Reading from an electronic device
was out of imagination 25 years ago, a printed book as the way to go. In the last
ten years the technology in changing so rapidly that sometime is hard to keep
up. In the beginning of the technology boom, desktop and laptop was used as a
commodity to read, but in nowadays smartphones are becoming day to day
necessity to read and get information quickly and whenever we are. Kindle
devices are used to access e-books and replace in a way the printed copy of a
book for most of the youth generation. A printed book is the way to go and
not the internet on wireless devices is the right path to knowledge, I think
this is what most of teenagers are getting as an advice from their parent every
day. This is an ongoing debate in every household between parents and their
children.
According to Wolf reading is not a natural act, because there are not reading genes in human DNA [1]. Reading is more a cultural activity and has evolved since its inception. Our generation can totally confirm this fact since the deployment of technology.
Because of dramatic social and technological change we should be prepared to foster new types of literacy. Prof. Kellner at UCLA propose that we should take in consideration printed literacy, combined with media literacy, computer and information literacy [2].
According to National Assessment of Adult Literacy (NAAL) literacy is defined as task-based and skills-based. The task-based literacy focuses on what an adult can or cannot perform in the everyday literacy task. The skills-based literacy focuses on the knowledge and skills an adult must possess in order to perform these tasks [3].
The media has changed tremendously and literacy has been flexible and transformed itself during these years. A big list of tools and number of high technologies are what people can refer to media landscape of our days. According to Henry Jenkins there are not tools, but is our relationship and logic that are directing our media, and to understand this relationship we have to develop skills that will lead us to understand our contemporary media landscape [4].
When I think about the strong debate “Digital versus Print”, I cannot help myself and think about my two years old son Gerald. He is at that stage that a printed colorful children’s book will captivate him more than a wireless device. He knows how to turn on the laptop and smartphone, but he finds his movies characters more attractive in the printed copy of a book. In this battle there no winners and losers, there are stages in life when a printed copy of a book would be helpful, and captivating as well as the technology would make our life easier at a faster pace.
Reference:
[1] Maryanne Wolf, 2008. Proust and the squid: The story and science of the reading brain. New York: Harper Perennial, p.222.
[2] Kellner, Douglas, 2000. New Technologies/New Literacies: reconstructing education for the new millennium, Teaching Education, Vol. 11, No. 3, 2000.
[3] Institute of Education Sciences, 2007. National Assessment of Adult Literacy (NAAL) 2003 and National Adult Literacy Survey (NALS) 1992 Public-Use Data Files.[4] Jenkins, Henry, November, 2006. Eight Traits of the New Media Landscape, Retrieved from: http://henryjenkins.org/2006/11/eight_traits_of_the_new_media.html
Olgert, I am not sure exactly your point of view. Or, is it more complex than what I am gleaning from your post. Can a child develop literacy in a digital way? What other learning styles might be enhanced by a digital engagement. I mean, specifically in the more interactive texts/books that are communicating in multiple intelligences and modalities. Is there a benefit to that possibility in one digital reading/absorbing experience for the learner?
ReplyDelete"but in nowadays smartphones are becoming day to day necessity to read and get information quickly and whenever we are." Jenkins somewhat refers to this in his third trait of the new media landscape, "everyday." He talks about how mobile devices have changed peoples lives in ways that they only pay partial attention to everything happening because they are constantly being interrupted by other demands. It is for this reason that I have yet to trade in my low capacity flip phone for a smartphone, and I do not "tweet." I see other people around me, colleagues and students, constantly being distracted by their attraction to this digital media and other people trying to communicate with them via text messaging. It gives me high blood pressure just thinking about how chaotic and busy my life would be, on top of what it already is. Yet, at the same time I find myself getting farther and farther behind. Up to the minute steaming news feeds, weather alerts, tweets, facebook posts, etc. I get the feeling that every night when I watch the national news on TV, even stories that happened that day and would have been new news a couple years ago is old news by the time I see it. Not only has the news media jumped on this wagon, but commercial media has as well. Look at how many companies have their own Facebook pages and twitter accounts, and hire people strictly for keeping the pages updated and sending out tweets to followers. It is amazing.
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