s visual “walk and talk.” His style-mark was also the repartee between his characters as they small talk and banter about various whimsical events. What fun to hear and watch! Sorkin said,
“I enter the world through what I write. I grew up believing …that I am a screw-up…and had nothing to offer in any conversation. But when I started writing, suddenly there was something that I brought to the party that was at a high-enough level.”
Find a Fave Writer: Now you know a couple of my fave writers and why I do what I do in my writing. Both Kelley and Sorkin infuse serious material with humor. I bet you have your own faves. If not, find an author in print or visual media who can inspire you the way these guys have inspired me.
Tomorrow, I will continue to describe “passion” and putting your “heart” into your writing like William Forrester (see 1st blog if you missed it), no matter what you’re writing about, including a preposition at the end of a sentence.
COPYRIGHT © 2010 Ronald A. Berk, LLC
