In the six of years or so since ‘the future is mobile’ was proposed as one of the many possible futures of drama and education we have seen a revolution in the underlying consumer technologies that shaped that prediction. Take a moment to take stock of your personal gadgets and devices that might be loosely gathered under the term ‘mobile media’. Smartphone? Media player? Tablet computer? Ebook reader? Soon we may have to include wearable computers such as the Google Glass head-mounted display (www.google.com/glass/start/) or Pebble smartwatches (getpebble.com). To help you, we’ve prepared a simple online checklist that you might like to complete before reading on:

http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/hold_the_phone

Australia is a country noted for embracing the latest in mobile phone technology. To use an ugly marketing term, smartphone ‘penetration’ in Australia is at the second highest rate in the world behind Singapore, with 52 percent of the population over 16 years of age owning one of these latest generation handsets (Moses 2011). Penetration equates to popularity in the consumer market, but it particularly reflects the fact that many Australians have recently upgraded to these newer feature-rich smartphones, despite already owning a mobile phone. One can only imagine what these reports might show if younger people were included in the figures. In 2009 an estimated 841,000 Australian children, almost a third (31 percent) of all children in the nation, owned a mobile phone. Three-quarters (76 percent) of 12–14-year-olds owned a mobile phone (ABS 2012). At least one major study of media and communication technology in Australian family homes found no evident socio-economic barriers to mobile phone ownership, though at the time, advanced smartphone handsets were more common among city-based young people (ACMA 2008).

The same survey found that a number of other mobile products were finding their way into Australian family homes. For example, portable mp3/4 media players (76 percent) and handheld game consoles (48 percent) had a foothold in all households with young people, though the study found that there was tendency for more wealthy families to own the latest models of these devices. You may have already noted that this study pre-dated the introduction of the tablet computers that have now started to replace laptop and personal computers in many homes as we enter, what some describe as, a post-personal computer age. While these mobile devices may have smaller screens and constrained input options compared to personal computers, they offer a powerful and appealing combination of portability, constant connection to the internet and phone-like voice, text and video communication (Maximilien & Campos 2012, 2).

Schools, universities and workplaces are also now being tempted by a ‘bring your own device’ (BYOD) model of ICT services based on wireless access and cloud services to supplement or perhaps even replace centralised computer resources. The New Media Consortium’s annual Horizon forecast for educational technology predicts the wider adoption of mobile devices, mobile applications (apps) and tablet computing for K–12 and higher education within the next year or less (Johnson et al. 2012). This recognises that mobile phones are a capable and pervasive technology, that mobile software apps are a simple and cheap – or often free – way to add specific and personalised functionality to these devices, and that tablet computers rapidly build upon these features with a bigger screen and other tools to improve the overall casual computing experience.

This market penetration and the technical maturity of these devices do not of course translate smoothly into universal acceptance in the classroom. Some argue that these devices drive a new form of digital divide which will separate those who can use them to ‘amplify’ their learning experiences and those who are distracted by them (Halverson & Halverson 2012). A further divide exists at institutions between teachers who engage with these technologies and those that seek to restrict or block their presence.

Integrating with the lives of learners

This chapter suggests that drama is well placed to meet some of the challenges of mobile technology in the classroom, integrating students’ and teachers’ real-world enthusiasm for networked digital media with classroom-based drama. We recognise that there are a number of obstacles to the acceptance and adoption of these technologies within schools, and that some educators feel they should be ‘locked and blocked’ to reduce the associated disruptive or negative behaviours and practices. However, we also urge teachers and practitioners to engage with the growing volume of policies, guidelines and examples of using these devices and applications in supervised and engaging ways. A divide is emerging between those who use these tools as a teaching resource and those who ban them, and:

In their daily lives mobile technology enables young people to ‘interact simultaneously with both the physical world and with digital information’ (Facer et al. 2004), though it may be up to each individual in any given context as to whether this is focused interaction, or the mediated equivalent of daydreaming. There is also recognition that ‘mobile devices have become one of the primary ways that youth interact with and learn from each other’ (Johnson et al. 2012, 11), and this in turn contributes to the blurring of formal and informal educational settings and practices also noted in the Horizon Report.

It is always a challenge for both educators and students to navigate the inevitable slippages that are so common in the educational application of consumer technologies: informal versus formal use, private communication versus public collaboration, consumption versus production of content, and so on. We argue that this is an especially pressing issue when it comes to mobile technologies, primarily because of their pervasiveness; not just in terms of the numbers of devices we own, but in the ways that they are becoming a portal to many of our cultural, social and economic processes and activities. The proscriptive ‘in the building, in the bag’ approach to regulate use of these devices at school may soon be swept aside by wider adoption of the BYOD model, one that recognises how these devices can cut across many dimensions of students’ lives in ways that sometimes render school boundaries or classroom walls irrelevant.

Clearly many of us – students, teachers, practitioners, audiences – are seduced en masse by these devices as consumers, but can we make a shift to more active creation of dramatic and educational content for and with these devices?

Get started with familiar dramatic conventions

One of the simplest and most fundamental strategies adopted by drama facilitators is to use ‘particular conventions that can be quickly produced without the need for lengthy preparations or rehearsal’ (Neelands 2004, 51). Existing dramatic conventions that are well tested and understood – or that at least can be found in many practical texts and primers – can therefore be modified to address or utilise the mobile media technologies that are common in our daily lives. Applying dramatic conventions to the information, communication and media channels commonly used by many participants in the drama makes the integration of those conventions seamless (Cameron 2009). Importantly, the use of conventions within a dramatic frame may in some cases negate the need to use the physical devices themselves, which could address some of the immediate concerns about their presence in some settings such as schools, hospitals or prisons.

Two powerful dramatic conventions to consider when working with media technologies in the classroom are those of framing and double framing. Drama can be used to create a cognitive and affective border to separate reality from the representation of reality that is the ‘as if’ world of the drama. Participants can thus be protected within a range of theatrical forms that enable them to work with greater conviction, where the role-based activities distance them from unstructured and naturalistic work that may be too close to real life for comfort, or to sustain belief (Carroll 1986). Double framing occurs when ‘one dramatic perspective into the event has been placed within another to provide a double layer of protection and distance’, for example as with the Everyday Theatre project (O’Connor et al. 2006, 239). In this applied theatre project the students are framed as helping a fictional family deal with issues of family life and thus do not have to talk about their own families; furthermore this occurs within the additional frame of playing a video game.

Drama educators and practitioners familiar with working with framing and other drama conventions are therefore well equipped with techniques that can be used to explore and address concerns about inappropriate behaviours associated with young people and emerging technology, because:

Further examples of how to ‘mashup’ drama conventions to accommodate contemporary digital, mobile and online technology already exist elsewhere (Cameron 2009; Carroll & Cameron 2009), but here we will focus on a small sample to illustrate how they might be refreshed and used in classroom drama to acknowledge and explore the ubiquitous presence of mobile media technology and cultures. They are drawn from the descriptions collated in Structuring drama work (Neelands & Goode 2000) and Beginning drama 11–14 (Neelands 2004). Page references for these sources are cited with each basic description, along with commentary on the adaptations made possible by mobile media forms.

‘Overheard conversations’

The participants overhear a conversation, allowing for new information or tension to be introduced (Neelands 2004, 103; Neelands & Goode 2000, 37). This convention sits well with the dramatic tensions made possible by the use of mobile telephones in public spaces, where it might be difficult to avoid hearing one side of a ‘private’ conversation. Text-based forms of conversations such as Short Message Service (SMS) messages or instant messaging might also fall into this category, and can be ‘overheard’ (read) by gaining accidental or deliberate access to someone else’s device.

SMS is synonymous with the act of ‘texting’. SMS messages were originally limited to 160 characters (including spaces). The preferred form of mobile communication for young people is SMS, which has evolved a language and subculture of its own. Goggin notes that there ‘has been much fascination in studying, cataloguing, and debating the varieties and intricacies of text messaging, and how it has modified social, media, and cultural practices’ (2006, 65). And messaging is now a means by which young Australians initiate, maintain and dissolve intimate relationships with each other (ACMA 2007, 293).

‘Diaries, letters, journals, messages’

The facilitator delivers information to the whole group or a subgroup to introduce new ideas, information or tension; or participants can write them in or out of character (Neelands 2004, 102; Neelands & Goode 2000, 16). The forms of personal publication made possible through mobile devices can be adopted for this convention including: SMS messages, email, Facebook posts or comments, discussion board comments, Twitter ‘tweets’, Instagram photos, or instant messages. Mobile devices are a portal to most web-based publishing systems, particularly through specialist software apps, therefore the list of forms that could be adopted for this convention is seemingly endless, and can be updated as new services appear. Tablet and ebook readers, with their larger screens, might be used to read lengthier documents rendered in electronic form.

Instant messaging (IM) is a form of communication in which users ‘chat’ through short text messages, often in real-time or in a form resembling a conversation, though some types can be used in a similar way to email. In some services the messages may also include small graphical ‘emoticons’ and other media elements. IM can take place person-to-person or in virtual spaces known generically as ‘chat rooms’, and although replaced to some extent by social media updates it is still heavily used by young people in preference to other forms such as email (Lenhart et al. 2005). Video and audio chat tools also exist.

‘Making maps/diagrams’

Participants make maps or diagrams within the drama to reflect on experience or to aid problem solving (Neelands & Goode 2000, 19). Many mobile devices now include GPS or similar functionality which can be used by participants to incorporate real geospatial data (e.g. latitude, longitude, altitude) into the drama. Social media services such as Facebook, Twitter and Foursquare allow for users to ‘check-in’ in order to indicate their presence at a physical location at a certain time. Geotagging technology also allows for geographical data to be attached to images. GPS-equipped devices can often download maps of areas to be incorporated into the drama. The potential use of the mapping and locative functions of these mobile devices is evident in fully realised drama and game projects such as C&T’s Stratar (2012) and Blast Theory’s Uncle Roy all around you (2003).

‘Objects of character’ (or ‘private property’)

A character is introduced or fleshed-out through the consideration of carefully chosen personal belongings. The objects can be ‘found’ at any point in the drama, and can even suggest a contradictory subtext to their behaviour (Neelands 2004, 103; Neelands & Goode 2000, 20). The private property left behind can obviously include a device itself. The amount of personal information and customised content to be found on these devices makes it possible to provide rich clues on a character or situation, using a variety of media forms. Losing one of these devices, especially one carrying important and sensitive personal information, can highlight the traces of identity or ‘character’ we transfer and store in them through general use.

‘Soundtracking’ (also ‘Soundscape’)

Sounds are used to accompany or describe an environment, to create a mood, and can perhaps be taken from one situation to illustrate another. Sounds can be natural or stylised, live or pre-recorded, and can include dialogue and musical instruments. (Neelands 2004, 73; Neelands & Goode 2000, 24). Many of these devices have the capacity to play sound files either as ringtones, alerts or as a media player function. Portable media players can be connected to sound systems to be played to a group. Apps to simulate musical instruments and to compose, record and edit music and sound files are freely available for many devices, as are audio note-taking and text-to-speech functions.

‘Collective character’

A character is improvised by the group, with any participant able to speak as the character. There is no need for conformity in the responses participants have, and differences of opinion or attitude allow for group discussion about the character (Neelands 2004, 101). Many video and online games incorporate a stage or process of creating an online character to represent each participant (known as an avatar). This is particularly the case in 3D graphic spaces, where the construction of the avatar can involve a ‘paper doll’ style process of selecting attributes such as physical appearance and clothing. The creation of personal profiles in online publishing and social networking sites is also a process similar to character creation, in which personal details, physical attributes, and likes and dislikes can be shared with others. Mobile devices that can access these apps, games or online sites might make use of this convention.

‘Unfinished materials’

An object provides a clue or partial information as a starting point for the drama (Neelands 2004, 104; Neelands & Goode 2000, 28). Collaborative publishing tools such as wikis are accessible through many mobile devices, with participants invited to edit and complete an unfinished article. The ‘edit history’ and ‘discussion’ features used by wikis to track changes can be brought into play here as clues to the origin of the materials. Video, audio and photographic materials can be made available online through content sharing sites, with the comment and tagging functions used by participants to discuss the material and build upon it with their own contributions. File-sharing and online cloud storage sites might be used as a repository for mysterious digital files containing unfinished work.

Become a ‘maker’ – using mobile devices for production

In addition to generating or refreshing dramatic conventions to accommodate contemporary mobile technology, a further opportunity remains to use these devices as production tools. Smartphones, tablets and even some media players and game consoles come equipped with the tools and functions that enable them to be used as multimedia production platforms. Cameras that enable still and video recording or even live streaming are a standard feature on these devices, so much so, that issues of privacy and appropriate behaviour abound. Nonetheless, like all tools, when used appropriately and with due attention to risk, the creative outcomes can be worthwhile.

Drama educators and practitioners are using digital storytelling in both school and informal settings to examine young peoples’ expressions of self and identity depicted through combinations of performance and creative practice in multimodal digital platforms (Wales 2012). Exploring this blend of oral storytelling, digital media and performance (Chung 2007) through mobile media seems a relevant and practical variation of the method. More broadly, the evolution of digital and online technology has encouraged participatory cultures access to young people where ‘fans and other consumers are invited to actively participate in the creation and circulation of new media content’ (Jenkins 2008, 331). Engagement with this participatory culture allows the audience to move on a sliding scale from consumer to producer of media content, or ‘produser’ (Bruns 2008), much like how drama encourages the move from audience to participant or ‘spectactor’ (Boal 1995).

There is commonly a low technical barrier to contributing and participating in the creation and publication activities afforded by this technology. That’s good news for teachers and practitioners who may not have the time, or inclination, to learn or teach advanced technical procedures as a prelude to the creative activity itself. However, these forms may require teachers to recognise new sets of cultural competencies and skills such as: play, performance, simulation, appropriation, multitasking, distributed cognition, collective intelligence, judgement, transmedia navigation, networking and negotiation (Jenkins et al. 2009, 4).

These are areas that many might already engage with in classroom-based drama, mediated performances and digital storytelling, but which are understood under different terminology or in different contexts. All imply a hands-on or active approach to learning when linked with the concept of a participatory educational culture enabled by technology. In this section we survey some of the functionality and affordances of mobile media devices and related technology that might be incorporated into production-based methods of drama and education. There are rich opportunities here for drama educators and practitioners to draw upon smaller elements of the available technologies that might be used as a focus for a creative production activity, or as a means of publishing and sharing some of the creative artefacts generated through interactions of performance and media technology.

Media content production and sharing sites

Video and image sharing services are examples of sites and activities formed around digital content production and sharing. These services typically provide the storage space and bandwidth, and aggregate the content into a searchable database. Content on these sites might be rated or ranked according to user votes or popularity. Some services also allow viewers to contribute text-based comments, or to link their own video responses to an entry in the same way that some text-based forms, such as forums, will thread related comments. Examples include YouTube (www.youtube.com) and Vimeo (www.vimeo.com).

Similar to video sharing services, there are internet applications to allow the sharing of digital image content via online photographic galleries. Some services allow users to control access to galleries, deeming them for private or public viewing. Users may be encouraged to post comments, or to rate and rank images or galleries. The use of user-generated keywords to identify photographic content is increasing, and copyright controls are an issue, as digital images can easily be copied from the web. Privacy is also a growing concern, particularly as images may be published directly from mobile phone cameras. There are now many mobile apps that streamline the process of taking, editing, manipulating, uploading and sharing images from the device itself – with the end result made available either through specialised online image repositories like Flickr (www.flickr.com), or more directly via personal profiles on social media and other publishing sites. Image-based social media services such as Instagram (www.instagram.com) and Snapchat (www.snapchat.com) are popular with young people, fuelled by the ubiquitous nature of mobile devices.

QR codes

Designed for manufacturing processes and adopted for marketing purposes, these codes are becoming a more common way to direct mobile device users to a web resource. A Quick Response code (QR code) is a variation on barcode principles for machine-readable data that contains dots arranged within a square. Users can access the information contained within the code using a QR reader or scanner app that makes use of the camera on a mobile device. Some phones include a native QR reader, whereas others require download of a third party application. Information encoded within the QR code can often include a web address; the example given in Figure 8.1 was generated with a free online service, and links to the web-based survey created for readers of this chapter.

Augmented reality

This is a form of mediated experience that combines or augments live views of a real-world environment with computer-generated input such as data, video, images or audio. Augmented reality systems are being used to develop a variety of entertainment, educational, scientific and professional applications. Mobile media devices equipped with still or video camera capability are being used for this type of experience; one recent example is the Powerhouse Museum Layar application that creates a historical tour of Sydney (www.powerhousemuseum.com/layar/). The software services and apps to generate this content are becoming more within the reach of the casual or novice user, with some using QR code technology to trigger or position the data being displayed over the camera image.

Geotagging

Many mobile devices now incorporate a Global Positioning System (GPS) function, which enables the user to plot their location via the GPS satellite network. Geotagging is the process of adding this geographical data (e.g. latitude and longitude) to other media types such as images or QR codes. For example, combining a camera phone with GPS allows the user to take photos that include embedded information about the location at which the picture was taken. Geotagging data usually consists of latitude and longitude coordinates, though it may also contain information such as altitude, bearing, distance and place names.

Wikis, social bookmarking, tagging

Wiki software (named after a Hawaiian word for ‘fast’) enables users to add, remove, and edit content of a website. The collaborative encyclopaedia, Wikipedia, is one of the best-known examples. Bookmarks were developed as a way to store, organise, share and manage lists of links to online resources such as websites. Web browsing software includes this feature to enable individuals to return to sites without having to remember complex web addresses. The concept of social bookmarking extends this into web-based sharable lists, often built around topics or themes; examples include Delicious (www.delicious.com) and Diigo (www.diigo.com). The use of keywords or tags creates searchable user-generated classifications for bookmarks. The use of keywords or tags is a way of building a description of a digital object by allowing users and viewers to contribute to the definition. There are many applications that allow staff and students to create, share and access information with these types of services via mobile devices.

Ringtones, sounds and music

A ringtone is of course the sound made by a mobile phone to indicate an incoming call or message. Many handsets are now capable of playing audio files in the same digital formats used by portable media players, so ringtones can be high quality reproductions of popular songs or other sound effects. The production and sale of ringtones is an industry in its own right, and software exists to allow users to record and create their own ringtones for some handsets. The use of sound cues is common for a range of functions across a suite of mobile devices.

Many mobile devices such as smartphones, tablets and some media players are equipped with basic audio input (microphone) and output (headset) functions. There are also specialist manufacturers who have produced hardware connectors to integrate these devices with amplified audio systems, computer-based music composing systems, high-quality microphones, and for use as controllers or signal processors for musical instruments such as electronic keyboard and guitars. There are apps that turn the devices themselves into synthesised music instruments for live performance, or to provide music composing and recording functions.

Many mobile devices can also be used as media players to playback sounds, audio files, and even live radio through internet streaming or built-in FM radio receivers.

Social networking sites

Online communities formed around common interests have long been a feature of the internet, and many of the services now extend into the mobile media space by allowing content editing and updating via mobile phones. The software tools to enable people to connect with each other and to easily share content in variety of forms have developed into a set of applications known generally as social networking services.

These sites generally allow a user to create a unique online personal profile, which forms an identity that can be shared with other users. Links have been made between these accounts, so that content and information can be shared. Most allow for different levels of private and public content sharing. These sites also contain tools to allow a high degree of personalisation, ranging from image galleries, blogs and messaging tools, polls, games, quizzes, status updates, calendars, event coordination, and collaborative groups. These features lend themselves to a variety of ways in which drama participants can engage with characters through commenting, messaging, sharing links and discussing content (Wotzko & Carroll 2009).

Blogs, micro-blogs, podcasting

A blog (web log) is a journal-style online publication that typically displays the newest entries first. Blogs tend to be written by one person, though ‘blogging’ is being adopted as an online publication form for non-personal uses such as journalism, public relations and political campaigning. Key features of blogs are links to other online resources (especially other blogs) and the ability for readers to add comments to individual entries. Blogging software is a content management system (CMS) that generally makes the process of publishing content online easier for people with limited web publishing skills. Mobile blogging or moblogging is the publishing of blog entries directly to the web from a mobile device. Photographs taken with a camera phone are a popular form of moblog content, as many phones now allow images to be sent directly to a website for publication. Text-based moblog entries tend to be quite short, due to the awkwardness of many mobile phone keypads.

While blogs can contain multimedia such as images and videos as well as text, an expressly video-based form of blogging is sometimes described as a vlog (video log). Podcasting uses similar underlying technologies to blogging, but is based around the syndication and downloading of audio files. Vodcasting is a term used to describe a similar use of video content.

Micro-blogging is a form in which users write particularly brief text updates – 140 characters maximum in the case of Twitter – often providing pithy observations, or a running narrative of events. Status updates on social networking services such as Facebook provide a similar function. Micro-blogging is increasingly finding journalistic, marketing and public affairs applications, and the possibilities for drama and role-play are emerging (Wotzko 2012). Posts can contain links to other media such as images, longer articles, or video. A culture of monitoring real-time themes (trending) has emerged around micro-blogging.

Portable passions: using mobile devices to engage with affinity spaces

So far we have offered ways in which mobile media might be considered and applied within the existing educational and dramatic structures familiar to teachers and practitioners. We’ve also surveyed some of the affordances of mobile and related technology that might be used to generate or publish media products during the course of drama activities taking place within formal settings. Now we move into less familiar territory, but one which offers hope of productive engagement with young people in the myriad informal learning spaces made possible by networked digital media.

The concept of the ‘affinity space’ (Gee 2004) is gaining currency among those interested in the literary, learning and production practices occurring within the spaces linked to the passionate interests of young people. Affinity spaces are the physical and virtual spaces (or a blend of the two) where young people come together around a shared interest. Examples can be found in the online fan communities formed around popular culture interests such The Sims video games, The Hunger Games novels, and the Neopets online game (Lammers et al. 2012). Gee’s original description was of a single portal, though it is now recognised that affinity spaces might make use of a range of media production and social sharing sites that link in and out of an online portal such as a discussion board. Some of the features of these contemporary affinity spaces are:

• having a common endeavour is primary
• participation is self-directed, multifaceted and dynamic
• participation and production of creative content is often multimodal in online spaces
• they afford a passionate, public audience for content
• socialising plays an important part in participation
• leadership roles vary within and among spaces
• knowledge is distributed across the space
• many place a high value on cataloguing and documenting content and practices
• they encompass a variety of media-specific and social networking portals (Lammers et al. 2012, 48–50).

The focus on the space(s) where passionate interests are turned into a shared endeavour, rather than the group or community itself, is an important distinction. The research interest in affinity spaces is, in part, a response to the perceived limitations of other frameworks for examining social learning and notably, communities of practice, where groups of people ‘share a concern or a passion for something they do and learn how to do it better as they interact regularly’ (Wenger 1998, 1). An immediate problem arises as to who belongs to the community and who doesn’t, which focuses attention on membership. This is not surprising given that creators of the communities of practice framework argued that ‘identity, knowing and social membership entail one another’ (Lave & Wenger 1991, 53). However, as DeVane argues, the loosely knit social relations in schools and workplaces often challenge conventional interpretations of ‘community’, and the ‘anonymous and ephemeral social ties commonly found on internet sites render it nearly incoherent’ (2012, 165).

As we have already noted, mobile media devices are not only a platform for communication, collaboration and the consumption and production of content in their own right; they are also a means by which many people make use of online media and social networking portals to pursue their passions. The rising popularity of social curation applications with simple but powerful mobile interfaces such as: Pinterest (www.pinterest.com), Storify (www.storify.com), Flipboard (www.flipboard.com) and Tumblr (www.tumblr.com), reflect increasing engagement in affinity spaces from mobile platforms. As with communities of practice, it is tempting to consider ways in which to harness these affinity spaces in the service of formal educational structures. However, Duncan and Hayes argue for:

We make a distinction between mobile devices and general cultural practices around mobile media, and the affinity spaces that can be accessed from a range of mobile media.

Conclusion

Throughout this chapter we have attempted to give drama educators and practitioners some starting points from which to consider the practical implications of working with emerging mobile media conventions and the affordances of mobile technology. Rapidly evolving smartphone and tablet devices are becoming universal machines, replacing what until quite recently would have been separate devices like cameras, media players and games consoles. Their utility can be expanded and upgraded easily by downloading small pieces of software. These devices are becoming ubiquitous and pervasive in our lives, and this trend is becoming more evident with new wearable technology appearing in forms based on eyeglasses and wristwatches.

Institutions are increasingly recognising the presence of these devices in their planning around infrastructure, policies and practices for ICT support. Educators are already faced with some of the issues that arise, for example whether these devices are distractions from, or amplifiers of, learning, and in which contexts they might connect with formal learning settings. This chapter suggests that drama is well placed to meet some of the challenges of mobile technology in the classroom, integrating students’ and teachers’ real-world enthusiasm for networked digital media with classroom-based drama.

We do balance this by urging caution when working in the increasingly blurred boundaries of formal and informal learning spaces. Attempts to remake classrooms into affinity spaces, or co-opt affinity spaces into the educational system, would risk losing the very factors that make these spaces an appealing model for learning. Rather, we encourage drama educators to help young people develop the skills and competencies for engaging with new media proposed by Jenkins and others, so that they are better equipped to learn and contribute creatively in the affinity spaces formed around the things that matter to them. To prohibit or ignore mobile media in formal educational settings gives greater weight to their ability to distract learners rather than to amplify learning. This may also diminish drama’s ability to give us a ‘heightened opportunity’ (Stern 2008, 114) to engage with young peoples’ cultural and identity production activities (Nafus & Tracey 2002), based around the media forms and devices now forming a key part of youth culture (Downie & Glazebrook 2007; Goggin 2006).

Students are finding creative opportunities through these technologies to pursue their personal passions through making and sharing. At the same time there are renewed opportunities to expand the role of teachers and practitioners as pedagogical innovators. An ongoing challenge is to develop and share ways of teaching through these technologies in ways that leverage the emerging affordances and cultural practices, while remaining focused on the real lives of the participants.

Works cited