Affinity spaces
Encyclopedia
An affinity space is a place where informal learning
takes place. According to James Paul Gee
, affinity spaces where locations (physical or virtual) where groups of people are drawn together because they share a particular common, strong interest or are engaged in a common activity. Often but not always occurring online, affinity spaces encourage the sharing knowledge or participating in a specific area, but informal learning is another outcome.
and comments only in areas you know. These allow a lot of learning to take place outside of school and can be substantial learning in some situations.
sites are examples of affinity spaces. While the goal of the sites are usually to share and read other people's fan fiction creations, there is a lot of informal learning that takes place as people have their work read and commented on. It is up to the author then to decide what to do with this informal feedback
, but often it is used to revise and edit the work, and at the same time helps the author understand his or her own writing flaws better.
Other examples come from "snark sites" or "rant communities." The goal of these sites is typically to make fun of particular problems, such as poorly written fan fiction, or digital image editing
mistakes. As community members criticize other people's work, they reach new levels of sophistication in their evaluations, creating extended vocabularies of terms and categorizing mistakes. In Benjamin Bloom
's taxonomy, evaluation is at the top of higher order thinking skills
. Since either authors or their friends and fans are likely to come to the defense of works being criticized, rhetoric
and logic
are two areas where much active learning takes place.
Informal learning
Informal learning is one of three forms of learning defined by the OECD. The other two are formal and non-formal learning. Informal learning occurs in a variety of places, such as at home, work, and through daily interactions and shared relationships among members of society. For many learners this...
takes place. According to James Paul Gee
James Paul Gee
James Gee is a researcher who has worked in psycholinguistics, discourse analysis, sociolinguistics, bilingual education, and literacy. Gee is currently the Mary Lou Fulton Presidential Professor of Literacy Studies at Arizona State University...
, affinity spaces where locations (physical or virtual) where groups of people are drawn together because they share a particular common, strong interest or are engaged in a common activity. Often but not always occurring online, affinity spaces encourage the sharing knowledge or participating in a specific area, but informal learning is another outcome.
Educational uses
Because the members of the community are interested in similar things, they have common ground and motivation together. Gee says that because of this common interest, affinity spaces are able to bridge barriers of age, race, socio-economic status, and educational level, and allow each user to participate as he/she chooses, and both experts and novices are equally legitimate participants in the affinity space While not everyone in affinity spaces would be an expert, they are not places where the "blind are leading the blind." Many spaces have unwritten rules that while sharing information, you must share only what you know, provide sources to back up what you say, and in general, leave feedbackFeedback
Feedback describes the situation when output from an event or phenomenon in the past will influence an occurrence or occurrences of the same Feedback describes the situation when output from (or information about the result of) an event or phenomenon in the past will influence an occurrence or...
and comments only in areas you know. These allow a lot of learning to take place outside of school and can be substantial learning in some situations.
Examples
Online fan fictionFan fiction
Fan fiction is a broadly-defined term for fan labor regarding stories about characters or settings written by fans of the original work, rather than by the original creator...
sites are examples of affinity spaces. While the goal of the sites are usually to share and read other people's fan fiction creations, there is a lot of informal learning that takes place as people have their work read and commented on. It is up to the author then to decide what to do with this informal feedback
Feedback
Feedback describes the situation when output from an event or phenomenon in the past will influence an occurrence or occurrences of the same Feedback describes the situation when output from (or information about the result of) an event or phenomenon in the past will influence an occurrence or...
, but often it is used to revise and edit the work, and at the same time helps the author understand his or her own writing flaws better.
Other examples come from "snark sites" or "rant communities." The goal of these sites is typically to make fun of particular problems, such as poorly written fan fiction, or digital image editing
Image editing
Image editing encompasses the processes of altering images, whether they be digital photographs, traditional analog photographs, or illustrations. Traditional analog image editing is known as photo retouching, using tools such as an airbrush to modify photographs, or editing illustrations with any...
mistakes. As community members criticize other people's work, they reach new levels of sophistication in their evaluations, creating extended vocabularies of terms and categorizing mistakes. In Benjamin Bloom
Benjamin Bloom
Benjamin Samuel Bloom was an American educational psychologist who made contributions to the classification of educational objectives and to the theory of mastery-learning...
's taxonomy, evaluation is at the top of higher order thinking skills
Higher order thinking skills
The concept of higher order thinking skills became a major educational agenda item with the 1956 publication of Bloom's taxonomy of educational objectives....
. Since either authors or their friends and fans are likely to come to the defense of works being criticized, rhetoric
Rhetoric
Rhetoric is the art of discourse, an art that aims to improve the facility of speakers or writers who attempt to inform, persuade, or motivate particular audiences in specific situations. As a subject of formal study and a productive civic practice, rhetoric has played a central role in the Western...
and logic
Logic
In philosophy, Logic is the formal systematic study of the principles of valid inference and correct reasoning. Logic is used in most intellectual activities, but is studied primarily in the disciplines of philosophy, mathematics, semantics, and computer science...
are two areas where much active learning takes place.