“An uniformed opinion expressed entertainingly trumps an informed opinion expressed boringly every time.” Linwood Barclay
So I think information and ideas can fall inside this quadrant I created.
Obviously we should be aiming for the top left but I’m guessing the bottom left has more influence that the top right. (Think Fox News, or most of what you find on Youtube and the internet in general, and also see Andrew Keen). It once again falls into the long line of topics relegated to the “it is what it is” category.
I think being entertaining often gets a bad rap. We often see it a less academic or somehow a dumbing down of important and serious thought. Entertainment does not have to be synonymous with fluff. On one hand we try and make learning more engaging for our students and at the same time guard against the pointless drivel of the much of today’s content. Surely this will be an ongoing struggle.
I’m advocating for entertaining, or at least interesting (I haven’t decided yet if these are the same). I heard Gar Reynolds once say that 90% of Presentation slides are boring but surely 90% of people aren’t. And yet I sometimes get the same feeling as I read blogs. It has nothing to do with length either. Tell me stories, be funny, be clever, surprise me, anger me, or challenge me. I don’t have a recipe for how to do this but certainly if you’re a boring person in real life, I’m not sure you can pull off being entertaining online. I don’t know that many truly boring people. Mostly because I likely tend to consciously or subconsciously avoid them. Don’t we all?
In Dan Pink’s A Whole New Mind he advocates for people to be watching/listening to comedy everyday. I remember as a young child staying up late, hoping my parents didn’t noticed me so could watch the Tonight Show with Johnny Carson. My two favourite parts were Johnny’s monologue and whenever he had a stand up comedian. I’ve always been intrigued with how comedians are able to craft language and physical gestures to make people laugh. I won’t even tell you how many Seinfeld episodes I’ve seen. My wife says I can relate everything to Seinfeld and I have several friends who know exactly what I mean when I say, “the vault”. If you’re interested in the meta cognition involved in crafting a joke, rent the DVD Comedian. It chronicles Jerry Seinfeld’s return to stand up comedy and more interestingly how difficult it is to be funny or entertaining. It’s hard work to be entertaining. I think it aligns nicely with the value of crafting a compelling slide deck for your presentations. Often skipped over because its seen as decorative, it really becomes the avenue for which compelling ideas are expressed.
So spend some time on youtube watching storytellers and comedians. So is content more important than engagement? Maybe not but most of the world would say it is.
I really like this post but think that “engaging” might fit better then entertaining in your quad. Drivel can be engaging b/c we watch/discuss/laugh at (interact with) but don’t actually learn from. Informed and Engaging means we want to interact with the content and find it valuable. Just some thoughts… 🙂 Thanks for giving me things to think about!
Salie,
I actually used the word “entertaining” intentionally. I agree engagement might be a more agreeable term but I also think there is value in considering the specific meaning and value of entertainment. I think there is value in entertainment. Perhaps fleshing out the two ideas might be helpful.
“Entertainment” (fun) is only one form of meaning. For some people, it’s their main form of meaning, but such people aren’t very… entertaining, usually. I think your model can be extended to other forms of meaning without any major changes, though. Or can it? We don’t talk about meaningful BEINGS as much as about meaningful actions. And “boring” isn’t quite the opposite of “meaningful.”
Hmm I don’t think I am being very meaningful right now. Time to get more informed on the subject, I guess.
I often think that teaching is like stand-up comedy. We need to engage the crowd, be relevant, get the laughs and deal with hecklers. I think as we work on our routines and timing we will continue to introduce concepts and ideas that catch the attention of our audience.
Funny you should mention that – there was a standup comic/substitute teacher at the Saskatchewan teachers’ convention in February – he said the only thing different about his two jobs was what he was allowed to do to hecklers….
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Totally of topic, although I think a good sense of humor is essential in the classroom and I did get a chuckle from the youtube video, I have been trying to create a video wall for work my kids have done and finally had the sense to follow your video link to Vodpod. Thanks, some cool widgets there.
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I think it’s all about balance. You need to engage your audience whether its blogging, speaking to a group or writing a book, and you need to present something relevent in terms of content.
Craig Harpers last blog post..Comfort Junkies
Craig,
No doubt that’s the ideal, my point is that as educators we often see the entertainment piece as fluff, nice but not necessary. It’s back to engagement being more important than content. Not sure if it’s more important but you can’t be informative or share content without entertaining.
I have tremendous respect for story tellers and comedians. I hope to be a good story teller someday and am constantly trying to improve myself. You know Dean, I believe story telling is an art and anyone can learn it. Even boring people. Of course, they must be willing to put in the effort.