ETEC540: Text Technologies

“Re-examine all that you have been told… dismiss that which insults your soul.” Walt Whitman

When is text more than text? I first read this quote almost 20 years ago and it is still with me. It still resonates with me. It’s more than a quote, it’s more than text, it’s more than skilled writing. It is a truth. It’s interesting how some text can become ‘larger than life’.

My view is that text is ‘written words.’  It is used to communicate, pass along, or archive knowledge.  Until recently, ‘written words’ meant written on paper, however, the digitalization of text has caused lines to be blurred.  Since the overwhelming use of computers is based on text, how much longer will paper be seen as society’s default medium of text?

Although I still think of  books and paper when I hear the word ‘text,’ students entering school today might not by the time they graduate.  Furthermore, even I have started turning down books and newspapers in favour of the electronic versions, however, my reasons have a lot more to do with space and organization, then it does with preferences in mediums for text.

Danny

Well…. this is what I would have initially answered had you asked me prior to the start of my Masters program. I currently see text as characters, symbols or letters strategically arranged to transmit information. In a way, they are encoded so that the audience or reader may make meaning by decoding the characters, symbols or letters providing there is understanding of such (ie. different languages and characters used). With this being said, with the increasing use of the term media literacy and the continual evolution of technologies, will the term text simply be folded into “media literacy” as there appears to be a greater push in various forms of literacy representation as compared to the simple reading and writing? In other words, can text currently be represented beyond simply what is written (what we are accustomed to)?