"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
Hi Joseph,
ReplyDeleteOne of my personal beliefs as an educator and a historian is that we have entered a paradigm shift in world technology. Just like how the Industrial Revolution forever changed how society viewed and worked with machines, the Digital Revolution and internet age that we live in currently has forever changed how we interact with one another and information.
If this is the case, it would be absolutely insane to ignore this new medium in the case of education. People are becoming more and more digitally inclined today (and especially children), so why ignore the benefits of socializing and learning through a digital platform?
Your view of these texts and ideas correlate to my ideas very well. We need to both utilize the tools that we have before us and teach one another how to best interact online. If we are able to do this, there's no telling what kind of engagement and progress we can make.
I've been contemplating this idea of a new language or style of communicating based on the rich array of symbols available now that can communicate depths of nuanced information based on the users understanding of context and how others are using the same symbols. There is a historical precedent for using complex interwoven symbols. In the Victorian age communicating information through floral arrangements could be quite complex, and dictionaries were printed on the subject (Marsh, 1978). Dutch paintings were similarly complex in the 17th century often with hidden messages included through symbols (Hendricks, 2012). So the actual symbolism used, the meanings conveyed will change depending on the context.
ReplyDeleteWhat I think sets this era apart is the sheer amount of information that can be conveyed easily by almost anyone. Animated images, sound files, entire books can all be inserted to a message. Additionally these things can be done instantaneously and in almost any location. When written language emerged greater quantities of detailed information could be conveyed than by speaking alone because it could be given verbatim to anyone into infinity by anyone. The Gutenberg press made books and the written word available to the masses; lithography brought artwork out of museums and into the streets. Today we have smartphones enabling a very large portion of the population to access and transmit types and amounts of data one only available to new corporations, or movie studios, or large scale publishing houses. I’m very interested to see what it does to the quality and complexity of communication over time. Will we no longer take statements at face value, or will we expect people to interpret more of what is conveyed for a deeper or hidden meaning?
Hendricks, C. (2012) Discussions on Painting, Sculpture, Architecture and More. Art History Blogger. Retrieved 01/23/2017 from:
http://arthistoryblogger.blogspot.com/2012/11/a-painting-within-painting-hidden.html
Marsh, J. (1978) The Illuminated Language of Flowers. New York, N.Y. Holt, Rinehart, & Winston
Dorothy
DeleteGreat response. It made me think of more detailed academic study in SEMIOTICS and the impact of meaning at multi-layers of information as potentially unveiled in the study of semiotics.
I love that you brought in the multi-modal literacies that we all face today. There is a great text that I would recommend to any of you who are k-12 teachers. It is called Reading the Visual: An Introduction to Teaching Multimodal Literacy by Frank Serafini!
ReplyDelete