“The distinctive contribution of the approach to literacy as
social practice lies in the ways in which it involves careful and sensitive
attention to what people do with texts, how they make sense of them and use
them to further their own purposes in their own learning lives” (Gillen and
Barton, 2010, p. 9).
I think that the new technology and internet are heavily promoting
literacy and according to Huffaker literacy remains paramount in learning, not
only for language development, but also as the foundation of all academic disciplines
[1]. Weblogs promote self-expression and creativity because anyone can share
their critical thinking and beliefs. My concern is how the self-expression is
going affect the other readers.
People are eager to get information using different approaches
such as textbooks, search engines, and weblogs. The ability to know when there
is a need for information, to be able to identify, locate, evaluate, and
effectively use that information is defined as information literacy by the United
States National Forum [2]. The difference between people looking for information
stands in their ability to identify the reliable sources. When the internet
wasn’t widely used the information was primary filtered because the textbooks
or artistic books, journals or printed magazines where more selective and the
credibility of the authors where primary established.
In nowadays and with the evolvement of digital technology
anyone can publish information online in blogs or Wikipedia.
References:
1. Huffaker,
D. (2005). The educated blogger: Using weblogs to promote literacy in the
classroom. AACE Journal, 13(2), 91-98.
Hi Olgert,
ReplyDeleteI too believe that the new technology and internet is affecting literacy in many aspects. I found it very interested that you mentioned web-blogs- I just touched upon this in my post today a little bit. While it does promote self-expression as you mentioned, I have similar concerns in how other reader's may take the opinions of others. I have seen many full-blown arguments on the internet whether it be via blogging or commenting under something as simple as youtube video's- people definitely can feel attacked if one doesn't make an attempt to watch their wording!
I believe that the anonymity of digital writing and responding allows folks to behave badly. Unfortunately, our American television is full of what I call "Babes behaving badly" but it applies to men as well in these cheap and disgusting reality shows. It glorifies bad behavior and promotes insensitive rants and bullying! We must teach our students about the ethics of all communications. They must know that there are 'rules of engagement' some of which were laid out by the ancient Greeks! Rhetoric and rules of civil debate etc. Those theories must be layered in at a very young age! Also, syntax and typos can be destructive. One must edit as they go to be sure to be clear and concise in their writing. Good deliberations!
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