Visual Literacy- The Evolution of Technology. What’s next?
The evolution and proliferation of technology has no doubt impacted the way we read and write, the move from scroll to codex, manuscript to the printing press to the internet have brought about changes in literacy. With the emergence of technology there has been an increase in democracy and more access to information, “we now face a rather different order of political change with the rapid development of the internet. Over the course of the last ten years the internet has opened a new world of information to the public. The increased access to information relates to every aspect of our lives and is on such a scale that it seems bound to alter the relationship between democracy and education. Certainly the internet has already starting showing signs that it will reshape political participation and the way we are governed, with the emphasis in this new digital democracy on providing more powerful public access to information and officials” (Willinsky 2002, p.362).
With the new age of technology we have seen the production of various gadgets such as tablets and smart phones which has facilitated eBooks and other online reading materials. eBooks have provided access to millions of books and provide convenience for readers, no longer are readers required to walk around with books or worry about visiting hours and transportation cost to the library. “The availability of high quality learning resources is highly valued by students but they prefer to access these resources using mobile devices instead of through institutional systems. Mobile devices have become widely available, either as smartphones (such as the iPhone and android phone) or tablet devices (such as the iPad readers) and these have an extensive range of functions, from communication and internet access to content delivery (such as Apps and e-books)” (Sandars, 2012, p. 535) . Bolter pointed out that “portable computers present themselves as new and improved books, notebooks has become a generic term for these devices, while apple computer has had line called Powerbooks and iBook and Hewlett Packard has sold Omnibooks”. Bolter continued “it is lightweight and easy to carry, the reader can write notes in its margin and underline passages as in a printed book. Because its text are downloadable from the internet, the eBook is connected to a growing world of materials available online. (Bolter 2001, p. 155).
There have been many arguments that the physical library and books hold a special place in the psyche of some readers and as a result of this eBooks and other forms of technology will not easily replace the library. “Physical libraries continue to fulfil a variety of institutional and cultural purposes, it seems unlikely that they will be dismantled in the near future” (Bolter 2001, p. 177).
It is evident that there has been an evolution in the technology, the society are increasingly dependent on graphics and visual, “today hypertext is usually hypermedia, as it is on the worldwide web and hypermedia offers a second challenge to the printed book. Scholar are radically different in their ideologies as EH Gombrich, WJT Mitchell and Fredric Jameson seem to agree that we are living in a visual culture. In the image and the eye Gombrich claims that (o)urs is a visual age. We are bombarded with pictures from morning till night. No wonder it has been asserted that we are entering a historical epoch in which image will take over from the written word” (Bolter 2001, p. 94 ). This is evident with the increasing popularity of Instagram and selfies.
The point could be made that students are visual beings in particular those studying English Literature, in an interview with Mr. Simon Brown, an English Literature Teacher at a high school in Kingston, Jamaica revealed that students develop a better understanding of literature text by watching the movie or film of the novel, as a result they are more engaged and participate in class, there is even signs of improvement in grades. Mr. Brown also creates a twitter feed and WhatsApp group which allows students to discuss what they watch and link it to the chapters in the books. This was done based on the fact that the students are more engaged in the various social media platform. It must be noted that as a high school student I was fascinated with watching Shane and To Kill a Mocking Bird, this gave me a better understanding of the text. However, I did not have the benefit of social media. “Technology can send children to the internet to experience the presentation of text, audio, graphics that no teacher and no book can duplicate”. (Cramer, 2004, p.19).
It could be argued that newspaper, advertisement and journals are moving towards more graphic, “the newspaper is coming to resemble a computer screen, as the combination of text, images and icons turns the newspaper page into a static snapshot of a worldwide web page” (Bolter 2001, p.99). He further argued that “the treatment of text as images becomes even more popular and more culturally compelling with the rise of digital media because of the ease with which the words and images can be controlled” (Bolter 2001, p.101). “Graphics printed in publication like the USA Today are being used to replace text” (Bolter 2001, pg110).
As we move forward with the evolution of technology, one has to ask what’s next? Is it animation? It must be pointed out that the method the students learn best will have to be utilized, therefore teachers, parents, administrators and other stakeholders will have to understand and provide these technology in an effort to facilitate the learning process.
Referencing
Bolter, J (2001). Writing Spaces: Computers, hypertext and the remediation of print. Lawrence Erlbaum Associates Publishers, London.
Cramer, R.L. (2004). The language arts: A balanced approach to teaching reading, writing, listening, talking and thinking. Boston. Pearson.
Sandars, J. (2012). Technology and the delivery of the curriculum of the future: Opportunities and challenges. The University of Leeds, Leeds, UK.
Willinsky, J (2002) Education and Democracy: The missing link may be ours. Harvard Educational Review, 72 (3), 367-392.
I agree completely with your last statement Aldene. We may not always feel that the changes are for the better, but they will happen regardless. We must do what we can with them to enhance the learning of students now and in the future. Great post! 🙂