Nature and Its Association with Metaliteracy

Sue Thomas and Michele Forte moderated MOOC Talk 7, which was based on Tech: Nature Literacy. Sue Thomas is a renowned Scholar in Transliteracy, which heavily influenced her research on this subject. In 1995, she created a trAce Online Writing Center at Nottingham Trent University, where she served as the Artistic Director before moving to De Montfort University in 2005. Her online writing community ran for ten years. Sue was a Professor for New Media at the Institute of Creative Technologies at De Montfort University, where she researched in Biophilia, Social Media, Transliteracy, Transdisciplinarity and Future Foresight. Her latest book is Technobiophilia: Nature and Cyberspace, which is centered on the study of the impact of the natural world on digital culture. She also published Hello World: Travels in Virtuality, a memoir of life online. Her first fiction, Correspodence was short-listed for the Arthur C. Clarke Award for Best Science Fiction Novel in 1993. Sue was a keynote Speaker at last spring's Three T's- Trasliteracy, Technology and Teaching- Conference. Michele Forte is a Faculty Member at Center for Distance Learning at SUNY Empire State College. She is a Mentor, Assistant Professor and Community Human Services at the Center for Distance Learning. Her recent projects include Luminar Foundation Grant at Empire State College, and it provides credentials for Earthlings Education Resources. She was a leading member in the organization of the Three T's Conference

There is a need to to cultivate transliterate space, Technobiophilia. Individuals having the ability to map out their relationships with technology and nature is currently of the essence in this ever-changing world. Geography about interactions with the web and the deep web to be more precise includes hackers, wikileaks,government undetected, and illegal porn. Twitter's roof garden and Apple's space shuttle-like buildings provide a form of biophilc imagery as they comprise of greenery and fruit trees. Biophilic imagery is now being used in advertising and design than used to be the case. Biotechnophilia according to E. O. wilson is the innate tendency to focus on life and lifelike processes, just as he did while he studied ants in a Suriname Forest. He experienced the powerful sense of how small he was in nature as he desired to be a part of the closely knit net natural environment. The love for nature according to research and experiments is genetically passed on from generation to generation. Attention Restoration Theory (ART) by Rachel and Stephen Kaplan, was based on The Experience of Nature, 1989 and how nature invariably improves our experiences. The central focus was on looking at regular people's preference of nature and the kind of environment that made people feel good without the aforementioned preferences. People feel better if the encounter an environment that suggests nearby nature- for example, a view from a window could show some greenery and a lot more to be seen. This could have positive and immeasurable benefits to one's health.

There are settings that fall within the Attention Restoration Theory (ART) and they are restorative, extent, fascination and compatibility. Restorative setting is in reference to the environment (Being away) and it physically  or conceptually different from an individual's usual environment- for example, a five-minute walk in a garden while taking a break. Extent setting has to do with a sufficiently rich an coherent surroundings that engage the mind and increase one's yearning. Fascination setting is either soft or hard and it is based on content or mental processes that engage attention effortlessly and allows one to rest the mind. Compatibility is a good fit between  one's inclinations and the kinds of activities supported by the setting. This is particularly useful in situations where people are stressed. The issue of attention has become very important than it has ever been. According to Sue's presentation, Dorset County Hospital in United Kingdom employed Nearby Nature- which was focused on housing patients in restricted wards with constant live feed of videos of the natural environment to aid quicker recovery. Controlled environment helps doctors and scientists to carry out the practice routines in a more relaxed and effective manner- for example, a doctor measuring a patient's blood pressure can do so more easily and effectively when the patients is being made to watch videos on the beauty of nature. Attention Restoration Theory (ART) work in our connected lives. The Daily Zen Smartphone Application helps users to be focused on reaching their goals. This falls under the being away category. The soft fascination staring at an aquarium and admiring the beauty of fish moving gracefully in water as well as the ripples created can help keep the heart rate and emotions like fear in check. It is critical to find space an individual feels comfortable in to carry out  a productive activity according to the well-known Howard Rheingold. Walking in nature improves one's attention span and cognitive functioning.

Technobiophilia is the tendency to focus on life and life processes as they appear in technologies. It is a known fact that natural environments positively impact emotions. While indoors, an individual can pay attention, use indoor plants advantageously, connect with animals, or even treat one's self to technobiophilic gadgets like computer mouses, etc. While outdoor, an individual can go outside, create an outside office, grow stuff (some greenery), or even use smartphones to enhance an individual's outdoor experience. In terms of being online, one can visit a virtual world, play a video game, sample some next nature, add biophilic designs to individual online spaces. Tech: nature literacy is the ability to interpret experiential information generated by a synthesis of nature and technology- for example, the landscape setting in Grand Theft Auto video game. This concept has a connection with metaliteracy. The organic dimension  to online life can:

• Combat digital dualism
• Inform reflective learning 
• Connect experiential learning and research
• Encourage strategies for well-being through tech:nature
• Support lifelong learning   

Biophilic design may be in the form of a building shaped into design with a turf roof or second life teaching space, outdoors in a beautiful garden. Teaching spaces can be very influential to the cause of metaliteracy and connect people within the environment.