What is it Worth?

Chapter Two of Spreadable Media looks at worth from a variety of perspectives, starting with the term "appraisal." Instead of worth, the authors encourage us to consider "processes of curation, which create value not through buying and selling commodities but through critiquing, organizing, and displaying/exhibiting artifacts" (85). From a museum perspective, for example, an appraisal can focus on "historical, cultural, or symbolic value," all topics to consider when they decide whether or not an object is worth preserving (85). Simone's work on participatory museums includes the use of engagement techniques to include the visitors' opinions in the discussion of worth. Some of her techniques include:
- voting for exhibit items to be in the "Top 40"
- providing opportunities for patrons to respond to pieces that resonate with them most
- providing choices for patrons to pursue while there and making the experience personal


For us, we may consider our content very worthwhile, but the students have to agree. We can learn, like Simone did with museums, to determine how "worthy" students find our content in several ways. Some include:

- creating an engagement meter to be sure the students are still with us. Here is a classroom example:


And online examples can include polling in collaborative sessions, quick forms, or boards such as Padlet.

- creating surveys about our content and delivery - much like the museum "Top 40" so that students can have a voice in texts or experiences they found worthwhile and in experiences they felt disengaged.

The chapter continues a discussion of appraisal with material that is "shaped by virtue of its adaptability to different conditions and its ability to be adjusted to fulfill a wide range of needs and motivations" (86). This means cultural images that can turn into memes, videos that can be remixed, and texts that can be added to through fan fiction and other methods have a sense of intrinsic worth.

Some sites are now adding remix ability. Thinglink provides an opportunity to remix with a button on the right. Here is an example:

By hitting the button, the user can now begin with this template and add, change, or delete other pieces of the original. Remixing happens frequently on YouTube as well. The chapter details the Steampunk phenomenon as an example. Not only are people in the Steampunk community remixing a past culture, they are also repurposing objects for their Steampunk identities and using other cultural tools to create communities that can exist in a certain time and space and then dissolve.

What stuck with me most in this chapter was the idea of the students determining worth in many ways. One of those ways includes something like a digital portfolio, but this portfolio must include artifacts the student chooses to include, artifacts the student believes worthy. With an introduction to the piece and an introduction to the portfolio as a whole, the audience can connect the artifact with the student.