“The digital revolution is far more significant than the invention of writing or even of printing. ” Douglas Engelbart – American Inventor, and Computer Pioneer (1925–2013)
I chose this topic for my podcast because it connects directly to the main ideas of MET 540. Throughout the course, we learned how new technologies change writing, reading, and communication. Today, artificial intelligence is one of the biggest changes, because we are now communicating not only with other people but also with machines that can create language. This raises important questions about how humans and AI understand each other, how prompts work as a new form of writing, and how multiliteracies now include text, images, emojis, and machine responses. The topic allows me to link the history of writing with the new reality of AI-supported communication.
References:
Belshaw, D.A.J. (2012, March 22). The essential elements of digital literacies: Doug Belshaw at TED [Video file]. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A8yQPoTcZ78 He introduces the elements of digital literacy: civic, critical, creative, communicative, confident, cultural, cognitive, and constructive. He argues that literacy depends on context, tools, and social practices, not only on reading and writing.
Cope, B., & Kalantzis, M. (2015). A pedagogy of multiliteracies. Chapter 1: The things you do with language: A contemporary guide to literacy teaching. PALGRAVE MACMILLAN. They define literacy as a process of “design” using multiple modes such as linguistic, visual, spatial, gestural, and audio. So, modern literacy involves multimodal communication.
New London Group. (1996). A pedagogy of multiliteracies: Designing social futures. Harvard Educational Review, 66(1), 60–92. This paper introduces the concept of “multiliteracies,” and highlighting the importance of multimodal meaning and cultural diversity in communication.
Danesi, M. (2016). The semiotics of emoji: The rise of visual language in the age of the Internet. Chapter 9: Universal Languages. Bloomsbury Academic. Danesi analyzes emojis as a structured visual sign system with semantic and emotional functions in online communication. He explains how emojis reduce ambiguity and enhance emotional expression.
Haas, C. (1996). Writing technology: Studies on the materiality of literacy. Chapter: 4 Materiality and Thinking: The Effects of Computer Technology on Writers’ Planning Routledge. Haas argues that writing technologies (from paper to computers) shape cognitive processes and social practices. She shows how tools influence how people think, communicate, and construct meaning.
Kasneci, E., Sessler, K., Küchemann, S., Bannert, M., et al. (2023). ChatGPT for good? On opportunities and challenges of large language models for education, Learning and Individual Differences, Vol. 103, 102274. This article reviews the educational use of ChatGPT, identifying risks such as misinformation and bias, and opportunities such as personalization and writing support.
Luke, C. (2003). Pedagogy, connectivity, multimodality, and interdisciplinarity. Reading Research Quarterly, 38(3), 397–403. Luke argues that digital technologies have transformed literacy into a multimodal and highly connected practice, where meaning is made through text, image, sound, and interaction.
Mars, R. (Host). (2017, September 5). The Age of the Algorithm (no. 274). [Audio podcast episode]. This episode examines how algorithms quietly shape everyday decisions and raises questions about their social impact.