Hi All,
I pulled pieces together pieces from this course – blog, wiki, our rip.mix.feed projects and a few other elements – then put them together on a prezi. The images were mostly culled using Jing. Enjoy.
http://prezi.com/yegqidxpr_d8/multiliteracies-rip-mix-feed/
Best,
Joe
Hi everyone,
I’ve created an interactive fiction for my major project. Here’s the link!
http://carmencheung.glogster.com/540hypertextandlibrary/
Please enjoy. Any feedback is welcomed!
Web-space is a boundless writing space that holds limitless amount of information. Our ability to copy, paste, and tag information revolutionized the way information is referenced and organized. My interactive fiction attempts to compare the way information is organized within the web-space in the form of hypertext with that of print stored in the library.
Affordances of hypertext
Hypertext is “the dynamic interconnection of a set of symbolic elements” which includes text, pictures, icons and more. (Bolter 2001, p38) The clouds in my interactive fiction demonstrate some of the affordances of hypertext, including interactivity (associative links can be created so that readers choose to read more about relevant topics), and malleability (the possibility of taking parts of different pieces of work and “remixing” with one’s own idea to produce something new). Because of these affordances and also because everyone can contribute information to the Web, the amount of information available in hypertext form is increasing exponentially.
Information organization
Bolter claims that the library’s catalogue system has “reorganized” the “single physical hierarchy” as information can be searched on the electronic catalogue system under key word in title, author, and topic. However, access to the text is restricted by its physical location.
Hypertext allows information to be organized in a revolutionary way because the information can be tagged with keywords by the author, and the keywords can exist in various locations under multiple categories, without the physical restriction of printed text. (Bolter, p92)
My interactive fiction shows how the word “needle” can bring up a wealth of information related to the subject. Different media such as videos, text, and images can all be organized under the same space. It is almost like shelving multiple media on one shelf.
Hypertext and the Library
Since the amount of information in hypertext is growing more quickly and referenced more frequently than that of printed text, a lot of literature explore the effect of how this information will revolutionize the library. According to Eric Hellman who spent 12 years developing technologies for libraries, the rise of hypertext and the internet present both competitions and opportunities for libraries. With free internet access, today’s libraries provide “a much larger swath of knowledge than a pre-internet library,” and so far, “libraries continued to attract funding from institutions and communities, while many measures of library usage have showed steady increases.” (Hellman 2010, p23) Print is here to stay because writers still aspire for their work to be published in print, and some readers prefer printed text for cover-to-cover reading. (van der Velde and Ernst 2009) As long as there is demand for printed text, library will co-exist with the web-space.
The background represents the web-space, and the library is an area within the web-space represented by a piece of paper. Library exists within the web-space because the library provides web access. The library is a “hybrid” of printed text with computer terminals for access to the cyberspace. (Bolter 2001, p93)
Reference
Bolter, J. David. Writing Space: Computers, Hypertext, and the Remediation of Print. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, 2001. Print.
Hellman, Eric. “Libraries, Ebboks, and Competition.” Library Journal (2010). Web. 27 Nov. 2010. <http://www.libraryjournal.com/lj/communitylibraryculture/885871-271/libraries_ebooks_and_competition.html.csp>.
Olaf, Ernst, and Wouter Van Der Velde. “The Future of EBooks? Will Print Disappear? An End-user Perspective.” Web. 27 Nov. 2010. <http://biecoll.ub.uni-bielefeld.de/volltexte/2010/5004/pdf/ernst_final_rd.pdf>.
Wesch, Michael. “Information R/evolution.” TechCrunch. 12 Oct. 2007. Web. 29 Nov. 2010. <http://techcrunch.com/2007/10/20/information-revolution/>.
This media presentation is about media literacy. Media literacy is often considered as a necessary skill in the 21st century, in which people live with more media and technology than any previous generations. Various forms of media have emerged since Marshall McLuhan coined the famous phrase “the medium is the message” in the 60s. According to the reports by the Kaiser Family Foundation and the Pew Research Center, “Eighty seven percent of all young people between the ages of twelve and seventeen go online as both consumers and creators of media messages” (Considine, 2009, p. 72). Being media literate in this media age requires various skills and knowledge. In this presentation, I examine this essential skill in the media age.
The first part of the presentation examines how media literacy is defined. The National Leadership Conference on Media Literacy defines it as “the ability to access, analyze, evaluate, and produce communication in a variety of forms” (The Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation, 2003, p. 1). Media literate person should be able to demonstrate both passive and active skills with media. Critical thinking skill is also an important factor to become media literate. Brooks argues, “Being literate in a media age requires critical thinking skills that empower us as we make decision.” (Brooks, 1998, p. 269).
The second part of the presentation focuses on challenges with defining media literacy. Defining media literacy is a complex and contentious task because media literacy is a combination of various skills and disciplines. Several reasons why it is a challenge to define media literacy are discussed. I also argue that the definition of media literacy should continuously change because humans constantly create and adopt new media.
Media education has a significant role to help students become media literate. Some examples of media education models are shown. Media education needs to be both teaching with media and teaching about media (Considine, 2009). Brown argues, “A major goal of media education is to help recipients of mass communication become active, free participants in the process rather than static, passive, and subservient to the images and values communicated in a one-way flow from media sources” (Brown, 1998, p. 47). Establishment of national standards is necessary to determine whether a student has become media literate or not.
In the end, I argue that being media literate is a continuous process. What it means by being media literate constantly changes depending on what types of media humans create and adopt. A media literate person could become media illiterate in the future if he fails to make adjustments with new emerging media and technology. People must build upon existing media literacy in order to remain media literate in the future. This media presentation is my active participation in the media age we live in. Please watch the presentation and ask yourself what media literacy is and what it means to be media literate today.
References
Brooks, Z. S. (2010). Is Media Literacy Passive or Active? Journal of Multimedia and Hypermedia, 19 (3), 267-286.
Brown, J. A. (1998). Media Literacy Perspectives. Journal of Communication, 48 (1), 44-57.
Considine, D. M. (2009). From Gutenberg to Gates: Media Matters. The Social Studies, 100 (2), 63-74
Christ, W. G. & Potter, J. (1998). Media Literacy, Media Education, and the Academy. Journal of Communication, 48 (1), 5-15.
Hobbs, R. (1998). The Seven Great Debates in the Media Literacy Movement. Journal of Communication, 48 (1), 16-32.
The Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation (2003). Key Facts: Media Literacy (Publication No. 3383). Retrieved from http://www.kff.org/entmedia/upload/Key-Facts-Media-Literacy.pdf
Lewis, J. and Jhally, S. (1998). The Struggle Over Media Literacy. Journal of Communication, 48 (1), 109-120
Schwarz, G. (2005). Overview: What is Media Literacy, Who Cares, and Why? Yearbook of the National Society for the Study of Education, 104, p. 5-17.
The Medium Is the Massage (Book). InWikipedia. Retrieved November 28, 2010, from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Medium_Is_the_Massage_%28book%29
Audio Clips (Retrieved from YouTube)
Goldstein, K. (2006, October 12). Marshall McLuhan on YouTube. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A7GvQdDQv8g
Somethingnew (2006, August 22). McLuhan – The Medium is the Message. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RtycdRBAbXk
Images
Marshall McLuhan [Photograph]. (2010). Retrieved November 28, 2010, from: http://digigen.co.uk/2010/04/07/the-only-social-media-guru-herbert-marshall-mcluhan/
Microphone [Clip Art]. (2009). Retrieved November 28, 2010, from: http://community.dimmak.com/blog/2009/02/dim-mak-radio/
Artist’s Statement in Word Document: http://dl.dropbox.com/u/9659732/Suzuki_Artists%20Statement.docx
Media Literacy Video (m4v, 22.55MB): http://dl.dropbox.com/u/9659732/Media%20Literacy.m4v
In Chapter 5, The Electronic Book, Jay Bolter (2001) explores the notion of the “The Changing Idea of the Book”. He rightly states that by changing the technological form of the book, the reader, writer, as well as related organizational structures will experience change. According to Bolter (2001), for the remediation of the paper book to the electronic book (e-book) to be successful the latter must offer something more than the former. He suggests the e-book offers a couple of advantages – hypertext to look up words and the ability of e-readers to hold numerous books whereas traditional books are self contained. Bolter (2001), notes that national libraries for years have been actively building digital sources thereby demonstrating their value with traditional and digital structures. However, the emergence and advancement of organizational structures in the digital era present a potential challenge to library structures as the primary repositories of books. Anthony Grafton (2007), in his article Future Reading Digitization and its discontents highlights the scope of digitalization projects by various organizations such as Google, Microsoft and Amazon. Consequently, the advancement of the e-book, including the digitalization of old books, has the potential to fundamentally change post secondary education, in particular libraries.
Since Bolter (2001) wrote this chapter on e-books, there have been dramatic technological advances that have greatly enhanced the benefits of e-readers. In addition to increased models, the advancements in mobile technologies have resulted in considerable improvements in the readability, providing colour options, increased memory, and devices that are multifunctional. Many e-readers use an E-Ink that permits the e-book to be read in bright sunlight and does not provide the glare and is much easier to read.
As suggested by Bolter (2001), e-book’s are influencing organizational structures. According to Steve Haber, the head of Sony’s digital reading business division, the growth is expected to continue “Within five years there will be more digital content sold than physical content. Three years ago, I said within ten years but I realized I was wrong – it’s within five”(Richard, June 2010). CourseSmart – an on-line e-book distributor – claims that e-book subscriptions have increased by 400 percent from 2008 to 2009 (Educause, 2010). The Association of American Publishers announced e-book sale revenues increased from 46.6 million in January 2008 – October 2008 to 130.7 million in January 2009 – October 2009 for a 180.7% increase with predictions that it will reach 500 million by the end of 2010 (not including professional markets such as libraries and educational institutions (Kho, 2010).
The consumer market has demonstrated the feasibility of reading on these devices, thus opening an opportunity for them to be used in the university environment (Princeton Report, 2009). This, in part, speaks to the mega projects by Google, and other organizations to digitize old books. According to Anthony Grafton (2007), the estimated global volume of books range from 32 million to 100 million books. However, these organizations are driven by the profit motive, and are potentially competitive organizations with university and national libraries, thus having the influence to change library organization structures. “Google and Microsoft pursue their own interests, in ways that they think will generate income, and this has prompted a number of major libraries to work with the Open Content Alliance, a nonprofit book-digitizing venture” (Grafton, 2007, pg4.) By collecting as many books as possible libraries have traditionally been the holders of knowledge (Bolter, 2001) however, the digitalization projects present serious competition as the repository of digital content.
Nonetheless, the university and college sectors are integral to the advancements and profitability of e-book market as evidenced by Springer Publishing’s investigation in to its e-book program. According to Springer data, libraries and universities are responsible for 63 percent e-book traffic (van der Velde & Ernst, 2009). This is further demonstrated in JISC national e-books observatory project (2009) that surveyed 52,000 respondents about e-book usage. The respondents identified the university library being the source of the e-books at 51.9 percent (pg. 13). HighWire Press conducted a 2009 Librarian E-book Survey that determined the market in the education sector is starting to make a reallocation of resources to the e-book market. Most of the respondents indicated that they have large budgets – 79% in excess of $250,000 for digital resources – yet they also noted that in most cases a small percentage is allocated to e-books. However, the table below highlights the anticipate shift toward increased investment in e-books (HighWire Report, 2009).
Budget Allocation for E-book Acquisitions
| Budget Acquisitions | 2009 Current Acquisitions | E-book Acquisitions
In 5 years |
Percentage Change |
| 0% | 14 | 3 | -78.5% |
| 1% – 10% | 77 | 20 | -78% |
| 11% – 25% | 12 | 55 | +450% |
| 26% – 50% | 6 | 20 | +333% |
| 51% – 75% | 0 | 6 | +600% |
| >75% | 1 | 5 | +500% |
| Decline to Answer | 26 | 27 | |
| Total | 136 | 136 |
Source: HighWire Press 2009 Librarian eBook Survey (pp.8 & 9)
The above table demonstrates the potential for a significant budget allocation toward e-books and a paradigm shift for students, libraries, not to mention publishers.
Notre Dame e-Reader Study 
The increased importance of digital content is reflected by Joe Murphy, Yale University science librarian when he states “the only time print is relevant is when it’s not yet available digitally”(Hadro, February 2010). Nonetheless, Grafton, makes a valid argument for the contributing value of original book copies. Grafton suggests any dedicated reader will have two paths – the broad easy one of digitalization and traditional method of accessing physical books in a library, for example. He cites John Seely Brown and Paul Duguid regarding the “social life of information”, thus suggesting that “the form in which you encounter text can have a huge impact on how you use it” (cited in Grafton, 2007, pg.6). For example, the book binding can inform one who owned a book, as well as, their socio-economic status within society (Grafton, 2007). Frequently, I have read comments about the tactile benefits of having a book in one’s hand, rather than merely reading content on a screen, thus supporting the point that there is a social life of information beyond the content within the technological device.
These points leave me reflecting on Neil Postman’s (1992) argument that technology will change the culture. This shift is also reflected by some educational leaders, such as Case Western Reserve’s President Barbara Snydor stating that “we believe e-Book technology has significant potential to change the way students learn” (Reyes, July 2009 ). These comments imply a positive development however, Postman and Grafton’s observations suggest that such assumptions should not be readily accepted by educational organizations and/or students. Grafton’s emphasis on the social life of information is something I’ve experienced conducting hours of searching journal stacks, experiencing a journey of sorts as I sought out relevant information, whereas, now I conduct relatively narrow searches of electronic data bases. No longer are there the distractions of inadvertently coming across an interesting article that temporarily sidetracks the information search for the academic research paper. Grafton (2007), states that “if you want deeper, more local knowledge, you will have to take the narrower path”, thus meaning the hands-on in the library search (pg.6).
How will digitization change the learning experience in post secondary education? What is the potential loss? Is the potential loss the in-depth experience with the process of learning?
References
Bolter, J. D. (2001). Writing Space: Computers, Hypertext, and the Remediation of Print. Second Edition. Mahwah: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
Educause Learning Initiative. (March, 2010). 7 Things You Should Know About E-Readers. Retrieved from http://net.educause.edu/ir/library/pdf/ELI7058.pdf
Grafton, A. (2007). Digitization and its discontents. The New Yorker, November 5, 2007, pp. 1-6. Retrieved from November 16th, 2010 http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2007/11/05/071105fa_fact_grafton?printable=true
Hadro, J.(2010).Top Tech Trends: User Expectations and Ebooks. Library Journal, 135(3), 18-20. Retrieved from Academic Search Complete database. http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=a9h&AN=48227835&site=ehost-live
HighWire Stanford University (2009) 2009 Librarian eBook Survey. Retried from http://highwire.stanford.edu/PR/HighWireEBookSurvey2010.pdf
JISC Final Report. (2009). national e-books observatory project. Retrieved from http://www.jiscebooksproject.org/
Kho, N. (2010). E-Readers and Publishing’s BOTTOM LINE: The Opportunities and Challenges Presented by the Explosion of the E-Reader Market. EContent, 33(3), 30-35. Retrieved from Academic Search Complete database. http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=a9h&AN=49011059&site=ehost-live
Postman, N. (1992). Technopoly: The surrender of culture to technology. New york: Vintage books.
Reyes, D. (2009). Amazon releases new eBook reader aimed at educational market. New York Amsterdam News, 100(28), 29. Retrieved from Academic Search Complete database. http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=a9h&AN=43308678&site=ehost-live
Richards, S. (2010, June) Sony: ebooks to overtake print in five years. Telegraph. Retrieved from http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/sony/7798340/Sony-ebooks-to-overtake-print-within-five-years.html
The Trustees of Princeton University.(2010) The E-reader pilot at Princeton Final Report. Retrieved from http://www.princeton.edu/ereaderpilot/eReaderFinalReportLong.pdf
van der Velde, W., & Ernst, O. (2009). The future of eBooks? Will print disappear? An end-user perspective. Library Hi Tech, 27(4), 570-583. Retrieved from Education Research Complete database. http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=ehh&AN=48075734&site=ehost-live
Hi everyone,
Here is my final project. It is a Prezi. You can choose to press play at the bottom of the screen to follow the reading path that I set out or you can click on any section to read (or view) it. To view the Prezi full screen, Click on “more” at the bottom right corner of the Prezi and choose full screen. To return to the overview at any time, click on the circle with a cross on it beside the ‘more’ button. If there is a problem with the videos embedded in the presentation, a transcript of each video is located right beside it.
http://prezi.com/0fuxju42wkif/etec-540-final-project-writing-space/
Enjoy,
Heather
Hi all,
In this final reflection on the course material, I return to the beginning of the course. I started thinking about Postman’s (1992) discussion on technology. He mentioned how “once a technology is admitted, it plays out its hand; it does what it is designed to do. Our task is to understand what the design is- that is to say, when we admit a new technology to the culture, we must do so with our eyes wide open” (p. 7). As we have explored throughout this course, when new technologies are introduced it brings on a multitude of changes. When I consider our assignments in this course and how they have collectively lead me to the conclusion that change can be innovative and impact individuals’ views. In my research assignment I explored the invention of the telephone and the significance this particular technology had on the world. Without Alexander Graham Bell’s work, we would not have had the remediation of the telephone to the mobile cellular phone. Communication was revolutionized as a result of this device.
I was watching this YouTube video as I was preparing to do professional development for my schools today.
This video sums up how technology has changed education and how educators need to change the way they think about teaching. As I explored in my final project, students are exploring transnational communities of practice online (Warriner, 2007; Lave & Wenger, 1991). Lam (2004), Black (2006) and Guzzetti (2008) case studies all emphasized the significance of digital technologies on individuals. Although experiences in online communities of practice are often not positive, we recognize how they can impact students’ learning of literacy. It leaves me with the thought that as an educator, we need to acknowledge new technologies (digital or not). These technologies could potentially have a significant role in education.
In our final readings for this course I found myself agreeing with Bolter’s (2001) comments on how “electronic forms of communication give us the opportunity to redefine culture ideals inherited from printed genres and forms” (p.208). I also enjoyed the idea of the “remediation of culture.” Although I am probably not really thinking about it in the context that Bolter intended, however, when a technology is introduced there is a certainly opportunity for the “remediation of culture.” As we have seen throughout history, the introduction of technology has continued to remediate culture on a daily basis.
It appears that throughout my reflection there is the theme of change. We are in an era in which there is constant change and a need for individuals to adapt to new technologies. We may not understand them all, however, we certainly need to at least acknowledge their presence.
Melanie
References
Black, R.W. (2006). Language, culture and identity in online fanfiction. E-Learning. 3 (2), 170- 184.
Bolter, J.D. (2001). Writing spaces: Computers, hypertext, and the remediation of print (2nd Ed.). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
Guzzetti, B. (2008). Identities in online communities: A young woman’s critique of cyberculture. E-Learning. 5 (4), 457-474.
Lave, J. & Wenger, E. (1991). Situated learning: Legitimate peripheral participation. New York: NY: Cambridge University Press.
Lam, W.S. (2004). Second language socialization in a bilingual chat room: Global and local considerations. Language Learning& Technology. 8(3), 44-65.
Postman, N. (1992). Technopoly: The surrender of culture to technology. New York, NY: New York
Warriner, D. S. (2007). Transnational literacies: Immigration, language, learning, and identity. Linguistics and Education. 18 (3-4), 201-214.
Postman, N. (1992). Technopoly: The surrender of culture to technology. New York, NY: New York
Introduction
The following commentary focuses on Chapter 4: The Breakout of the Visual of Jay David Bolter’s book Writing Space: Computers, Hypertext, and the Remediation of Print. In this chapter, Bolter (2001) examines the relationship between visual and text and what he describes as the breakout of the visual.
The Breakout
The breakout of the visual is poignantly illustrated by Bolter’s (2001) discussion of a USA Today Snapshot of men’s shaving habits, whereby there is a domination of the visual and subordination of the textual. Bolter (2001) notes that this trend is not only found in newspapers, but also in other mediums of communication such as magazines and the internet.
While the use of images for cultural communication is nothing new, what is new is the “sheer ubiquity of images today” (Bolter, 2001, p.54). All one has to do is look around to see the prevalence and dominance of images in our culture and society. Visuals are an integral part of our lives and permeate all aspects of it. One factor that has brought about the sheer ubiquity of images today is hypermedia. Bolter (2001) notes “hypermedia seldom exists as pure text without any graphics” (p. 47), while “digital media claim to achieve greater immediacy and authenticity by integrating images (and sound) with prose” (p. 47). However, the need for immediacy and authenticity are not examined further by Bolter.
While Bolter leaves this avenue unexamined, one must wonder whether the need for immediacy and authenticity has driven or promulgated the rise of the visual and a change in communication and representation. To address this, the work of Tapscott (1998, 2004) on the Net-Generation may offer insight. According to Tapscott (1998), N-Geners are identified by ten cultural characteristics, two of which are immediacy and authentication/trust. The role and impact of N-Geners on a change in communication and representation is explored by Tapscott (2004) who notes “at this moment, tens of millions of N-Geners around the world are taking over of the steering wheel. This distinction is at the heart of the new generation. For the first time ever, children are taking control of critical elements of a communication revolution” (p. 4).
Choice and a Complementary Relationship
My thoughts are that technological advances in digital media and hypermedia have afforded us as with options or choices. Text is not dead and far from it. It is not a matter of text or visual and one breaking out to supplant the other, rather I see it as the two forms of representation allowing for different purposes. As Kress (2005) notes, new media makes it “possible to use the mode that seems most apt for the purposes of representation and communication: If I need to represent something best done by an image I can now do so, similarly with writing” (p. 19). Thus, supporting the argument that the visual and textual hold a place of importance in our society and afford choice.
Aside from allowing for choice, the visual and textual also complement one another. This complementing nature can be seen in the fact that text and visual on its own can result in subjectivity. To illustrate this, Kress (2005) notes
words are (relatively) empty entities – in a seminotic account they are signifiers to be filled with meaning rather than signs full of meaning, and the task of the reader is to fill these relatively vacant entities with her or his meaning. This task is the task we call interpretation, namely interpreting what sign the writer may have intended to make with the signifier” (p. 7).
As such, visuals and text can work together to aid in the delivery of messages and reduce the change of misinterpretation.
Conclusion
Whether the N-Geners with their need for immediacy will rely upon the adage of ‘a picture is worth a thousand words’ is uncertain and remains to be seen. However, as history has shown us, text while dominating in Western societies has always co-existed with the visual. This is illustrated by Murray (2000) who notes “scribal manuscripts were illustrated with elaborate illumination of letters; medieval churches told stories on stained glass…rebus books have been popular for centuries; science books have been illustrated with drawings.” Thus, I agree that what we are seeing is a breakout of the visual; however, this breakout will not supplant the textual, but rather is will coexist as it has throughout our history as an extension of our continuous efforts to communicate effectively by blending the visual with the textual.
References
Bolter, Jay David. (2001). Writing space: Computers, hypertext, and the remediation of print. Mahwah, New Jersey: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
Kress, Gunther. (2005). Gains and losses: New forms of texts, knowledge and learning. Computers and Composition. 22(1), pp. 5-22.
Murray, D. E. (2000). Changing technologies, changing literacy communities? Language Learning & Technology. 4(2), September 2000. pp. 43-58 Retrieved on November 25, 2010 from http://llt.msu.edu/vol4num2/murray/default.html
Tapscott, D. (1998). Growing up digital: The rise of the net generation. New York: McGraw-Hill.
Tapscott, D. (2004). The net generation and the school. Milken Family Foundation. Retrieved on November 22, 2010 from http://www.mff.org/edtech/article.taf?_function=detail&Content_uid1=109
Re-examining the Digital Divide in the Chinese Urban Classroom
The multilayered life worlds of our students enter the classroom with their gadgets. The iPods, the iPhones, the laptops and the Internet bring the private lives of the world outside of school within the four walls Wesch’s describes as the classroom. Students and their mobile phone technologies have access to dictionaries, translators and Google with a click of a key. New London Group’s discussion of multiliteracy is indeed entering the teaching and learning routine whether or not the educator is prepared (1996). Wesch’s blog entry “A vision of Students (& What Teachers Must Do) sheds light on how much the classroom structure has changed with the increasingly growing amount of digital technology students are bringing to the school scene (2008, n.p.).
A quick scan of the current classroom in China today reveals a similar scene to Wesch’s description. Dobson and Wilinsky’s discussion of the disparity caused by the digital divide seems to be shrinking as technology is becoming more economic with the growth of mobile technologies. Computers are common but mobile phones are even more available than ever. Both female and male students have their gadgets with them and students are not shy to surf the Internet for the latest updates. Multiliteracy is growing increasingly important in the classroom regardless of the digital divide and the examination of several aspects of the current classroom launches an insightful discussion.
Mobile technologies have been shaping the way students communicate in the classroom. With a simple movement of a few fingers, the students are able to ask people in and outside of the school, answers to the questions that arise in the classroom. The occasional chat over the daily gossip is popular and common with the increasingly affordable prices of instant messaging.
The gender gap Dobson and Wilinsky discusses (p.12) is subtle. As much as the male students are chatting with a flick of a button, so are the female students. Students have a language of their own as they remix different languages (Chinese, English or their hometown dialect) and emoticons through their short and grammatically incorrect sentences. The students are able to review and take notes on paper with the aid of a textbook, but simultaneously they are functioning in their technological private lives under the table. One moment they are exhibiting characteristics of print literacy while a second later they are engaging in digital literacy. One moment they are watching a video online, another minute they are back to the novels on their desks. The multiliteracy aspect of the classroom is changing at a rapid rate and students are switching between mediums instantaneously. The question then becomes, how can educators use such powerful gadgets to an educational use? Will it be possible to differentiate the public and the private on the current mobile phones? Educators would like more technology in the classroom but how can they use what every student already owns? How can educators handle multiliteracy in the classroom?
Teachers are becoming more digital savvy regarding their use of mediums in the classroom. At this time in history, the print and the digital literacy are coming together in a way that is causing change at a rapid pace. The institution of school that Wesch describes as being “built into the walls” is becoming transformed with the multiliteracies students are bringing into school (2008, n.p.). Furthermore in the near future when the educators themselves are also causing such change when this digital native generation matures and enters the teaching profession. As the teacher is preparing to present the curriculum from a textbook, they are able to complement their materials with online resources. The video clips, the audio clips and the use of the LCD projectors is blending a variety of educational methods together.
Conclusion
The digital divide is apparent between the rural areas of China but within an urban classroom, digital technology is flourishing and the presence of a digital divide is absent. Rather than a disparity of the presence or absence of technology, the latest digital divide within the urban classroom is between what the technology can and cannot do. The latest iPhone has abilities of a mini-computer whereas the oldest model of a phone in the classroom can only simply dial out with a screen smaller that is incapable of handling media messages. The gender gap within the younger generation is very subtle as both male and female students are both eager to engage in the world of the Internet. Each gender has it’s own behavioral patterns and social networking routines and communities. Multiliteracy is common in the classroom regardless of the digital divide that is apparent from a global scale. The convergence of the old forms of literacy and the new forms of literacy are happening in the classroom. Both students and educators are realizing a different classroom is being created. It is a space where the private and the public fuse together and the print and the digital are causing massive change.
Works Cited
Dobson, T. & Willinsky, J. (2009). Digital Literacy. In Cambridge Handbook on Literacy. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press. Retrieved from http://pkp.sfu.ca/files/Digital%20Literacy.pdf
New London Group. (1996). A pedagogy of multiliteracies: Designing social futures. Harvard Educational Review, 66(1), 60-92. Retrieved, November 20, 2009, from http://newlearningonline.com/~newlearn/wp-content/uploads/2009/03/multiliteracies_her_vol_66_1996.pdf
Wesch, M. (2008). A Vision of Students Today (& What Teachers Must Do). Retrieved from: http://www.britannica.com/blogs/2008/10/a-vision-of-students-today-what-teachers-must-do/
For the Rip,Mix,Feed activity, I collected Creative Commons images on Flickr. The six images were placed together and then reworked using the jigsaw puzzle feature found on Dumpr (http://www.dumpr.net/). The images I selected represented pieces of the puzzle when it comes to reading and writing. I was tempted to include more images in the puzzle, but decided to stick to several key images to draw the point home and leave the final image uncluttered. The remaining spaces on the puzzle were left intentionally blank, in order to leave space for the future developments in the realm of communication related to reading and writing.
NOTE: Images in row 1: Pen & Paper, Typewriter, Laptop Computer. Images in row 2: Illuminated Manuscript, Books, eBook Reader
I hope you enjoy my image.
Commentary 3
Text vs. The Visual
“The reports of my death may be greatly exaggerated.” Mark Twain
Comments on the shifting nature of literacy
By Laura Bonnor
The nature of writing, reading and text are certainly changing as a result of recent technological developments. However, Bolter seems premature to predict the demise of written text in his chapter, “The Breakout of the Visual”. (Bolter, 2001) As Kress states in “Gains and Losses”, these changes must be “seen in the wider framework of economic, political, social, cultural and technological changes.” (Kress, 2005) A decade in the technology race makes quite a difference and new technology such as smart phones and blogs have brought text back to the foreground. Bolter discusses the increasing significance of visuals, pictures and icons in our hyper-textual computer-based society and sees this as ultimately leading to the end of text as we know it. Kress and Hayles note this change as well, but rather than seeing as the end of a battle where text finally loses, they see it as the remediation and negotiation process. Although Bolter refers to the remediation process, in his view, text ultimately loses ground to hyper-mediated visuals. He calls this era, “the late age of print” and muses in the last chapter about the potentially “late age of prose”. It’s interesting to note that although he predicts the end of print, he chose to write a book and that although he has created a website to accompany the book he has done it in such a way as to “not seek to render the printed version unnecessary.”(Bolter, 2001)
Bolter claims that the hypermedia in the World Wide Web, that existed in 2001, represented a direct challenge to the printed book and that the “image will take over from the written word”. (Bolter, 2001) Hayles counters this with “the book is dead, long live the book,”(Hayles, 2005) and notes that prose is alive and well and that the new media present different but still predominately text-based opportunities for writers and artists alike. Our recent fascination with texting and blogging, both predominantly focused on text and generally, as a result of bandwidth and the requirements for speed, not heavy with images, is not part of Bolter’s vision. Ten years ago Bolter may not have seen the potential for micro-content, such as tweets to significantly reinforce the value of the alphabetic system that he claims is so artificial. (Bolter, 2001)
Why does Bolter say the alphabet, a symbol system that represents spoken language, is artificial or more artificial than computer generated visuals? In fact, Hayles refers to our traditional text form as “natural language” (Hayles, 2003) as it relates most closely to our spoken word. Both are pathways to communication and both may be open to variety in interpretation. Certainly, when possible, text is balanced with images in traditional books. Bolter rightly points out that Medieval Manuscripts, ancient Greek and Chinese art demonstrated an intertwining of text and visual but goes on to suggest that the visual became subjugated to text with the advent of printing. He says that “printing has placed the word effectively in control of the image.” (Bolter, 2001) It seems more likely that the limits of technology are the basis for this. Bolter claims that the “ideal of the printed book was and is a sequence of pages containing ordered lines of alphabetic text.” (Bolter 2001) For practical reasons, printed text has been predominantly black and white with limited illustrations and not necessarily because text is seen as superior. Bolter acknowledges that technology plays a role but insists that the printing press was a promoter of “homogeneity and reinforcing the sense of the author as authority,”(Bolter, 2001) and that text itself has been waging a struggle against the visual. Returning to Kress’s idea that we consider the wider and more complex context, it seems that this apparent conflict was due to the combined forces of the limits of technology, the political climate and the dawn of the industrial revolution.
When examining electronic picture writing, Bolter, accurately, describes how the interaction of image and text interact has changed with new technology. He allows that, historically, this “juxtaposition of word and image creates a pleasing tension” and may lead to a deeper understanding. This combination develops into layers of meaning, which Bolter acknowledges was already part of the history of the codex in the Medieval Manuscripts. (Bolter, 2001) Our concept of literacy is changing but when Bolter says that “it becomes hard to imagine how traditional prose could successfully compete with the dynamic and heterogeneous visual experience that the web now offers,” it seems he is both limiting the definition of traditional prose and disregarding the significance that the visual has always played in the history of civilization. To be sure, technology is having a great effect on the way we read and write. The audience is no longer controlled by the author and the content is controlled by the interests of the reader. (Kress, 2005) Time is altered and our sense of order has changed. (Kress, 2005) (Hayles, 2003) The text, which may consist of any combination of text, visual or code, does not necessarily exist as an artifact but as part of the process and integration of hardware and applicable software. (Hayles, 2006) Although our relationship with text will likely continue, our text will also be intermingling with computer code that ultimately links us with the machine. Hayles suggests that this intermingling of text and code may lead to a “better comprehension of our post-human condition.” (Hayles, 2003)
The English language is always evolving, the endless texts and tweets, wikis and blogs that are currently being developed, although not universally of a high literary quality, certainly do not spell the death of prose. Today’s technology users are benefiting from the quickness and ease of textual exchange used in combination with visuals as needed and possible. Today’s learners have tools that can allow a layered experience that has the potential to lead to a deeper understanding of both text and visuals. These changes do not demand the end of prose or of text, or as Bolter suggests the triumph of the visual, but are steps along the pathway of communication that we are creating, as we strive for understanding of the complex interactions of ourselves as humans, our planet and technology.
References
Bolter, Jay David. (2001). Writing space: Computers, hypertext, and the remediation of print [2nd edition]. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.
Hayles, Katherine. (2003). Deeper into the Machine: The Future of Electronic Literature. Culture Machine. 5. Retrieved, August 2, 2009, from http://www.culturemachine.net/index.php/cm/article/viewArticle/245/241
Katherine Hayles, “The Future of Literature,” at UBC in January 2006. Katherine Hayles – Video Stream | Audio Stream
Kress, Gunter. (2005). “Gains and losses: New forms of texts, knowledge and learning. Computers and Composition. 22(1), 5-22. Retrieved, August 15, 2009, from http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.compcom.2004.12.004