Spotlight on Digital Media And Learning

5.4.11 | As news spread through social media Sunday night about the death of Osama bin Laden, it sparked impromptu celebratory gatherings of mostly young people in cities and college towns across the country.

Almost as quickly as the celebrations began, columnists and media outlets began to ponder what those gatherings represented for a whole generation.

It’s been several days of interesting reading—not only about the role Twitter and other networks played in disseminating the news, but the ways in which students acknowledged and analyzed the effects of social media on their responses. 

From a New York Times story on turning to social networks for news:

Sam Dulik, 20, a sophomore majoring in Latin American studies at Georgetown University, was writing a paper in his dorm room when he looked at his Facebook page and saw an update from a friend, making reference to a coming announcement by Mr. Obama and speculation about Bin Laden’s death.

“It just ripped across Facebook,” said Mr. Dulik, who watched in real time as bits and pieces of the story exploded in his Facebook news feed. Then he saw calls urging students to gather at the university’s gates and head to the White House.

“For the first time ever, rather than just informing me, it spurred me into action,” said Mr. Dulik, who grabbed an American flag off his wall and headed out. “I know that this is different from what happened in Egypt. But it put me in the shoes in a very real way of whose people who use social media as a tool for political activism, for coordination and communication.”

Writing in the Syracuse University student newspaper, The Daily Orange, Jessica Smith, a junior with a dual major in information management and technology and television, radio and film, addressed how social media spread information and drove public interaction:

Images of New York Fire Department firefighters in the spot where it all began came to haunt hundreds of eyes; video of crowds forming in decided union lent a certain shade of hope.

It pushed college students out of libraries from Penn State to Boston College to rally, and working professionals out of their beds to participate in celebratory gatherings at ground zero and in front of the White House.

And for the first time, news has ceased to be something born and bred of planned reports and limited information. It has become something of the people and for the people, so unbelievably accessible at ones very fingertips in the most literal way possible.

What makes this all the more fascinating is, when juxtaposed with how information flowed during harrowing 9/11 attacks almost a decade ago, it’s evident just how much of a difference the existence and capabilities of social media really do make.

Instead of being stuck in the dark with few answers and dim prospects, we can foster and disseminate our own light. After all, to be informed is to understand, to understand is to accept, and to accept is to embrace.

So, taking a closing line from the president’s Sunday evening address, social media is enabling connection, and subsequently: “liberty and justice for all.”

There were also thoughtful comments about how the rest of the world might be perceiving celebratory images from the United States. NPR’s “All Things Considered” yesterday interviewed college students about their reactions—including some at Boston University who were confused or upset by the victorious celebrations. Boston University student Daniel Lopez said he was “ashamed” of his generation.

[NPR’s TOVIA] SMITH: BU sophomore Daniel Lopez says young people should understand better than any the power of an image tweeted instantly around the world.

Mr. LOPEZ: How about you put it this way, I’m a nine-year-old kid now in the Middle East. Mom, dad, what’s going on? Oh, American’s are cheering because someone died. Congratulations, guys. There’s probably gonna be a new generation of Islamic jihadists who hate Americans because of our celebration of that.

College students weren’t the only ones debating imagery and importance of the the event. Writing for The New York Times City Room blog, Sharon Otterman shares some smart, nuanced conversation overheard among students at Stuyvesant High School in Lower Manhattan.

Plus: If your school is discussing the meaning and aftermath of Osama bin Laden’s death, here are some good questions to ask and digital resources for discussion.