Week Two Joural Post

“What counts as literacy, how literacy changes in response to the new media landscape, and what value we should ascribe to the new forms of communication that continue to emerge and evolve online (Jenkins, 2009)."

The above quote consists of only three simple phrases but one cannot adequately respond to them with three simple sentences. However, in order to keep in line with online etiquette I will keep it short and to the point. The first phrase states, “What counts as literacy?” Well, Webster’s Dictionary defines literacy as, the ability to read and write. Now, based on that definition than anyone who can read and write “anything” should be considered literate and reading their content should then enhance the literacy of the reader. Right! Okay, so that’s not going to work. 

Content, in my opinion, in order to count as literacy needs to have a level of quality that expresses an author’s legitimate perspective and at the same time keeps in mind the audience or the readers of the content. We always need to remember that everything we write influences another to a certain degree, sometimes a little and sometimes a lot, but nevertheless something happens in the brain of the reader/viewer every time they view a page filled with content. Therefore, there is a level of responsibility on the part of the author, as far as, what is being written, why it is being written and to whom they are writing to in order for it to be considered literacy worth reading. 

In response to the second phrase, “How literacy changes in response to the new media landscape.” Well, to say the least it has it has its own cultural aspects and it is certainly evolving. In one way, it appears to be a much broader way of communicating one’s thoughts to a reader however, I don’t think this is the case. I feel instead, that it has its own nature and available tools and the way in which authors manipulate and configure those tools determine whether the content can or should be considered “literacy” or not. 

An example of this could be a blog post laced with internet marketing strategies such as, too many key word phrases or highlighted words with embedded links in the middle of too many sentences continuously opining up into “Ads” or even worse taking the reader to a different window altogether. Now, this could be considered quite clever and in a sense “broad” in its reach of information but it is certainly not enhancing the insight, imagination and overall “literacy” of the exposed reader. 

However, this same method can be used to do just that if the key word phrases and links are directly related to the content and lead the reader to gain further understanding of what they are already reading which leads me to the last phrase in the quote, “What value we should ascribe to the new forms of communication that continue to emerge and evolve online.” My opinion here is that we should ascribe “tremendous” value to these forms of communication for numerous reasons. One of which, is because it is a form of communication that is being used by millions of human persons all over the world and for me that is enough to repeat what I stated earlier that we need to be responsible with the content that we send into cyberspace because that space is filled with readers that inevitably become learners.

Week One Journal Post

"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).

In response to the above quote many thoughts comes to mind. There are so many ways to respond to such a statement. However, because I have not read the content that came before and after the quote I am not going to worry about taking it out of context and thus apply my own opinion while correlating it to comments made by Gunther Kress in his article: The Profound Shift in Digital Literacies. 
 

Gunther discusses changes in literary form that spring from creative computer programming. He said, "Texts are becoming intensely multi-modal, that is, image is ever-increasingly appearing with writing, and, in many domains of communication, displacing writing where it had previously been dominant" (Gunther). 

In other words, we no longer need to use “Only” words. We can now enhance a short phrase with a correlating image or input a short video that relates to our topic. We can more easily increase the size of a font or even its shape and color effortlessly. This type of enhancement was impossible for the average person just several decades ago. 

He goes on to say and I personally found this statement to be most interesting. He said, "Constellations of mode and medium are being transformed. The medium of the book and the mode of writing had formed a centuries-long symbiotic constellation; this is being displaced by a new constellation of medium of the screen and mode of image. The consequences of this shift are profound" (Gunther).

What I hear Gunther saying is that an entirely new language is emerging due to the technology available for communication. It’s not that the use of symbol, picture or screen play presentation is anything new because from the Ancient Egyptians to twentieth century Hollywood every possible form of communication device known to man has been used and used again. However, never has it been at the fingertips of the everyday person (both young and old alike) 24 hours a day 7 days a week and the everyday people have a way of communicating that is quite often a bit outside of what would be considered conventional and orthodox. 

What I mean to say is for centuries communication through the written word and imagery, especially words and images that reached the masses, were left to fairly small sects of professionals and scholars but today anyone can publish a blog and start chatting about what’s on “Their mind” and if the site is marketed properly have quite a few viewers read and review their content. That can be scary! 

So, getting back to the quote and the section that said, the ways in which it involves sensitive attention to what people are doing with texts and 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). This is of course extremely important and in my opinion a high responsibility for the writer of the content. For instance, a blogger has a responsibility to write content that is not only applicable to the topic of the day but to be sure that it is written with a certain level of clarity, purpose and dignity. 

The content whether it is solely made up of the written word or imbedded with images and video needs to express the opinion of the writer (Blogger) and at the same time leave room for intelligent and insightful comment. It should not be a mindless ramble of junk designed to excite or infuriates a reader, which prompts them to shoot back an irrational comment that results in a buzz and cheap traffic.  

It is a great privilege to be able to use the new literacies as we do. Using the internet for social communication is extraordinary and also a quite profitable for certain companies. However, in my opinion we need to stay aware of this privilege and remember to also try to express ourselves with intelligence and personal insight that is never detached from sound reason and to continuously demonstrate respect for those who view our content who inevitably after reading our words in a sense become learners. Our words are powerful and always influential.

Reference:

Kress, G., & H. (n.d.). The Profound Shift of Digital Literacies. Retrieved January 19, 2017, from http://www.academia.edu/19277890/Digital_Literacies._A_research_briefing_by_the_technology_enhanced_learning_phase_of_the_teaching_and_learning_research_programme