When I laid out plans for my dissertation, I imagined electracy becoming a key element in reimagining critical pedagogy. One of the cornerstones of critical pedagogy is critical literacy:
Shor claims, "We can redefine ourselves and remake society, if we choose, through alternative rhetoric and dissident projects. This is where critical literacy begins, for questioning power relations, discourses, and identities in a world not yet finished, just, or humane" ("What is Critical Literacy?" Shor 282). Critical literacy is one of four parts Shor defines as needed for a critical mind; the others being power awareness, permanent desocialization, and self-education/organization. Power Awareness refers to understanding how society was and continues to be formed through various power structures and human actions; permanent desocialization challenges the status quo and examines how democratic and personal transformation can take place; and self-education/organization refers to pursuing knowledge and working towards a cause as both an individual and a group.
Ulmer sees "electracy being to digital media what literacy is to the alphabetic writing." He even develops an intriguing chart:
Many of the shifts seem to fall in line with my research interests: the role of the affective (body/joy/sadness), speculative labor (entertainment), new media literacies
(play), and fantasy (imagination in key figures such as Maxine Greene). My problem is that I'm not ready to delve into the deep end of electracy with MyStory or generative acts meant to mine out an understanding of our thought processes and personal schema. Perhaps I am still too wedded to good ol' literacy, but I want to see concrete texts addressing a rhetorical situation.
