Cartoon purchased for use in this school project from http://www.cagle.com
This cartoon captures many of the ideas and inquiry questions that have come to my mind as we embark on this course. In this cartoon we see the massive chasm between original oral cultures and the hyper-textual or post-print cultures of the near future. I am intrigued by the initial readings in module 2 around oral culture and trying to understand how significantly they differed from textually literate cultures.
The skepticism of Postman also comes through in this cartoon. There are losses expressed in this image. The community is no longer vibrant. It is disconnected and individualistic. The fire has been extinguished. Has it been silenced?
The loss of direct oral communications is one of the perceived drawbacks that come with digital communications such as text messaging. In education professionals question the impact of such communication on the social and emotional well being of a generation of 21st century learners. Yet, in the Globe and Mail today there is a headline lauding the revolutionary gains of communication to the deaf community from the very same technology. (click here to read)
I hope my continued journey in this course helps me fill in some of the gaps between two cultures represented by this cartoon.
Al
That’s a great cartoon Al, thank you for sharing.
I too have questions about the gap we’re creating with new mobile technologies, I suppose we all do. I do think though that we need to figure out how to take advantage of it and help our students take ownership of it in the right way (if we can be so bold as to assume we know the right way) so that it enhances their communication and collaboration rather than hindering it.
I have the same questions as you do and hopefully the discussions we’ll have in this course will help us to approach things in a better light.
Tyler