#nation – how best to nurture a new generation of photographers?

Wendy McMurdo, photography tutor reports on Jonathan Worth‘s new open learning project Phonar Nation.
Everyone who has access to a smartphone now knows how easy it is to create an effective image quickly. Moreover, that image can then be rapidly put to use in a global environment to communicate ideas to others. This clearly raises questions in regard to the formal teaching of photography to a new generation of learners.
In the future, what will the teaching of photography look like in a world where every smartphone user – no matter how young – can make arresting images at the click of a button? Why – and critically how – should we study photography in a culture where its photographic images are primarily produced to move quickly into a mobile, circulatory economy.
(Worth opens his presentation at the Association for Learning Technology Conference at University of Edinburgh earlier this month with a clip from a live feed showing Flickr images as a torrent onto the Internet.)
Clearly, the understanding and teaching of photography must absorb these fundamental shifts if it is to retain its relevance for a so-called hashtag nation. It is critical says Worth, for young photographers to learn not only the tools of photography but also to develop visual and digital literacy. This will allow them to capitalize on the Internet as a new learning landscape where they can both educate themselves and influence others. Through his first open learning project ‘Phonar’ (co-founded in 2009 with Matt Johnston), Worth used mobile phones and hashtags as a way of aggregating themes and ideas from the classroom out to the open community subscribers and back again.
With his newest project Phonar Nation (which launches on June 23rd, tagline: ‘the biggest youth photography class in history’) Worth and his partners reach out to 12-18 year olds, offering a package of open access learning experiences that encourage the visual literacy that he feels is critical in the development of a new generation of photographers. Through an ambitious programme of facilitated sessions and self-led tasks (‘making fan art’, ‘making memoria’ and then ‘post your Images to Instagram or Flickr with #Phonar and #NationSite’), Phonar Nation is designed to appeal to its socially savvy demographic. It is also designed as a learning option that – whilst clearly enriching – is not formally assessed.
This allows for the freedom of expression so lacking from the teaching curricula of so many children in the western world. The programme will be offered initially to seven cities through the US government-funded ‘Cities of Learning’ project to 250,000 children, although its potential to move beyond the borders and out into the larger community is as large as the Internet itself.
Wendy McMurdo in addition to being a photographer and OCA tutor is a member of University of Westminster’s CREAM research group. Her PhD by publication project looks at the impact of the introduction of the computer on the lives of children. A major solo show of her work opens on the 28th June at Street Level Photoworks in Glasgow