Literacy Debate: Online, R U Really Reading?
The New York Times today published "The Future of Reading Digital Versus Print" the first in a series of articles that will look at how the Internet and other technological and social forces are changing the way people read. The article is an informative piece on the on-going debate of the effects of web activity that at face value is reading but in some circles is not considered "true" reading because it doesn't involve paper text or the great works. As I read -- pun intended -- I was reminded of all the activity and interest on this subject at UCSB. Folks in the English, Psychology, Communication and Education departments are all busy working different angles of the issue. In fact this coming year Monica Bulger of the Education department will be giving a talk as part of the CITS Lecture Series on her dissertation work that involves digital literacy.
Comments
An additional perspective on digital culture & online literacy:
There is no doubt that the way people read and transmit knowledge in the twenty-first century has been forever changed, and to some extent, revolutionized, by the internet and its technological advancements. Conflict about lower test scores and the emergence of new creative outlets within the youth is connected to a much larger set of issues concerning contemporary socialization. With the development of internet use and online literacy throughout a broad spectrum of institutional settings, it is questionable whether such struggles are merely indicators of a greater social change.
While the article suggests broad implications about "The Future of Reading Versus Digital Print", it is largely focused upon a family structure in which children are living in the home amidst some type of generational divide with their parents. When the author examines the finding that novel-reading is the only way to higher academic performance in high school students, I can not help but wonder if it is the older structural formalities of English courses that are falling behind, while the epoch of digital academia is rushing forward. Perhaps we will see an alignment of these areas in the coming years.
It is interesting to also look at this issue from a unique perspective that examines a completely different group of cohorts than those discussed in the New York Times. Little over a year ago, the Los Angeles Times published an article which displayed how the elderly are more rapidly introduced to online literacy entitled “Seniors let down Web barriers”. I suggest others read this article in addition to that which was presented earlier in order to comparatively explore the context of digital culture and the trends of modern society. It is important to examine these factors within different groups to get a better idea of how they effect each portion of the social environment.
http://articles.latimes.com/2007/jul/15/news/adna-srtech15
On another note, after reading some of Monica Bulger's work on the Transliteracies Project website, I was even more interested in her talk on these topics. It would be nice if readers could have the date, time, and additional information about the lecture posted whenever it is made available on the CITS blog.
Breanna Wilhelmi
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